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When Parliament meets on Monday, lawmakers will debate and are expected to pass a constitutional amendment that will allow parliamentarians to spread out in different locations while in session.
This is the first such bill, and it would lay the groundwork for Parliament to meet via virtual means if necessary, such as for reasons of safe distancing amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Called the Bill of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment), it will be presented under a Certificate of Urgency, which allows its debate and approval in a single session.
But old political hands remember that the Singapore Parliament had paved the way in 2003 during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), when some members addressed the House remotely for the first time under the same roof or at home. .
THE FIGHT AGAINST SARS
On April 24, 2003, Parliament met to discuss the Government’s response to Sars. All parliamentarians, without exception, had their temperature taken upon arrival at the Parliament House. But four officials in the ministerial combat unit against Sars isolated themselves from their colleagues and addressed Parliament from a separate room as an added precaution.
The team was chaired by then Minister of State Khaw Boon Wan, a former high-ranking official with experience in the Ministry of Health.
The other three were doctors: the ministers of state Ng Eng Hen, Balaji Sadasivan and Vivian Balakrishnan.
All four were on the front lines of the Sars war, and each had visited several Sars-affected hospitals.
Then House Deputy Director Mah Bow Tan, seeking parliamentary permission to allow the video to link, said extraordinary times demanded extraordinary measures.
Khaw also noted then that the video setup allowed the team to join the discussion “without causing anxiety to (our) colleagues.”
They were shown two television cameras, allowing those in the House to see the task force members when they spoke, even as the four watched the proceedings on a television screen from a room near the public gallery in Parliament.
The fifth who spoke via video conference was then MP for Yesterday Rajah Tan Cheng Bock. As a doctor, he had voluntarily quarantined his home, having treated a patient who contracted Sars. Dr. Tan, who was a general practitioner, had said that Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong wanted him to share his experience, although he could not be physically present in Parliament.
A television team set up a makeshift studio in his Bukit Timah home.
“They showed up with antennas, microphones, spotlights, it was very professional,” he told The Straits Times on Wednesday. “They turned my room into a studio (but) it took a few hours to set everything up.”
Dr. Tan, who had cried while counting the distressed delivery man who came to see him, became the first deputy to address Parliament from his home.
MPs LIKELY TO BE SCATTERED THROUGH THE HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT
The bill allows Parliament to “stretch between two or more places, if it becomes impossible, insecure, or inconvenient for Parliament to meet in one place.”
Parliamentarians, however, told The Straits Times that the potential change is likely to see lawmakers sitting in different rooms in the Parliament House if the situation calls for it.
Singapore is unlikely to follow Britain’s path, where most parliamentarians last week telephoned from their homes, Cedric Foo (Pioneer) said.
While Britain has to consider travel arrangements to Westminster, Singapore is a compact city-state, he noted.
“Parliamentarians here could still travel and meet in person at Parliament House, but separated into different rooms connected by videoconference for better secure distancing,” said Foo, who heads the Government’s Parliamentary Communications and Information Committee (including Smart Nation ).
“In that way, the risks of authentication and cybersecurity can be minimized compared to a fully digital work-from-home agreement.”
Accordingly, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng noted that the House of Parliament has rooms of various sizes that could be used for different arrangements, “from the auditorium to the classroom and conference room styles.”
But political observer Felix Tan, an associate professor at SIM Global Education, said getting parliamentarians to converge in one place could defeat the goal of ensuring adequate social distancing.
A workaround deal could have MPs head to government offices near Parliament House, such as the Treasury Building and the Old Hill Street Police Station, which houses two ministries, Baey said.
“He wants proximity because he needs Parliament’s secretariat to support the session as well, so it will probably be easier if MPs were around,” he added.
The bill, released Monday, did not specify the possible locations or the means of communication between them. These details, he added, will be prescribed by the President, a parliamentary resolution or a Regulation, which are written rules that regulate the procedures of the House.
This was deliberate, said Mr. Foo.
“The bill should be drafted more broadly to meet different demands and therefore different meeting formats appropriate for the specific circumstances that prevail,” he said.
A CONTINGENCY PLAN
Observers said the bill is a consequence of the government paying attention to Covid-19’s first lessons. It does not mean that it will be invoked in the short term.
While Sars has provided some lessons, Covid-19 has proven to be much more infectious “and surprised everyone off guard,” said former MP from the People’s Action Party, Inderjit Singh.
“We should be preparing for the potential situation of a future pandemic that can be as contagious as Covid-19 and as fatal as Sars (and) changes are likely for that.”
Ms. Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson) said the amendment is a contingency plan “to ensure that Parliament passes important laws in a timely manner.”
“For example, if you need more money to help businesses and Singaporeans, you want to be able to do that.”
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