RUEFF REPORT

Question No. 5* stood in the name of Mr Ong Chang Sam.

• Question No. 5 reads as follows:-

To ask the Minister for Finance when will the Rueff Report be presented to this Assembly.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ong Chang Sam.

Mr Ong Chang Sam (Choa Chu Kang): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, this House has only just now received a report on the Common Market. That is why I do not wish to raise any question now.

Mr Speaker: The hon. Member, by rising when his name was called, has in fact asked the Question*. I notice that there is Question 6 which is in similar terms. I do not know whether the Minister wishes to make any reply. Technically, Question No. 5* has been asked. No reply? Mr Marshall.

Question No. 5 reads as follows:-

To ask the Minister for Finance when will the Rueff Report be presented to this Assembly

Mr David Marshall asked the Minister for Finance whether he would consider tabling the Rueff Report and when this may be expected.

Mr Byrne (for the Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Report has been presented today.

Mr David Marshall (Anson): Mr Speaker, Sir, would the Minister indicate whether any copies of the Report were supplied to the Press last week before being communicated to this House?

Mr Byrne: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not know. We were in communication with the Federation Government and we were informed that the Federation Government would be releasing this Report to the Press as from today. I do not know whether copies were made available to the Press previous to that.

Mr David Marshall: Is the Minister not aware that in the Straits Times of last Saturday, there was a report purporting to contain a summary of the Rueff Report? Would he indicate why Members of this House could not have received the copies earlier?

Mr Byrne: Mr Speaker, Sir, as I have said, there was a tie-up between this Government and the Federation Government and there was an understanding that the Report would be released to the Press as from today.

Tun Lim Yew Hock (Cairnhill): At whose request was that understanding arrived at?

Mr Byrne: In an agreement between both Governments, Sir.

Mr David Marshall: I do not think the Minister quite understood me. There is a report in Saturday's Straits Times - "Rueff Report Recommends industrialisation, 109 pages." I am asking the Minister whether he was aware of how the newspaper came to be in possession of a copy of the Report before it was presented to the Assembly.

Mr Byrne: Mr Speaker, Sir, I think it was not released by the Singapore Government.