Sitting Date: 26 Aug 2008EASY ACCESS TO FOREIGN LABOUR IN SERVICE INDUSTRIESMs Sylvia Lim asked the Acting Minister for Manpower whether easy access to foreign labour in service industries is counterproductive to encouraging employers to upgrade the skills of Singaporeans and undermines Government retraining efforts in service industries.The Acting Minister for Manpower (Mr Gan Kim Yong): Sir, Singapore has limited local manpower. Foreign manpower has helped to augment our local workforce and enabled our economy to grow beyond our own indigenous workforce alone can support. Nevertheless, access to foreign labour is regulated. This is done through the dependency ratio as well as through the foreign worker levy. In services, for example, the dependency ratio is 50% with the foreign worker levy up to $450 for unskilled workers.The presence of foreign workers does not hamper the training of our workers. Based on a survey released by MOM last year, the level of employer-supported training has been rising from 2002 to 2006, a period when foreign employment also grew. In 2006, 72% of private sector establishments provided structured training to their employees, a substantial increase from the 52% in 2002.As I mentioned in yesterday's reply, the Government has invested heavily in Continuing Education and Training, or CET, programmes to help our local workers to upgrade their skills so that they can take on better jobs. Under the CET Masterplan, we have started by investing an additional $800 million into the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund this year to ramp up our efforts significantly by expanding the number of good-quality training places in growth sectors. In 2007, the total number of persons who received training under the Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) system was 68,000, more than double the 31,000 persons trained in 2006. More specifically, 21,000 persons were trained in the services sector in areas such as food and beverage, tourism, retail and finance.Ms Sylvia Lim: Sir, two supplementary questions. In the MOM's recent annual report on wages released in 2008, it was reported that there was wage stagnation for the lowest income earners for the last 10 years and the economists attribute the presence of foreign workers as a downward pressure on residents' wages. Does the Minister agree with this assessment or that there is a cause-effect in this relationship?Secondly, in the Institute of Policy Studies Conference in 2007, economists noted that relaxed policies on foreign workers and the immigration have created a new economy where the lower wage workers are losing out. It was stated that large scale import of unskilled labour has its pros and cons and that we should do a detailed study on the cause and benefits of such policies. Is the Government indeed commissioning an independent study into this question? If so, could we have some details? And if not, why not?Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, let me explain. Wages of a job depends on several factors. Firstly, it depends on the value of the job, the skills involved, the knowledge content of the job, and it also depends on the productivity of respective workers, the affordability of a company to pay and the performance of the company. It also depends on the supply and demand of workers in the particular industry.For services, let me give you an example, since this question was on services. In 2007, total wages went up by 5.9% in the overall economy, and services sector wages went up by 6.5%. And services sector is a sector with a growing number of foreign workers in 2007, and therefore the hypothesis that foreign workers depress wages is a very simplistic conclusion which may not be true.Secondly, I would also like to share that there were certain segments in our employment market where these sectors tend to have more older people and these sectors include the labourers, the cleaners as well as contract workers. And these older workers, in the past, they have not been working. If you look at the employment rate of older workers, aged 55 to 64, the employment rate has improved significantly. Over the last three years, it went up by nine over percentage points to 56% last year.With this increase of supply of older workers who generally have a lower education level and lower skill sets, they tend to take on jobs that are easier to do and have lower entry barrier. As a result, the salary would generally be lower. We hope that we will be able to help these new workers to progress and upgrade. We do that through a number of measures. First, we try to engage these workers and reach out to them. We want to, first, encourage them to work. Therefore we want to provide a relatively easy entry point for these workers to come in and we give them the minimum skills so that they can start working and earn a decent income. After that, we want to find ways to reach out to them, to give them training and upgrading so that they can upgrade to a better job and earn better income. We also go through job redesign, to help redesign these jobs in the lower wage area, one example is the cleaning industry and another is the security industry, to enhance the values of these jobs. As I mentioned, wages also depend on the value of the job. And through enhancement and job redesign, we hope that the jobs would be able to pay better.Finally, even for these lower wage workers, we also, as my Senior Parliamentary Secretary mentioned just now, provide Workfare Income Supplement to help them improve their overall takings to support their family income. We have looked at the wage structure of our employment landscape. We think that it is more important for us to focus on training and upgrading. A very important question is, how can we improve our training and upgrading? Continue to press on with our CET, to equip our workers with skills, so that they can continually upgrade themselves and improve their income...Mr Speaker: Ms Lim, last question.Ms Sylvia Lim: Sir, the Minister has not answered my second question which was about the call by the economists at the IPS Conference for a detailed study to be done on the pros and cons of our current foreign worker policies, and my question was whether the Government is doing one or considering to do one and, if so, can we have some details. If not, why not?Mr Gan Kim Yong: Sir, I beg your pardon. I forgot about the second question. In fact, the Government has always been monitoring the effect of foreign workers on our overall employment market. We want to make sure that these foreign workers, while adding flexibility to our labour market, will not create problems for our local employees. As we can see, over the last few years, during the recession period, there was a significant reduction in the number of foreign workers and that is in response to the economic cycles. And during the same period, we also see the impact on local employment. Although the local employment has also come down, the extent is much smaller than the impact on foreign workers. So to answer Ms Lim's question specifically, there is no need to do an independent study. In fact, the Ministry is monitoring and studying the issue continuously because this is something that we need to respond and react quickly when the market changes. It is something that we will continue to monitor.HOME TEAM AND IMMIGRATION AND CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY(Shortage of officers)Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs how long will the Government's study on Home Team resources take and whether interim measures are being put in place to ease the situation.Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs how far has the morale of the Home Team been affected by the recent security lapses and what are the implications of this on the security of Singapore.The Second Minister for Home Affairs (Mr K Shanmugam) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, with your leave, if I can take Question Nos. 3, 4 and 5 together?Mr Speaker: Yes.Mr Shanmugam: Sir, on 21st July 2008, I had said that the Ministry of Home Affairs has directed that a human factor study be conducted to look at operational fatigue, and the level of workload and resources within the Home Team. The questions raised by Mdm Halimah and Ms Lim on the morale and resource situation in the Home Team can be answered by looking at what the study has found so far.The Human Factor StudyIn July 2008, the Ministry of Home Affairs formed a committee ("Committee") comprising in-house psychologists and scientists to study the human factor situation within the Home Team.That Committee found that the fundamentals in Home Team are generally sound. Officers are committed to their work and they believe that they play an important role in keeping Singapore safe and secure. However, over the years, our officers have had to cope with increased workload, in terms of both sheer volume and complexity in the post-September 11 security climate. While work volume was high, many officers still feel that they can cope adequately with the demands of the work. But in some areas, the Committee found that officers felt overstretched, strained and stressed. Overtime and extra shift work were perpetually required, and officers had to cancel their leave to return to work. Many even had to give up some of their annual leave to meet the exigencies of service.The Committee also found that some of the most taxed areas of the Home Team are those that deal with the general public. Unfortunately, the experience of the officers has been that, from time to time, they encounter extremely demanding, unreasonable or even abusive members of the public as they discharge their duties.In general, the growths in population and traffic at the checkpoints have outstripped manpower growth in the Home Team. In some areas, this has taken its toll on our officers. Apart from the sheer volume increase, the Home Team also had to deal with new areas, such as in casino regulation and counter terrorism; and Terminal 3 and the Budget Terminal have added to the demands. Security coverage for major events, such as the IMF/ World Bank Annual Meeting in 2006 and the ASEAN Summit in 2007 has also been very taxing.In addition to the increased demands that I have listed, another pressure on manpower in the Home Team is that, in recent years, there have been more resignations due to the economic boom. Pay in the private sector became more attractive. However, the 2007 pay review for the civil service has helped to reduce the outflow.Morale situationMs Lim asked about the impact of the security lapses on the morale of the Home Team and the implications on the security of Singapore. Our officers take pride in their work. They know that Singaporeans expect high standards of them. There was disappointment that lapses occurred and a determination and resolve to do better. But there was also a strongly held view that some of the reactions to the errors were not proportionate. I had, on 21st July, tried to give a sense of how important it is to view security in its complexity and always in its operating context. It is important that we be fair to our officers, even as we expect the best from them.There has been intense scrutiny and at times harsh comments passed on the Home Team. But our officers are resilient. They remain dedicated to their work and are determined to set things right. Time and again, Home Team officers have performed well and risen to challenges under pressure. DPM Wong made an important speech in his recent National Day Observance. He gave his categorical assurance to Home Team officers that all of us appreciate their situation. He added that the Ministry will maintain a pragmatic balance and proper perspective when assessing their performance, rather than simply focusing on lapses only. Our officers have been greatly encouraged to know this.MeasuresMdm Halimah and Ms Lim asked what is being done to deal with the resource shortage. So far, we have tried to cope with the increased demands through outsourcing, introducing technological solutions and other such measures. However, in security work, these cannot be total solutions. People are at the centre of any security system and we need enough good officers to do the job.Recruitment and job redesignIn this regard, we have instructed the Home Team Departments to step up recruitment. We are also reviewing our employment criteria and job scopes to see if we can accept new sources of manpower in specific areas. For instance, we have already started re-employing retired officers. They are experienced and attuned to the needs of the organisation. If emplaced in the right jobs, they can start contributing straightaway once they are re-employed.Ensuring adequate resource levelsBut the fact remains that we will need more resources to cope with the increased demands. And the Ministry of Home Affairs has discussed this with MOF, and MOF has assured the Ministry of Home Affairs of its full support to ensure that the Home Team has adequate resources to meet these demands.The Committee of psychologists and scientists has also reviewed behavioural science studies that calibrate appropriate manning levels for various types of operational processes. The idea is to find the point where our officers feel sufficiently challenged and operate at peak efficiency, without feeling overwhelmed and fatigued. This is something which we think will be useful and serve as a basis for resource requisition.Mitigating human errorThe Committee has also done a best practice survey of the measures that can mitigate human errors and recommended them to the Home Team Departments. For instance, many industries, such as the US aviation sector, have a near miss reporting system. A near miss is an unplanned event that had the potential to go wrong. Identifying near misses allows problems to be surfaced and improvements to be made early. We are also looking into refining the existing system of "after action reviews" to ensure that mistakes and learning points are transmitted more thoroughly to all the officers on the ground. The Office of Chief Science and Technology Office in the Ministry of Home Affairs has also embarked on a review of system interfaces to make them more user friendly and compensate for human oversight.In conclusion, Sir, Home Team officers remain dedicated to the mission of keeping Singapore safe and secure. This is reflected in the sacrifices they have made over the years and continue to make every day. I am confident they will rise to meet the challenges ahead.Ms Sylvia Lim: Sir, the Minister mentioned just now in his answer that attrition among officers has risen due to private market being an alternative career. Has MHA also done any study on push factors that may have caused the officers to resign and what are the key push factors involved? Secondly, Sir, in the Minister's response during the Adjournment Motion at the last sitting, he mentioned the number of overtime hours clocked in by the immigration officers and that came as a surprise to most of us because it seemed quite a large number of overtime hours. Is the Ministry saying that there should actually be a certain number of overtime hours done by the immigration officers and what is the ideal range of overtime hours done or was it something that should have been picked up earlier and perhaps recruitment stepped up earlier?Mr Shanmugam: Sir, when we look at the resignation rate for our officers, for example, if you look at the senior officers, it has gone up from 3.2% to 3.7% and that of junior officers have in fact gone down from 3.7% to 2.3%. We will of course prefer fewer resignations but the situation, in broad terms, remains acceptable and we obviously have to compete with the market. I had said that in 2007, it was a booming market and the pay review has helped, and we believe that with redesignation of job scopes, to try and make it even more attractive and more aggressive recruitment campaign, this issue can be tackled.Secondly, as regards the overtime hours that have been put in, to some extent, as I have tried to explain in my earlier answer, this has been caused by the exigency of the situation. Some of it could have been planned for. A number of events could not be planned for, for example, our checkpoints are beginning to handle so many passengers, particularly the land checkpoints, that they are probably among the busiest in the world. And a number of the requirements, for example, the Woodlands Checkpoints, imposed on our officers cannot be planned for because the episodic demand surges. So it has resulted in our Home Team officers having to be deployed, for us to look carefully at resource allocations to bring officers from the checkpoints which are less busy to the busy areas, and require our officers to do overtime. That is one of the areas that was studied by the committee that was set up by the team of psychologists.In general terms, they have found that the stresses and strains within the system are within acceptable limits. But they have identified a few areas where they feel that we are not optimising the contact point between the stress that is necessary to make any job interesting and, at the same time, making sure that the officers are not over-stressed, and we will look at those.LEGAL PROFESSION (AMENDMENT) BILLMr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, it sounds to me that the Government's foreign talent policy has caught up with the legal profession. But I am not speaking on this issue as I believe that the lawyers are more than capable of speaking up for themselves.Sir, I refer to the proposed amendments to the disciplinary proceedings. A layman's representative used to sit at both the Inquiry Committee as well as the Disciplinary Committee will now be restricted to only the Inquiry Committee. Clause 34 of the Bill amends section 90(1) of the Act to say that the Disciplinary Committee will now consist of only two persons instead of four. The two persons who are dropped from the Committee are the Government legal officer and the layman. Although the Minister has explained briefly the changes in the disciplinary procedures, I think it is useful to recall the reasons why the layman was introduced to the process.Sir, in 1986, the then Second Minister for Law, Prof. Jayakumar, moved amendments to the Legal Profession Act to include lay persons to justify his move. He had said, and I quote, "At present, the persons who sit on the Inquiry Committee and the Disciplinary Committee are all lawyers. The errant member is therefore judged entirely by his peers. This is based on a traditional British practice of self-regulation which grew up in guilds of people in a particular trade, historically. In recent times, the permissive attitude of these self-regulating bodies have created doubts in their willingness to police themselves or to discipline members of their own kind." He continued to say that the inclusion of non-lawyers and of people who are regular users of the services of lawyers will help allay some of the apprehensions caused by the present inhouse nature of the disciplinary process. And the inclusion of lay persons or non-lawyers in the Disciplinary Committee would stop the belief that self-help and mutual forgiveness is the way lawyers maintain standards of professional conduct.Sir, are these concerns for mutual forgiveness and transparency no longer valid now? It is true that under the existing law, the lay persons at the Disciplinary Committee stage cannot vote. Nevertheless, he contributes to the deliberation of the Committee by reminding the Committee of how a client would perceive the event at hand. This would surely provide for a fuller, more informed discussion as to what is fair and just in the circumstances. Let us not forget that the Disciplinary Committee is a very important milestone in the disciplinary process. It is the gatekeeper of whether the lawyer under inquiry should face the court of three judges be struck off or suspended. Care should be taken at such an important stage and the laymen can make important contributions. If our experience has been that the laymen are too busy, perhaps, we should amend the Act to allow more people to qualify as laymen.==============================================ST, 27 Aug 2008Simplistic to say foreign workers depress local payBy Lee Siew Hua, Senior Political CorrespondentIT IS 'very simplistic' to take the position that foreign workers depress the wages of Singaporeans.Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong discredited this view yesterday in his reply to a question from Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim.She said: 'It was reported that there was wage stagnation for the lowest income earners for the last 10 years, and the economists attribute the presence of foreign workers as a downward pressure on residents' wages. Does the minister agree with this assessment?' Replying, Mr Gan noted that foreign workers form a big and growing pool in the services industry. Yet its wages were comparatively better.'In 2007, total wages went up by 5.9 per cent in the overall economy. Services sector wages went up by 6.5 per cent, and this is a sector with growing numbers of foreign workers in 2007.'Therefore the hypothesis that foreign workers depress wages is a very simplistic conclusion which may not be true,' he argued. Ms Lim also cited an Institute of Policy Studies conference last year, at which economists called for a detailed study of Singapore's foreign-worker policies. Will the Government do it, she asked. Mr Gan said the Government constantly monitors the impact of foreign workers on the job market.'We want to make sure that these foreign workers, while adding flexibility to our labour market, will not create a problem for our own local employees.'This flexibility can be seen during a recession, when there would be a 'significant reduction' of these workers. But for local employment, the extent of the decline was 'much smaller', he said.There was no need to do an independent study, he said, adding that his ministry monitors and studies the issue 'continuously because...we need to react quickly when the market changes'.Ms Lim also asked if easy access to foreign workers in the services sector dissuaded bosses from upgrading the skills of locals. Similarly, Madam Ho Geok Choo (West Coast GRC) asked if bosses think hiring Singaporeans would result in 'a loss of productive time' as they have to be sent for training.Mr Gan replied: 'The presence of foreign workers does not hamper the training of our workers.'A survey his ministry did last year shows the level of employer-supported training has been rising from 2002 to 2006 - 'a period when foreign employment also grew'.He reiterated that Singapore has limited local manpower, adding: 'Foreign manpower has helped to augment our local workforce and enabled our economy to grow beyond what our indigenous workforce alone can support.'BALANCING ACT'We want to make sure that these foreign workers, while adding flexibility to our labour market, will not create a problem for our own local employees.' Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong早报26/09/2008低薪工人工资十年不变 归咎于廉价外劳不正确把导致低薪工人工资十年不变的原因归咎于廉价外籍工人并不正确，人力部代部长颜金勇指出，低教育水平和低技能才是造成年长低薪工人的工资无法提升的主要导因，所以政府积极透过培训、工作改造和就业入息补助等多项措施，让他们能争取到更好的工作和待遇。　　颜金勇是针对非选区议员林瑞莲的提问做出答复。人力部今年7月发表的《2007年新加坡工资报告》反映低薪与高薪者之间的收入差距继续扩大，而低薪工人的工资更是十年不变。　　林瑞莲说，一些经济学者认为本地工人的工资因为外劳的出现而被压低，另外也有学者在政策研究院（IPS）最近主办的一项论坛上提到，政府放宽外劳和移民政策所创造出的新经济环境令低薪工人吃亏。　　颜金勇反驳外籍工人压低本地工人工资的论点，并指出这是个“过于简单化的结论”。他以外籍工人比例不断上升的服务业为例，说明外籍工人的出现不但没有压低反而促使该行业员工的工资呈强劲增长。　　本地去年整体平均工资增长幅度是5.9％，服务业员工的工资增幅则高达6.5％。　　颜金勇指出，工资最低的清洁、劳务和合约领域一般雇用较多年长工人，这些工人有些可能以前没有就业，教育水平和技能水平都不高，所以主要从事较简易、入行门槛不高的工作，而这些工作的工资向来偏低。　　他强调，政府已经采取措施，为他们提供培训、提升他们的技能、改造低薪工作，帮助他们投入一些高增值的工作，以赚取更高的工资。清洁和保安就是其中两个经历工作改造的行业。　　受访的学者也同意外劳并非导致低薪工人工资被压低的原因。　　新加坡国立大学应用与政策经济中心主任山得锐（Shandre M Thangavelu）认为，随着我国制造业朝高增值发展，许多被裁退的制造业工人只好转而投入入行门槛较低的服务业，问题是像零售业的工作大多没有竞争力，所以工资很难获得提升。山得锐指出，以人手短缺的海事业为例，它的工资并不低，但是本地人却不愿加入这一行，业者必须雇用外籍工人来维持竞争力。　　他认为，政府已经推出多项计划为低薪工人提供培训，低薪工人要争取更好的工资，就应该把握这些培训机会。Liberalisation of legal profession worries lawyer-MPsBy Lydia Lim, Senior Political CorrespondentOPPOSITION Member of Parliament Low Thia Khiang neatly summed up yesterday's main debate when he declared dryly that 'the Government's foreign talent policy has caught up with the legal profession'. The House yesterday passed the Legal Profession (Amendment) Bill. It paves the way for the opening up of the legal services sector, which has long been insulated from foreign competition.Six of the nine MPs who joined the debate are practising lawyers.Unsurprisingly, perhaps, three of them rose to express their concern that the liberalisation would lead to local firms being marginalised.Leading the charge was Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines GRC), who said that foreign firms, with their bigger names and deeper pockets, would cream off the best young lawyers and leave local firms bereft of top talent.He also cited Hong Kong as an example of a market where the dominance of foreign firms had stunted the growth of local firms, and prevented their development into major regional or international players.'We know it because unlike before, our first preference when it comes to engaging Hong Kong law firms these days are the international firms and not the local ones,' Mr Sin said.Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) seconded that view.With 17 years of practice under his belt, he expressed confidence that Singapore's best legal minds 'are more than a match' for their counterparts in the top international firms.'But the glitter and the deep pockets that these foreign firms have will present local firms with serious issues,' he said.Some clients will engage foreign firms for high-end corporate work simply on the basis of their name and standing, he predicted.'Today, Singapore firms get involved in international deals to advise on Singapore law issues. By this involvement, our local firms build up their skills and expertise. Now there's a serious risk that they will be bypassed,' he said.The new law allows a few selected foreign firms to practise certain types of Singapore law, through Singapore-qualified lawyers.Mr Sin, Mr Nair and Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) asked Law Minister K.Shanmugam if he was sure that the liberalisation would grow the economic pie for everyone, and not just for the foreign big boys.Yesterday's debate stood out from many others heard in the House because it is rare for a policy to hit PAP MPs so directly where it hurts - their pockets.For once, these MPs were not speaking on behalf of poor and underprivileged constituents hard hit by restructuring. They were speaking up for themselves.Economic restructuring has been part of the local landscape for a decade but the lawyer-politicians on the backbench are only now feeling its shockwaves.It seems fitting that the only other legislation passed yesterday was the Skills Development Levy (Amendment) Bill, which widens the scope of the levy beyond the upgrading needs of low-skilled workers to include the training needs of all workers.Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong explained that with 'economic restructuring, faster skills obsolescence and shorter job tenures, every worker, regardless of educational or skills level, must continually upgrade and update his skills in order to stay relevant and do his work better'.Yesterday's debate showed that those at the top are no less resistant than those at the bottom to change that forces them out of their comfort zone.In his response to the lawyer-MPs, Mr Shanmugam stressed that in making policy decisions, one has to 'leave aside emotion' and focus on where the benefits to Singapore, as a whole, lie.Did it lie in protecting local firms, or in opening up the market and 'allowing broader competition and broader choice to our young lawyers, and hoping that one day, both in the foreign law firms and in Singapore law firms, you will have a substantial number of Singapore qualified lawyers at management positions, and as a result create a more vibrant economic legal market?''When that calculation comes through, it cannot be dominated by emotion,' he said.The reality is that globalisation will leave no one untouched.And the faster Singaporeans of all income and education levels wake up to that fact, the better.As Mr Nair acknowledged, lawyers in local firms will just have to face up to the challenge of making themselves relevant in a globalised economy.'Some will succeed, others may not, but all must be prepared for change,' he said.早报，27 Aug 2008咖啡阿嫂与律师● 游润恬　　咖啡阿嫂和顶尖律师事务所的合伙人，想不到还有一个相同的苦恼——大家都面对外来的竞争。　　本地律师事务所长期垄断国内法律市场，以往外国律师不能上庭，而处理涉及新加坡法律的案件时也受到一定的限制。不过，这个竞争空间即将经历翻天覆地的改变。　　律政部去年接纳了由最高法院上诉庭法官VK拉惹领导的九人委员会所提呈的报告，决定开放法律服务业，以维护国家的整体发展利益。如此一来，实力雄厚的外国律师事务所将对本地大型律师事务所构成最直接的威胁。　　有趣的状况出现了：国会里从事律师业的议员们是会帮着同行大声打报不平，还是会以理智的声音去呼吁同行坦然面对竞争？　　本地四大律师事务所之一的德尊（Drew & Napier）的两名董事，即议员陈文安（淡滨尼集选区）和哈里古玛（碧山—大巴窑集选区），昨天都在国会对法律专业（修正）法案进行二读时，表现了对外国律师事务所进军本地市场的抗拒。　　他们指出，外国律师事务所以高薪招揽优秀的年轻律师，加剧了本地律师事务所人才难求的局面。另外，外国律师事务所知名度较高，还可能抢走本地律师事务所的生意，本地律师斗不过“过江龙”，也只好靠边站。　　这两名议员锲而不舍地跟律师出身的律政部长尚穆根辩论，使议事厅仿佛变成了控辩双方雄辩的法庭。陈文安呼吁政府不能牺牲本地人的利益，以及不应采取“不惜一切去发展经济”的政策。他形容本地律师事务所为“新加坡团队”，还认为一旦到了紧要关头，外国律师事务所必定会牺牲新加坡的利益。他也不忍心看着多年来与新加坡一起成长的本土律师楼在历史课本上沦为不起眼的脚注，并且表示开放市场对本地律师事务所是“致命的一拳”。　　这些煽情的话语，听起来和本地工人抗拒外来工人的论调似曾相识。反对党议员刘程强（后港区）就一针见血地表示：“看来律师们也开始感受到政府欢迎外来人才政策所带来的后果。”　　政府是公平的。当咖啡嫂埋怨生计被中国啤酒女郎抢走时，政府请她们接受外来人才能加大经济大饼的事实。当担任律师的议员们纷纷对让外国律师事务所进军本地市场表示抗拒时，政府也请他们务必接受经济开放和全球化所带来的挑战。尚穆根表示他体谅律师们的顾虑，但是从国家政策的角度来看，开放律师业不但能满足金融界的需要，并提高国内生产总值，还能为本地年轻律师提供更多更诱人的就业机会。　　他指出，政府不能为了保护少数大型律师事务所和它们的高级合伙人，而牺牲掉多数人的利益。他也强调政府其实早在九年前就暗示将开放法律服务市场，本地律师事务所应该有充足的时间作好备战准备。Black sheep? Baa to thatBy K.C. Vijayan, Law CorrespondentARE there really many black sheep in the legal profession?Dr Teo Ho Pin, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Law and Home Affairs, annoyed those among his colleagues who are lawyers yesterday when he portrayed those in the profession as guilty of an 'increasing trend' of misdemeanours.He pointed to a recent Straits Times report which listed the country's top 10 fugitives in terms of money stolen. Six are lawyers.These cases affect the professionalism and integrity of the legal profession, he said, while highlighting complaints from his residents involving lawyers. These related to gross overcharging, misleading statements and other forms of misconduct.'This increasing trend of lawyers' misconduct and complaints is disturbing and of concern to the general public,' he said.His remarks drew stinging rebuttals from four lawyers in the House.Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) said: 'It's because a vast majority of lawyers are honest and honourable that when one falls, it makes the news and the public expresses its surprise and outrage...I think we will really be in trouble when lawyers fall and no one really thinks much about it.'Once that was cleared up, they turned their discussion to the new composition of the disciplinary tribunal which hears cases against errant lawyers.One change to the Legal Profession Act passed yesterday aims to speed up the disciplinary hearings against lawyers by introducing a two-member disciplinary tribunal to replace the current four-man panel.Two MPs voiced concerns about the composition of the tribunal. Rather than just two members, they suggested three.Mr Nair noted that if the two members disagreed, the decision of the tribunal's president - who is either a Senior Counsel, retired judge or Judicial Commissioner - would prevail. This meant the fate of the lawyer would be 'in the hands of one person'.The initial plan was for a one-man tribunal, but it was changed to two after strong objections by the Law Society.Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang) questioned the exclusion of laymen from the new tribunal.In 1986, a layman was made part of the four-member tribunal. The then Second Law Minister S. Jayakumar said that this was to stop the 'belief that self-help and mutual forgiveness is the way lawyers maintain the standards of professional conduct'. Mr Low asked if these concerns were no longer valid. Replying to Mr Low's point, Law Minister K. Shanmugan said tribunal hearings are 'quasi-criminal', with 'everything recorded'. In addition, 20 years of experience of having a layman on the tribunal showed that this delayed proceedings.The need for statutory declarations to support complaints lodged against lawyers was also queried. Nominated MP Gautam Banerjee called it an 'unnecessary inconvenience' and 'intimidating' to the layman.But Mr Shanmugam said: 'A complainant who has a genuine complaint is unlikely to be deterred by this requirement.'What it would deter would be the 'large number' of people who just want to file a complaint but do not believe in their facts, he said.The requirement for a statutory declaration already exists for complaints against doctors, architects and engineers, he noted.