S. V. Lingam
Singapore
“Sir, originally I did not intend to speak, but after hearing some of the Members who spoke, I just wish to say a few words. When the P.A.P. came to power in 1959, it introduced the Women's Charter Bill. Now we have the Labour (Amendment) Bill in front of us, enabling women workers to work round the clock.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 11 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead l0l*. * The same amendment also stood in the name of Mr Ng Yeow Chong. I am taking my other amendment also, Sir, i.e., amendment No. (4)++, together.”
“Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 64 be reduced by $10 in respect of item (006) of subhead 201. Sir, I also intend to take my amendments Nos. (2)* and (3)+ together. * Amendment No. (2), reads as follows: That the sum to be allocated for Head 64 be reduced by $10 in respect of item (007) of subhead 201.”
“Sir, items (006) and (007) of subhead 201 and item (001) of subhead 205 relate to my constituency. While welcoming the expansion and widening of the roads in question, I wish to know whether any houses or buildings are affected by these schemes. Can the Minister give me detailed information on this?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0801 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 3012*. * The same amendment also stood in the name of Mr Ng Yeow Chong. Sir, we are asked to approve a sum of $300,000 for this item. Is the Government going to organise a trade fair in Singapore during 1968?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0801 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 3023. Sir, I want to know to whom these scholarships are paid and why they are named "Malaysia Scholarships". Can the name be changed to, say, "Singapore Scholarships" or something like that?”
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“Sir, apart from the difficulties faced by the public in this re-registration, the officers of the Registration Centres will also have numerous difficulties. They will be facing all sorts of people. But whatever their difficulties may be, I hope they will be patient in dealing with people, especially the uneducated, and treat them with courtesy. I urge them not to lose their patience when dealing with the public. I am sure thus they will get full co-operation from our people. Finally, Sir, Singaporeans would be much grateful to the Minister and Government if wider publicity is given over the Radio, Television, and the Press about the procedure of re-registration. They should be informed clearly and in detail as to the documents they should bring, such as Birth Certificates, old Identity Cards, Statutory Declarations, adoption papers, passports, etc. It would be better if the non-English educated persons could have their names and addresses written correctly by their friends on a piece of paper and produce it to the Registration Officers so that the re-registration work could proceed smoothly.”
“The person has to go all the way from whichever corner he may live to Headquarters to make the report of loss and then again to collect the replacement. This puts the public to a lot of inconvenience. When the Act comes into force, I do not know whether Registration Offices would be set up at various places. If not so, I would request the Minister to consider using the police stations for this purpose, so that the public may not go to Headquarters more than once. What I mean is, when an Identity Card is lost, the holder reports the matter to the nearest police station, and also gives his application for a replacement there. Later when everything is ready, Headquarters informs the applicant and he goes and collects it from Headquarters. Mr Speaker, Sir, this will save a lot of trouble for the public. Sir, if I understand sections 15 and 16 of the National Registration Regulations, Subsidiary Legislation Supplement No. 25, page 148, section 15 which reads: '15. Any person who has obtained his identity card or replacement thereof before attaining the age of seventeen years shall re-register within a period not exceeding five years from the date of his first registration.' And section 16 says: '16. Any person of the age of seventeen years and above who has obtained his identity card or a replacement thereof shall register within the tenth year from the date of his last preceding registration.' Sir, a person affected by the two sections will have to register three times. I presume this is re-registration which is an obligation under the Act, and will not be treated as a replacement for the collection of fees, which according to the schedule is $5. Could the Minister kindly give his assurance on this?”
“In such cases, the new Identity Cards should be issued under the adopted names and races. Mr Speaker, Sir, there should be cross-reference between the new and old Identity Cards. When the new Identity Cards are issued, I do not know whether the number and the date of issue of the old, that is the present Identity Card, will be quoted in the new Identity Card. If provision is not made for the inclusion of the number and date of issue of the old Identity Card in the new Identity Card, there may be difficulties to prove the length of residence. Sir, I do not wish to elaborate on this but hope the Minister will consider this point. Sir, the applicant has to give the Registration Officer certain particulars regarding himself. And among them are his race and language. In my opinion, these two should have relationship. For example, in my case, my language is Tamil; and naturally it follows my race is also Tamil, rather than Indian which may not be altogether wrong. Another point, Sir, is the change of address and occupation. When a person changes his address, I think he will be given a separate card showing the new address. What happens when a person changes his occupation? Will he be issued with an additional card, or will it be necessary for him to replace his Identity Card, which would mean he has to pay a fee of $5? Can I have the Minister's clarification on this? In passing, I would like to speak on reporting the loss of an Identity Card and applying for a replacement. Sir, section 10 (1) of the National Registration Act, 1965, says that a person should report to the nearest Registration Office about the loss and apply for a replacement. It was the practice to report the loss of an Identity Card to the nearest police station. But since 1962, I understand, that is not so.”
“And to do this, I think the Minister should issue directives that when an applicant requests for such reasonable changes or corrections in the name, and if the Registration Officer is satisfied that the applicant's name has been wrongly spelt in the documents produced, the Registration Officer shall issue the new plastic Identity Card with the name spelt as desired by the applicant. In case of any doubt, the Registration Officer can always refer the matter to Headquarters. Sir, the difficulties in wrong names and wrong spellings could be overcome to some extent if the Minister will staff the different Registration Centres, as far as possible, with persons who know the various official languages, i.e. Malay, Chinese, and Tamil. For example, more Chinese-speaking officers to be sent to the Chinatown area, Malay-speaking officers to the Geylang area, Tamil-speaking officers to the Serangoon area, etc. This will be easier to the public and will speed up the re-registration. Sir, one more point. I know the particulars of the applicant in the card to be issued will be in English. Will the Minister consider writing the names of Malays, Chinese and Tamils in their respective languages also, so that even if a mistake is made in the English spelling, the name written in the other languages will be a guide? There is a lot of difficulty about adopted children also. It is common in Singapore for Indians or Malays to adopt Chinese children or vice versa. When the parents have legal adoption papers, there is no difficulty. But, Sir, not all the adopted parents are so wise and legal-minded as to foresee the difficulties. So there are many people who do not have any sort of documents to prove their adoption.”
“Therefore, the fact that they have voted in so many elections in the past as Singapore citizens and are in possession of Singapore Identity Cards issued in the earlier years should be sufficient proof to enable them to obtain the new plastic Identity Card for citizens. Many members of the public are anxious to get the assurance of the Government on this matter. Next, Mr Speaker, Sir, persons whose names are wrongly spelt in their Birth Certificate or Identity Card or both. I quote a typical example. Sir, I quote here an Indian name. AMMANI AMMAL when pronounced sounds like EMILY AMMAL or HOW MANY AMMAL. When the informant who goes to register the birth is an illiterate, and the officer who registers is a non-Tamil, AMMANI will sound like EMILY or HOW MANY, and I would not be surprised if he writes the name as EMILY or HOW MANY. So, Sir, numerous examples can be quoted for such cases. And again, a person may have his name wrongly spelt in the documents he has, as in the case quoted by me just now, or a person may wish to have his name spelt in a slightly different way, or he may even wish to have the name abbreviated. You can take my name, for instance. My full name is VISVALINGAM son of SUPPIAH. I spell it V-I-S-V-A-L-I-NG-A-M. But there may be people who like to spell it as VISUVALINGAM with an addition of the letter 'U'. Or I may like to shorten it to S. V. LINGAM. So, Sir, such changes and corrections in spelling should be allowed during this re-registration.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the National Registration Act, 1965, comes into operation on the 5th May, 1966. We welcome the issue of new plastic Identity Cards because it will regularise the anomalies. From what the Minister has earlier stated, I understand that the new Identity Cards shall be used not only as an Identity Card, but also serve as a Birth Certificate and Citizenship Certificate. This is really very convenient to the public. But with only about two weeks to go, the public are anxious and worried over many things. They are anticipating many difficulties because not everyone has got all the necessary documents to the requirement of the Act and regulations. The utmost important but confusing problem is the names of the applicants. Sir, this matter has been raised by many hon. Members in this House. There are Birth Certificates without names. And there are cases where the name in the Birth Certificate differs from that on the present Identity Card. Apart from the wrong names, there are very many persons whose names are wrongly spelt, either in the Birth Certificates or Identity Cards or both. Mr Speaker, first I take the case of persons having unnamed Birth Certificates, or no Birth Certificates at all. Quite a number of our voters come under this category. When the new plastic Identity Cards are issued, I do not know what the position will be of a person whose name appears in the present Electoral Register but who does not possess any Birth Certificate or Citizenship Certificate, but only a Singapore Identity Card. Such persons have voted in so many elections in the past.”
“I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 1003 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2081. Mr Speaker, Sir, I just wish to elicit information only; what is this allowance and to whom is it given?”
“I withdraw my amendments. Amendments, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $15,810,190 for Head 1002 ordered to stand part of the Estimates. Head 1003 -”
“The Parliamentary Secretary has not answered my last question, i.e. the criticism from the public or criticism by newspapers could be sent direct to the Minister, and this promise should be given to the public, and publicity should be given.”
“What I said was that the children's wards in all the hospitals should be provided with T.V. sets. I hope such mistakes will not occur in future. At times the people have criticised radio programmes in the newspapers, particularly in the Tamil newspapers. When such cases come up, the Ministry should not just keep quiet but should take action to remedy the defects. It should also announce to the public that such criticism could be forwarded to the Minister direct.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 1002 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2222.* Our Government is going to complete the building of its new television studio, and when it is completed the four language streams will present programmes for all the people in a very good way. This was stated in the President's Address. We welcome it. However, I have to air my views on certain shortcomings in the programmes. A few weeks ago we celebrated our National Language Month - on stage, in community centres and in the Press. We gave it a lot of publicity. We talked and wrote much about it. There were daily special programmes over television. You also might have seen and listened to all these programmes, Mr Speaker, Sir. "Bahasa Bersama" is the title of one of the programmes. Girls were shown in this programme. The television camera was focusing on the breasts of these girls. Perhaps the camera man was very happy about it. But the people are not very happy about it. We have to condemn such activities. It is the duty of the Government to do so. Mr Speaker, Sir, the Tamil Section of Radio Singapore should be improved. Although more time has been allotted on T.V. for Tamil programmes, we never see any good programmes. I hope the Head of the Tamil Section will look into this. After the Radio news, a report is given of the parliamentary proceedings whenever the House meets. In this programme, Members' speeches are reported. I have listened to them. But there is one shortcoming. Last night, at 8.45 p.m., the Tamil Section gave a broadcast on the parliamentary proceedings. It was stated that I had requested that television sets should be installed in all the wards in Middleton Hospital. This is wrong.”
“Mr Speaker, I wish to take both amendments (6) and (7) + together as they deal with more or less the same matter. + Amendment (7) reads as follows: That the sum to be allocated for Head 1002 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 3261 The Chairman: Very well. The Member should move amendment No. (6)* and he can speak on both.”
“I beg leave to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 1002 be reduced by $10 in respect of item 2 of subhead 2091. Sir, this is for information only. Though the sum here is $550, I just want to know what has Broadcasting got to do with the Caldecott Hill Estate.”
“I am not moving. The sum of $7,109,510 for Head 0804 ordered to stand part of the Estimates. Head 0807 - The following amendment stood in the name of Mr Ng Kah Ting --- That the sum to be allocated for Head 0807 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 1003.”
“Sir, I withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0801 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 3023. Mr Speaker, Sir, may I know from the Minister for Finance to whom these Malaysia scholarships are given?”
“I beg to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $28,861,090 for Head 0703 ordered to stand part of the Estimates. Head 0801 -”
“I beg to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The following amendment stood in the name of Mr P. Govindaswamy - That the total sum to be allocated for Head 0702 be reduced by $100.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0702 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2656. Mr Speaker, Sir, this is for information only. What I want to know under this item is this - are these patients from Singapore, and are there no facilities for them in our hospitals?”
“I beg to withdraw. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, before I can make a move, I want to know whether the Minister can move first or not!”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0702 be reduced by $10 in respect of item 5 of subhead 2401.* Sir, the people of Singapore do not only get free medicine but they also get free Rediffusion music. May I know whether the Minister will consider installing T.V. services for all children in all the wards?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, may I know whether the Minister has received an application from Yun Fong School at Potong Pasir, which is in my constituency, for grant-in-aid? I believe that this application was made some time ago. May I know what is the position? And will the Minister expedite this application?”
“I withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The following amendment stood in the name of Inche Mohd. Ariff bin Suradi ---. That the sum to be allocated for Head 0601 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2112.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0601 be reduced by $10 in respect of subhead 2111.* *The same amendment also stood in the name of Inche Mohd. Ariff bin Suradi. Mr Speaker, Sir, there are school children who are posted to schools far away from their houses. Parents with small incomes find it very difficult to meet their transport expenses. In view of this, will the Minister for Education consider giving a transport allowance to students? I also wish to know whether these facilities are extended to students whose parents are unemployed or receiving social welfare allowance and whether these facilities are known to the public.”
“In view of the answer, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $13,258,240 for Head 0307 ordered to stand part of the Estimates. Head 0401 -”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head 0307 he reduced by $10 in respect of item 4 of subhead 2007. Mr Speaker, Sir, may I know whether the Minister of State will consider appointing more postal agencies where the members of the public can purchase their requirements such as stamps, etc.? In certain parts of Singapore, especially in the rural areas, the post offices are very far from their homes. Will the Minister consider appointing postal agencies at or near all community centres?”
“I am sorry, Sir, If a person is affected by a fire, flood or an accident, I do not think it is fair to charge him for a replacement card, because, if there should be a family consisting of about twelve persons, this will cost them a lot. Clause 12 (3) (b) of the Bill reads: `a birth certificate without the name of the child, but supported by a statutory declaration to the effect that the birth certificate refers to the birth of the persons referred to in the statutory declaration'. Sir, there are citizens of Singapore who have birth certificates without names. But their parents, if they are alive, can be asked to support their declarations for the purpose of re-registration and getting new plastic cards. The question of persons who have birth certificates together with statutory declarations made by their parents should also be looked into. I hope the Minister will look into these two points and make this re-registration as easy as possible for the people of Singapore.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to associate myself with the views which were expressed by the Member for Kampong Kembangan, and I only wish to add one or two points to what he has said. The Minister, when he was speaking on the Second Reading, said that when people register for plastic cards, it will cost them a dollar each and that if they lose them, the replacement cards will cost them $5 each.”
“Could we now turn to the boycott of this Assembly by the Barisan Sosialis? As Members of this Assembly, there are many duties and responsibilities we have to discharge to the people. During an earlier phase, the Barisan Sosialis felt there should be more Assembly sittings. Assembly sittings appeared urgent and necessary to them. I have already spoken earlier about this. Now because of urgent Government business, we have met again in this Assembly. But we do not see them here today. They have boycotted this Session. But the people did not elect them so that they should boycott their Legislative Assembly. Moreover, we now know there is a split among the Barisan Sosialis. But this is entirely their concern. However this may be, it is unforgivable that they should have failed to turn up at this Assembly. As Members, they are receiving $500 allowance each; but if they had asked the Assembly to withhold this payment, then they would be worthy of praise. Finally, I wish to thank the Prime Minister for having given us the opportunity during this Session not only to praise the Government, but to criticise where necessary.”
“This is of tremendous benefit to poor families. But sometimes children of poor families have to travel great distances to their homes. Their parents have to incur quite heavy expenditure. Such families, therefore, do not derive the full benefit from primary education. Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to say something about the special services of the Housing and Development Board in which I serve. In the first Five-Year Plan, 51,000 houses have been built and in the second Five-Year Plan, some 60,000 houses will be built; but I do wish to bring to your attention some of the shortcomings of this department. Because housing development has been progressing at such a rate, some traffic problems have been created. I do hope that these problems, which have arisen as a result of multi-storeyed fiat construction, will be solved. More car parking spaces and more playing fields have to be constructed. The Housing Board must improve its services to the people with the co-operation of other Ministries. For instance, the provision of public telephones has to be increased. The Ministry of Health could provide more and bigger markets in the housing estates, because many of the present markets are rather small. It has been announced that the new Television Studio will be ready by about the middle of next year. I hope there will be school television broadcasts. I wish to know whether and when school broadcasts will be introduced, and whether the Tamil programmes will be further improved. I also wish to say something on the public notice boards. Many spelling and grammatical errors in the Tamil language are found in these notices. The Tamil language has received official status, so this misspelling in the notices is not a good thing. I do hope that something will be done to rectify it.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Yang di-Pertuan Negara's Speech delivered at the opening of this Session is a historical one. I consider myself privileged to express my views on this Motion of Thanks for his Speech. Singapore became independent at a rather unexpected moment. Several benefits are to be derived from this. Many of our problems were solved when our Goodwill Mission went to Afro-Asia under the leadership of the Deputy Prime Minister. The question of bases in Singapore was explained by this Mission to friendly nations of Afro-Asia. This has met with great success. At the same time, there are many problems to be dealt with in connection with our survival. We need trade as well as industrial growth. Several plans have been announced to increase our trade and industry. We are now assured of our national survival. Our people must also have some assurance, for only then will we be able to get their full co-operation. Mr Speaker, Sir, since 1959 when the People's Action Party came to power, we have seen many changes and even tribulations. We have derived many lessons from this and our people are enjoying a high standard of living in South-East Asia. Even families of lower income group are today able to have television sets in their homes. The Members who spoke before me in this Chamber have praised the health service of Singapore. Of course, I do not disagree with them. In fact, even our political enemies are given first-class medical treatment! However, there are one or two things that I would like to point out. We may recall that there were some regulations for controlling cattle. But I do not think they have been carried out effectively, and I do hope that something will be done in my constituency. Mr Speaker, Sir, primary education is entirely free in Singapore.”