CUSTOMS (AMENDMENT) BILL

[Mr SPEAKER in the Chair]

Order for Second Reading read.

5.31 p.m.

The Minister for Finance (Dr Goh Keng Swee): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have His Excellency's recommendation that the Customs (Amendment) Bill be proceeded with. Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Tariff Advisory Commission Bill has been read a Second time a little while ago. The setting up of this Commission under the Bill will require an amendment to section 11 of the Customs Ordinance, 1960. This amendment is necessary because the Tariff Advisory Commission will replace the Committee consisting of three persons appointed by the Minister. The Bill now before the House is to effect this consequential amendment.

Sir, I beg to move,

Question proposed.

Mr David Marshall: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister has not seen fit to draw attention to a major aspect of this Bill, and that is the transfer of the power from the Cabinet to the individual Minister; that is to say, deleting the name of the Yang di-Pertuan Negara and substituting therefor the Minister as the person authorised to impose these duties and, to vary them. Mr Speaker, I think you will find somewhere in Chaucer a rather delightful story of a young man who seeks to bang his head against the wall of ignorance. The curious thing is that Chaucer never recognised that perhaps the greatest bar to recognition of logic and reason is personal malice. I sought, in speaking on the previous Bill, to draw attention to the fact that there was a danger in these tariffs nibbling away and nullifying our tradition as an entrepot port, a free port. I made the point, Sir, that I recognised there would be cases where individual industries could have the potential for employment of a considerable number of people, and in those individual cases it may be appropriate to grant tariff protection; but that any such breach in the tradition of the free port of Singapore should be made by this Assembly after full debate. I was represented by the Minister as being against all tariffs. I also pointed out, Mr Speaker, Sir, that an entrepot port does live on its reputation. There is mystique in reputation. The point, Mr Speaker, is that where a country needs supplies, it comes to Singapore now because it knows it can obtain its supplies duty free. But if the time comes when some of the goods will be duty free and some will not, and it is a question of differentiation and different ordering, then such countries may find it much more convenient to go to an alternative port. There is one very handy as a centre of supply, and that is Hong Kong. Sir, my point is this. I do not like the idea of an individual having the power to bring about grave breaches in our tradition as a free port, and it is that aspect of the Bill to which I take exception.

Mr Speaker: Dr Gob, in reply.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: The Member for Anson considers, that before import duties are to be levied in Singapore, they must be approved by the Assembly.

An hon. Member: Not by the Assembly.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Sir, the Member for Anson was Singapore's first Minister of Trade, and I am really aghast that a ludicrous proposition such as this should come from him. Sir, the decision to impose an import duty has many and serious implications. First, the timing. Second, the amount of such duties. It is obvious that if you want to have duties levied on goods, it must be done quickly and with the utmost secrecy. Otherwise, before duties are raised, the market will be brought to disorder by hoarding by speculators and by all sorts of malpractices. This point should be obvious to the Member for Anson. And I cannot understand how so obvious a point has not occurred to him. When you want to impose a duty, it is not possible to have a debate in the Assembly. You have to give notice of such debate, by which time there will be hoarding. Goods will have disappeared from the market, and the entrepot trade which the Member seeks to safeguard will be reduced to utter chaos the moment people know that Government is contemplating imposing a tariff On a particular day. If this is left to the decision of the Government to do so, the scope for speculative activity and manipulation in the market will be considerably reduced, although I grant that it cannot be eliminated in all cases.

As for the change, the amendment to delegate the powers which are now exercised by the Cabinet to the Minister, I do not know why this should cause so much concern to the Member for Anson. This amendment is in accordance with the practice in the Federation, and there are excellent reasons for so doing, one of which is security of information, security of the secret, or the timing or the amount of such duty. These are important considerations. I do not think I need reply to the other points raised by him.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

That the Bill be committed to a Select Committee consisting of Mr Speaker as Chairman and five Members. to be nominated by the Committee of Selection.

Mr Speaker: As the two Bills are related, I do not know whether the Minister would agree to this Bill going to the Select Committee which has been appointed to consider the Tariff Advisory Commission Bill.

Dr Goh Keng Swee indicated assent.

Mr Speaker: The motion then would be,

That the Bill be committed to the Select Committee to be appointed in relation to the Tariff Advisory Commission Bill.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That the Bill be committed, to the Select Committee to, be appointed in relation to the Tariff Advisory Commission Bill.