HINDU ENDOWMENTS (AMENDMENT) BILL

[Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair]

Order for Second Reading read.

The Minister for Community Development (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Hindu Endowments Act (Chapter 364) was enacted in May 1969. The Act provides for a Board, appointed by the Minister, to administer Hindu religious and charitable endowments.

Since its enactment in 1969, the Act has been amended only once, in 1973. This was a minor amendment to change the year of business from calendar year to financial year.

The Hindu Endowments Board currently manages four temples and owns a property at Serangoon Road in "Little India". Following the lifting of rent control in "Little India", the Hindu Endowments Board intends to redevelop the Serangoon Road property to generate funds for the benefit of the endowments. To ensure the success of this project, the Board will be jointly redeveloping the property with a property development company.

However, the Hindu Endowments Act, as it now stands, does not empower the Board to mortgage any property or to enter into any joint-venture arrangements. We therefore need to amend the Act to enable the Board to do so.

Sir, over the last two decades the activities of the Board and the temples it administers have grown significantly. The procedures and working arrangements of the Board need to be strengthened and updated. We have therefore taken this opportunity to amend several other sections of the Act to enable the Board to operate more effectively.

The Bill will enlarge the composition of the Board and enable it to form various Committees as and when required. Currently, appointments to the Board are limited to only two consecutive terms. With our limited talent pool, this restriction often leads to the Board not being able to continue tapping the experience and expertise of key members. The Bill will remove this restriction, except for the appointment of the Finance Member. The Bill also incorporates several minor or consequential amendments.

These amendments will enable the Hindu Endowments Board to play a more active and effective role for the benefit of the Hindu community.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr S. Chandra Das (Cheng San GRC): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Hindu Endowments (Amendment) Bill.

Sir, the amendments being made now are extremely timely and will certainly go a long way to help the Hindu Endowments Board to function more effectively.

Firstly, Sir, the removal of restriction that members of the management committee of an endowment shall not be appointed for more than two consecutive terms is indeed an improvement. As the Minister rightly pointed out, the Hindu community in Singapore is small, and this restriction will reduce the talent pool available. This new provision will enable more qualified people to continue to serve the various endowments.

Sir, having said this, I would like to point out to the Minister that this should not be used as an excuse for not bringing in new people into the various boards. The new provision must also not be used to give life-long membership to existing members. A proper balance ought to be struck. While deserving members should continue to serve longer periods, at the same time new members should be inducted.

Sir, the second amendment which gives the Board power to mortgage its property, to raise funds, to redevelop its property in joint ventures is definitely a step in the right direction. This amendment would allow the Board access to external funding and expertise. This provision will enable the Board to make use of its assets which are currently nearly idle. With this amendment, the Board can go ahead with the redevelopment of its property in "Little India" which will really involve the refurbishment of property belonging to the Board according to URA guidelines, allow for a more comprehensive development of shopping units, restaurants and a food court, so that the character of "Little India" could be retained.

Finally, there will also be a good flow of rental income from the property for the Hindu Endowments Board. Currently, I am told, Sir, that the Board collects around $16,000 per annum in rental income. However, with proper redevelopment, I am informed, that this can be easily raised to $2 million per annum. With this income from property development, the Board will be better placed to cater for the religious, educational and cultural needs of the Singaporean Hindus.

Sir, whilst encouraging the Board to go into joint ventures with property developers, the Board, I feel, must exercise extreme care and caution in the selection of joint venture partners. Consideration must be purely not on commercial basis as there are various other factors to be taken into account. After all, the Hindu Endowments Board is not a pure commercial organisation.

Sir, I support the Bill.

Mr R. Sinnakaruppan (Kampong Glam GRC): Mr Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the amendments in the Hindu Endowments (Amendment) Bill. First, I declare my interest as a member of the Hindu Endowments Board.

Sir, as Mr Chandra Das said, the Bill is timely. It would help to structure and improve the administration of the endowments and the projects of the Board. The Board caters to the needs of Hindus in Singapore who comprise Tamil, Malayalee, Telegu, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujerati and other origins. The Board, through its activities, has become a focal point for the entire Hindu community in Singapore.

In addition to the day-to-day running of the four temples administered by the Board, the Board, for a few years now, has embarked on a number of community services, in response to requests from the Hindu community in Singapore. These include medical counselling, welfare counselling, educational counselling and other educational programmes, and the publication of an informative newsletter called 'Singapore Hindu'.

In fact, in the field of education, the Board pioneered the first English-Tamil kindergarten. This kindergarten caters not only to Hindus but also to non-Hindus. In view of the Ministry of Education's decision to remove Religious Studies from the school curriculum, the Board is embarking on a mass scale correspondence course on Hindu Studies for young Singaporean Hindus.

Worthy projects like these require additional resources and there is an urgent need to have more members in the Board. Also, for such projects to succeed in the long term, there must be continuity of leadership. At the same time, as my colleague, Mr Chandra Das has pointed out, we should not allow for a life-long Chairman or Secretary of the Board. Therefore, the proposed amendment to section 5 of the Act to enlarge the composition of the Board and to allow re-appointments of members beyond two consecutive terms is appropriate. The proposed amendment to section 11 provides for the setting up of the office of Deputy Chairman and Finance Member and this would further help to streamline the Board's operation.

The insertion of a new section 15B to empower the Board, inter alia, to mortgage its property to raise funds to re-develop its commercial properties in "Little India" is certainly welcome. I believe that this amendment is long overdue and, when passed, it would certainly become a significant milestone in the history of the Board which dates back to 1906 when it was a Muslim and Hindu Endowments Board.

The concept of this development revolves around reinforcing the Indian heritage of the district by integrating the existing three blocks of 26 units of two-storey pre-war shophouses into a commercially viable complex, comprising retail, food and beverage and entertainment activities.

The arcade may possibly be owned and developed by a joint-venture company to be set up comprising the Hindu Endowments Board and, possibly, DBS Land. The project is scheduled to be completed in 1994. With its strategic location and exciting concept, this development is poised to be the catalyst for the revitalisation of the "Little India" district. When completed, the arcade will provide visitors with a flavour of both North and South India, something which even Indian cities cannot offer.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, there has been some apprehension and concern amongst some members of the Hindu community on the rationale to give partial ownership of the property to another party in return for professional, development and management costs and services.

I understand that the Board has explored extensively various other options of 'going on its own' and the management and financial scenarios have been analysed in detail. This present proposal is the best of the options available, and it is in the long-term interest of the community. This joint venture agreement allows the Board to buy back from a party, DBS Land or others, the share of the property in a period of years on a 'first right of refusal basis', and/or at market prices.

Sir, I would urge the Ministry to ensure that the Board has the resolve and not detract from the objective to buy back the shares, so that the land that once belonged to the pioneer Indian merchants before they became endowments of the Board, will continue to be part of the Hindu community in modern Singapore.

Sir, with that, I support the Bill.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Sir, I would like to thank all Members for their strong support for the amendments.

Both Mr Chandra Das and Mr Sinnakaruppan have expressed concerns about the dangers of life-long membership for certain key people and they stressed the need that new talent should continue to be brought in. Sir, that is the intention. We must strike a balance between maximising the use of talent of the people that we have now as well as, at the same time, identifying new talent outside to bring in. So this process will continue.

As to the joint venture partner, the Board comprises very competent, experienced people of good integrity. I am sure they will be very careful in the selection of a joint venture partner. We should allow them to maximise the benefits to the Hindu Endowments Board as well as to benefit the Hindus in Singapore.

I will keep in mind the points raised by Mr Sinnakaruppan about the possibility of buying back the shares that are being given out to the joint venture partner in the coming years.

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 Yeo Cheow Tong].

Bill considered in Committee.

[Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair]

Clause 1 -

The Chairman: The citation year will be changed to "1993". This will be done.

Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 2 to 8 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

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