LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY (POWERS AND PRIVILEGES) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

The Attorney-General (Mr E. J. Davies): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, this is perhaps a historic occasion, for it is the first time that a Legislature of this colony has been empowered to determine and regulate, by law, its privileges, immunities and powers and those of its Members. That power stems from the provisions of the Colonial Laws Validity Act of 1865, and it has been expressly conferred on this Assembly by section 65 of the Singapore Colony Order in Council in 1955. The only limitation on that power is that our privileges and immunities shall not exceed those of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, and it is this limitation which has given the draftsmen of this measure considerable anxiety and concern, because Members realise the powers and privileges of the House of Commons are not found concisely or comprehensively set out in any statute or, for that matter, in any instrument. They have been developed through the centuries by trial and experiment, and they now form a complex law in which only experts are fully at home.

We have therefore been compelled to look for some statute or ordinance which defines the powers and privileges of colonial legislatures, and we have been advised by experts on Parliamentary procedure, particularly those officers employed at the Table of the House of Commons, to take as models the ordinances of Nigeria and Kenya which have received their approval and, indeed, their blessing. We have accepted this advice, and the provisions of this Bill, as indicated in the Objects and Reasons attached to the printed copy of the Bill, follow those models very closely with only those formal adaptations which are strictly necessary for local application. In these circumstances, I would earnestly ask Members of this Legislative Assembly to accept the provisions of this Bill without question and without cavil, and I hope that that plea will be indulgently accepted by hon. Members.

The particular provisions of the Bill are, I venture to think, fully and adequately explained in the Objects and Reasons attached to the printed copy of the Bill, and I venture to think and hope that they require no further elaboration or amplification, or, indeed, even more comment from me.

Sir, I beg to move.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew (Tanjong Pagar): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would wish to seek clarification from the Hon. the Attorney-General on clause 24 (1) (e) of this Bill which reads:

"Any person who publishes any report of a Committee of the Assembly or of any evidence given or any documents presented to such committee or extracts from such documents, before such committee has presented its report to the Assembly, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for twelve months or to both such fine and imprisonment."

Mr Speaker: Order, order.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Yes, Sir?

Mr Speaker: Mr Lee, the debate should be on the general merits and principles of the Bill at this stage. Your point can be raised in Committee.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Thank you, Sir. I am much obliged, Mr Speaker, Sir.

Mr Speaker: Nobody else wishes to speak? I will put the Question.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.