LEGITIMACY (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.55 p.m.

The Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Bill which is now before the House seeks to amend the law relating to legitimacy of one's children. Although it is a general principle of English law that children born out of wedlock may, nevertheless, become legitimate children of their parents if and when their parents subsequently marry after the birth of such children, this has not been the case in Singapore in regard to all members of our several communities.

This anomaly in the law has resulted from the fact that our society seeks to accord the respect due to such personal laws of the various sects and religions that form part of our multi-racial population. And so it is that those members of our society that belong to the Muslim faith are governed by their own personal laws in respect of such matters as marital laws, family laws and laws of succession. Those of the Muslim faith, therefore, are governed by those precepts of the Muslim law as would be applicable to the respective schools of Muslim law to which they belong.

However, the general precepts of Muslim law were consolidated in the very comprehensive Administration of Muslim Law Act which was passed in 1966. That Act specifically provides that members of our society who belong to the Muslim faith are obliged to register their marriages at the Shariah Court. Unfortunately, although it is so provided in that Act that such registration of marriages must take place, it was not provided in regard to children that were born of legal marriages, should they be born out of wedlock, that they would receive the consequential benefits of having their status altered and becoming legitimate children of their parents. In other words, Sir, the principle of legitimatio per subsequens matrimonium was not afforded to them. This obvious omission should, in fact, have been taken care of in the Act of 1966 itself. It is therefore to provide for this hiatus in the law, i.e., legitimation of children born of such marriages, that the present Legitimacy (Amendment) Bill is being introduced.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

3.59 p.m.

Mr Yeoh Ghim Seng: Mr Speaker, Sir, with the exception of those people of the Muslim faith, what will happen to our citizens born out of wedlock and whose parents do not subsequently get married? Are they going to be labelled for the rest of their lives as bastards? Or will they be ordinary citizens of ours and not have the stigma of bastards?

Mr Barker: Sir, if the parents refuse to marry, then, of course, the children will he illegitimate. The Legitimacy (Amendment) Bill covers only cases where parents marry after a child or children are born. So until the date of the marriage, the children are illegitimate. But when they marry, that act of marrying makes the children legitimate. But unless the parents are married, I am afraid the children will still be illegitimate.

Mr Yeoh Ghim Seng: Mr Speaker, Sir, the point I am getting at is, what will happen to our citizens whose parents were never married? Will they carry on for the rest of their lives as illegitimate citizens of this country in the eyes of the law, and what happens when they hold passports, and so on?

Mr Speaker: Perhaps they are not illegitimate citizens of the country but are illegitimate children of their parents.

Mr Barker: Sir, legitimacy has nothing to do with citizenship. Whether the children are born out of wedlock or whether or not their parents are married does not affect their citizenship. But if the children are illegitimate and if the father or mother dies intestate, they do not share in the distribution of the estate unless, of course, there is a will. But illegitimate children can still be citizens - if that is what has been worrying the Member for Joo Chiat.

Mr L. P. Rodrigo (Serangoon Gardens): Mr Speaker, Sir, I think what is in the mind of the Member for Joo Chiat is the status of the child who is born illegitimate and whose parents subsequently do not marry, and whose status as citizens has not been disclosed, because the issue becomes a citizen of the state only if at the time of his birth his parents are citizens of the state.

Mr Speaker: I believe there is a provision in the Constitution which says "one of whose parents is a Singapore citizen". So if one parent is a citizen it is immaterial if they are not married at the time of the child's birth.

Mr Rodrigo: Sir, if the status is not disclosed at the time of the birth of the child, then the issue cannot be said to be a citizen of the state. I think that is what is in the mind of the Member for Joo Chiat.

Mr Yeoh Ghim Seng rose -

Mr Speaker: Mr Yeoh, I take it that you are seeking a further point of clarification and not making another speech?

Mr Yeoh Ghim Seng: Sir, another point which I have in mind is this. Can illegitimate children who subsequently grow up become Ministers of State or Ministers?

Mr Barker: Do you have anybody in mind?

Mr Teong Eng Siong (Sembawang): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to ask the Minister one question. When an illegitimate child grows up and marries, will he still be illegitimate?

Mr P. Selvadurai (Bukit Panjang): Mr Speaker, Sir, on the question of children who are born out of wedlock, I do not think there is any difficulty in so far as citizenship is concerned, because the child will follow the citizenship of the mother. There is no need for the child to have a parent or father who is a citizen of Singapore for the purpose of becoming a citizen of Singapore.

Mr Speaker: The debate on the Second Reading cannot be used as an excuse for seeking legal advice from the Minister.

Mr Barker: Sir, first, if I may deal with the Member for Sembawang who asked whether the subsequent marriage of the child, when he is of age, will make him legitimate. It can never make him legitimate. If he marries, his children will be legitimate.

With regard to the queries by the Member for Joo Chiat and the Member for Serangoon Gardens, I think they have been answered by the Member for Bukit Panjang. But there are difficulties when children are born out of wedlock, because sometimes the father is disclosed in the birth certificate or a notification of birth. Sometimes, of course, the father's name is not disclosed. But if the children are illegitimate, then the father, whoever he may be, has no right whatsoever over the child. It is the mother who has the sole right to the child. Therefore, the citizenship of the child will follow that of the mother.

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. - [Mr Barker].

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