BOARD OF EQUAL RIGHTS (Setting up)

Mr J B Jeyaretnam asked the Prime Minister if the Government will consider setting up a Board of Equal Rights to whom any citizen, who has been unfairly discriminated or deprived of his rights, can complain.

The Minister of State for Law (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Prime Minister): Sir, there is no need to set up a Board proposed by the Member.

Article 12 of the Constitution guarantees all persons equality before the law and equal protection of the law. Any person whose constitutional rights have been infringed has recourse to the Courts, either by bringing an action against the Government or by way of defence to a prosecution.

Mr Jeyaretnam: May I again assure the Minister of State that I am only too well aware of what is in the Constitution. Does the Minister of State agree that it is one thing to have an Article in the Constitution, it is another to provide a cheap, quick remedy for those who consider their rights have been denied or violated?

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Once again, the NCMP brings up an old issue. This point has been raised in this House before by PAP MPs, Mr Davinder Singh and Mr Shanmugam, in 1990, 1992 and 1994 and we furnished a full reply. There are means, in fact, free means, by which an aggrieved person who feels that his rights have been violated, or that he has been unfairly discriminated, can seek recourse. For example, he can seek the help of his Member of Parliament at the meet-the-people session. And indeed those of us who hold meet-the-people sessions will know that aggrieved citizens do come to see us and we write in on their behalf to the relevant ministries and departments. Those of us who are on this side of the House, who handle these appeals, can tell everyone here that we take these appeals very seriously. We consider and send them to the departments to get their inputs to see whether there is a need to follow up. There is no reason for us not to take them seriously. If there is indeed some wrongdoing, or some wrong to be put right, there is every reason for us to do that.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Will the Minister of State tell us to what court does a person who is aggrieved go to if his right is denied or violated? Does he go to the Magistrate's Court? Does he go to the District Court? Or does he have to go to the Constitutional Court?

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Surely, the NCMP must know, as a lawyer of so many years' standing - I do not know whether he is in active practice now - that there is this branch of the law called "administrative law" where he can take out various administrative orders, whether it is certiorari - to quash an executive action, or mandamus - to get the executive to act in a certain way, or habeas corpus, if you want somebody to be freed. All these are in the law books. Indeed, Mr Simon Tay, quite recently in this House, did say that the courts have acted in this role to review executive actions.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Does the Minister of State say that you can go to the Magistrate's Court for a certiorari? Do you not have to go to the High Court and if it is an Article of the Constitution, do you not have to go to the Constitutional Court? And at what cost to the poor man who is left without any rights?

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, I think we have talked about this before in this House. If an aggrieved person who is a Singaporean feels that he has to test his constitutional rights in court, he will take out an action in the High Court invoking administrative law.

Mr Shriniwas Rai (Nominated Member): Sir, may I ask the Minister of State whether there has been any crying need by either the Law Society or any professional group such as the Singapore Women Lawyers' Association or other lawyers to set up a similar body like the Board of Equal Rights? I think the House will probably be interested to know.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, there has been no such call. But I take it that it is the NCMP's pet topic. He will come to this House and ask for the setting up of boards, committees and commissions of inquiry out of the blue.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Is the Minister of State aware that a number of countries have such bodies which deal effectively and cheaply with citizens' complaints? Is he or is he not aware?

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, yes, I know the genesis of the ombudsman goes back a long way. It started in Sweden, and other Scandinavian countries and New Zealand have adopted it. But, as we have mentioned in this House before, every society must determine the way in which its laws and legal mechanisms operate. Other countries, unlike Singapore, do not have so many feedback channels such as the SIU, meet-the-people sessions, or, for that matter, NMPs and NCMPs, who can bring up their constituents' grievances in this House.