UNDESIRABLE PUBLICATIONS (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

Mr Butterfield: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, this Bill is designed to remedy two defects in the Undesirable Publications Ordinance, 1938, which, in its present form, is designed to prevent the importation of undesirable publications from abroad.

Sir, the first of these defects is that the Ordinance does not apply to undesirable publications made within Singapore by the use of unlicensed printing presses, and clauses 2, 3 and 4 of the Bill are designed to remedy that defect.

Sir, the second defect is that the Ordinance does not provide for action to be taken in respect of publications which constitute a danger to security where they are made outside Singapore until after they have been imported. That is because, Sir, it is not till then that they ordinarily come to the notice of the authorities. Clause 5, Sir, has therefore been drafted to remedy this second defect. What that clause does, Sir, is to provide machinery for the examination of packages coming into Singapore, and also for the examination of travellers entering Singapore, together with their baggage. It further provides, Sir, for the detention and confiscation and destruction of publications which may be found during the course of such examination if those publications are, in the opinion of the Controller, - and I use the words of the Bill - "prejudicial to public safety in Malaya and the maintenance of public order therein."

In this connection, Sir, I think I should invite the attention of this Assembly to the concluding provisions of the Bill - the last part of the proposed new clause 13 - which provide that in the exercise of their powers and in carrying out their duties under the Ordinance, Controllers shall be guided by such general or special directions as may, from time to time, be given by the Chief Secretary.

To conclude, Sir, the Bill is designed to prevent the importation, sale and circulation in Singapore of documents prejudicial to public safety in Malaya and the maintenance of public order therein, and the need for this, Sir, I hope, requires no emphasis.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Mr Speaker, Sir, it is difficult to disagree wholly with this Bill. It is difficult also to agree to give such wide, discretionary and absolute powers to officials whose sense of what is likely to be prejudicial to public safety may not coincide with that which obtains amongst right-thinking domiciled persons in this country.

There should have been some check on the exercise of these discretionary powers, some check by which this House and the public can be acquainted how these powers have been exercised from time to time. There is nothing in this Ordinance, as it stands, which requires the Chief Secretary or the Controller to say what particular publication or publications, document or documents he has impounded or sent back to its place of origin, or destroyed. There is no reason if the powers are properly exercised why the public, and in particular this Legislature, should not be informed of the manner in which these powers have, in fact, been exercised.

I hope that the Government will give this matter further thought so that it can be considered at the Committee stage of the Bill.

The Chief Minister: If it please you, Mr Speaker, Sir, I am indebted to the Member for Tanjong Pagar for drawing attention to that aspect of the Bill. I can assure the House that there is never any question of this Government seeking lightly to give any officer, whether domiciled or expatriate, wide powers without some curb.

I can also assure hon. Members - not only the Member for Tanjong Pagar - that any amendments of which they may care to give us notice, will receive the most careful consideration in order to meet the quite legitimate objection raised by the hon. Member in his speech.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

Mr Speaker: Committee stage, what day?

Mr Butterfield: 12th October, Sir.