JOB APPLICATIONS BY DRUG OFFENDERS IN PUBLIC SERVICE (Declaration of past convictions)

Mr Ho See Beng asked the Minister for Finance whether he will consider asking Government departments, Government -owned companies and statutory boards to remove the requirement, if any, in job application forms for applicants to state whether they have been convicted of drug offence in the past, and if he will consider offering amnesty to civil servants and employees of Government-owned companies and statutory boards, who are drug addicts and wish to be cured of drug taking but dare not disclose their addiction for fear of dismissal.

Mr Goh Chok Tong (for the Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, Sir, all applicants for appointments in the public service must declare whether they have been convicted by a court of law. This is so in every country. Conviction for a drug offence has, therefore, to be declared. This is necessary as it has a bearing on the suita6ility of the candidate for public service and the type and nature of the job he will be given when he is appointed.

Any officer in the Civil Service who volunteers for rehabilitative treatment because of drug addiction is helped and guided. He is granted sick leave followed by no-pay leave for the period of rehabilitation.

The existing procedures of recruitment and treatment of drug offenders are necessary and I believe they meet the points raised by the hon. Member.

Mr Ho See Beng: Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State for Finance whether or not it is a waste of public funds and efforts to set up drug rehabilitation centres for drug addicts if the Government refuses to employ reformed drug addicts.

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not know whether or not the question is directed at drug addicts who were never employed in the civil service in the first place.

Mr Ho See Beng: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I make myself clear? I said that if a reformed drug addict applied for a job in the Civil Service and if the Government was prejudiced against drug addicts, what then was the point of setting up drug rehabilitation centres? Would it not be a waste of public funds?

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member is assuming that there is a prejudice on the part of the Government in employing reformed drug addicts who had never been in the service of the Government in the first place.