POLICE CADET CORPS BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

6.17 p.m.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Ong Pang Boon): Mr Speaker. Sir, I have His Excellency's recommendation to proceed with the Bill.

Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, the purpose of this Bill is to provide for the establishment of a Police Cadet Corps in the State of Singapore. As the House is aware, we already have in existence three Cadet Corps, namely, the School Cadet Corps, the Sea Cadet Corps and the Malayan Air Training Corps. The time is appropriate that we should have a fourth corps, namely, the Police Cadet Corps. The aims of this Police Cadet Corps are to produce further civic mindedness among schoolboys and other youths, to bring them into closer association with our re-dedicated and re-orientated Singapore Police Force, to get them to know more about the work and responsibilities of the Police Force, to regard them as friends and encourage them to support the forces of law and order against criminals and gangsters, and also to provide an incentive for educated youth to join the Police Force as a career.

Like the other existing cadet corps, enrolment in the Police Cadet Corps will be on a voluntary basis. The Bill provides that only Singapore citizens will be eligible for enrolment in the Corps, which will he affiliated to the Singapore Police Force, but members of the Corps shall not be police officers within the meaning of the Police Force Ordinance. The Bill also provides for the Commandant of the Police Cadet Corps to be appointed by the Minister in consultation with the Commissioner of Police, and also for the Corps to consist of such units and divisions and such numbers of officers and cadets as may from time to time be approved by the Minister. Provision is also made for the secondment of members of the Police Force for service in the Corps on full or part-time basis. Provision is also made for the appointment of officers, and, like other cadet corps, for the payment by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara of compensation for death or injury sustained by members of the Corps when on duty. Power is also given to the Minister to make regulations for the constitution, general government, discipline and training of the Corps and also for the quantum of compensation in respect of death and personal injuries.

The House may wish to know something of the set-up and organisation of the Police Cadet Corps to be made under Police Cadet Corps Regulations. The intention is that the Corps should consist of a Commandant and Headquarters based at the Police Training School, School Units, attached to the various language schools, comprising schoolboys from the particular schools, and officers provided from amongst the teaching staff, and Open Units, attached to the Police Training School or Divisions, commanded by Special Constabulary Officers and comprising cadets drawn from different approved categories of persons. Cadets will wear a distinctive uniform based on the Police uniform. Cadets will be drawn from the age groups 15 to 19, and the Corps will be organised in units, each of 50 men and two officers.

Although it is a new Cadet Corps and is a new charge of expenditure on the revenues of the State, its establishment will not, however, require any extra financial expenditure as it will be financed by part of the funds of the School Cadet Corps provided for in the Estimates. For a start, there will be a gradual build-up of Police Cadet Corps by direct recruitment from schools. This will be phased with the gradual run-down of the School Cadet Corps by wastage and non-recruitment. For some time to come the Police Cadets and School Cadets will operate side by side.

Sir, in the training of the Corps, maximum emphasis is placed on understanding the functions and civic duties of the Police and developing a sense of responsible participation in the corporate life of the community. Physical discipline, that is, drill, self-defence and revolver shooting will also be taught to increase the range of interest. At advanced levels, cadets will be introduced to the more specialised fields of police work, e.g. radio, investigations, court procedure and marine duties. The Syllabus is based on training schemes for regular and special police officers and association with the Police force will be further fostered by bringing the senior body into the training and activities of the cadets. It is hope, in this way, to increase the flow of recruitment from secondary schools to provide for a more educated and efficient Police Force.

Sir, I beg to move.

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 Ong Pang Boon].

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