Govt has ensured access to affordable transport instead of overcomplicating COE scheme: SM Lee to Jamus Lim

SINGAPORE: Singapore's government has ensured that everyone has access to affordable and efficient transport options without needing to own a car, rather than complicating the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system to account for the needs of different groups, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Wednesday (Jul 16).

He made the comment in response to a Facebook post by Workers' Party Member of Parliament (MP) Jamus Lim, who wrote that the car allocation system does not consider that those with genuine needs to own a vehicle may still be unable to afford a COE.

WHAT MR LEE SAID AT DIALOGUE

Associate Professor Lim made his Facebook post after attending the Economic Society of Singapore's annual dinner on Tuesday, where Mr Lee participated in a wide-ranging dialogue with the society's president Euston Quah.

At one point, Mr Lee was asked about calls to allow certain groups to pay less for the COE.

He said that there were "so many good arguments" that it is difficult for the government to design a system that accounts for all the factors – such as whether a family has children, how young they are, whether someone has a disability or is elderly, or works a job that requires a car.

"I think if you want to design a scheme which worries about all those things, it will fail."

There is no easy way, Mr Lee said, to fairly distribute something valuable and make it cheap. Road space is scarce in Singapore, and the COE system means that buyers pay the fair market value for the right to own a car, he added.

During the dialogue, Mr Lee said that while he cannot promise every Singaporean an affordable car, he can guarantee affordable and convenient transportation.

"Cars, no. Transportation, yes," he said.

He added that for families, instead of giving them cheaper COEs, the government provides more support through initiatives like the baby bonus.

"Directly help the group you need to help in cash, rather than make complicated schemes, which then end up with all kinds of contradictions and wrong incentives."

ASSOC PROF LIM'S COMMENTS

Assoc Prof Lim, however, took issue with Mr Lee’s position, saying that while the government acknowledges the needs of different groups, it ultimately defaults to a market-based auction system.

"But instead of saying that there was a reasonable way to adjudicate between these competing needs, (Mr Lee) then pivoted to how competitive bidding represented the best way to allocate between these claims," he wrote.

"What’s sorely missing, however, is how those with genuine needs may not have the purchasing power to meet those needs, even if their needs may have more merit."

Assoc Prof Lim said people do not want every aspect of their lives to be determined in a transactional way.

"Society has values – about compassion, equity, respect, and loyalty – (that) are poorly valued by impersonal markets." That is why people teach children to share, spend money on their parents' health and devote their energy to causes they believe in, he said.

"That’s why, for all our economic successes, there are ways that Singapore, Inc. operates that (rub) many people the wrong way."

He said that, for him, the bottom line is that "we are not mindless slaves to the prevailing structures and institutions present in the society we live in".

Singaporeans have inherited a prosperous nation that was built based on the constraints and prevailing wisdom of the past, and must be active participants and shapers of the future they want, said Assoc Prof Lim.

"If we want to head in a different direction, toward a more empathetic and just economy and society, then it is on us to seize that vision and make it real."

MR LEE'S RESPONSE

Posting directly in the comments section of Assoc Prof Lim's post - and addressing the WP MP by his first name - Mr Lee said the point he made at the dialogue was that the government provides direct help to those who may need more support. This includes groups such as families with young children, who can use government grants to pay for a COE if they wish to do so.

"Therefore where we disagree is not over who cares more for our fellow Singaporeans, but what is the best way to meet people’s needs and take care of them," he wrote.

In response, Assoc Prof Lim said he was not suggesting that either he or Mr Lee cares more for Singaporeans. Instead, the disagreement, he wrote, was about their differing approaches to how COEs are allocated.