DESTITUTE PERSONS BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.28 p.m.

The Minister for Culture and Social Affairs (Inche Othman bin Wok): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

"That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The purpose of this Bill is two-fold. In the first place, the Bill seeks to implement certain recommendations of the Prisons Inquiry Commission which was appointed in November 1959 and, among other things, recommended reform of the existing legislation dealing with destitute persons. Under the Vagrancy Ordinance (Chapter 125), no distinction is made between destitute persons and petty criminals, who are all broadly classified as vagrants and may he committed to a house of detention maintained by the Prisons Department in the precincts of a prison under the provisions of the Ordinance. The Prisons Inquiry Commission recommended in its report published in 1960 that no person should be committed to a prison because of destitution, that destitute persons should be kept in welfare homes run by the Social Welfare Department as part of the State's Welfare services, and that their admission to these homes should be through the Social Welfare Department and not normally through a court sentence, as is the present practice under the Vagrancy Ordinance. These recommendations have been accepted by the Government in the White Paper on the Commission's Report (Cmd. No. 30 of 1961), which was presented to the Legislative Assembly on 27th October, 1961.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the Bill accordingly amends the Vagrancy Ordinance by excluding destitute persons from the definition of vagrants, so that that Ordinance will in future apply only to petty criminals - as distinct from purely destitute persons - who may, under the provisions of that Ordinance, be committed to varying terms of imprisonment. The Bill also deletes Part II of the Vagrancy Ordinance relating to the setting up of a house of detention which will no longer be required on the establishment of welfare homes for destitute persons under the provisions of this Bill. Transitional provisions are also made for persons at present detained in the house of detention under the provisions of the Vagrancy Ordinance to be admitted to a welfare home after due inquiry by the Director of Social Welfare.

Secondly, the Bill will enable the Government to deal more effectively with the beggars problem which has lately been aggravated by the activities of professional beggars, including many from across the Causeway who have found it extremely profitable to come to Singapore to beg for alms. As hon. Members are aware, the Social Welfare Department has been engaged for some time in a campaign to clear our streets of these beggars, especially the professional beggars, and some statistics may be of interest to the House. Since the beginning of the campaign in November last year, the Department has dealt with some 450 beggars. Of these, some 70 or so were found to have come from across the Causeway - some from as far north as Kota Bahru and Alor Star - and arrangements were made to send them back to their country of origin. Those of Singapore origin, who were found to be genuinely destitute and without relatives or friends to care for them, were given shelter in the Social Welfare Department's homes.

The Bill gives power to the Department of Social Welfare to deal directly with the beggars problem, and will therefore enable more effective and expeditious action to be taken. The Bill provides for the establishment of welfare homes for the care and rehabilitation of destitute persons, and empowers the Director of Social Welfare to require destitute persons to reside in welfare homes after due inquiry. There is also provision for any destitute person to be admitted to a welfare home on his own application. Alterations have been made to one of the Department's existing homes - the Bushey Park Home - to adapt it for the reception of destitute persons. This Home will be the first to be set up as a welfare home under the provisions of the Bill. And as the need arises, other appropriate homes run by the Department will be similarly adapted and used for the purposes of the Bill.

Under the Bill, any person who has been admitted to a welfare home may be discharged to relatives who satisfy the Superintendent of their ability to support or care for the person to be discharged. Where the destitute person who has been admitted to a welfare home is not a Singapore citizen, there is provision for him to be repatriated to his country of origin.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. -[Inche Othman bin Wok].

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