INTEGRATED PRIMARY SCHOOL IN JALAN MEMBINA

Mr Lee Teck Him asked the Minister for Education when work will commence on the proposed integrated primary school in Jalan Membina in Kampong Tiong Bahru.

Inche Rahim Ishak (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, no proposal has been made to build a primary school in Jalan Membina in the immediate future. There are sufficient primary schools in the surrounding areas to cater for the residents in Kampong Tiong Bahru.

Mr Lee Teck Him (Tiong Bahru): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister of State has said that there is no immediate plan to set up an integrated primary school in Jalan Membina. Perhaps he has not looked into his records, because there are two schools for two years in this place. Maybe the former Minister for Education, Mr ---

Mr Speaker: Mr Lee, please resume your seat.

Mr Lee Teck Him resumed his seat.

Mr Speaker: I think I could usefully, at this stage, remind Members of the provisions of Standing Orders as regards supplementary questions. The relevant Standing Order is Standing Order 20 (4) which reads:

`Supplementary questions may be put for the purpose of elucidating an oral answer, but the Speaker may refuse any such question which in his opinion introduces matter not related to the original question, or which infringes any of the provisions of Standing Order No. 19 (Contents of questions).'

And Standing Order 20 (5) reads:

`A question shall not be made the pretext for a debate.'

Mr Lee, I am afraid that you are indulging in a debate and not asking a question. If you think the Minister's information is incorrect, will you ask him if he has based his information on correct or incorrect reports?

Mr Lee Teck Him: (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister of State's answer was not according to what I had asked. When I say that there is a necessity for such a school, he says that there is no such necessity. He says that there are many schools around the area. There are more and more people coming into this area, and yet he says that the population does not justify the setting up of such a school. So can he give me a satisfactory answer?

Mr Speaker: If the Minister of State can trace the question in that, please answer it.

Inche Rahim Ishak: Mr Speaker, Sir, probably I can clarify.

There are so many other factors besides the request of a few parents for the building of a school in any particular area. The question of sites has to be marked out and so on. However, it may be the case that the Member for Tiong Bahru earlier on meant the site for a secondary school. In this connection, I must say that the only school site immediately available for development in this area has been earmarked for a school, but it is for a secondary school and not a primary school.

Mr Speaker: Inche Rahim Ishak, could you perhaps tell the Member for Tiong Bahru, in terms of the original question, when work will commence on the secondary school?

Inche Rahim Ishak: Work will commence soon.

Mr Speaker: I am trying to relate the original question to the answer to the supplementary. I think that is what the Member for Tiong Bahru is asking.

Inche Rahim Ishak: Yes. Work will commence as soon as possible.