Former Cabinet Minister Howe Yoon Chong dies at age
84
Posted: 21 August 2007 1836 hrs
SINGAPORE: Former Cabinet Minister Howe Yoon Chong has died. He was
84.
The former top civil servant and politician is best remembered for
the 1984 Report of the Committee for the Aged - which came up with
several policy recommendations on preparing for an ageing
population.
A contemporary of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew at Raffles College,
Mr Howe was asked by Mr Lee in 1953 to go into politics.
But Mr Howe said 'no'. His reason - a group was needed to look
after the Administrative Service after the British had left.
And the economics graduate from the University Malaya was to go on
to spend almost 30 years in the civil service, most of them, in key
positions.
In 1960, Mr Howe was appointed the first chief executive officer of
the Housing and Development Board (HDB).
He was later appointed the chairman of the Development Bank of
Singapore (DBS) and the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA).
Other key appointments included Head of the Civil Service as well
as Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, Finance and
National Development Ministries.
When he was 55 years old, Mr Howe was finally persuaded to stand in
the 1979 by-election on a People's Action Party ticket.
He won the Potong Pasir seat with almost 67 percent of the votes
against then Independent candidate, Chiam See Tong.
In the 1980 General Election, Mr Howe again defeated Mr Chiam in a
straight fight for Potong Pasir.
Mr Howe was first appointed Defence Minister and later, Health
Minister.
It was as Health Minister that he chaired the committee which came
out with the landmark 'Report on the Problems of the Aged'.
Among several long-term strategies proposed was the controversial
suggestion to raise the CPF withdrawal age from 55 to 60 years, as
Singaporeans cannot depend only on their children in their old
age.
"Our families, far from strengthening, are subject to buffeting of
new ideas, (and) are in fact splitting," Mr Howe had said.
Mr Howe made this point at a news conference on March 26, 1984, on
the 'Report of the Committee on the Problems of the Aged'.
He explained: "The hopeful sign is that irrespective of whatever
extraneous influences we have been getting, the eastern values have
been passed from an earlier generation to the present generation
and hopefully from this generation to the next generation and
thereafter.
"But we may be wrong. And that may or may not come with greater
affluence. So on one hand, you've got economic success that brings
about higher standards of living, longer life expectancy.
"On the other hand, you've got higher standards of living, causing
people to be more looking to themselves, solving their own
problems, ignoring the requirements of the elders, taking on more
and more western ideas of individual freedom and no responsibility
for anybody other than themselves and their children.
"These are things that will militate against the welfare of the
elderly. We are not very sure we've got clear-cut answers to these
problems... So our thinking is, people should not be encouraged to
retire at 55. It's not good to say at 55, (they) can withdraw
CPF."
Taking up the suggestions in the Report, the government later
introduced the Minimum Sum scheme.
This allows workers to withdraw some of their CPF funds at age 55,
setting aside a certain minimum sum which can only be withdrawn at
retirement age, which presently stands at 62 years.
Mr Howe, who had said he would not want to stay in politics for
more than five years, did not contest the 1984 General
Election.
In his appreciation letter to Mr Howe on his retirement, the then
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said he was indebted to Mr Howe for the
devoted work he had put in for the people.
And Mr Lee predicted that when those in their 20s and 30s reached
their 60s, they would see how difficult it was for children to
stretch their salaries to cover the support of aged parents.
They would then be grateful to Mr Howe for the controversy he had
stirred by the 'Report on the Problems of the Aged'.
After stepping down from public office, Mr Howe served as chairman
and chief executive of DBS from 1985 to 1990, and later as
president and chief executive officer of The Straits Trading
Company.
Mr Howe was married and had three children. - CNA/ir
Channelnews Asia reported him as
''A Man ahead of his
time'' - a slogan created by the MIW in their continued push
to hold back more from the CPF accounts of all Singaporeans.
Looking back at the CPF saga, should we be surprised that MM LKY
had praised Howe Yoon Chong and predicted that ''.. when those in their 20s and 30s
[during 1984] reached 60s, they would see how difficult it was for children to
stretch their salaries to cover the support of aged
parents.'' ?
Does MM have to wait until 2014 to see how difficult it is for
children to stretch their salaries to cover the support of aged
parents ?
What happened to his claim of Singapore having arrived into a First
World Status - where Life is similar to SM GCT's Swiss Standard of
Living ?
Knowing that the aged is having problems living past 85 years, and
with the median age of death for Singaporean males as 79.13 years
and females at 84.49 years - why will this Government insist on
holding back the monies to allow the aged to enjoy their hard
earned monies ?
Knowing that the aged has limited resources, and the children
finding difficulties to stretch their salaries to support the Aged
Parents, why will the Government persist in the spiral upwards of
all essential services in utilities, transport, education, health
and medical ?
This is only 2007, and Singaporeans are already finding
difficulties to stretch our salaries to support our aged parents -
what will it be like by 2014 ?
