ELECTION OF SPEAKER (Tribute)

3.26 pm

The Leader of the House (Mr S. Dhanabalan): May I, on behalf of the Members of this House, extend to you our congratulations on your re-election as Speaker.

Sir, you have by now been elected for the fifth time as Speaker of Parliament. You are now in your 1&h year as Speaker, the longest of any Speaker of our Parliament. I do not see your record being broken for a long time to come.

You have presided over proceedings in this House and ensured order, decorum and fairness in our business. You have helped in ensuring that debates shed light and not merely generate heat. Some may say that this makes for a dull Parliament. Parliamentary debate is a serious business. We are here to explain, probe, question, defend and criticise laws and policies. What we do here affects the daily life and fortune of our citizens to an extent that many of our citizens may not realize. Thus, while wit, humour, anger (real or feigned) all serve to liven up debate, Parliament is not an institution to provide entertainment. You have been greatly instrumental for upholding the high prestige and distinction of this House.

Sir, I cannot let this occasion pass without a few words about the Member for Tanglin who was Leader of the House for 16 years. He has quietly and with a deceptively casual air been a firm Leader of the House. At the last meeting before the dissolution of Parliament, he; asked:

"Have you not had enough of me as Leader of the House?"

Well, the Prime Minister has heard his hint to want to step down as Leader and I now find myself as the Leader. We shall miss Mr Barker as Leader of the House, but Members can rest assured that he will continue to give us the benefit of his experience and wisdom. It is not by chance that I asked for him to be seated next to me.

There is a clearly perceptible change in the complexion of this, the sixth, Parliament compared to the fifth Parliament. We have in the Government benches 24 new Members. We have also two Members from the Opposition parties, the first Opposition Members to be elected in a general election since 1963. To all Members I can do no better than to repeat the advice of the previous Leader of the House, and I quote: "No Member will stray from the straight and narrow path if he always lets his conscience be his guide."

Members should speak their minds freely, having the courage to agree and disagree without playing to the gallery. Ministers and office holders expect the most rigorous examination of their policies. They will have a ready ear for suggestions and constructive criticism. They do not claim infallibility. But Members must expect that we will give no quarter in defending policies we believe to be vital for our nation's well-being.

It is my pleasure, on behalf of the older Members, to extend a warm welcome to all the new Members. We look forward to their maiden speeches and to their future contributions to this Parliament.

Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam (Anson): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I, as it were from the other side of the House, give you my very sincere and hearty congratulations on your election. We have heard from the Leader about your long reign in this House, but I, Mr Speaker, Sir, have only been under your rule for three years after I entered this House in December 1981. But may I say, Mr Speaker, Sir, that during that short time of three years you have gained greatly my respect and admiration for the charm and tact which you brought to bear to this high office that you have hold with such esteem and honour. It has not always been easy for you and sometimes it has been made trying, and my only hope is that I did not contribute in any way to your trials.

Mr Speaker, Sir, it only remains for me now to wish you another very pleasant four years in office. 3.33 pm

Mr Speaker: It is indeed a great honour to be re-elected as Speaker of this august House and I am grateful to honourable Members for according me the privilege of continuing to serve in this high and responsible office.

I wish to thank the honourable Members for Kim Keat and Boon Lay for proposing and seconding me for this high office.

I also wish to thank the Leader of the House and the hon. Member for Anson for the kind things they said about me. I am afraid I am getting old and let us hope your forecast will come true.

Many of you present today have been with me in Parliament for many years and I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to them for all their goodness to me. During the past 15 years in which I have served the House in this Chair I was indeed fortunate in being helped by their indulgence and forbearance.

I acknowledge with gratitude the assistance which I have received from Mr E W Barker, the former Leader of the House. I shall miss Mr Barker's easy style, great patience and understanding which never fail to exude confidence when it is most needed. He has indeed been a true friend to me and, I think, to all honourable Members. We are therefore fortunate that we will continue to see him around in Parliament for a long long time yet.

I would like to extend a cordial welcome to the new Members. It is indeed a refreshing change to see three lady Members among us, after having been without them for about 15 years. Their participation in our deliberations will no doubt contribute to lively debates.

If I am slow in matching up faces, names and constituencies of the new Members, I hope that they will forgive me. I notice that out of the 24 of you only six do not wear spectacles and I find it very difficult to identify spectacles. I shall endeavour to get it all right as quickly as possible in recognizing them.

They may find our rules of procedure a little perplexing at times. May I explain that these rules are drawn up to secure the proper, expeditious and effective transaction of parliamentary business in an orderly and decorous manner.

As the Speaker, it is my duty to see that this House conducts its business with dignity and decorum. I will not allow the House to degenerate into a free-for-all. I shall adhere to the Standing Orders as fairly and rigidly as is humanly possible. Like an impartial referee on the soccer pitch, I shall be sitting in this Chair as a neutral Chairman. My sincere hope is that I shall never find it necessary, to use soccer parlance, to flash the yellow card or, worse still, the red card!

Many honourable members are versed in matters of procedure and whoever is called on to fill this Chair must know that he would be performing in the presence of a critical and vigilant assembly. With this in mind, I assure honourable Members that I will do my utmost to be worthy of your confidence in me and to uphold the rules, dignity and decorum of this House.