MUSLIMS BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

10.59 a.m.

The Chief Secretary (Mr W. A. C. Goode): Sir, I have the consent of His Excellency the Governor under Standing Order 33 (1) (a) to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The principles of a Bill to repeal and re-enact the law relating to Muslims and, in particular, to regulate the registration of marriages and divorces and to establish a Shariah Court have already been accepted by this House at the last session when a Bill, in almost identical terms, passed its Second Reading in February and was referred to a Select Committee. Unfortunately, that Select Committee was not able to complete its work and report the Bill before the end of the session, and so that Bill has lapsed.

With one important exception, this present Bill reproduces the clauses of the previous Bill. A number of comparatively minor amendments of draft ing or on points of details have been made and they are the result of the detailed consideration that was given to the previous Bill. The important exception is the omission from this Bill of the provision which was made in clause 47 of the previous Bill and that provision was that, in the case of any Muslim dying testate after the coming into force of the Bill, the law of Islam should apply. That clause, Sir, raised an important question of principle, namely, whether it is right to enforce, by law, the observance of the teachings of a particular religion by the individual members of that religion. That clause would impose a major restriction on the freedom of the individual, in this case, any Muslim, to dispose of his property by will in any way he pleases; and this would be a radical departure from the previously accepted principle that in this community of many religious beliefs and customs, while the State can quite properly provide, by law, facilities for the members of a particular religion to practise their religion, the State should not, in principle, compel anyone to do so but should leave it to the free conscience of the individual to observe his religious doctrine or not. Indeed, clause 47 of the previous Bill was challenged in this House in the debate on the Second Reading when, I think it was, the Member for Telok Ayer drew attention to the point that, while in his view it was perfectly proper in the case of a Muslim dying intestate without a will that his property should be distributed according to Muslim law, it was not right, in his view, that where a Muslim made a will he should not be free to dispose of his property as he pleased, whether or not it was in accordance with the law of Islam. This question of whether or not to include this clause has caused great controversy. I think it is well known that it was difficulty over the principle of this clause which delayed the work of the previous Select Committee and prevented it from reporting the Bill before the end of the session.

As I have said, Sir, that clause has been omitted from the present Bill which is now before the Assembly, and I must accept responsibility for omitting that clause, and the reason was my keen desire to enact, without further delay, the non-controversial clauses of this Bill which will undoubtedly be of great benefit to the Muslim community here. I was very anxious, Sir, to get established without further delay the procedure for registration of marriages and divorces and the Shariah Court, matters on which we are all agreed and which are so badly needed, and I did not wish to delay getting these benefits to the Muslim community through controversy over this one particular clause and the two or three provisions related to it. I hoped that perhaps these additional provisions could be made, if it was so wished, by one of my colleagues introducing an amending Bill which could be done after the Bill as now drafted has been enacted. But since the publication of this Bill, it has become evident that the vast majority of Muslim opinion is very strongly in favour of including a clause on the lines of the old clause 47. I have received very strong representations from the Muslim Advisory Board and I am advised that the whole of U.M.N.O. is solidly behind including a clause on those lines, and the views of the Muslim Advisory Board have been supported, to me, by the Inter-religious Organisation of Singapore and Johore. We have therefore come to the conclusion that the vast majority of Muslims would prefer that a clause on those lines should be included in the Bill even at the cost of delaying somewhat its final enactment. The Government has therefore decided to meet the wishes of the Muslim community so widely and so strongly expressed, and at the Committee stage I shall introduce a new clause on the lines of the old clause 47. In fairness, Sir, I should say that there has, of course, been opposition to including this clause, and this opposition is supported by a number of leading Muslims. So that hon. Members may appreciate the issue, I will, if I may, state very briefly the main points which have been made against including a clause on the lines of the old clause 47.

Mr Speaker: Order, Mr Chief Secretary. There is a notice, item 4 in the Order Paper, of a motion standing in your name,

"That it be an instruction to the Select Committee on the Muslims Bill to consider amendments to the Bill to provide that no Muslim shall dispose of his property by will except in accordance with Muslim law."

Do I take it then, Mr Chief Secretary, from what you are saying, that it is not your intention to move that motion?

Mr Goode: Sir, I am moving that motion.

Mr Speaker: In that case, perhaps the Chief Secretary will not anticipate an item on the Order Paper - his comments could well come under item 4 in the Order Paper?

Mr Goode: As you wish, Sir.I will therefore come back to the arguments for and against the including of clause 47 al a later stage when I move the motion tc which you have just referred, Sir.

Perhaps at this stage I need say no more, then, than to draw the attention of the House to the fact that I do intend to move this Bill to a Select Committee, and in doing that, I shall move two further motions - one asking that the minutes of, the evidence given before the previous Select Committee which covered these important points should be referred to that Select Committee; and the second motion will be a motion asking that the Select Committee should specifically consider introducing an amendment on these lines, and in moving that last amendment, I will endeavour to initiate a debate now on that principle so that hon. Members may have a chance of understanding the issues and those who so wish of expressing their views. Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.