REPORT OF ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES DELINEATION COMMITTEE (White Paper) (Statement by the Deputy Prime Minister)

Dr Toh Chin Chye: Mr Speaker, Sir, a White Paper on the Report of the Electoral Boundaries Delineation Committee has been presented to Parliament as Command 22 of 1967. The Government has decided to accept all the recommendations made by the Committee with regard to the sub-division of ten large constituencies and the creation of eight new ones with consequential adjustments to three constituencies. It has also decided to merge the electoral division of Southern Islands with the electoral divisions of Jurong, Pasir Panjang and Telok Blangah. The number of electoral divisions will be increased from the present 51 to 58.

The Singapore Parliament Elections Ordinance (Chapter 53) provides that each electoral division shall return one member to serve in Parliament. The Constitution of Singapore stipulates a Parliamentary membership of 51 unless it is varied by law. Accordingly, a Bill entitled the Parliamentary Membership Bill will be introduced at the present sitting of Parliament in order to increase the number of electoral members of Parliament above the present membership of 51. This increase will come into effect as from the next general elections. However, for the purposes of the next general elections, it is necessary to publish a Gazette Notification under section 8 of the Singapore Parliament Elections Ordinance specifying the names and boundaries of the 58 revised electoral divisions and to prepare for public inspection the 1967 registers of electors under section 10 of the same Ordinance. In order to enable these steps to be taken, the Parliamentary Membership Bill, 1967, will be introduced at this sitting of Parliament.

Another Bill, entitled the Singapore Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill, 1967, will also be introduced. This Bill will amend the Ordinance to provide for the preparation of the first registers of electors from the register maintained by the Commissioner of National Registration and to include in such electoral registers the names of all entitled persons who were, on the first day of July 1967, citizens of Singapore and to whom identity cards were issued. The present registers of electors were first compiled nine years ago in 1958. In the past, any person who possessed an identity card which shows his place of birth as Singapore, or who is ordinarily resident in Singapore on the first day of February in any year and not less than 21 years of age on the first day of July in that year, was automatically included in the registers of electors. It is obvious that with Singapore's independent status only citizens can be given the right to stand for election and to vote. In the recent re-registration campaign of persons, it was discovered that a number of identity cards had been forged. Also, a number of persons with identity cards showing their place of birth as Singapore were not given citizen's identity cards due to lack of adequate proof of Singapore citizenship. For these reasons, fresh registers of electors have to be compiled. The fresh registers of electors will be-compiled from the records of citizens maintained by the Commissioner of National Registration and will include only those persons who produced satisfactory evidence of Singapore citizenship and who, on the first day of July 1967, were entitled to have their names entered in the fresh registers of electors.

After the Singapore Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill has become law, a Gazette Notification will be published to specify the names and boundaries of the 58 revised electoral divisions.

I will only add, Mr Speaker, Sir, that it is my intention today to introduce only these two Bills and to defer debate on them when the Second Reading comes up on the 14th of this month.