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49. Mr Wee Siew Kim and Zainul Abidin Rasheed have
suggested that public agencies need to be more
pro-enterprise. For example, they suggested that
some small businesses should be allowed to operate
at void decks.
50. We have relaxed rules for small businesses.
We used to be very stringent and some of the
regulations were overly restrictive. We review
and update them on an ongoing basis. For example,
we now allow small businesses like car cleaning
and mobile ice cream kiosks in HDB car parks,
provided they do not affect the parking needs
of residents, they do not create nuisance to
the residents, or compromise the safety of car
park users. We have also liberalised street hawking
so vendors can sell food like ice cream, which
does not perish so easily, in housing estates
and car parks. Last year, we included newspapers
and costume jewellery because, in the downturn,
we felt this is one way people would be able
to make a little bit of money for themselves
and tide over their family.
51. But many of the conditions and rules are there
for some reason, and we cannot remove rules which
are necessary for public safety or for the living
environment. HDB has drawn the line on using
void decks for commercial activities. I think
we have to be fair to the people who live upstairs,
especially on the second floor, and we have to
preserve the residential character of the housing
blocks. I would be careful about having char
kway teow or something like that; the more fragrant
it is, the bigger the problem upstairs.
52. But it does not mean that rules will never
be changed. The position is continually open
and we will review our rules as business needs
change, and as views evolve on what the public
considers acceptable, in terms of level of safety,
convenience and public order.
53. So, I encourage members to keep on raising
the subject and pushing the boundaries. With
this dynamic tension, from what you think will
be good and what we feel we can do, we will be
able to become more pro-enterprise. I hope that
in the process, Members will be able to understand
what are the constraints and real problems.
54. Inderjit Singh has asked us to be patient before
asking about results from the entrepreneurship
promotion efforts. I also ask that he and other
Members be equally patient because it will take
time for the pro-enterprise mindset to become
entrenched. But, we have success stories and
we have outcomes which we can be proud of. For
example, there is a home-grown sheet metal fabricator
and machining company called Eng Tic Lee Achieve,
which acquired new capabilities and became the
first company in Southeast Asia to manufacture
pharmaceutical packaging machines in partnership
with a leading German equipment manufacturer.
Many others have also made their mark in the
region in China, in India, and also now in new
markets in the Middle East. As we continue with
efforts to improve entrepreneurship, I am confident
we will have many more success stories to celebrate.
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