MUNICIPAL (AMENDMENT) BILL

11.25 a.m.

First Reading

The Attorney-General (Mr C. H. Butterfield): Sir, I have to introduce a Bill intituled "An Ordinance to amend the Municipal Ordinance (Chapter 133 of the 1936 Edition)".

Bill read the First time.

Second Reading

Mr Speaker: Second Reading, what day?

Mr Butterfield: Now, Sir. I have to lay upon the Table, Sir, a Certificate of Urgency signed by His Excellency the Governor stating that it is necessary for this Bill to be proceeded with throughout all its stages until it has been read the Third time.

Certificate of Urgency handed in.

Mr Speaker: The Certificate is in order. Are typed copies of the Bill available for Members?

Mr Butterfield: Yes, Sir.

Typed copies of the Bill handed in to the Clerk and distributed to hon. Members.

Mr Speaker: Please proceed, Mr Attorney-General.

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

Sir, I think hon. Members will have appreciated from the debate on the Bill which has just been passed by this Assembly that the future position on the City Council of persons who are Members of this Assembly, whether they be Assistant Ministers or not, will be uncertain unless some amendment is made to the Municipal Ordinance which makes provision for the qualifications of City Councillors. This Bill, Sir, is accordingly designed to remove that uncertainty and it does so by amendments to the law which, in the first place, provide in effect that a person holding the office of Assistant Minister or Member of the Assembly shall not be disqualified from election or appointment as a City Councillor; and, in the second place, that the seat of a City Councillor will not become vacant in the event of his becoming an Assistant Minister or Member of the Assembly.

There is a further amendment, Sir, proposed by this Bill to which I think I should refer. It should be made abundantly clear that the provisions of the Municipal Ordinance under which the holder of an office of emolument under the Crown is disqualified from acting as a City Councillor relate only to cases where the office is under the Crown in the Colony and not where it is an office under the Crown in respect of the Government of the United Kingdom.

Finally, Sir, since under the Municipal Ordinance persons are disqualified from acting as City Councillors if they hold an office of emolument under the City Council, it has been thought prudent to include a provision on the lines of that proposed by clause 4 which, in effect, says that the receipt of an allowance from acting as a City Councillor is not a disqualification. I think, Sir, that hon. Members will already have received a notice of an amendment which I propose to move to that clause at the Committee stage and that amendment, Sir, is designed to substitute for the proposed new section 8B one which is more comprehensive in its effect. I think, Sir, I shall not say anything more on that now, and I accordingly beg to move.

Question proposed.

11.30 a.m.

Mr Lim Koon Teck: Mr Speaker, Sir, I had hoped that the mover of this Bill would give an indication whether or not the Assistant Minister for Labour and Welfare would resign from the City Council, but by his not making any statement, I presume the intention is that he will stay.

Sir, I think this amendment should be treated under two parts - one, the position of City Councillors, and the second, the position of Assistant Ministers. Where the City Councillors are concerned, they only draw an allowance of $200 a month. This allowance is meant to compensate a City Councillor for his transport and the clerical services which he would have to employ for the performance of his duties on the City Council. Where the Assistant Minister is concerned, it is entirely a different proposition. One can say that an allowance is not an emolument under the Crown, because all of us in this Assembly draw allowances and I should hate o be treated also as a person holding an office of emolument under the Crown, thereby having to assume the mantle of Caesar's wife. There may be arguments whether an allowance is or is not an emolument under the Crown, but there is no shadow of doubt that where a person is an Assistant Minister and is drawing a very fat salary from the Government, he must be regarded as being in the service of the Crown. I cannot see legally how he can avoid being treated as an officer under the Crown.

There is another objection to the Assistant Minister for Labour and Welfare being on the City Council. Not only is he fully paid for his job, but at the present moment he is doing practically all the work of the Minister for Labour and Welfare, because we know that the Chief Minister is holding two jobs - his own job as Chief Minister and his other job as Minister for Labour and Welfare. Since the Chief Minister's time is so much taken up with the work of the Assembly, guiding the Government and in negotiations with the Colonial Office for merdeka, how can the Assistant Minister for Labour and Welfare justify taking away his time from doing the work not only of the Minister for Labour and Welfare but also his own work as Assistant Minister? If he can do both jobs, it means that the office of Assistant Minister for Labour and Welfare is not necessary. If he wants to draw the pay of an Assistant Minister, then we feel that he must resign from his seat on the City Council. Therefore, Sir, we object to this Bill on the ground that an Assistant Minister should not sit on the City Council.

11.35 a.m.

Mr Lim Choon Mong: Mr Speaker, Sir, the debate this morning seems to have cast a doubt as to whether a Member of the Legislative Assembly is also a Government servant. In fact, I think Government has never regarded it in that light. In so far as amenities are concerned, I think Assemblymen are treated as private citizens. There are no such things as a pension, free medical service and all the other privileges that come from being a government servant. Furthermore we have been told that the $500 which an Assemblyman gets is not a salary but just an allowance.

I am connected with many sports organisations and these pay a transport allowance to their coaches, but the coaches are not treated as people in their employ and paid salaries. They still retain their amateur status. I would really hate to be regarded as a government servant and subject to the wrong side of General Orders and not benefiting from the fact of being a government servant. There is absolutely no doubt, Sir, that Members of this Assembly, if they are not receiving salaries, such as Assistant Ministers or Ministers, should not be regarded as government servants.

On the question of the Assistant Minister being provided for in this Bill and being exempted, I think it is very unfair to create this situation, then rectify it and then make sure that the Labour Front has an extra vote in the City Council. I put it to you, Sir, that they have power to appoint anybody they like in the City Council, and even if this Labour Fronter chose to leave the City Council and thereby vacate his seat, they could still appoint another Labour Fronter to take his place. They have done it before. There is one nominated City Councillor by the name of Miss Wee Kiat Neo. I think she is the Assistant General Secretary of the Labour Front. .1 think this is a direct appointment of a Party member and is a Party bias -

Mr Speaker: Order. Can the hon. Member indicate how those statements relate to this Bill?

Mr Lim Choon Mong: Sir, I am urging that the Assistant Minister in this case can resign and there will be no loss to the number of votes in the City Council.

Mr Speaker: Order. The hon. Member is then, of course, implying an improper motive. That is out of order.

Mr Lim Choon Mong: I am obliged to you, Sir, for drawing my attention to this and, of course, I think the attention of the public is similarly drawn. All in all, Sir, I feel that I do not like to see the words "Assistant Minister" included in clause 2.

Mr Butterfield rose -

Mr Speaker: In reply, Mr Attorney-General?

Mr Butterfield: Yes, Sir. In reply, Sir, I think I shall be very brief and I shall deal only with two points which have been raised. The first, I think, was made by the Member for Paya Lebar when - I think I am right in saying - he said that there could be no doubt that an Assistant Minister is the holder of an office of emolument under the Crown and is therefore disqualified. All I would say in answer to that is, because that point is appreciated, that the amendments to the Municipal Ordinance are now proposed by this Bill in order to provide that he will not be disqualified.

With regard to the observations made by the Member for Serangoon, I did try to explain in moving the Bill which preceded this one in the Order Paper that so far as the position of Members of the Legislative Assembly is concerned, the point is a technical one. I have referred to the provisions in the Colony Order in Council and I have stated that it is doubtful, and it is because of the doubts which some of us responsible for considering questions of this kind entertain on the matter that the provisions of this Bill provide, in effect, that there shall no longer be any doubt.

Mr Lim Koon Teck: On a point of information, Sir. I take it that, from this remark, the Hon. the Attorney-General agrees with me that the Assistant Minister is disqualified.

Mr Butterfield: What I have said is that, because of the view which I have expressed in moving the Second Reading of the other Bill that Assistant Ministers are disqualified under the existing law, legislation has now been introduced.

Question put.

Hon. Members: Division, Sir

Mr Speaker: Clear the lobbies.

The House divided: Ayes, 16; Noes, 11; Abstentions, 2. Ayes Noes Abdul Hamid bin Haji Jumat. Ahmad bin Ibrahim. Braga, A. J. Ede, John. Butterfield, C. H. Goh Chew Chua. Chew Swee Kee. Goh Tong Liang. Goode, W. A. C. Jumabhoy, R. Hart, T. M. Lee Kuan Yew. Jumabhoy, J. M. Lim Cher Kheng. Lim, R. C. H. Lim Choon Mong. Lim Yew Hock. Lim Koon Teck. Marshall, D. S. Seah Peng Chuan. Mohd. Sidik bin Haji Abdul Hamid. Tan, William. Nair, M. P. D. Sutherland, G. A. P. Abstentions Tan Theng Chiang. Thomas, Francis. Lee Choon Eng. Wong Foo Nam. Mak Pak Shee. Absent Lazarous, A. R. Lim Ching Siong. Ong Piah Teng.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.