RAFFLES MUSEUM BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

10.32 a.m.

The Minister for Education (Mr Chew Swee Kee): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to signify to the House that I have His Excellency the Governor's consent to move this Bill.

The Assistant Minister for Education (Inche Mohamed Sidik Bin Haji Abdul Hamid): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, in moving this Bill, which provides for the management and control of the Raffles Museum, I wish to state that for many years the Raffles Museum and the Raffles Library have been working under an out-of-date Raffles Society Ordinance. The former union of the Museum and Library was to a large extent fortuitous and not in the best interests of either once they had begun to develop. The separation in the administration of the Raffles Museum and Raffles Library took place at the beginning of the year 1955 which in effect rendered obsolete the Raffles Society Ordinance.

This Bill is a simple one because the statutory requirements of a display and research museum are very limited, and this Bill now brought up for its Second Reading contains only two significant points to which I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly. One of the innovations is in clauses 3 (3) and 6 whereby the Governor may by notification in the Gazette authorise any member of the staff to exercise within the Museum and Museum grounds the powers of a police officer. This is an important point since previously although the Director was responsible for the safety of the building and collections he had no general authority for preventing misdemeanour. I am sure that hon. Members will agree that the valuable collections in the Museum need protection and that the Director should be empowered to deal with any contingency that may arise.

The second innovation, Sir, in this Bill is in clause 4, which gives official recognition to the Advisory Committee on Art, which was set up in 1953 and 1954, in anticipation of the Raffles Library moving to its own building. This provision under clause 4 will give this Advisory Committee a permanent status so that in the years to come we can hope that Raffles Museum will contain a collection of objects illustrating the art of the Chinese people, the Malays and the Indians who have by their culture and way of life made Singapore into what it is today. It is also hoped that this Art Committee will in the course of time assist the Director in building up exhibition galleries in the Museum devoted to art.

I beg to move, Sir.

Question proposed.

10.36 a.m.

Mr John Ede (Tanglin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to speak on one aspect of this Bill which I consider to be rather unsatisfactory and which falls short of what I think we should aim at in legislation of this sort. I refer to clause 4 (1) and (3) (a) which reads as follows:

"(1) There shall be constituted an Arts Committee appointed by the Minister comprising of persons who are knowledgeable in, or have specific information on, matters pertaining to Chinese, Indian and Malay art.

(3) (a) The functions of the Arts Committee shall be to advise the Director on the acquisition of a collection of objects illustrating particularly the arts of China, Malays and India, in order to reflect the art, culture and way of life of the various communities who have settled in Malaya;".

Sir, my objection is to the implied limitation of the arts to Chinese, Indian and Malay art. My first reaction, I must confess, was to suggest an amendment for the inclusion of European art with the other three, thinking on the lines of our present multilingualism, but my second thought was that this amendment would not be getting us away from the narrow, somewhat communal drafting of this clause, which is entirely alien to a proper artistic outlook. We have in sub-clause (1) of clause 4 the inclusion, for example, of Malay art but what about Malayan art, for it is that very fusion of the arts which we would like to see encouraged in this country: and yet Malayan art finds no place in this clause.

After all it is a fact that there is already developing a Singapore school - or if "school" is too ambitious a word, a Singapore "style" - of painting which is individual to this island. Cheong Soopieng is a Singapore artist - or a Malay - an artist if you prefer it - of whom we have every reason to be proud, and there are other painters here of considerable promise. The work of a young man called Chiao Hsien was exhibited the other day which is distinctly interesting.

If we limit ourselves to Chinese, Indian and Malay art in this piece of legislation, we are also, by implication, leaving out Indonesian art, which has had a considerable influence in this country, or Siamese art, or the art of the Philippines of which we have had a recent exposition in Singapore. And when Singapore could so easily be, through its universities and flourishing societies, a centre and a fountain and a blending of the art forms, it would be a thousand pities not to reflect this even in a minor piece of legislation like this Raffles Museum Bill.

I would therefore like to see clause 4 (1) and (3) (a) amended to read as follows:

"(1) There shall be constituted an Arts Committee appointed by the Minister comprising of persons who are knowledgeable in, or have specific information on, matters pertaining to the arts.

(3) The functions of the Arts Committee shall be-

(a) to advise the Director on the acquisition of a collection of objects illustrating the arts of all nations, in order in particular to reflect the art, culture and way of life of the various communities who have settled in Malaya;".

The emphasis in clause 4 (3) (a) would still be on the arts of the various communities who have settled in Malaya, as it should be, but the impression of exclusiveness will have been removed. Government policy can still direct that emphasis should be given to Malay, Chinese or Indian art, but Indonesian art, or European art, or Malayan art, for that matter, will also find its natural place.

I hope that the Government and indeed this House will accept these amendments which I propose to move at the Committee stage in the spirit in which I intend them.

10.40 a.m.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Mr Speaker, Sir, referring to the speech made by the hon. Member for Tanglin I wish to draw his attention to clause 4 (c) which says that the functions of the Art Committee shall be-

"generally, to assist the Director in making the exhibition galleries devoted to art as interesting, informative, comprehensive and valuable as possible."

It is therefore the intention of Government to make art not too exclusive or restricted, but to include the art of all nations. However, the amendments proposed do not affect the Bill very much and we on the Government side would be prepared to accept them at the Committee stage.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole Assembly.

Assembly immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. [Inche Mohamed Sidik].

Bill considered in Committee:

Clauses 1 to 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 4-

Mr John Ede: Mr Chairman, I beg to move an amendment,

In page 2, line 19, to leave out "Chinese, Indian and Malay art" and to insert "the arts".

And perhaps I may be permitted to refer to the second amendment which would follow:

"In page 2, lines 24 and 25, to leave out the words "particularly the arts of China. Malaya and India, in order" and there to insert "the arts of all nations in order in particular".'

Amendment handed in.

The Chairman: The amendment is in order.

Mr John Ede: Mr Chairman, I do not think there is anything I need add to what has already been said.

Amendment agreed to.

Further Amendment made: In page 2, lines 24 and 25, to leave out the words "particularly the arts of China, Malaya and India, in order" and there to insert "the arts of all nations in order in particular".-[Mr Ede].

Clause 4, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 5 to 7 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

The Schedule ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported with amendments; read the Third time and passed.