DEPARTMENTAL TITLES (ALTERATION) ORDINANCE, 1950

Mr Higham: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the motion standing in my name,

That this Assembly, in accordance with section 3 of the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Ordinance, 1950 (No. 10 of 1950) resolves that the Schedule to the said Ordinance be amended by the deletion under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office" respectively of the items shown in Part I, and by the addition under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office" respectively of the items shown in Part II, of the Schedule contained in Sessional Paper No. S.L. 36 of 1955.

Sir, it is rather a formidable sounding motion, but I do assure the House that it really means very little at all. It is a pure formality. Since the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Ordinance was enacted in 1950, there have been several changes of title due to constitutional changes and for other reasons, and it is necessary to validate the statutory acts performed by the Government officers in the Schedule. The sole purpose of this motion, therefore, is that officers may be able to fulfil their statutory requirements under their correct titles.

Mr Lim Yew Hock: Sir, I rise to second the motion.

Question proposed.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew (Tanjong Pagar): Mr Speaker, Sir, this is another step forward to Merdeka! We used to call him the Deputy Commissioner for Excise, and now we call him the Assistant Comptroller of Customs. We used to call him the Curator of the Herbarium, and now we call him the Keeper of the Herbarium, Botanical Gardens. We used to call him the Controller of Labour, and now we call him the Commissioner for Labour! No one will object to this change to more progressive titles. But let us all hope and pray that, with this change of titles, there will come a change in the spirit in which their holders discharge their duties. We have the same persons imbued with the same spirit, having the same old concepts and the same old habits, but now they are clothed with a different constitution - not quite as radical as we would wish them to be. If they could meet the changing circumstances and the changing times with a spirit that could infuse in this new constitution a meaning which those who framed it perhaps might not have fully intended, then I say we may yet have a future, not altogether as dark and bleak as one would imagine looking at the Chief Minister in his present mood -

The Chief Minister: I am bored.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: I am sorry, Mr Speaker, Sir, that he has had occasion to be bored with an empty House. I fully appreciate that the Chief Minister is a person who likes to -

The Chief Minister: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, Sir. May I respectfully submit that the speaker is not speaking to the question of whether or no this motion should proceed? He is introducing something completely outside the motion.

Mr Speaker: Your point of order, I take it, Mr Chief Minister, is as to whether the speech is relevant?

The Chief Minister: That is so, Sir.

Mr Speaker: I understand that the Member is trying to imply that a change of name implies a change of conduct. Perhaps he can cut his speech short?

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am much obliged to the Chair for having put my intention in such a kind manner. After all, even if we were to change, for instance, the title of Chief Minister to that of Prime Minister - if we still have the same constitution with the same sort of petulant and petty spirit with which the office of Chief Minister might have been infused - then we would not really have made much progress -

The Chief Minister: On a point of order, Sir. I would enquire from you, Mr Speaker, Sir, whether it is appropriate that terms of that character should be applied to a Member of the House and to the Chief Minister?

Mr Speaker: The objection, I take it, was the use of the word "petulant"?

The Chief Minister: Various terms of abuse, Sir.

Mr Speaker: If the Member implied that the Chief Minister is petulant, then, of course, he was completely out of order. He must withdraw that word.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Far be it from me to imply that the Chief Minister is petulant! All I was suggesting was a hypothetical case. If the title of Chief Minister is changed to that of Prime Minister, it would not make much difference if, in fact, the same spirit infused the Prime Ministership as infused the Chief Ministership. What I was trying to convey, Mr Speaker, Sir, was that with a change in titles, there should come a change in the spirit with which these persons who have been invested with authority discharge their duties.

We, perhaps more on the Opposition Benches than on the Government Benches, realise the deep significance of the age we are passing through. It is a time when changes in outward trappings, unless accompanied by a dynamic and a decisive change in spirit, will reach a stage where we will begin to make-believe. We begin to change names and become completely unrealistic and completely mad. Whilst we all support this Bill to call people by their right names and make them sound more democratic, we would like to add this note - that it is important that they not only sound democratic, but that they should act in a democratic manner.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this Assembly, in accordance with section 3 of the Departmental Titles (Alteration) Ordinance, 1950 (No. 10 of 1950) resolves that the Schedule to the said Ordinance be amended by the deletion under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office" respectively of the items shown in Part I, and by the addition under the headings of "Old Title or Name of Office" and "New Title or Name of Office" respectively of the items shown in Part II, of the Schedule contained in Sessional Paper No. S.L. 36 of 1955.