ASSEMBLY HOUSE

Mr William Tan asked the Chief Secretary if he will state the earliest date when the whole of Assembly House will be placed under the jurisdiction of the Speaker.

Mr Goode: I regret I am not able to give any date.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Would the Chief Secretary not agree that there is a danger, as long as the Chief Minister meets the people in this building, that the public at large may confuse this Assembly with part of the meet-the-people circus? [Interruption.]

Mr Goode: If I am asked to express my opinion, it is "No".

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Mr Speaker, Sir, will the Chief Secretary tell us if any effort at all is being made to remove all the unlawful occupants of this building - unlawful in the sense that these people should never have been allowed to remain or to enter this building after Mr Speaker took office?

The Chief Minister: P.A.P. definition of law!

Mr Goode: I assume, Sir, that the hon. Member is referring in his usual courteous terms to my friend and leader the Chief Minister. As far as I am concerned, Sir, he is not an unlawful occupant of this building and I am making no effort at all to get him out.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Does the Chief Secretary now admit that, when he said to the Assembly sometime last year, in answer to my question, that he was making attempts to provide other accommodation for the Chief Minister and his P.R.O., that that was a statement of untruth?

Mr Goode: I would refer the hon. Member, Sir, to the reply that I did give, which was that we were engaged in surveying our accommodation and planning for the future. I have not departed from that at all.