UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

11.22 a.m.

The Minister for Education (Mr Chew Swee Kee): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have His Excellency the Governor's consent to proceed with this Bill. Sir, I move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

In moving the University of Malaya (Amendment) Bill, 1958, I want to draw Members' attention to clause 68 of the Schedule in the Bill. Clause 68 as it stands is incomplete and it had to be presented in that form because the question of the appointment of the Chancellor was under discussion by both the Governments and no agreement had been reached by the time this Bill was presented. My attention has been drawn to it by you, Sir, and I have given the undertaking that at this sitting I shall have that clause deleted and I shall do that at the Committee stage.

Before I touch on the features of this Bill, I want to say at the outset that University teaching in Kuala Lumpur is not a new thing. Indeed for the last few years University expansion has been taking place both in Singapore and i&' the Federation of Malaya. The expansion in Singapore is a natural thing because a University must grow. The expansion in the Federation of Malaya is also natural because the University, although situated in Singapore, has been, in fact, serving both territories and it is our duty to see that university teaching is provided in the Federation as well as in Singapore. Members will recall that a Commission of Inquiry was appointed on the University of Malaya in 1957 under the Chairmanship of Dr Aitken, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham. A copy of the report has already been presented to this Assembly and I am sure Members are aware of the recommendations of that Commission.

The development schemes recommended by the Aitken Commission have been the subject of very careful consideration by both the Governments of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore, and we have jointly decided that, in keeping with the development in both territories, an alternative scheme which aimed at creating two Divisions of the University of equal status - one in each territory - would be more appropriate. A local Joint Constitutional Committee and a Joint Finance Committee were then jointly appointed by the two Governments under the common Chairmanship of Dato Sir Clough Thuraisingham and the Bill before the House today is the result of the recommendations of these two joint committees. I want to place on record here Government's appreciation of the efficient manner in which the two committees have dealt with the work entrusted to them.

I want Members to bear in mind that when they consider this Bill the Federation of Malaya has emerged as an independent Nation, and that in Singapore the grant of full internal self-government is imminent. These factors and the rapid growth of the University have made it necessary for the two Divisions of the University to be created. I also want Members to note that under this Bill, the University of Malaya will continue as one unit, but at the same time the two Divisions in Singapore and in the Federation of Malaya will be given as much autonomy as possible. The present Constitution embodied in this Bill is based on certain criteria which would, firstly, maintain academic standards; secondly, preserve the unity of the University and provide for central co-ordination and control of high policy; thirdly, accord to the Divisions the maximum degree of autonomy consistent with the maintenance of academic standards and the preservation of the unity of the University; fourthly, permit the possible establishment of any future Divisions or separate universities with a minimum of difficulty; and fifthly, be simple to operate with a minimum of statutory authorities and thus incorporate wherever applicable recommendations made by the Aitken Commission.

I want to allay the fears of Members of this House, indeed of members of the public, that the University has been split and that the policy of the two Divisions may, in future, go contrary to each other or may even compete with each other. The provision of a small single Central Council above the two Divisional Councils of the two divisions will see to it that the University of Malaya will have a single policy, and that the interests of one Division will not run contrary to the interests of the other. High-level policies will be determined by this Central Council, while day-to-day administration of the Divisions will be the responsibility of the Divisional Councils. The principle of responsible government has been followed in the draft of this new Constitution so that each authority in the University will be responsible to the other. For example, the Central Council of the University consists of the Chairman of each Divisional Council and the Chairman of the Standing Finance Committee of each Divisional Council, among other members. The chief executive head of the University is the Vice-Chancellor and the chief executive head of each Division is the Principal and they are responsible to each other through membership of the various authorities provided under the Constitution.

There is a slight difference in the membership of the two Divisional Councils in that there are three Government appointees on the Singapore Divisional Council as against four appointees of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and one appointee of the Conference of Rulers on the Kuala Lumpur Divisional Council. I want to stress here that the difference in the Constitution of the two Governments has made it necessary that the Government representation on the two Divisional Councils should be different. The connecting link between these two Divisional Councils on the official side is provided by the presence of a Singapore Government appointee on the Federation Divisional Council and a Federation Government appointee on the Singapore Divisional Council.

My statement will be incomplete if I do not say something about the Students' Union. I know hon. Members of this House are aware of certain statements made by representatives of the University of Malaya Students' Union and also by other interested bodies against the decision to provide for two separate Students' Union - one in Kuala Lumpur and one in Singapore - instead of allowing for a single Students' Union to look after the students in both territories. I want to allay the fears of the students that this is aimed at splitting the students or is done against their interest. I want to make it known, in the first place, that the provision for two Divisional Students' Unions is a logical consequence of the creation of two largely autonomous Divisions, each with its own Divisional Council which will be responsible for the Constitution of the Students' Union in their territory. Secondly, the provision of two separate Unions is really something done in the interests of the students themselves. I am sure that one of the main objects of the Students' Union is to look after the interests and welfare of their members, and who can look after them better than their own colleagues in the same territory? Also, the Kuala Lumpur Division being a new division will have fewer students than Singapore and, as such, should be given every opportunity to develop their own Students' Union. It must be considered that although conditions in both territories are largely the same, there must be minor differences which are best looked after by the students themselves who are on the spot. I want to stress that the provision of two Students' Unions should not deter the students in both territories, and indeed the Union officials themselves, from meeting on an ad hoc basis to discuss matters of common interest.

Apart from these few new features of the University of Malaya, the old features of the University remain substantially the same under the new Constitution and I am sure that the University will continue as a unit to provide students both in Singapore and in the Federation the higher education needed. I know that the creation of these two divisions will require tact and foresight in the administration of the University in future, but I am sure that with goodwill from both sides and from the top the future of the University is assured. I cannot emphasize too strongly that when the University has grown, just as both the Federation and Singapore have grown, something must be done to meet the new situation and this Bill now before the House is, in the opinion of both Governments and in the opinion of the experts who have studied the problem and made their recommendations, the best way to meet this new development in this country.

I wish also to draw the attention of hon. Members to the fact that the Federation Bill is identically the same and it was passed in the Federation sometime last month. Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

11.30 a.m.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Mr Speaker, Sir, the policies that have been pursued by the Federation Government make this Bill the inevitable consequence, and no one is alarmed that there will be a University in Kuala Lumpur. The Minister for Education has wrongly interpreted the fears in the minds of many of the graduates of the University if he thinks that they are afraid that the University will be split into two. It is well to remember that, with a combined population of somewhere in the region of eight to eight and a half millionth people, Malaya can well afford to have more than three universities - one in Kuala Lumpur and two in Singapore. But what is in the minds of many of the graduates of the University is that the logical outcome of the policies of the two Governments would mean that only Singapore students could be in the University in Singapore, and only Federation students could go to the University in Kuala Lumpur. Once the resources of the University of Singapore - its scholarships and its bursaries - are provided for by the Government of Singapore, it means that the majority of, if not all, the students will, in time to come, be Singapore students, and the same situation holds true with the students in the University in Kuala Lumpur.

The one feature of the University of Malaya that was prominent in all its products, is that it was the place where the intellectuals - the elite - of Malaya met on common ground. Be they subsequently leaders of social or political movements in the Federation or in Singapore, there is among all these men a sense of being one. They have gone through the same mill. If the University of Singapore and the University in Kuala Lumpur are to cater not just for Singapore students or for Federation students, but to cater for all in Malaya, then I say we welcome the creation of more and more universities, be they in Singapore or in the Federation. But this can only be if the fiscal policies of the two Governments, with regard to subsidies to the University and its scholarships policy, are so designed that each Government ensures that a sufficient number of its students is in the other division. Only in that way will the two divisions of the University - ultimately, I suppose both will become full universities in themselves - be Malayan. What must be avoided is a situation where they become irreparably separate, not only in geographical location, but in its student population. It is because of this that the students have strenuously fought for their right to form one union. It is not because they feel that the Government is consciously trying to separate them into two student groups. But if you keep the two students' unions separate and, at the same time, make sure that Federation students go to the Kuala Lumpur division and Singapore students go to the Singapore division, then you will have a situation where the two student populations are quite separate and distinct from each other. I hope that it will not be impossible, purely from the administrative point of view, to ensure that both the Singapore and the Federation divisions are pan-Malayan, and not provincial divisions.

11.35 a.m.

Mr Lim Cher Kheng: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am quite disappointed when the hon. Member for Tanjong Pagar said that the people of this country and this House are not alarmed at this Bill. Sir, it is with mixed feelings, I must admit, of course, not of alarm, that we now debate this Bill. Based on the size of the population and the area, Singapore and Malaya do require many more universities, and there is reason for having a university in Kuala Lumpur. But we cannot deny the political fervour and political significance that are attached to this Bill. We support higher education as well as the desirability to build more universities, but not at this juncture. The merger between Singapore and Malaya is in poor shape, and now we have this Bill and the Causeway clamp.

Sir, I must regret that the hon. Member for Tanjong Pagar did not give more emphasis to this point, but only touched upon the Government's policy of not allowing Singapore students to study in Kuala Lumpur and that Federation students cannot come and study in Singapore.

Anyhow, I beg the Singapore Government to make a statement that the introduction of this Bill was never the intention of the Singapore Government or the Singapore Legislative Assembly. We do not want this division. We do not want this Bill. We prefer to be called the Singapore Branch of the University of Malaya. We do not mind the headquarters of the University of Malaya being in Kuala Lumpur. We do not mind former Raffles College or the King Edward VII College of Medicine now being called the Singapore Branch of the University of Malaya. The significance that our people should attach to the University of Malaya is that it belongs to the Malayans, not Kuala Lumpur Malayans or Singapore Malayans.

Sir, I must confess that the divide and rule tactics of the old colonial regime seem to have succeeded to some extent, and our people are now dividing themselves. Even in such a dignified and distinguished institution as the University of Malaya, we allow stupid and short-sighted politics to get in.

11.40 am.

Mr Lim Choon Mong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I believe that all the people in Malaya and Singapore always consider themselves as Malayans. Nobody in Malaya has ever thought of Singapore as not being a part of Malaya or that Singapore is a foreign territory. At the present time, Sir, the two Universities are joined together by a supreme Council governing the two branches. I believe this is a good thing. It should be a prelude to the creation of more universities. I hope we shall have not only just two Universities but more universities, universities to be situated in the north of Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur and in Singapore.

In the whole of South-east Asia, Sir, the University of Malaya is an important institution. My hope, Sir, is that there will be universities situated all over Malaya, but that the students must come from all parts of the country, including Singapore. If there is a policy whereby we have a certain proportion of students coming from each part of the country, then we are consciously getting the best of the country to mix together to produce the best. We must not only think of just having universities for our own students, but I think it would be a wise policy to have students from other countries in South-east Asia joining our universities, so that our ideals would be well known to all in South-East Asia. Not only that, Sir - many of our students should go out and join universities in other countries and so get the best from foreign lands, and then come back and serve us, if we can have that, then we will not be, as the hon. Member for Tanjong Pagar has said, insular.

The leaders of tomorrow will not only be able to understand their own local problems but will have a wider outlook in life. They will be able to know what is going on around them in South-east Asia and also what is happening in the world. If we can achieve this, Sir, then I say this Bill, which is just the beginning of things to come, will be a good Bill, when we have more universities to help our local boys.

11.45 am.

Mr Chew Swee Kee rose -

Mr Speaker: Mr Chew, in reply?

Mr Chew Swee Kee: In reply, Sir. Mr Speaker, Sir, the hon. Member for Tanjong Pagar has said that the two divisions should not be provincialised, that is, Federation students should be able to come to Singapore, and vice versa, to study. I wish to draw the attention of hon. Members to the fact that with the movement of the Engineering Department to Kuala Lumpur - there is only one Engineering Department in the two divisions - and the existence of the Faculty of Agriculture in the Federation, that will help towards that object, that is, help students from Singapore and the Federation mix together. Singapore students who want to study engineering will have to go to Kuala Lumpur, and where the Medical Faculty is concerned, Federation students will have to come to Singapore for their medical studies. We can expect that in the first few years of the development of the University in Kuala Lumpur, the range of subjects will be incomplete and, as I have said, with the siting of the Engineering Deportment and certain other studies in Kuala Lumpur, students will continue to go from one territory to the other. The present financial arrangements between the two Governments are only for a triennial period, and the position will be reviewed at the end of 1961.

The Bill itself, Sir, actually caters for all, and not, as feared by the hon. Member for Changi, for only one section. He said that this is a divide and rule matter. Well, I can assure him that it is not so. As I have pointed out in my speech earlier, the University is not actually being split, but the divisions are allowed to develop themselves. There is a Central Council, a supreme body, governing at the top, and the two divisional Councils are given as much autonomy as possible.

The hon. Member for Serangoon has said that he welcomes the creation of more universities so that they can serve the needs of the country. I wish to sound a warning here: that, firstly, we have to consider the finances necessary to have more universities; secondly, we must relate that requirements to the needs of the country. We cannot go on producing intellectuals who cannot be employed. Although they are employable, there might not be sufficient jobs for them. We must temper our needs in that respect. I agree, in principle, of course, that we must expand our university education, but we cannot expand without any limit.

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 Chew Swee Kee.]

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr SPEAKER in the Chair]

11.48 a.m.

Clauses 1 to 4 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 5-

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page, 4, line 2, to leave out "words" and insert "expression".

Amendment agreed to.

The Chairman: There is a note, in page 4, line 3, after the open inverted commas, to insert a comma. That will be done.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 4, line 5, after the open inverted commas, to insert "and".

This is a matter of drafting, Sir.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 5, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

The Schedule-

The Chairman: There is a note, in page 7, line 8, after "Convocation", to insert a comma. That will be done.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 8, line 28, to leave out "one member appointed by the Council of Ministers of" and insert "the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury,".

Members will note that there is only one Government appointee on the Central Council which is the highest executive body and which makes recommendations to the Government on matters of finance. It is therefore important that there should be no mistake that the Government appointee on this Council should be the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 9, line 5, to leave out "for teaching and research".

This is a matter of drafting, Sir.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 9, lines 36 and 37, to leave out "and Acts and regulations made thereunder" and insert ", Acts and regulations". It is again a matter of drafting, Sir.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 14, line 16, after "contracts", to insert "under the seal of the Division".

This is to legalise the matters done by the division concerned.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 15, lines 2 and 3, to leave out "one person appointed by the Council of Ministers of" and insert "the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Education,".

Here again. Sir, the Council in the Kuala Lumpur Division should have a Government appointee in that division, and he should be the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Education so that he can co-ordinate the policies in both the divisions.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 15, lines 24 and 25, to leave out "three persons appointed by the Council of Ministers of" and insert "the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Education and the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Health.".

Hon. Members will note that there are three Government appointees on the Singapore Divisional Council. The purpose of Government representation on the Singapore Divisional Council is to look after Government interests and to make certain that the University's policy does not run contrary to that of the Government.

Since the University is receiving a grant from the Government, obviously the Treasury must be represented on the Council. It is also obvious that the educational interests must be looked after, since the University is an institution of higher learning. Therefore, the Ministry of Education must be represented on this Council. And there is also the Medical Faculty to be considered, and obviously that Ministry is an interested party.

This amendment therefore provides for the membership of three Permanent Secretaries - the Treasury, Education and Health - on this Divisional Council, so that there will be no mistake regarding this representation on the Council in future.

Amendment agreed to.

The Chairman: There are two notes: in page 16, line 4, to leave out "Divisions" and insert "Division"; and in page 16, line 6, after "21", to insert a comma. Those are typographical errors.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 17, line 17, to leave out "shall" and insert "may".

This is a matter of drafting, Sir.

Amendment agreed to.

The Chairman: There is a note, in page 20, line 28, to leave out "division" and insert "Division". That will be done.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 23, line 10, after "with", to insert "the".

That is a grammatical requirement, Sir.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 23, line 19, to leave out "of" where it secondly occurs and insert "or".

Amendment agreed to.

The Chairman: There is a note, in page 23, line 34, to leave out "accountd" and insert "accounted". That is a spelling error.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 27, to leave out lines 1 to 6.

The whole clause should be deleted. This was inserted in an incomplete form because at the time of the submission of the Bill, the appointment of the Chancellor was still under discussion. There is no necessity for this clause to be made. As it stands now, the appointment of the Chancellor will be left to the reconstituted Court of the University. The deletion of this clause will make it necessary to renumber the clauses following.

The Chairman: The Minister should inform the House, of course, that this clause should never have been inserted in the Bill as it is incomplete.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 27, line 7, after "of", to insert "Chancellor,".

The deletion of clause 68 makes it necessary to insert the word "Chancellor" so that the Office of Chancellor will continue to exist during the transitional period.

The Chairman: In page 27, line 7, the marginal note will be accordingly amended, i.e., after "of", to insert "Chancellor,".

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I move,

In page 27, lines 11 and 12, to leave out "Principals of the Divisions" and insert "Principal of the Singapore Division".

Amendment agreed to.

The Chairman: In page 27, line 11, the marginal note will be amended accordingly, i.e., to leave out "Principals" and insert "Principal". Consequential amendments will be made to the numbers of sections consequential on the deletion of section 68.

The Schedule, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

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