REGISTRY OF SOCIETIES (Review of rules on qualification of membership for alumni associations)

Mr Robert Chua Teck Chew asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether the Government will review the rules of the Registry of Societies affecting the qualification of membership for alumni associations so as to allow full-time National Servicemen and full-time students of tertiary institutions to join their alumniassociations, thereby contributing to the further development of their alma mater.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, the Registrar of Societies does not currently disallow full-time students of tertiary institutions and full-time national servicemen from joining their alumni associations.

However, there are some alumni associations registered in the 1960s' and 1970s' and perhaps even in the 1980s' with constitutions which disallow full-time students attending institutions of higher learning from joining them. If these alumni associations wish to remove such restrictions, they could amend their constitutions and submit the amendments for approval by the Registrar of Societies.