WILD ANIMALS AND BIRDS BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.55 p.m.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Lim Kim San): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The purpose of this Bill is to re-enact the existing Wild Animals and Birds Ordinance which was enacted as far back as 1904, with amendments. This Bill consists of two parts, the first of which concerns the protection and preservation of wild life in Singapore, while the second part concerns the import, transhipment and export of wild animals and birds. It is more than half a century since the first Ordinance was enacted, and with rapid social and economic development, the decline and reduction of wild life in Singapore has been inevitable. Although wild life is no longer of significant importance in our State, we should all the same do whatever we can to protect and preserve wild animals and birds.

The second part of this Bill, Mr Speaker, Sir, is of greater importance, as Singapore is strategically situated in the region of South-East Asia where wild life is abundant. A large number of captured wild animals and birds are being channelled through Singapore for export to distant destinations like Europe and America. Many of the wild birds and animals in this region, for example, the Orang Utan and the Bird of Paradise, are facing extinction due to indiscriminate hunting and killing.

Many governments in this region as well as international bodies concerned with the preservation of wild life are agreed that steps must be taken to prevent the extinction of wild life, and the Singapore Government has from time to time been requested to assist in the prevention of this illegal traffic in wild animals and birds and to discourage indiscriminate hunting and killing of these animals in their natural habitat. Once the illegal traffic is conscribed, it would be difficult and unprofitable for those engaged in these pursuits to carry on.

The Singapore Government agrees that wild life in this region should be protected and preserved. However, in the past, it has been difficult to implement any effective measures to prevent and discourage illegal traffic in wild animals and birds due to the lack of sufficient legislative powers and we have not been able to assist effectively other governments in this region and international organisations concerned with the preservation of wild life. This Bill now provides the Government with the powers to remedy this defect and will contribute significantly towards international efforts in the preservation and protection of wild life.

Mr Speaker, 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 Lim Kim San]

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

4.00 p.m.

The Chairman: Perhaps, for the information of the Minister, I had better make the position quite clear. This again is a Bill affected by Article 79 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The Bill has lain in the Assembly for four weeks. It complies with the first part of the Section. Now, there are certain amendments which are proposed and those amendments appear in the Supplement, and I am satisfied that those amendments are not of a substantive nature. They are merely amendments of a minor character perhaps intended to bring out better the meaning of the clauses without in any way adding to or altering the sense of the Bill. Am I right in that assumption, Mr Minister?

Mr Lim Kim San: Yes, Mr Speaker, Sir. But I do not propose to make the amendments to this Bill now.

The Chairman: Oh, you are not? I beg your pardon. I am so sorry. That is the Feedstuffs Bill. The only amendment then to this Bill is one of leaving out "1964" and inserting "1965", which is a matter of course rather than of amendment. As no notice of amendment has been received to this Bill and unless Members wish to speak on any particular clause, I will take the Bill as a whole.

Clauses 1 to 13 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

The Schedule ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.