CRIMINAL LAW (TEMPORARY PROVISIONS) (AMENDMENT NO. 2) BILL

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Order for Second Reading read.

2.31 p.m.

The Chief Secretary (Mr E. B. David): Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, like the Bill which was debated this morning by the House, the object of the present amending Bill is to extend the life of the parent Ordinance for a further 12 months with the intention that it should be reviewed at the end of that period by the incoming Government. When the parent Ordinance was enacted in 1955, it consisted of six Parts and in moving the Second Reading my predecessor expressed the hope that at the end of three years its provisions would no longer be required. In the view of the Government, this hope has not been realised and there is still a continuing need for the powers conferred by this Ordinance, both to counter subversive activities which still constitute a threat to Singapore, and also to counter the potential threat of violence which is still with us.

It is not necessary for me, Sir, to enlarge upon the subversive threat which was fully ventilated in the debate this morning, but the House will wish me to give some account of the way in which the powers conferred by Part VII which was enacted as recently as August this year have been exercised. The House will recall that, as a result of the initial sweep made by the Police against the leaders of active secret society gangs in the middle of August, at the time when Part VII of the Ordinance was enacted, 73 persons were taken into custody. Of these 73, 31 were subsequently released and orders of detention were made by me in respect of 42. Since then, partly as a result of further information which has become available to the Police, orders have been made by me in a further 18 cases.

The Advisory Committees provided for in section 51 of the Ordinance have been constituted and I should like to express my gratitude to the members of the public who have accepted duty on these Committees. Two such Committees have been appointed to deal with the substantial number of cases to be reviewed and each Committee is constituted with a Chairman, an alternate Chairman and a panel of members, with a provision that the Committee shall normally sit with the Chairman and two members but that the proceedings shall not be invalidated by the absence of one of the two members. These provisions were incorporated in the Criminal Law Advisory Committee Rules which were made on 30th September and it is hoped by these means that the review of all the outstanding cases will be completed as soon as possible. The Committees are now sitting to consider the references made to them by me under section 48 of the Ordinance.

Sir, it was not to be expected that the powers provided by this Part of the Ordinance and the action taken to exercise them would lead to an immediate cessation of all secret society and gangster activity, nor indeed has this proved to be the case. It did initially lead to a substantial drop in the scale of secret society activity and more particularly in the seriousness of the incidents so classified. In the month of September, there were in fact 26 such incidents but all these were in the nature of minor affrays arising from spontaneous quarrels rather than the large-scale planned gang fights which had previously represented such a threat to law-abiding members of the public. There was however one murder in September and, as the House will be aware, two further murders of a similar kind have taken place in the last few days. Both these murders were of a similar type, deliberate and vicious attacks and part of the warfare between the two main groups of secret societies. In the murder at the Great World on Monday night, there is reason to believe that the gangsters responsible came from a different area, since a number of those in the Great World area are on the Police 'Wanted' list and have gone into hiding. It would be idle to pretend that the powers conferred by this Ordinance will in themselves prevent further crimes of this kind but it may prove necessary to use them more widely than hitherto. Up to now, in accordance with the undertaking which I gave to the House in introducing the Bill in August, these powers have been used very selectively and only against those in respect of whom there has been abundant evidence to show that they are either headmen of the particular society operating in their area or leading fighters who have been the most prominent both in committing extortion and in promoting the clashes between one society and another. I can assure the House that I have examined all the applications put up to me for orders under section 47 of the Ordinance with the greatest care, and in every case where I have made an order - always of course with the concurrence of the Attorney-General - there has been ample evidence to show the leading part played by the detainees in these gangster activities. In most cases, Sir, the detainees themselves have admitted having been secret society fighters though they have at the same time claimed that they have ceased their secret society activity some time previously. In all cases, there has been evidence from members of the public to substantiate the case against them and the current activities of extortion and violence for which they have been responsible.

Nevertheless, Sir, it must be recognised that this measure, which has the effect of removing some of the leaders of these gangs out of circulation for a temporary period of time, can in itself be only a palliative, and what I regard as the most important aim and object of these measures is to give a breathing space to allow time to build up among members of the public confidence in order that they can become freed from the terrorism and intimidation to which they have become accustomed, so that they will be ready to give the necessary co-operation to the Police which will ultimately once again enable this type of lawlessness to be controlled by the normal judicial processes of law. There are two stages in building up this confidence. The first is to induce members of the public to give voluntarily to the Police information in their possession regarding the identity and the activities of these thugs and gangsters who have been intimidating them. The second stage is to induce members of the public who have such first-hand information to be ready to come forward and testify in Court when those responsible are arranged on the appropriate charges. We cannot expect to achieve those two stages in a very short time but there are at least some signs that progress is being made in the first stage. More information is being given to the Police by members of the public, particularly in relation to secret stores of weapons and matters of that kind which assist the preventive side of the Police war against these gangs, and there have been more indications that members of the public are ready to come forward and give the Police, albeit in confidence, information regarding the identity of the individuals responsible. I must however emphasise that in this matter we undoubtedly have a very long way to go. In, for instance, the case of the first of the two murders three days ago I have referred to, there can be no doubt that that vicious and brutal attack took place in the hearing if not in sight of quite a considerable number of persons in that area, but no one attempted to give any information to the Police and it was not until the Police themselves were rung up by the Fire Brigade who had been called upon to provide an ambulance to remove the victim that they received any information of the crime. On the other side of the picture, one very encouraging instance did occur recently when a group of ten shopkeepers from a certain area arrived at the C.I.D. in a body to inform the Police officer there that they were prepared to give the names of nine persons responsible for extorting money from themselves and the hawkers in their area. On the basis of the information they were prepared to give, it was possible to take action to detain four members of the gang - the headman, the assistant headman and two of the leading fighters, who were so identified, and there has in fact been no further secret society activity in that area since.

I said, Sir, in moving the Second Reading of the amending Bill in August that I hoped the exercise of these powers would act as a catalytic agent in inducing the public to free themselves from the terrorism to which they had been subjected and to give increasing cooperation to the Police to enable the latter to carry out their task. I sincerely hope that this process will continue and will be accelerated and that once members of the public realise that the remedy lies largely in their own hands and that provided they are all collectively prepared to give the necessary assistance, the risk they run of subsequent individual victimisation from other members of the gang still at large is substantially reduced; and in the long run, I hope that they will be ultimately ready to come forward not only with information to the Police but also with information which they are prepared to repeat in open Court.

Finally, there is one last aspect of the matter to which I would like to refer. In moving the amending Bill in August, I did mention that one distressing aspect of the current situation was the extent to which young boys at school had become associated with these activities. In examining the case records which have been put up to me for orders under this Ordinance, in a large number of cases I have found that the individuals concerned have in fact been associated with these activities from a very young age - in some cases perhaps 14 and 15 years old - and I would urge that parents and school masters should do everything they can to discourage boys in their charge from being caught up in these activities. At the present time, we have arranged for a number of senior Police officers to go round and give talks in the schools with the object of trying to discourage this type of affiliation by young boys with the secret societies.

Sir, it is against this background and to provide the necessary breathing space to which I have referred that I ask the House to give this Bill a Second Reading.

Question proposed.

2.46 p.m.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Mr Speaker, Sir, I have just a few words to say. The long and dismal account of the state of affairs which the Chief Secretary has just narrated must be one which must lie heavily on the conscience of every person responsible for the future good government and happiness of the people of Singapore.

There is very little to be said on the Bill itself. We can give ourselves more and more powers but we have got somehow to break through this ring. It is a vicious circle. The people are scared because they cannot get protection. Because they are scared and do not give the information, nothing can be done and the terror mounts. I do not think the use of counter-terror is the answer to this sort of situation, but I do believe that it is not possible for the Police to be ignorant of the ringleaders of the secret societies. In fact, in my contacts with the Police in the Courts, it has always been my impression that they knew very well who were the men behind it all, but that they were unable to get their hands on them. I hope by the time they pass the special provisions contained in section 47, the moving spirits could be successfully curbed. I do not know, Sir, whether in fact we were over-optimistic in believing that the Police are all that omniscient, but I emphatically state that I refuse to believe that the Secret Society Sub-branch of the Police can be that ignorant of what goes on. There are men there who have been in and out of this "twilight world" which, so to speak, adjoins the public and the underworld so that it is not possible for them not to know who are the men. If these powers have to be used a little bit more widely than - as the Chief Secretary said - at the beginning, then I am quite sure there is nobody in this House who is going to oppose it. But what we have got to do is to stop this reign of terror where people believe that it is more profitable to stand by and watch murder being done, than to inform the Police because in that alternative, something worse may happen to the informers.

Quite frankly now, it is not a question of the Legislature, because we can give no wider powers than what we have given, and it is up to the administrators and the policemen - in this case, the secret society experts - to use them effectively. I sincerely hope that when the time comes to review the position in the not too distant future, we will have a much more optimistic account of the situation than the one we have just received.

2.50 p.m.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: Mr Speaker, Sir, if one really has the welfare of the people of Singapore at heart, one should think very seriously of the sufferings caused to the people living in the area between Lorong 3, Geylang, and Paya Lebar and other ganglands. The Hon, the Chief Secretary has tried to give us a clear picture of the situation. He is asking for more powers than he already has.

Sir, the problem today is not one of giving the Police more legislative powers. The problem is confined to two points. The first is: who is going to solve the problem? The second is: how do you exercise the powers given?

This Press report dated Tuesday, 7th October, 1958 reads:

"A man was murdered and two others seriously injured in the Great World Park in Singapore last night - shortly after detectives had withdrawn after investigating reports of a gathering of gangsters in the vicinity."

Mr Speaker: Will the hon. Member please identify the paper?

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: The paper is the Straits Times of Tuesday, 7th October, 1958.

Sir, I wish to draw the attention of this House to that phrase "- shortly after detectives had withdrawn after investigating reports of a gathering of gangsters in the vicinity." Sir, we know that this was followed by a murder in Silat Road. The House should take note that within 48 hours there were two murders and two seriously wounded and yet the Chief Secretary is now asking for wider powers than he already has because he cannot cope with the situation. Regarding these incidents, Sir, I want to bring to the attention of the House the bold and daring nature of these gang fights. Sir, on the same day, it was reported:

"An eyewitness told the Straits Times: 'I saw a blood-spattered man climb over the three-foot high enclosure with his assailants at his heels.

The man collapsed in the middle of the rink. His pursuers stood on the concrete enclosure and threw a barrage of bottles at the man lying prostrate on the ground.

After making sure that their victim had had the worst they could offer, the men ran away.'"

Sir, I think there must have been at least a thousand people at the Great World Amusement Park that night and yet this murder took place in spite of the fact that the Police had prior information of a gathering of gangsters in the area. The Police officers had been to the place and made investigations but immediately after they left, this murder took place.

Sir, I think it should be realised that the legislation of wider powers by this House means nothing in the eyes of delinquents and members of secret societies. It is surely a waste of time if we think that by just passing one piece of legislation after another we can put a stop to these secret society activities. Now, another report reads:

"SECRET SOCIETY WAR: 'MORE BLOODSHED' WARN THE POLICE.

Mr Eu Cheow Eang, the Police Secretary, commenting on the murder in the Great World Park on Monday night said: 'Blood has been let out. It will continue to flow as long as the 08 and 24 secret society groups are at war.'"

Mr Speaker: Is that the same newspaper?

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: It is from the Straits Times of Wednesday, 8th October, 1958. Sir, the Police have admitted that as long as the 08 and 24 groups continue their war, there is no way of stopping it. Now, our Chief Secretary comes before us to ask for an extension of the Bill for another 12 months for him to combat the gangster activities.

Sir, I feel that it is high time now for us to make a review of the whole situation, in view of the fact that within 48 hours there were two murders and two injured in spite of prior investigations having been carried out by Mr Brian Goodrich, the Assistant Commissioner, C.I.D., and the team of officers from the Secret Societies Branch and Homicide Squad, C.I.D., had visited the Park afterward. Sir, do you not think that now is the time for the Hon. the Chief Secretary, to take immediate action to review the whole case and to see whether Mr Goodrich is efficient to carry out the work or not? A few weeks ago, I read the paper:

"Mr Goodrich said, 'Singapore is a city of cowards.'"

At that time when he issued that statement, I thought he was probably right. Now I think the cowards are not the people of Singapore but Mr Goodrich himself is a coward.

Mr Speaker: Order. The hon. Member is, of course, addressing the Chair and the tone of his voice rather frightens the Chair.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: I beg your pardon, Sir.

Sir, in spite of the so-called "Operation Dagger" and the extraordinary powers given to the Police, the situation is deteriorating day by day. Therefore something must be done. I think the Hon, the Chief Secretary should state whether he has full confidence in them still. If not, it is high time that they should be reorganised.

Mr Speaker: Order. I have, of course, given the hon. Member a hint. If he does not take the hint, I have to act otherwise.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: I am sorry, Sir.

I would like to repeat the same old things I said on the subject of how to combat the gangsters. First, the Minister for Welfare should provide more employment. Second, there should be more 'vocational' schools for those over-aged children - especially for those whose ages are between 14 to 16 - who failed their examinations and were required to leave school. Third, we should try to find some isolated island and turn it into a rehabilitation centre or even into a so-called forced labour camp. We have to do something. We must try to convert and train these active members of secret societies to become useful citizens. Fourth, in a city of the size of Singapore, the Police should create another Special Branch called the Youth Branch to deal only with juvenile delinquents with the cooperation of the many civic organisations in Singapore. In other words, the Police should think of every preventive measure to put a stop to those juvenile delinquents from joining up with the wrong crowd and getting themselves deeply involved in gangster activities. I sincerely hope that the Hon, the Chief Secretary will consider these four points.

3.01 p.m.

Mr E. B. David: Sir, I am sorry that the most the hon. Member for Changi (Mr Lim Cher Kheng) can contribute to this debate is his usual diatribe against the C.I.D. The C.I.D. are doing a very difficult job in very difficult circumstances; they are working day and night, and they are working to protect the members of the public, the citizens of Singapore, including the hon. Member and the Members of this Assembly, and it is not very much encouragement to them when they have to read in the newspapers tomorrow the sort of remarks made by the hon. Member for Changi.

Sir, I have every confidence in Mr Goodrich and in the officers working under him, and I know that they are doing everything that lies within their power. But as the hon. Member for Tanjong Pagar (Mr Lee Kuan Yew) pointed out, the situation today is a very serious one indeed and the powers which are being exercised now, as I said in moving the motion, can only be a palliative; and if the type of crime which we have seen in the last few days still continues, those powers, as I forecast, will have to be more widely used, and I do give an undertaking to the House that if it is necessary to do so, they will be so used.

There is one other point on which I would like to touch. The hon. Member for Changi, if I understood him correctly, said that the Police had prior information of the attack which led to the murder at the Great World Park. I have no information to substantiate that statement and, in fact, all my information is to the contrary. I do not believe that the Police had any prior information whatsoever.

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. [Mr David].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read the Third time and passed.