SOLICITOR-GENERAL'S POST (Malayanisation)

Mr Lee Kuan Yew asked the Chief Minister whether it is the intention of the Government to Malayanise the post of Solicitor-General which has become vacant.

The Chief Minister (Mr Lim Yew Hock): The post of Solicitor-General is not one of those posts set out in Sessional Paper No. Cmd. 55 of 1956 to be malayanised immediately. It is a post to which local officers and expatriate officers who are asked to remain in service can aspire during the next five years. The Member for Tanjong Pagar is referred to the heading "Legal Service" in the Schedule of the Sessional Paper referred to, and also to the conditions under which expatriate officers are asked to remain in service, as set out in paragraph 11 of the same paper.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Does the Chief Minister not agree that if we are to malayanise the job of Attorney-General in the not too distant future, it should be desirable to have a Malayan Solicitor-General now?

The Chief Minister: Sir, the position of the Attorney-General is dependent on the constitutional talks in London early in March.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Is the Chief Minister aware that the question is not the position of the Attorney-General, in the new constitution, but the colour of the skin of the holder of the post?