SPEAKERS' CORNER

Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether he will give an unequivocal assurance that the names of the speakers at "Speakers' Corner" and their particulars will not be released to anyone but will be destroyed at the end of the day.

Mr Wong Kan Seng: The process of registration to speak at the Speakers' Corner is transparent. A speaker is required to give his name and NRIC number when he registers to speak. The names of all the speakers who register to speak will be posted and updated every two hours on a notice board outside the Kreta Ayer Neighbourhood Police Post for the public to see. The public will then know who is speaking at the Corner.

The records of the speakers cannot be destroyed at the end of each day because the Police may receive complaints subsequently that someone spoke without registering. The records will then be needed to show whether the person did in fact register with the NPP. Should it be necessary to proceed against a recalcitrant subject who persistently refuses to register, thus breaching the conditions, it will be necessary for the register to be examined by the investigator, and even produced in Court as evidence.

Mr Jeyaretnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I ask the Minister why is it thought to be transparent about the need for registration when in other parts of the world no registration is required at all? Secondly, what is going to happen to these records? My question was an unequivocal assurance that it will not be released to anybody. How long are you going to keep it, and under what secrecy will these records be kept?

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Sir, the Member did not hear my answer carefully. The last time when we sat and I answered this question, I said we need to register the speeches because only Singapore citizens are allowed to speak. Unless he registers, produces his IC, how do we know that that person who is speaking is a Singapore citizen? Secondly, we need to keep a register because of the reasons I have just stated, ie, for investigation purposes, in case there is a complaint subsequently that the person should not be there.

How long will these records be kept? Like all one-off registration, or application for licensing type of record, these records would be kept for five years. As to why we want to make the speakers' list public, what is there to be afraid of if a person is speaking? Everybody ought to know who is speaking. Otherwise, supposing so and so is an interesting speaker and the members of the public may want to find out who the person is and take a look at the list. There is no secrecy about this.

Mr Jeyaretnam: The Minister keeps saying it is for investigation purposes. Is there going to be an investigation if someone complains that the speaker, while speaking, had made some very critical and pungent criticisms of the Government or any official? Will there be any investigation as to why the man said it?

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Sir, a lot of things have been said against the Government - some very pungent, some very strong and some in very hatred languages - and nobody has been investigated because they have said such things of the Government. But if a person says something that is against the law, ie, if he says something that has slandered or intimidated people, then of course there must be an investigation to determine what he has said is indeed against the law.