UNDESIRABLE PUBLICATIONS BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

2.50 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."

Under the existing Undesirable Publications Ordinance (Chapter 124) there are two major aspects in the control of undesirable publications of various nature. The first is that of banning these undesirable publications under section 3, and the second, that of detaining these under sections 10 and 11.

Concerning the first aspect, that of banning, the existing Ordinance does not provide for effective control of these undesirable publications in that by the time the action of banning such publications is being effected by Gazette Notification, numerous copies of such publications could have been sold or distributed. In addition, no provision is made for an effective means of curbing the sale of undesirable publications in the many roadside stalls which channel these publications to members of the public, and there is no way of checking the printing machines which produce, quite easily and under cover, undesirable publications from time to time.

Concerning the second aspect, that of detention under the existing Ordinance, this can only be effected at the Customs, post offices, airport and other check points where importers have to declare their consignments of publications and produce samples for examination before their sale to the public. But in some cases such publications are not declared and are intercepted at the check points, as a result of our random examination. These are detained. There is, however, no provision in the Ordinance to detain undesirable publications which have evaded these check points or smuggled into the Republic through the Causeway or other clandestine channels. We have no power to detain these if they are found on sale in the Republic.

To cope with this situation, clause 12 is introduced. This is the new and only significant amendment made to the existing Ordinance. This reads:

`(1) A Controller may authorise any police officer not below the rank of Inspector to enter and search any premises or place where he has reasonable cause to believe any publication prejudicial to public safety or public interest in Singapore is likely to be found, and to seize such publication so found.

(2) A Controller may detain such publication for so long as he deems necessary and may in his absolute discretion destroy or cause to be destroyed such publication so detained.'

The Undesirable Publications Ordinance is repealed and is re-enacted with the amendments to make it more tidy, in view of the many amendments effected in the past.

I wish to assure the House that the Government will operate this new authority with the greatest responsibility and discretion. There is provision for any aggrieved person or persons to appeal against such act to the Minister under section 15 of this Bill.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr Lim Guan Hoo (Bukit Merah): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister, when he introduced the Undesirable Publications Bill, whether he has noticed that in Singapore there is another kind of publication based on profit-making, and profit-making alone. Because of this, these publishers are doing business with very undesirable motives. They resort to all sorts of names to canvass for advertisements from various commercial houses. After the advertisements have been canvassed, there are only enough copies of the publications for distribution among the advertisers. Members of the public, including the Minister himself, will not be able to read such publications. This kind of publication is often used to deceive businessmen in Singapore and to swindle them of their money. So if there is no provision in this Bill to restrict or control such illegal or unlawful activities, then those who are desirous of advertising in good publications will meet with sonic trouble in future and will hesitate to advertise. I do not know whether the Minister has paid any attention to this matter.

Dr Chew Chin Han (Tampines): In the past few years, there have, in fact, been some advertisements published particularly in certain Chinese newspapers under different headings, such as "Love", "How to Make Love" ---- write to Box No. so and so at certain addresses. The advertisements are in small size - at $5 or $8 per square inch or so. I wonder if the Minister has taken any steps to do anything about it.

Mr Tang See Chim: Mr Speaker. Sir, legislation in the field of censorship is notoriously difficult, and so is the administration of the law. This is partly because no community is ever reasonably unanimous as to what it requires in the way of censorship, whether political or moral. The degree of frankness allowed in literature varies from place to place, from decade to decade, .and from person to person.

I am particularly concerned here with publications classified as undesirable on moral grounds. However well laws against such publications, that is, obscene or pornographic publications, may be framed, they will always be open to abuse by reactionary authoritarianism, fanatical puritanism, official stupidity, and sensationalism of the Press.

In the field of films, there is a safeguard against such abuses, as there is a Film Appeals Committee which can review, on appeal, films banned or cut by the Film Censor. But for books there is no Board of Appeal, although this Bill allows for an appeal to be made against the decision of the Controller of Publications to the Minister.

The opportunity should now be taken to review and improve the legislation so that the final decision is not left to one man, but can be made by a Board of Appeal which should take into account particularly the special needs of libraries or restricted classes of persons who need to have available certain publications in the interest of scholarship or research.

I, therefore, propose that a Board of Appeal be set up to review, on appeal, publications which have been declared morally undesirable by the Controller of Publications. It may also be advisable to give the Board power to review the categories of undesirable publications, that is, whether they are undesirable on political or on moral grounds. I shall say more about the constitution of this Board when we come to the Committee stage on clause 15 of the Bill.

As far as legal liability goes, publishers are primarily responsible for the matter and the manner of publications. Printers, authors and booksellers should, therefore, be relieved of responsibility for undesirable publications. Booksellers cannot be expected to read all they sell, nor are they necessarily qualified to assess the legal propriety of a book, and they should only be penalised if they conduct their business in a way calculated to make a salacious appeal.

Any form of censorship must take into account the fact that it is generally unwise to make publications attractive by labelling them forbidden fruit. As standards of education and discrimination rise, society itself would shun pornography and obscenity in publications which have no merit but sell in quantity.

Inche Mahmud Awang (Kampong Kapor): (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, as I have already given my views in Parliament on an earlier Bill on the subject of society. I am also of the opinion that this Undesirable Publications Bill is belated. The reason for my saying so is that undesirable events had already occurred in 1964. We have made this announcement so that our people can live in peace and can make progress. We know there are publications which are trying to destroy the unity of the people. I do not wish to identify these publications as we already know them. The reports in these publications are not truthful and are designed to mislead their readers. This misrepresentation may lead to the readers having no faith in them. If this Bill had been submitted before 1964, I believe the undesirable incidents which occurred in 1964 would not have taken place. Mr Speaker, I gave my views on this subject when we debated on the Budget. The reports or articles in these publications are not true. We do not wish them to be misrepresented or twisted so that the people may be misled and thus a misunderstanding can arise. It is our duty to safeguard the well-being of our people. Therefore, every article that is published must be truthful in order to bring about healthy and constructive criticisms from the people for the progress of our own country.

Finally, I congratulate the Minister for Culture and Social Affairs on the introduction of this Bill. With the stringent control exercised by this Bill, our people will be able to read articles which can bring about healthy and constructive criticisms in the interests of our country.

Inche Othman Bin Wok: Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Member for Choa Chu Kang for his suggestions and observations on the Bill. As you are aware, Sir, in the original Undesirable Publications Ordinance, the appeal was to the Minister and it is not our intention to change it otherwise. In other Ordinances, such as the Immigration Ordinance, the Women's Charter, the Women's and Girls' Protection Ordinance, the appeal is to the Minister and not to the court. There are, of course, Boards that make the final decision without further reference to the court, for example, the decision of the Committee of Appeal under the Cinematograph Films Ordinance. That is the final authority, after which there is no further appeal to the Minister.

The Undesirable Publications Ordinance is different. As in the case of films, all the members of the Appeal Committee can view the film at the same time, but in the case of publications. Each member of the Appeal Committee must go through the book individually. This will result in long delays which are not desirable. We are setting up a Committee to advise the Minister on whether certain books should be banned, and this should serve the purpose. It is proposed that the committee should comprise five persons who are experts. When it operates, I can assure the hon. Member for Choa Chu Kang that it will look into and consider the suggestions he has made.

I would also like to inform him that great literary classics are never banned, even if they are on sex. Current foreign books, if they are published by reputable firms and are acknowledged by literary critics, are also not banned. Sir, books on birth control are not banned, as the Ministry of Culture itself prints such books for the Public Health Division of the Ministry of Health and the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board for free distribution to the public. Nude pictures, if they are in photographic art books or in paintings, are never banned if they are real works of art and are not calculated to show nudity in its vulgar form with the intention to corrupt the minds of the young.

As regards the National Library and the University Library, banned books are available there and are released to academic personnel for research and other purposes subject to certain safeguards. Such books are also available in the Registry of Publications of the Ministry for the use of such people on application.

On the questions raised by the Member for Bukit Merah and the Member for Tampines, we have so far not received any complaints on the subject. If more facts are available, we will, of course, look into them. As for the comments made by the Member for Kampong Kapor, my answer is, it is better late than never.

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]

3.14 p.m.

Clauses 1 to 5 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

3.15 p.m.

Clause 6 -

Inche Othman Bin Wok: Sir, I beg to move,

In page 3, line 42, to leave out "Customs Officer" and insert "Assistant Superintendent of Customs and Excise".

Sir, the titles of "Customs Officer" and "Revenue Officer" in the Customs Ordinance, 1960, were changed to "Assistant Superintendent of Customs and Excise" and "Customs Officer" respectively. As the rank of "Customs Officer" is the lowest in the Customs service, the expression "below the rank of Customs Officer" appearing in clause 6 (1) (b) of the Undesirable Publications Bill is obviously incorrect. The amendment substitutes "Assistant Superintendent of Customs and Excise" for "Customs Officer" as there is no other rank lower than "Customs Officer".

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 6, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 7 to 14 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 15 -

Question proposed, "That clause 15 stand part of the Bill."

Mr Tang See Chim: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am glad to note that the Minister for Culture and Social Affairs is appointing a board to advise him when appeals are made to him regarding the banning and detention of books. Perhaps he would like to put forward, for the consideration and guidance of this board, certain fundamental principles in deciding whether or not a book which has been banned on moral grounds should continue to be banned. While I realise the force of the argument in leaving the final decision to the Minister where publications are banned on political grounds, there is a lot to be said, where publications are banned on moral grounds, for the final decision to be made by a board of appeal. Perhaps the Minister would reconsider his decision and, if possible, at this late hour, amend the Bill.

I think the board - be it an appeals board or just a board to advise the Minister - should take into consideration:-

(1) The dominant effect of the book as a whole;

(2) The literary or artistic merits, or the medical, legal, political, social or scientific character or importance of the book;

(3) The persons, classes of persons or age groups for, or amongst whom the book is intended or is likely to be published, distributed, sold, exhibited, given, sent or delivered;

(4) The price at which the book sells or is intended to be sold;

(5) Whether any person is likely to be corrupted by reading the book and whether other persons are likely to benefit therefrom;

(6) Whether the book displays an honest purpose and a seriousness of intention, or whether its contents are camouflaged, purely designed to render acceptable any indecent part of the book.

Where the publication or distribution of any book would be in the interest of art, literature, science or learning and would be for the public good, the board should not classify it as undesirable.

Inche Othman Bin Wok: I will be happy to forward the suggestions to the committee.

Question put, and agreed to.

Clause 15 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 16 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported with an amendment; read a Third time and passed.