CONSTITUTIONAL TALKS IN LONDON, 1957

Debate resumed.

The Chief Minister: Can I speak on the amendment?

Mr Speaker: Yes, certainly.

3.54 p.m.

The Chief Minister: Mr Speaker, Sir, we have another six minutes to go before the moment of interruption and I had hoped that Standing Orders would be exempted to enable this debate to be concluded today, as the Member for Cairnhill has said that this is a very important motion-

Mr Marshall: And should be given time.

The Chief Minister: It was not a Government motion, Sir; it was a motion I put in as leader of the delegation and it could not take precedence over Government motions.

Sir, the Member for Changi speaks eloquently in support of the amendment. He says that he supports it to the extent that he "regretfully" takes note of the Report. I am sure he will remember that before the All-Party Delegation left for London, we received a mandate from all Members in this Assembly, including him. We went; we discharged the mandate; we came back with what he wanted - and he told us he "regretfully" takes note of the agreement we reached. Perhaps, Sir, it is because of his own confessed inability to express himself in the English language, which I am sure is foreign to him just as it is foreign to me-

Mr Lim Cher Kheng rose -

Mr Speaker: Point for explanation? If the Chief Minister gives way, yes.

The Chief Minister resumed his seat.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: Has not the Hon. the Chief Minister announced in this House that the delegation failed to achieve two points?

The Chief Minister: That is what I say, Sir, his self-confessed inability to express himself of course makes one also feel that he has difficulty in understanding what is expressed. I pointed out to him, Sir, in my main speech, that, in so far as that demand is concerned, we should remove the control from the Colonial Office to that of the Commonwealth Relations Office; I pointed out to him that in the All-Party Conference, it was decided that the All-Party Delegation should not press for this.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: I did not know that.

Mr Speaker: Order.

The Chief Minister: We were asked that we should try to get what we could, but should not make an issue of it. The All-Party Delegation has therefore discharged its duties towards the All-Party Conference. What more can the All-Party Delegation do?

In regard to the other point, the question of equal rates of pay and conditions of employment for civilian workers in the Services, I pointed out in my speech yesterday that it could not be a constitutional issue, that it was put in by the All-Party Conference in order to enable the All-Party Delegation to bring up the subject in London and hope for the best. And I also said yesterday that the Government is very interested in this particular issue and will do all it can to render assistance to the workers' organisations.

Sir, this debate has taken a turn which makes me most unhappy, in the sense that I have been criticised quite a lot by the Member for Cairnhill. I do not mind that, but now that he has issued a challenge to the Member for Tanjong Pagar to hold a by-election, I find that I am in a very difficult position, in that if I were to reply to all the personal attacks on me, I might prejudice his chances at the polls-

Mr Marshall: Do not worry.

The Chief Minister: But that if I were not to reply to him, it would not be fair because he has levelled, shall we say, unreasonable and unfair criticism not only at me, but also at my colleagues (who were his colleagues not so long ago). The Member for Tanjong Pagar has replied to many points raised by him, and I will therefore not recount the same things. But there are many other points raised by the Member for Cairnhill in his very lengthy attack yesterday and today which remain to be answered. He went to the extent of referring to the "Sir Rendel-Yew Hock Constitution" and the "Lennox-Boyd-Yew Hock Constitution". Sir, may I say this, that I do not claim credit for any constitution. The constitution - if we get it - is one negotiated by the All-Party Delegation of which I am happy and proud to have been the leader.

During the last Mission, the Member for Cairnhill was rather touched by my loyalty. He went to the extent of saying, "Here is this man who was most loyal to me." And I thereby pledged my loyalty to him. Expressions sometimes mean one thing, Sir, deeds mean another. Now I am to be, shall we say, held up to ridicule for discharging a job which I had been entrusted to do - no more than that. I did not go to London to do what I felt was good for the people of Singapore by trying to change my mind from day to day, trying to think of new ideas from hour to hour. I went there with a mandate from this Assembly, leading an All-Party Delegation, and an All-Party Delegation that was really united.

Mr Speaker: Order. Moment of interruption. Further consideration, what day?

The Chief Minister: Monday, 29th April, Sir.

Remaining items on the Order Paper read, and set down for Monday, 29th April.