ELECTION OF SPEAKER (Tribute)

3.24 pm

The Leader of the House (Mr Wong Kan Seng): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I, on behalf of all Members of this House, extend to you our congratulations on your re-election as Speaker. You are not new to this high office, having been first elected to it three days short of three years ago in 1989. Your re-election today signifies our continued confidence in you in the discharge of this onerous responsibility.

During the Seventh Parliament you have guided our proceedings most efficiently and ensured that order and decorum were observed in keeping with the dignity of this House. You have acted fairly and firmly to all Members regardless of whether he was a Minister, a Government Backbencher or an Opposition Member. You have ensured that Members did not stray from the agenda under discussion and that you did not hesitate to bring an errant Member back to his correct path. I am sure all the Members here will continue to give you our support and cooperation in the years ahead.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Lim Boon Heng who has contributed to the proceedings of this House as our Deputy Speaker. He now has other responsibilities and he will no doubt be taking part in the proceedings of this House in his new assignment as Senior Minister of State.

We are also privileged to have the continued services of Mr Abdullah Tarmugi as our Deputy Speaker when he is duly re-elected.

On behalf of the older Members, I would like to welcome the 14 new Members into this House. We look forward to their maiden speeches and to their participation in the debate.

Parliamentary debate is serious business. What matters is the substance of what Members say, not how they can impress the viewers in the "Today in Parliament" programme. The Government is more interested in what Members say in helping to improve any aspect of its policies. We want to hear the constructive comments on how certain things can be done better. I can assure them that constructive views would be well received. We want to hear alternatives if they disagree with the present policies. But if their views are plainly wrong, they must expect a strong encounter from the Government.

Under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act, Members are free to speak their minds. But let me remind them that they shall have to take responsibility for what they say.

We have had a clean record in the Seventh Parliament when no Member was taken before the Committee of Privileges. I hope Members will keep this record up and not require the Committee of Privileges to meet in the Eighth Parliament.

One final point, Sir. We now have four Opposition Members in this House, three of whom are from the same party, the SDP. For informal communication between me, as Leader of the House, and the Opposition, I propose to deal with Mr Chiam as the unofficial Leader of the Opposition. It is like the position in the Legislative Assembly in 1955 when the PAP won three out of four contested seats in the Legislative Assembly, and Mr Lee Kuan Yew was unofficially and de facto Leader of the Opposition. As its unofficial Opposition Leader, this House should give Mr Chiam due courtesy and precedence among Opposition MPs.

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am happy to note that you have been unanimously re-elected as Speaker of this House.

Sir, allow me and my two colleagues to join the Leader of the House and also, I believe, other Members of the House, in congratulating you on your re-election to this high office.

Sir, I was fortunate to be a Member of this House in the last session of Parliament when you were also a Speaker. You are a very patient man and often your patience has been tested and you were never ruffled. I note also that you have got a good sense of humour which is most welcome in long and tedious sessions. Sir, I am confident that you will perform your duties impartially and fairly.

I am fortunate to be sitting in front and it is easy for me to catch your eye. But my other two colleagues have been placed at the back seats. I hope they can also catch your eye.

Sir, I welcome the recognition of me as the unofficial Leader of the Opposition. You can be assured, Sir, that I will certainly live up to a Leader of the Opposition, whether officially or unofficially. I think it is the duty, the way that I perform in Parliament and the keeping of my responsibility which are more important than a name which is attached to me.

Sir, you can be assured that the SDP Members will definitely be constructive. We are all here with a mission in nation-building and we shall certainly keep our record of nation-building and we hope for Singapore's further progress.

Dr Arthur Beng Kian Lam (Bedok GRC): Mr Speaker, Sir, I join my colleagues in congratulating you on your re-election as Speaker of Parliament. Since your election as Speaker in 1989, you have guided this House fairly and with wit and wisdom. Your eyes are sharp and your timing very sharp. I am sure that under your leadership and shining example, this House will indeed benefit from your chairmanship.

I would also like to congratulate Mr Chiam See Tong on being appointed the unofficial Leader of the Opposition in this House.

Dr Tan Cheng Bock (Ayer Rajah): Mr Speaker, I rise to support your nomination and to congratulate you on being re-elected as Speaker.

For the new Members of Parliament in this House, I can assure them that the Speaker, who now has little time to speak and, in fact, he cannot speak much in this House, did a very fine job when he was a Backbencher. We looked towards him when we were new in this House for guidance and if you go back and look through the Hansard, you will find that some of his speeches were very witty and humorous. And I am sure the Front Bench in this House were at times disturbed by some of the remarks that he made. We, on the Backbench, although we miss him, are also proud that he has been elevated to the Chair of Speaker. Congratulations.

Mr Goh Choon Kang (Braddell Heights): ( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to join the Leader of the House and the other Members to congratulate you on your re-election as the Speaker of this House for another term.

Sir, you have a very long experience as a Backbencher in the past years and you know that the Backbenchers have a responsibility to reflect the views of the members of the public and their electorate. Therefore, from my own experience over the past few years and in cooperating with you, I am quite sure that in the new session you will also give us a lot of opportunities to reflect our views. I also believe that you will be discharging your duties very fairly and impartially irrespective of whether he is a Government Backbencher or an Opposition Member. You will give every one of them equal opportunity to speak. And if a Member does not wish to speak, that is his own responsibility.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I hope and I believe that in the new session you will continue to be fair in maintaining the dignity, order and proper proceedings of this House, and that you will also help to conduct the substantial debate in this House.

Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I sincerely congratulate you on being elected as Speaker of the Eighth Parliament. I understand that you have been very fair at the last Parliament and I hope that you will be as fair as you have been and will not close ranks with PAP Members, as our Prime Minister has urged.

Mr Speaker: Honourable Members, first of all, I would like to thank all of you for having elected me Speaker of the Eighth Parliament. I would also like to thank the Leader of the House and the other Members for their kind and supportive words.

The Speakership is an office of high esteem and responsibility and it is an honour that you once again bestow on me by re-electing me to the Chair. That I was able to discharge my duties fully and responsibly in the Seventh Parliament is due in no small way to the cooperation which honourable Members extended to me.

Together, we have shown to our people that even as we argue and debate, scrutinize and criticize, probe and query, we do so in an orderly manner that befits the honour and dignity of this distinguished House. This is the way it must be, always, so that our people continue to have faith in us. I therefore look forward to the continued cooperation of honourable Members in this new Parliament.

All of us are bound by the Standing Orders, a set of rules that might appear cumbersome at times, but has passed the test of time in ensuring the orderly conduct of our proceedings. I would advise all Members to be familiar with them.

Be free to speak your minds and let your conscience be your guide, but remember that at all times we should never abuse the privileges accorded to us as Members of Parliament. To do so would be to undermine the confidence that our people have placed in this high institution. I therefore urge each and every one of you to uphold the rules, dignity and decorum of the House.

Lastly, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the new Members. There are 14 of them and I look forward to hearing their speeches. A piece of friendly advice to them. Remember that not all of us are born orators and a good speech is not necessarily a long speech. All of you have the right to speak but do follow my advice, otherwise you might not understand why you have difficulty catching the Speaker's eye! For sure it is not where you sit that counts.

One of the Speaker's most potent weapon in this House is the "guillotine" which comes down on a Member who has exceeded the time permitted for making a speech. The "guillotine" when inflicted on you is sharp and swift, and I have noticed in the past the devastating effects it has had on a Member when it falls on him in mid-sentence. So time your speeches well as I will be regulating the proceedings of the House with clock-work precision, a field I am somewhat familiar with.