SULTAN HUSSAIN ORDINANCE/KAMPONG GLAM CONSERVATION

Mr S. Dhanabalan: Mr Speaker, Sir, in July 1988, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced the conservation guidelines for Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam.

I am pleased to report that the private sector has responded well to the conservation programme. To-date, owners of some 800 premises in Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam have submitted planning applications for restoration or change of use. Progress is fastest in Chinatown where owners of 55% of the premises have applied for planning permission to carry out conservation work. In Little India and Kampong Glam, only 14% of the owners have applied for planning permission. We have reasons to believe that the pace of conservation development in Little India will accelerate soon. But in Kampong Glam, there are certain constraints that have to be removed before development can proceed further. These constraints have to do with the Sultan Hussain Ordinance.

The Sultan Hussain Ordinance was enacted by the British in 1904 after a Court of Appeal ruling that the land in Kampong Glam had become Crown Land, ie, State Land. The Ordinance requires the Government to pay the family of the late Sultan Hussain up to $750 a year. It further enables the Government to pay to the family of the late Sultan Hussain up to nine-tenths of the difference between $750 and the net annual revenue yielded by the properties covered by the Ordinance. About 80% of the Kampong Glam conservation area consists of properties covered by the Ordinance.

The family of the late Sultan Hussain are not beneficial owners of the properties covered by the Sultan Hussain Ordinance. They are only entitled under the Ordinance to $750 and whatever amount the Government decides to pay out to them pursuant to the formula prescribed in the Ordinance. So far, the practice of the Government has been to pay nine-tenths of the revenue derived from the properties in Kampong Glam covered by the Ordinance to the family of the late Sultan Hussain. This amount has varied from $64,590 in 1974/75 to $254,749 in 1986/87 to $226,601 in 1989/90. The figures are for the recent years. Of course, in the early years, it would have been much less.

The State owns 120 buildings in Kampong Glam which are covered by the Ordinance. These buildings are deteriorating. The properties in Kampong Glam cannot bring in more revenue without massive investments by the State in infrastructure and by the building owners in conservation works. The properties do not belong to the family of the late Sultan Hussain and under the Ordinance they are not enabled or entitled nor are they required to contribute towards such investments. Hence, increases in income arising from these additional investments will not benefit the family of the late Sultan Hussain. The Government has, therefore, decided to cap the annual income payable to the family of the late Sultan Hussain at $250,000 per annum with immediate effect.

I would like to take this opportunity to briefly describe the plans we have for Kampong Glam. The URA will implement a pilot project costing $12 million in Kampong Glam at the end of 1991. In addition, another $2 million will be spent to develop Bussorah Street and Muscat Street as landscaped malls with pedestrian sidewalks, lighting, signages and other street furniture. Some State-owned buildings will be sold to the public to restore.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the success of conservation in Kampong Glam depends on the active participation of both the Government and the private sector. The Government, on its part, will invest to improve the infrastructure. The private sector will have to spend money to restore their premises which they already own or which they will buy from the Government. Substantial investments must be made by all parties. The conditions must be right for such investments to yield reasonable returns to justify the risks. With the capping of the payments under the Sultan Hussain Ordinance, URA will accelerate development plans for Kampong Glam.

Dr Tan Cheng Bock (Ayer Rajah): Mr Speaker, Sir, many of us in this House are not familiar with the Sultan Hussain Ordinance. Perhaps the Minister could give us more historical background on this particular Ordinance. We also want to know what does the Ordinance say.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Encik Sidek bin Saniff): Mr Speaker, Sir, we have had from time to time statements made by some family members of the late Sultan Hussain living in Kampong Glam that they want to develop the area. My question is: have they submitted the development plans? If not, do they have the right to submit the development plans?

Mr Dhanabalan: Mr Speaker, Sir, I would very briefly give the background to this Ordinance which really goes back to the founding of Singapore. Those of you who have done history either in school or university would remember that Singapore was part of the Riau Sultanate, the Sultan of which claimed sovereignty over Johor, Pahang and some of the East Sumatran states. Events following the death of the Riau Sultan in 1812 led to the late Sultan's younger son succeeding him. The elder son did not succeed to the Sultanate.

The new Riau Sultanate rebuffed the British request for a trading post and this was where the elder brother came into the picture. The elder brother, Hussain, came to Singapore and was declared Sultan and he signed the treaty permitting the British to set up a factory or colony in Singapore in 1819, ie, the founding of Singapore.

In 1824, a new treaty was signed whereby Singapore was ceded to the British except for the Kampong Glam Estate which was allocated to Hussain as his personal accommodation. That is the area we are talking about under the Sultan Hussain Ordinance. After this happened, the Sultanate in Johor, ie, the younger Sultan, prospered and Hussain's family in Singapore declined and became increasingly impoverished. With the death of Hussain in 1835, the family's fortunes declined even further.

In 1896, towards the end of the last century, there was a dispute among the family of Sultan Hussain as to who was the successor to the Sultanate and to the estate, ie, the Kampong Glam Estate. This matter went to court and in December 1897, the Court of Appeal ruled that there was no one who could claim to be the successor. The estate, therefore, reverted to the Crown. It became State land and it was no longer subject to the treaties which previously affected it.

The British government then enacted the Sultan Hussain Ordinance to make financial provisions for the descendants of Sultan Hussain from the income derived from the Kampong Glam Estate and under these provisions, as I mentioned just now, the family was to be paid $750. That was a definite sum. Out of anything in excess of $750, the Government is entirely free to pay any amount up to nine-tenths. In other words, the Government has the discretion to pay nothing or up to nine-tenths. Over the years, the practice has been to pay nine-tenths, and that is what is provided in the Ordinance.

As to submission of development plans by the family, it is true that there have been reports in the newspapers from time to time from various people who are still living in Kampong Glam. These reports contained details of the kind of plans that they have discussed with various promoters about how to develop Kampong Glam. We have always made it very clear and categorical that the land is State land and was reverted to the State on 1st January 1905 in accordance with the ruling of the Court of Appeal and repeated in the Ordinance. The land is State land administered by the Land Office in the same manner as any other State land in Singapore. So nobody, other than the State, really has the right to submit any development plans. Any members of the family of the late Sultan Hussain do not have the authority to submit any development plans because they are not owners of the land.