TRIBUNAL FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF PARENTS

Dr S. Vasoo asked the Minister for Community Development whether the implementation of the Tribunal to hear cases on parents' maintenance is progressing smoothly.

The Minister for Community Development (Mr Abdullah Tarmugi): Mr Speaker, I would like to report that the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents began operation on 1st June this year. 12 members, including the President, Mr K S Rajah, have been appointed to serve on the Tribunal.

The Tribunal meets once a week on Thursday mornings. As at 15th September, 1996, 10 sittings have been held for either mention or hearing. The number of applications has dropped from 74 in June to 23 in July and to 16 in August. Only five applications were registered in the first two weeks of September.

The Tribunal adopts a non-adversarial approach in settling disputes on maintenance issues within the family. Conciliation Officers in the Tribunal conduct mediation between parties to help them reach a settlement in a more amicable way. When the parties are unable to make a settlement, a hearing will be scheduled for the Tribunal to make an order to determine the outcome of applications.

65 applications for maintenance have been presented before the Tribunal since it convened its proceedings at the end of June 1996. 35 of these applications have been settled 28 were maintenance orders, five were dismissed applications, one application was withdrawn and no order was made for maintenance for one application. The other applications are in various stages of proceedings.

Of the 28 maintenance orders made by the Tribunal, 17 applications were successfully settled through mediation, in other words, they were not even heard. The full legal provisions of the Act are thus being tested.

The experience is still new to the Ministry and the Tribunal and the officers are fine-tuning the work processes as well as their conciliation techniques. They are also learning from the experiences of the Courts. I assure Members of this House that my Ministry and the Tribunal are closely monitoring the situation and will take the necessary steps to educate all parties involved on the purpose of the Tribunal and their rights at the appropriate junctures.

Dr S. Vasoo (Tanjong Pagar GRC): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister what is the waiting time for the cases to be heard by the Tribunal. The other supplementary question is: what are the future plans to integrate the work of the Tribunal with the Family Court?

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi: Sir, as I mentioned earlier, of the 65 applications presented since the Tribunal began its first hearing at the end of June, some are still being heard and are in various stages of proceedings. The Tribunal would try to attend to the cases as soon as it can but it would depend on the difficulties and complexities of the cases.

With regard to whether the Tribunal will be integrated with the courts, I think it is a bit too early to tell. We are just five months into the implementation of the Act and we will wait for some time before we consider the question of integration.