SOCIETIES BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.15 p.m.

Inche Othman Bin Wok: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The present Societies Ordinance is a very old piece of legislation which was first enacted more than 50 years ago. Now that Singapore has become a sovereign and independent Republic, it is considered desirable to bring the law up to date. The purpose of this Bill is, therefore, to repeal and re-enact with suitable amendments the provisions of the Societies Ordinance.

Among the amendments which have been made are those dealing with political associations. I think hon. Members will agree that, in view of Singapore's sovereign and independent status, it is necessary to provide that any political association registered in Singapore should have its membership confined to Singapore citizens and should have no affiliation or connection whatsoever with political parties outside Singapore which are considered to be contrary to the national interest. We have at the moment in Singapore a number of political parties which had been registered as Singapore branches of parent bodies in Western Malaysia many years ago and which, during the time when Singapore was part of Malaysia, quite naturally became strongly orientated towards Kuala Lumpur. This situation was perfectly all right as long as Singapore was part of Malaysia. But with Singapore's withdrawal from Malaysia, it is quite clear that such a situation cannot be allowed to continue. I think it is only reasonable to expect that these various political parties should now move with the times and take appropriate steps to ensure that membership is confined to Singapore citizens and to cut off all affiliations or connections with political parties outside Singapore. It is, therefore, proposed to empower the Registrar to refuse registration to any political association which does not meet this requirement. Any political association which is already registered will be given a reasonable period within which to amend its constitution to comply with this requirement, and should such society fail to amend its constitution accordingly within the period allowed, there is provision in the Bill for action to be taken to dissolve the society.

To enable the Registrar to keep track of the activities of registered societies, it is provided that any registered society seeking to establish a branch must seek the prior approval of the Registrar who may withhold his approval on certain grounds.

The Registrar or Assistant Registrar is also empowered to order any registered society to furnish him with any information that he may require concerning the society, or any document, accounts and books relating to the society.

It is also considered desirable to provide for more effective control in the registration of societies. Accordingly, the Registrar is empowered to refuse registration in certain cases where there are reasonable grounds for refusing registration. For example, a proposed society may be refused registration if its rules are considered to be insufficient to provide for its proper management and control, or the society is likely to be used for unlawful purposes or for purposes prejudicial to public peace and welfare in Singapore. In any case, where registration has been refused by the Registrar, there is provision for an appeal to be made to the Minister for reconsideration.

Any society which has not been registered will be deemed to be an unlawful society and it is considered desirable to expand the present provisions relating to unlawful societies which are not considered adequate. Thus, in addition to the existing provision which makes it an offence for any person to act as a member of an unlawful society, attend a meeting of an unlawful society, or allow such a meeting to be held in any premises belonging to or occupied by him, it is proposed to provide that certain other activities in connection with unlawful societies should also constitute offences under the law. Thus it will also be an offence for any person to incite or induce another person to become a member or assist in the management of an unlawful society, to procure from any other person any subscription or aid for the purposes of an unlawful society, to print, publish or sell any newspaper or document issued by or on behalf of an unlawful society.

The other provisions of the Bill are a re-enactment of the present provisions of the Societies Ordinance with appropriate amendments and additions where necessary to bring them up to date.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

3.22 p.m.

Inche Rahamat Bin Kenap (Geylang Serai): (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, I support wholly the Bill which has been introduced by the Minister for Social Affairs. I believe it will resolve the impasse faced by the Registrar. It is appropriate that it should be implemented because, as an independent sovereign State, the Singapore Government must have a positive stand towards societies in Singapore, irrespective of whether they are political parties, non-political associations, pro-Communist or non-Communist. What is necessary for the Government is to protect the prosperity and the safety of the people of Singapore. In Singapore, there are political parties which have the same name and the same symbol as some political parties have in Malaysia. As we have become an independent and sovereign State, we must protect the good relationship between Singapore and neighbouring countries, particularly Malaysia. And it is necessary to avoid any misunderstanding between the two Governments and the two peoples, so that political parties with the same name and the same symbol must be made to alter their names and symbols. Also to avoid any misunderstanding between the two peoples, I believe we do not wish to see repeated the incident created by U.M.N.O. at the behest of Ahmad Haji Taff, the leader of U.M.N.O., who has used U.M.N.O. Singapore for his own selfish ends and for the ends of political parties in Malaysia. As the leader of U.M.N.O. Singapore, he has been airing the interest of the Malaysian Government. I believe in this way he thinks that the Malaysian Government will one day appoint him as an Ambassador abroad, like Dato Haji Jumat, a former Minister of Singapore and an ex-Assemblyman for Geylang Serai, who was appointed as an Ambassador for the Malaysian Government.

With the aid of the amendments moved by the Minister for Culture and Social Affairs, I am sure the Registrar will be able to exercise the powers given to him to overcome his difficulties. Political parties and non-political parties which have misused their associations will have to be dealt with accordingly.

Sir, I wholly support this Bill.

3.26 p.m.

Mr Teong Eng Siong (Sembawang): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I fully support the Societies Bill. I personally feel that it has got three basic features. One is to bring us into the new situation. Secondly, it is to protect the interest of our citizens. Thirdly, it is to stop anti-national elements from infiltrating into our country. As the Minister has already said, the old Societies Ordinance is outmoded and cannot be effectively used in our new situation. When we were in Malaysia we were part of Malaysia as a State. But, according to the Constitution of Malaysia, the people of Malaysia or Sarawak were not Singapore citizens unless they were registered under the Singapore Citizenship Ordinance. But, at that time, our Government was adopting an enlightened and liberal attitude towards people who came from Malaysia or other territories within Malaysia. So we allowed these people to register themselves as a society or as a political society in Singapore. They were also allowed to hold office in such societies. But since we became independent on the 9th of August, 1965, the whole situation has changed. We have entered a new stage. Therefore, if we continue to allow the old situation to exist, then it would be unwise.

Mr Speaker, freedom of assembly is one of the fundamental rights of the people. The formation of a political society is an expression of this freedom of assembly. So the societies registered under the Societies Ordinance will have all their legitimate activities recognised by the law. It is only fair that only citizens of Singapore will be allowed to hold important office in the societies. This is one of the basic rights of the people. But this was not the situation in the past. Whether you were a citizen or not, you were allowed to hold office in the societies then registered. Because of this unhealthy situation in the past, it was possible for some anti-national elements to infiltrate into some societies registered in Singapore, particularly some political societies, old boys' associations and trade unions. We could see all these facts from the statements issued by political detainees recently released. These anti-national elements, formed under the guise of registered societies, were carrying out anti-national activities against the interest of the people.

The Societies Bill, which makes provision to confine membership of any society to Singapore citizens only, is a very correct move indeed. It will ensure that our societies will no longer be infiltrated by anti-national elements.

Mr Speaker, there is one point, however, which I wish to bring to the attention of the Minister, and that is as follows. Those who are law-abiding and loyal residents should be allowed to become citizens of Singapore within one or two years. I believe there are some such persons holding office in our registered societies. So I would like the Minister to exercise his powers under the Bill to allow such persons to continue holding office for the time being until they become Singapore citizens by law. As long as the interests of the people of Singapore are protected, I believe that all loyal citizens will support this Bill.

3.30 p.m.

Mr Lim Guan Hoo (Bukit Merah): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to express my full support for this Bill. At the same time, I would like the Minister to explain certain points relating to it. I do not know whether the Registrar will have to consider the name of a political party to be also in the national language when he carries out the provisions of the Bill relating to the registration of political parties. I do not, for a moment, say that the other languages are not official languages in Singapore. We know that this is a fact. But I think it must be stressed that the name of a political party or society must also be in the national language so that it can be made clear that it is fully loyal to the country. There are some political parties in Singapore which are yet to be registered, like U.M.N.O., and these initials, in my view, represent English words. They stand for the United Malays National Organisation. The initials may be misleading and could stand for Ultra Malays National Organisation. Even if we do not say that this name has come from the English-educated people, we can say that it has come from our very close neighbour. So if every political party is required to submit several names in the different official languages, this will be of great assistance to the Registrar of Societies when considering its application. Therefore, I would like the Minister to explain his stand on this question in order to facilitate the work of the Registrar of Societies.

Mr Speaker, Sir, it has been a common feature in the political history of Singapore and Malaya that the names of many political parties have appeared in the national language. This feature was quite prevalent even as far back as ten years ago. So this is a historical tendency of the times. That is why the P.A.P. also has its name in the national language. We had the foresight to do this. So I hope the Minister will give an explanation on this point.

3.36 p.m.

Inche Mahmud Awang (Kampong Kapor): (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill which has just been introduced by the Minister for Culture and Social Affairs. Actually it should not have been introduced at the present moment, but it should have been introduced much earlier to amend the defects in the Ordinance.

Mr Speaker, Sir, this Bill contains 20 pages with 38 clauses which should have been compiled much earlier.

If it is a fact that the events described by the Minister did take place many years ago, we should take steps not only to deal with the registration of political parties but also to deal with the registration of labour unions, welfare associations, deaf and dumb associations, and so on. May I know whether the Registrar is empowered to withhold the registration of any organisations like the old boys' associations which conduct kindergarten classes in many parts of Singapore? We have no objection to kindergarten classes run by associations with the object of moulding our children into loyal subjects. The same can be said of political parties. Some Members have said a while ago that although there are political parties which have their names in the national language, like the Barisan Sosialis, they carry out subversive activities and they owe allegiance to pro-Communist or Communist countries. This is contrary to what their names stand for in the national language.

Finally, Mr Speaker, when this Bill is passed in due course, the Registrar should use his powers wisely and give due consideration before taking any action.

Inche Othman Bin Wok: Mr Speaker, Sir, firstly, I would like to thank hon. Members for their support of the Bill.

In reply to the point made by the Member for Kampong Kapor, I would like to stress that the decision to introduce this Bill was not taken haphazardly. It was very carefully considered and it took us almost l« years to arrive at this decision. It is not the policy of this Government to do things without first considering them very carefully. I can assure the Member that the Registrar will not abuse the powers given to him in the Bill.

On the point raised by the Member for Bukit Merah that political parties in Singapore should be asked to use the national language for their names -

Mr Lim Guan Hoo: (In Mandarin): On a point of clarification, Sir.

Inche Othman Bin Wok resumed his seat.

Mr Lim Guan Hoo: (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, what I mean is that the other official languages should be used in addition to the national language for the names of political parties and organisations. Our identity cards also have -

Mr Speaker: The Member can clarify, but he should not go into a debate.

Inche Othman Bin Wok: It has been the practice of political parties to have their names in more than one language. For instance, U.M.N.O. at one time had two names - the one in English is still the United Malays National Organisation and the one in Malay was Persatuan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu. They used both names, but at their General Assembly a few years ago, they decided to use only the initials of the English name, U.M.N.O., because they are very well known, easily pronounced and understood by the people.

On the question raised by the Member for Sembawang whether it would be possible for those loyal officials of associations who are not yet Singapore citizens to be allowed to continue to hold office while their applications for citizenship are being considered, I can only tell him that we will look into it.

Another point which I would like to stress is that the clause in the Bill which states that any political association registered in Singapore should have its membership confined to Singapore citizens and should have no affiliation or connection whatsoever with political parties outside Singapore which are considered to be contrary to the national interest, covers all political parties now functioning in the Republic, including the Party in power.

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 Wok]

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

3.43 p.m.

Clauses 1 to 7 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 8 -

The Chairman: Members will notice a Note:

In page 4, to leave out the marginal note and insert "Inspection and certified copies of documents.".

This will be done.

Clause 8 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

3.45 p.m.

Clauses 9 to 11 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 12 -

Question proposed, "That clause 12 stand part of the Bill."

Inche Mahmud Awang: (In Malay): Mr Speaker, I wish to know whether under clause 12 a citizen of Singapore who has become a bankrupt can hold office.

Inche Othman Bin Wok: Sir, I think the clause here is clear - "for an offence involving the unlawful expenditure of the funds of the society; or". A man who has become a bankrupt must have been involved in an offence. If the Member means that because of debt ---

The Chairman: I think the Member's question implies a desire on his part that a bankrupt should be among those disqualified.

Inche Othman Bin Wok: I do not think that a person who is a bankrupt should be included in this. There is always a danger because this involves the funds of a society.

The Chairman: I think the point the Member was trying to make was that a bankrupt should be disqualified from holding office.

Inche Othman Bin Wok: Oh! I beg your pardon. I thought he wants a bankrupt to be included! Yes, I should say that a bankrupt should be disqualified.

Question put, and agreed to.

Clause 12 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 13 to 38 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

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