NUMBER OF REGISTERED SOCIETIES

Mr Simon S C Tay asked the Minister for Home Affairs for the year 1999, what is the number of societies that were registered and what is the number of applications that have been refused or delayed by more than three months.

Mr Wong Kan Seng: For the year 1999 (up to end November), the Registrar of Societies approved 187 applications. Of these, 134 (72%) were approved within three months, 45 (24%) were approved within three to four months and 8 (4%) were approved after four months.

Three applications were refused registration in the same period.