WOMEN'S CHARTER BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.20 p.m.

The Minister for Labour and Law (Mr K. M. Byrne): Mr Speaker. Sir, I have His Excellency the Yang di-Pertuan Negara's recommendation for this Bill; and I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, the principles set out in the Bill follow those of the Women's Charter Bill which was introduced in the last Session of the Legislative Assembly. That Bill was referred to a Select Com mittee, but before the Report of the Select Committee could be adopted, the Legislative Assembly was prorogued and the Bill, therefore, lapsed.

The opportunity has been taken to reconsider the details of the Bill in the light of representations made before the Select Committee on the former Women's Charter Bill. The result is that a number of detailed amendments have been made to the Bill. As I propose to move that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee, I do not want, at this stage, to do more than summarise the main changes that have been made.

It is now proposed to make provision for the appointment of Assistant Registrars who will be public officers and who will assist the Registrar, and who will be able to exercise all the powers of the Registrar. The definition of "Registrar" has been amended to include Assistant Registrar, and clause 25 of the Bill provides for the appointment of Assistant Registrars.

The list of prohibited degrees of marriage is now set out in the First Schedule to the Bill. This follows the provisions in the Federation's Civil Marriage Ordinance, and makes it clear which parties are prohibited from marriage. In order to enable marriages in extremis to be solemnized, power is given to the Minister to delegate the power to issue licences to marry. It is proposed that this power be delegated to the heads of religious denominations to enable them to give power to solemnize marriages in extremis.

Provision is also made for a religious ceremony to be performed in addition to a civil marriage. The provision to enable the Minister to delegate the power to issue licences is contained in clause 20, sub-clause (4), and provision for religious ceremonies in marriage is made in clause 23.

The provision relating to the rights and duties of husband and wife have been modified, and the reference to equal rights and the ownership and management of the family properties in clause 45 of the Bill has been omitted, as it was suggested that this might be inconsistent with the provisions relating to the property rights of married women.

The original proposal to register all marriages not previously registered has been abandoned. It is now proposed to provide that the Women's Charter shall not affect the validity of marriages solemnized before the 2nd day of March, 1961. The Bill also provides that those marriages which are valid under the law, religion, custom or usage under which they were solemnized shall be deemed to be valid under the provisions of the Ordinance for the purposes of Part IX of the Ordinance, so that the provisions relating to divorce shall be applicable to them.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

3.23 p.m.

Miss Chan Choy Siong (Delta): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, we are workers preparing to reform society. I, representing thousands of women in Singapore, wish to express my support of the Bill and to thank the Government, especially my colleague, the Minister for Labour and Law, who has re-introduced the Women's Charter today.

The Women's Charter fully indicates that the P.A.P. Government is firm in trying to solve women's problems. We are a socialist Government. For the past 22 months of government, we have tried our best to reform the backwardness of women. Today, in this Assembly here, we want to express the attitude of the Party towards women, and also to express the views and the attitude of the Government.

In the 1959 general election, the P.A.P. Government said women's problems are problems to be resolved after the general election. We have clearly expressed out attitude towards women's problems in our Party's Manual. We realise that we have to wait until a true and just society is established before we can resolve women's problems. In a non-socialist government, it is very difficult to find any equality. The difference between men and women presents a problem. In a socialist society, women will not be exploited. This is the kind of society that we the P.A.P. want to establish. In a just and equal society, the P.A.P. is determined to try its best to organise all the people to fight for a common aim. It is indeed a very difficult and long-term task to establish this happy society. For example, at present women's problems are difficult to solve because women have been oppressed in the past. Take Singapore for instance. At present there exist feudalistic ideas and systems. Many colonialistic ideas still exist. Therefore, women's problems are still very difficult to solve because women are faced with these hardships. Nowadays, the opportunities for the education of women are very rare and greatly curtailed. This is because many people still regard women as only suitable for work in the home and not outside in society. Therefore, women's opportunities to participate in society are very little. Their lot in life is simply to work very hard in exchange for a bare meal. Under these circumstances, they have been oppressed and exploited by the capitalists. Women live in ignorance, and do not see their own future. Many women waste their money in superstitious beliefs and gambling. They are oppressed without realising it. In the rural areas, women's conditions are even worse. Many women villagers do not know what their relationship with society is. After more than one hundred years of colonialistic control, they still do not know their difficulties. Education to the village women means nothing to them. They base their hopes on gambling like chap-ji-ki and other games and superstitious beliefs.

Let us see the women in the city area. Except the labourers, women in other walks of life still suffer oppression. Their opportunities are not equal. For example, career women are treated as flowers in a vase. They are not treated equally. Many employers treat women as beautiful decorations. Because of society's inequalities, women regard themselves as decorations and only suitable for work in the home.

Many men marry more than one wife. Therefore, women do not enjoy full equality in the home. They do not enjoy political equality. When they are helpless, they are abandoned by their husbands and deprived of their basic rights.

Because of the above-mentioned facts, women's problems will have to be solved. However, there still exist some different conditions in our society. It is very important to solve all these problems. We have here many races- Chinese, Malay, Indian and so on. Since every race has its peculiarities, traditions and customs, there exist different forms of women's problems. We cannot solve all these problems with one method. We have to solve them with a common method. Take, for example, religious problems. We should be very careful in solving them. We, the P.A.P. Government, fully respect the religions and rights to all races. So we must be very careful, when trying to solve the religious problems of women, not to go against their religious beliefs.

The Government has re-introduced the Women's Charter. What are its effects upon the women's movement? Firstly, the Women's Charter will prevent husbands from abandoning their wives. The Bill will not allow a man to marry more than one wife. If a husband abandons his wife as he likes, then he will be punished, because abandoning a wife will have adverse effects on the family as well as on society as a whole. We must make a united effort to build a good family and a good society.

This Bill will arouse the emotions of all the women in Singapore who are suffering and make them realise the fact. We must fight for equality among men and women. This Bill will also enhance women's position in society. It will give the women's movement a very flat and level road on which to travel. It will strengthen the confidence of women in building a good society.

This Bill also rectifies the many mistakes made in the past. Although this Bill will not provide for equal pay among men and women, it will, however, make them fully realise their political, educational, cultural, and economic equality in society. This must be made possible if a good society is to be established. Until all this is realised, we cannot find another society in which all these conditions can be fulfilled. This Bill acts as a lighthouse on the road to building a good society. It will make us work harder to attain a better society.

I must clearly point out here that when the Bill becomes law, many of the women's problems will be finally resolved. This shows that the women's movement has a very good beginning. Therefore, thousands of women must, under these good conditions, arouse other women, who are suffering, to work together and partake in the building of a society which will be for the welfare of all the people, and to unite with all the other people in building a happy Malaya, it is only with this object in view that we could build a good society.

We of the P.A.P. have suffered hardship and have tried our best to fulfil our Five-Year Plan. We introduce this Bill in order to uphold the rights of women, so that all their problems will be easily resolved. At the same time, we have tried our best to discover the inequalities of men and women in the civil service. We pay great attention to women's problems. These problems were not looked after by the previous governments.

Finally, let us, all the sisters in Singapore, try our best and make use of our lives to work hard for the emancipation of women so as to build a just and equal socialistic society.

3.40 p.m.

Mrs Seow Peck Leng (Mountbatten): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am glad the Minister for Labour and Law seems to take an interest in the welfare of women. I must congratulate him. What a really wise step he has taken, by incorporating in the Women's Charter the advice of the Members of the Opposition. You will remember, Sir, that when the Women's Charter came up for debate in the last Session here, the Minister called me names, such as "a chameleon", when I pointed out the inadvisability of having the compulsory registration clause. I was ridiculed when I pointed out that this clause would cause hardship to the poor. I am, therefore, extremely happy today, Sir, to see that the Minister now seems to have changed his views and has begun to see eye to eye with the Opposition. Instead of compulsory registration, we now see in the new Charter, for want of a better phrase, "automatic registration" for all marriages which took place before the 2nd of March, 1961. In view of the fact that the Government in the past has been very much inclined to adopt the attitude that Sir Ivor Jennings and Lord Hailsham have always warned us against, i.e., the attitude that the Opposition can never be right and the Government can never be wrong, I feel that the Minister for Labour and Law deserves special commendation for having the courage to incorporate the advice of the Opposition in the Women's Charter, when he thinks that the Opposition is right.

I was also happy, Sir, to note that the Prime Minister himself has acted on the suggestion of the Member for Cairnhill regarding the Congo donation. We hope, Sir, that this is a sign that Government is at last beginning to realise the importance of parliamentary democracy.

I would however, Sir, like to make a few observations regarding the other sections of the Women's Charter and to draw the attention of the Minister for Labour and Law, who I sincerely hope is genuinely interested in the welfare of women and children, that the mere passing of a law protecting the rights of women is not at all sufficient. While it is true, Sir, that statutory law is essential, it is the implementation of the law that matters. In this connection, Sir, I hope you will permit me to quote Miss Dorothy Moses, Regional Social Services Officer of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, when she said this two months ago in Australia. She said:

`In many countries, such rights exist only on paper and remain more in the form of good intentions, since there is often a very large gap between legal provisions for such opportunities and actual practice. In actuality, women in many countries, especially in the South-east Asia region, are still ignorant and backward and, therefore, remain deprived of their proper rights. They are also an easy prey to exploitation.'

I do not know what exploitation she means, Sir; probably-

An Hon. Member: Husband!

Mrs Seow Peck Leng: -it even includes political exploitation-

Dr Toh Chin Chye: To do the washing!

Mrs Seow Peck Leng: She went on to say, Sir, that this situation, if left unremedied, forms a vicious circle. [Laughter] I am sorry to see so much fun made of this statement of an expert from the United Nations, Sir.

`where the circumstances that force women to live under these down-trodden conditions continue unchanged, since women are unable to change them unless they are helped to do so.'

So if the Government of Singapore were requested to produce a report or paper on the legal status of women, political franchise for women, eligibility of women for public office, their access into administrative careers, their civil liberties, their economic rights, their right to retain their nationality after marriage - I can envisage the glowing report that the Singapore Government is able to produce. While statutory law in Singapore - contrary to what the Lady Member on the Government Bench has said - gives women their full rights, there is not a single clause on paper that prevents women from exercising these rights; but (and a very big but at that, Sir) are these rights being exercised? Are women given the opportunity to exercise these rights? I say they are not. Far from helping women to exercise these rights, there is actually discrimination by the Government against women. For example, Sir, policewomen who have served faithfully and efficiently for 12 years are still serving as Inspectors only while their men contemporaries have reached at least the rank of A.S.P. When I drew the attention of the Government at a previous sitting to women not getting equal treatment in Government service, what was the reply from the Minister for Finance? He said he believed that while all men are all equal, some men are more equal than others. Sir, I ask you, what is the use of passing grand statutory laws that give women their rights when, in practice, every effort is made to prevent them from exercising them?

Sir, even the hon. Lady on the Government Bench did agree that women can be exploited without their realising it. I hope the Government is not taking advantage of this. May I again quote Miss Dorothy Moses? She said:

`Women have a resignation to their lot and also feelings of dependency and insecurity which they have developed over a period of suppression of their true selves. It thus becomes evident that if changes are considered desirable, women are to be helped to overcome their resistance to them.'

It has been universally accepted, Sir, that the economic independence of the woman of today has been to a very great extent responsible for giving her a self-sufficient sense of security to come forward and shoulder her share of responsibility as a good citizen of the State. If this is true, Sir, then the deprivation of equal remuneration for equal work is certainly not only an obstacle which prevents the woman from utilising the rights granted to her by the statutory law of the State but also deprives her of the opportunity to play her true role as an associate to her husband in the keeping of her home as required by the Women's Charter, and also in the building of a Malayan nation as promised in "The Tasks Ahead". One would expect to find in a Women's Charter machineries which will help the woman to exercise her rights fully as a human being and to give her the opportunity to play her true role as a good wife, a mother and a citizen.

Sir, we support wholeheartedly the idea of one man one wife. But I am afraid, Sir, that I do not see how this Charter gives political rights to women when they already exist, otherwise the hon. Lady on the Government Bench and I would not be standing up here talking. She also says that the Charter educates women. I am afraid I cannot see how this Charter educates women. And she says the Charter makes women work harder. I thought this is not the reason why Government is putting in this Charter - only to make women work harder - instead of giving them a rest!

Sir, I am afraid I must say this Charter falls very short of what one might expect from a Women's Charter, and I do hope the Select Committee will see its way to making it worthy of its name.

3.50 p.m.

Tun Lim Yew Hock: Mr Speaker, Sir, after hearing two charming ladies on opposite sides arguing against each other, it is only a foolish man who dares to step in between!

Sir, this is a Charter meant for women, and it is significant the Minister did not say much when moving the Second Reading of the Bill. It was left to the Lady Member for Delta who stood up and her very first words were, "We thank the Government for doing this." And she ended up by saying, "We, the P.A.P. Government, are doing this." Therefore, may I suggest that she need not thank herself for what she thinks she is doing, because self-thanks are no thanks at all? Self-praise is no praise at all. I felt that I had to step in because she said, "The previous Government did nothing for the women." I think it was because of the previous Government that there are so many women sitting in this Assembly. She said that there were no political rights for women. Does she not know that these political rights have been given to women even before the P.A.P. came into existence? Even before the P.A.P. came into existence, there were these rights going as far back as 1948 when the first elections were held. She said that not enough education rights were given to women. May I point out that there are so many women, including the ladies on the opposite side, who have been educated under administrations that were not P.A.P.'s?

Sir, she was trying to point out that women have been suffering a lot of things under previous administrations, and that therefore it is up to the P.A.P. Government to do what it can to protect the rights of women. We agreed last year that it is right that one man should have one wife. That is all the Charter seeks to do - one man one wife. The Charter goes further, no doubt. It protects the property rights of women. Other than that, there is nothing in the Charter that readjusts the inequalities and injustices that the Lady Member for Delta would have us believe are in existence. Although the property rights are supposed to be protected under this Charter, it does not give full protection at all. Although a wife under this Women's Charter can claim that she has a legal right to the property of her husband, yet there is nothing in this Charter to prevent the man to will his property before he dies to another woman who is not his wife. Where then is the protection to the legal wife of the man? Where then is this protection which the hon. Lady Member for Delta says the P.A.P. is giving to the married women of Singapore? The Government says, "One man should have one wife." We know, Sir, in this present world which man dares to have more than one wife, but there is nothing in this Charter to say that a man cannot have mistresses. The Deputy Prime Minister has pointed that out. What is there in this Charter to prevent a man from having a legal wife and having three charming ladies outside as mistresses? Where then is the protection?

Dr Toh Chin Chye: When did I say that?

Tun Lim Yew Hock: The Deputy Prime Minister asks when he said it. May I refer him to Hansard? I have it here, but I would not want to waste the time of this Assembly by quoting what he has said and what he has now forgotten what he has said.

Sir, we support the Bill. But there is one more thing in this Charter - the divorce laws. A man married under some ancient custom does not have the right to seek divorce in a court of law other than a separation by agreement. But with this Women's charter, it will be made easier for a man or a woman to be divorced. I do not know whether it is a good or a bad thing. But the hon. Lady Member for Delta says it is a good thing, and perhaps it is a good thing.

Sir, I would just like to refer to clause 32 of the Bill which states:

`Nothing in this Ordinance or rules made thereunder shall be construed to render valid or invalid merely by reason of its having been or not having been registered any marriage which otherwise is invalid or valid.'

A question was asked during the debate last year, and it was pointed out that that clause was necessary because of the compulsory registration of marriages which took place before 2nd March, 1960. Now, there is to be no compulsory registration. Under the new clause 166, it is only valid marriages which shall be deemed to be registered under this law. Where then is the necessity for clause 32? It makes it more confusing. It says that although you may be properly married and properly registered, yet that registration can be valid. It had substance last year when there was the intention of compulsory registration. Now that there is no intention of compulsory registration, I hope the Minister will consider this in the Select Committee.

Sir, in spite of all that a man may want to say, there is one thing I would like to say to the ladies in this House and elsewhere; and that is, that it is the hand that rocks the cradle that rules the world, and not the man.

3.58 p.m.

Miss Fung Yin Ching (Stamford): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I did not intend to make a speech because I did not know the Opposition Members would make any criticism. But I want to stress the point that I must take part in this debate, instead of just listening to speeches, since the Member for Cairnhill and the Member for Mountbatten have said certain things with regard to the Women's Charter and they have caused some laughter. I do not understand why, on the one hand, the Opposition Members support the Women's Charter and, on the other hand, they are not satisfied with it. I do not understand why they are averse to and so critical of the Bill.

We have already stated that this Bill is re-introduced to suit existing circumstances, and that it will have a great effect on the rights of women and so on. Mr Speaker, Sir, in this debate, I have a certain feeling which it is difficult to describe. This Charter has been under consideration for a very long time. We have re-introduced it and it is having its Second Reading today.

I support the Women's Charter because it is a very healthy and progressive Bill. No matter how a person views it, he will see that it is not detrimental to the people of Singapore. We must recognise this fact. Why is it a progressive Bill? It is because it can remove all the maladies in regard to women's problems under the Rendel Constitution and under the old administration. But now the re-introduction of this Bill in this Assembly is a fact that we cannot deny. Therefore, it is a progressive Bill. Although we cannot say that this Women's Charter has any concrete effect on our sisters, yet we understand clearly that we must support this Bill as long as it is not detrimental to the people but is beneficial to the people. But here I feel that I have the responsibility to-

Mr Speaker: Order. I trust the hon. Lady will not think I am rude if I ask her to modulate her voice. I am getting rather deaf!

Miss Fung Yin Ching: (In Mandarin): Although this Women's Charter Bill is very grand in name, we must recognise the benefits it can provide. I think it is necessary to elucidate a few points in regard to this Bill.

Why do some people think that the Women's Charter cannot have a very great effect on our sisters? Because under the present circumstances we cannot achieve very great results by this Bill, because in the present political situation in Singapore, democracy is still affected by the colonialists, and our aims and long-term policies have not been realised. Therefore, how could we deal with women's problems? Because all these women's problems are related to our circumstances, the history of our present age, we therefore cannot have very great assistance in respect of the carrying into effect of this Women's Charter, because we are limited by our constitution and our prevailing circumstances.

I hope all people could understand our viewpoint, i.e., they should not misunderstand our intentions regarding the re-introduction of this Women's Charter. They must not think that we have not given consideration to it before re-introducing it.

Here I must second the decision of all our sisters in casting away doubts and other misgivings in relation to this Bill and women's rights. I must also stress that we must not have very rosy dreams. We must not hope too much beyond reasonable logic, because we women are under oppression by two sides. Therefore, we cannot see an immediate practical improvement by the re-introduction of this Bill. Anyway, I can see this Bill is a progressive one and it will contribute to the welfare of our sisters so as to enable them to carry on their struggle. I fully support the hon. Member for Delta who has said the re-introduction of this Bill will enable us to carry on our duty in respect of women's contribution to society. For this reason, I feel very honoured that our P.A.P. Government has re-introduced this Women's Charter.

4.06 p.m.

Madam Hoe Puay Choo (Bras Basah): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, today we are re-introducing this Women's Charter. We have been attacked by the Opposition Members, but we the P.A.P. base our efforts on reality. Their unsatisfied criticisms do not merit our attention. The problems of women have been neglected in the past. In Singapore, after 140 years under colonial rule and under the former Lim Yew Hock Government, they had not paid much attention to the problems of women. Did they feel sorry for it, especially our Member for Mountbatten, when they were governing this country? Had they done anything beneficial for women? That is why today they are still shouting criticisms at us. These criticisms will not contribute anything constructive to this Bill. They had let us down. They had disappointed us. And in regard to the stand adopted by the P.A.P. to solve women's problems, we would like to carry out this job in stages. Only we the P.A.P. Government has the courage to attempt a solution. Is there any other Party which dares to take up this problem? We are proud of our stand. We have clearly written down and declared in our Five-Year Plan what we will do for the welfare of women. We want true equality between men and women, just as what our colleagues have said: that the solution to the problems of women will have to await the coming of a true socialist society.

I want to explain these points to the Opposition Members. We have said before that under a more just society, there are no women's problems. But we have not come to a socialist society. That is why we have women's problems. If we reach that stage, then we believe we shall improve the lot of women. According to the principle of a social evolution, people are equal, irrespective of their religion, creed or sex. There will not be any exploitation of man by man. All this will be abolished. This will be so only under a more just society. If you want to raise the economic and social standing of women, then we have to work hard.

Our policy is a long-term one, and I will only point out one thing. We do not say that we can solve all the women's problems at this stage. What we say, we mean. But regarding this Women's Charter, the Opposition Members have said that they cannot recognise that our intention is good. In dealing with the details of the Charter, we may have made some mistakes, but any good thing will have to be considered so many times. As for the criticisms on clause 166, they cannot say that our intention is a bad one. One who has been liberated from double oppression knows full well the problems of women. Therefore, we are proud that we are re-introducing this Bill.

4.12 p.m.

The Minister for Finance (Dr Goh Keng Swee): Mr Speaker, Sir, I had not intended to enter into this controversy and pronounce an opinion on matters on which I am not fully an expert. But, nevertheless, since the Member for Mountbatten has quoted me somewhat erroneously, I am afraid I feel obliged to stand up and say a few words.

I did not recollect quoting in this Assembly that famous passage from George Orwell about the equality of men. But I did remember, when discussing pay differentials between men and women teachers, that I did say that while we agree that women workers are equal to men, there are occupations when men are more equal. I think the Member for Mountbatten, in taking up the example of women Inspectors, merely brings out the point which I am trying to develop. She says that women Inspectors remain in the ranks for 12 years or more, while many men Inspectors have been promoted to higher grades. But surely that is just the point.

Let us suppose a Member of the Assembly is in a difficult position. Let us say he is about to be assaulted by some tough gangsters. Would he prefer then, in that situation, Mr Speaker, Sir, to have by his side a very robust man police officer, or one of the women Inspectors? I have no doubt that-

Tun Lim Yew Hock: Let us have a robust woman Inspector!

Dr Goh Keng Swee: I have no doubt at all where my choice would lie in the extremity of that situation.

Mr Speaker: That depends on the locality!

Dr Goh Keng Swee: The equality of women has been pursued so far that you do find even women members of secret societies. But I think that is not the equality that we are trying to encourage in the Women's Charter. Therefore, in the conditions of service, there must be regard to differential ability, and, therefore, different terms of pay. But what has always struck me as rather curious is the regulation about retirement which requires women to retire at an earlier age than men. I did raise this point once in this Assembly. I said that the vital statistics of all countries prove beyond all doubt that women live longer than men, by at least five or ten years; and, therefore, they should retire five years later than men, not earlier. We would not want to have large numbers of our population living on Government pensions for decades. So the Member for Mountbatten will be delighted to know that I brought up this matter with my colleagues, and although I could not gain my point that women should retire at a later age, we reached a compromise and agreed that women and men should retire at the same age.

Now to be more serious, Mr Speaker, Sir, if I can go back to the theme, and it is a serious theme. I do not think Members of the Opposition were justified in making remarks about the women Members on the Government side so lightly, and on occasions so derisively. We agree that this Women's Charter, like any other piece of legislation, gives only the protective framework. In itself, it cannot establish any new social codes of behaviour. But the difference between women Members on the Government side and Members of the Opposition is that our Members, in the course of their work and in the course of their lives, have come across so many examples of inequality and oppression of women. These phrases are not the catch phrases of politicians or people who go abroad to attend conferences on the equality of women. They see this as part of their common experience, and, therefore, to them this is a real problem, a genuine problem, and one that requires immediate and determined action. This piece of legislation is only the beginning. But the more basic work - and this is the point that women Members on the Government bench have been stressing - the more urgent need is to arouse the consciousness of women in our society, so that they can more effectively stand up for their rights, and it is only the women who can do so. However well disposed a man is, you can be sure that there is in his unconscious mind some lurking dread whether or not the Government, with the best of intentions, might not have gone too far. But I would say that both the women Members and the men Members on the Government benches treat this as a very real and genuine problem. When they talk about women, they do not think in terms of women who play mahjong, or who give charity balls or who do occasional social work in order to justify their existence. We are thinking of women in poor families in the slums, in families where the sons are given education in preference to daughters, where the old force of the patriarchal family still remains, and it is for this reason that the P.A.P., as a political Party, has developed a conscious policy in regard to women. It is not, as I have said, an academic problem, but it is a real one, and Members on the Government Front Bench are fully aware of it and treat it as a real and genuine issue.

Mr Byrne rose -

Mr Speaker: Will the Minister please wait for one second? I do not know whether anyone else wishes to speak. No other Member wishes to speak? Mr Byrne, in reply.

Mr Byrne: Mr Speaker, Sir, from what the Member for Mountbatten has said this afternoon, I note she has receded from the former position that she took up in this House when the former Women's Charter Bill was introduced. On that occasion, Mr Speaker, Sir, she said in this Assembly that the Women's Charter Bill was a fraud on the women of Singapore; that, in fact, there was nothing new in the proposal that there should be monogamy in our community; that it was a shame for the Charter to be introduced in this form, in the sense that provisions for the suppression of brothels were included in the Bill which purported to be a Women's Charter. Mr Speaker, Sir, this Bill, as I have pointed out before, is worthy of the description of being a Women's Charter. For the first time, if it is approved by this Legislative Assembly, there will be monogamy in our community. Hitherto, the practice of a man being restricted to one wife has been restricted only to those who are Christians. The greater bulk of our population are not Christians. If this Bill becomes law, Mr Speaker, Sir, it will, for the first time, introduce this new principle in our community. There is no point in our talking about the rights of women and so on unless the woman is first regarded as the mistress in her own home. If she has to share her home with somebody else, you cannot say that that is an ideal community, that that is a community where the interests of women are well served.

Mr Speaker, Sir, right through this law, if it is looked into carefully, I have no doubt all these points could not have escaped the attention of the Member for Farrer Park. He has been very silent this afternoon. He knows this Charter better than any other Member of the Opposition, because he spent quite long hours with us in the Select Committee proceedings which went to 250 pages. He will realise, and I have no doubt he does realise, that this Bill is worthy of the description which we, as the Government, have applied to it.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the Opposition have now said that they are glad to know that we have profited by the advice they have given us. They have said it is a good thing we have now dropped the provisions with regard to the re-registration of former marriages. Mr Speaker, Sir, we had every intention of referring the former Bill to a Select Committee from the very beginning, and we did do so. We wanted to invite comments not only from Members of the Opposition on the provisions of the Bill, but also comments from all interested parties. We did receive quite a number of representations from members of the general public and, as a result of those representations, Government has decided to drop the provisions regarding re-registration.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Cairnhill has said just now that this is not the document that it claims to be, in the sense that whether we have this Charter or not, a man is always free to will his property to any person he wants. Mr Speaker, Sir, for the first time, a similar right is given to a married woman under the provisions of this Bill. I would refer the Member for Cairnhill to clause 47 (1) of the Bill in which it is provided that:

`A married woman shall, in accordance with this Part of this Ordinance, be capable of acquiring, holding and disposing by will or otherwise of any movable or immovable property as her separate property, in the same manner as if she were a feme sole, without the intervention of any trustee.'

The position of a married woman then is equated in all respects with that of her husband under the provisions of this law. Mr Speaker, there are a large number of provisions in this law which protect the interests of women and children. I need only refer to Part VII of the Bill which deals with the question of maintenance of wife and children; Part VIII which deals with the enforcement of maintenance orders; Part IX which deals with divorce; and the last sections of the Bill which deal with the protection of women and girls generally.

Mr Speaker, Sir, if I may refer again to what the Member for Cairnhill said just now. He thought that clause 32 is unnecessary. I would submit, Mr Speaker, Sir, with respect, that clause 32 is very necessary, because although registration gives one the right to regard a marriage as being a valid marriage, there might be circumstances which have occured which, if proved, would be able to establish that though registered, the marriage is not a valid marriage and that provision is, therefore, necessary in a Bill of this nature.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I call the attention of the House to the fact that the operative date of the Bill has been put forward to the 2nd March, 1961, and that has been done to regularise those marriages which have taken place under customary law between 2nd March, 1960, (when this Bill was first introduced) and the time when this Bill will be passed into law.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would also like to inform the House that since the original Bill was introduced, there have been more marriages solemnized in the Registry of Marriages than there have been in the last six years. So from that alone, it would indicate that this Bill is, by and large, well supported by the whole of our community, and that they have now accepted the position that monogamy is to be their rightful lot.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

Committed to a Select Committee consisting of Mr Speaker as Chairman and seven other Members to be nominated by the Committee of Selection -[Mr Byrne].