NON-CITIZENS IN CIVIL SERVICE ELIGIBLE FOR SINGAPORE CITIZENSHIP
Parliament of Singapore · 31 October 1967 · 1st Parliament
Official Report, 31 October 1967, Vol 26, Issue 4 · Open in the reader (summaries, search, filters)
Inche Mohd. Ariff Bin Suradi asked the Minister for Finance the number of non-citizens in the Civil Service eligible for Singapore citizenship under the proviso to paragraph (c) of Article 57 (1) of the Constitution who have applied for citizenship and the number who have not.
Dr Goh Keng Swee: Sir, the present policy is that only Division I and Division II Government officers are eligible for the reduced period of residential qualification to qualify for citizenship under the proviso to Article 57 (1) (c) of the Constitution. We do not recruit non-citizens into Division III and Division IV posts.
There are a total of 697 officers in Divisions I and II who are non-Singapore citizens. Of these, 471 officers are eligible for Singapore citizenship under this proviso. 196 are not eligible and 30 are expatriate officers. Of the 471 eligible for citizenship, 387 or 82 per cent have taken advantage of the concession and have applied for citizenship. The 84 who have not applied comprise 47 officers in Division I and 37 in Division II. The 47 Division I officers are mostly medical and dental officers. The majority of the 37 officers in Division II are teachers.
Mr Tang See Chim (Choa Chu Kang): Sir, what does the Minister propose to do about the 47 Division I officers who do not wish to apply for Singapore citizenship?
Dr Goh Keng Swee: In my answer I said that the majority of these 47 Division I officers are medical and dental officers. They are performing technical duties and are not concerned with policy-making decisions, and I propose to do nothing about it.
Mr Tang See Chim: Sir, should there be available Singapore citizens who can take over these posts, would the Minister consider replacing the non-citizens with local citizens?
Dr Goh Keng Swee: When we get the situation where we have more doctors than we need, I think we will consider that particular proposition.
Inche Mohd. Ariff Bin Suradi (Kampong Kembangan): (In Malay): What about the 37 Division II officers, most of whom are teachers?
Dr Goh Keng Swee: I will give them more time to consider the offer.
Source: Singapore Parliament Official Report (Hansard) for 31 October 1967. Republished on SGParliament.