Presidential Council For Minority Rights - Powers and Functions - Bills

Bills

The Speaker of Parliament is required to refer all bills, with some exceptions, to the PCMR for consideration immediately after the third reading of the bill in Parliament and obtain the Council's report on it before the bill may be sent to the President for assent.

The Council must make its report to Parliament within 30 days of the passage of any bill that is referred to it, judging if any provisions of the Bill are "discriminatory or inconsistent with fundamental liberties". However, if the bill is particularly complex or of great length, the Speaker has the discretion to extend the deadline upon application by the Chairman. If the Council fails to make a report within the given timeframe, it is "conclusively presumed" that the Council is satisfied that the bill is free from differentiating measures.

The referral of a bill only after its third reading means that Parliament will not have the opportunity of considering the Council's views on the bill prior to the debate. The Wee Chong Jin Commission had advocated for the Council to consider each bill after it had been introduced during its second reading, on the presumption that the Council would express views that would benefit the debate on the bill. Additionally, since Parliament has already passed the bill, Parliament may consider it a "point of honour to maintain its original view ... whatever the merits of the Council's objections" as they have already debated the bill and may decide to "stick to their original guns".

If the Council does make an adverse report, Parliament may amend the bill to rid it of any differentiating measures before sending it back to the Council for inspection. The MP having charge of the bill may give two clear days' notice of the amendments he or she proposes to move in Parliament to the provisions of the bill that were adversely reported upon by the Council. The bill then stands recommitted to a committee of the whole Parliament on those provisions, and the proposed amendments are considered. Parliament then resumes, and the MP having charge of the bill reports whether the amendments were agreed to by the committee. If so, the MP moves that the amended bill should be resubmitted to the Council. There is uncertainty as to whether the Council will have to make another report within any time limit, or if the bill will then be directly presented to the President for assent.

Alternatively, Parliament may effectively ignore the Council's adverse report with a motion passed with an affirmative vote of two-thirds of its members. Again, the MP in charge of the bill must give two clear days' notice of his intention to move that the bill be presented to the President for assent despite the adverse report. Following a debate, MPs vote on the motion by taking a division. If Parliament rejects the adverse report in this way, Parliament may send the bill, notwithstanding any differentiating measures, to the President for assent. These overriding mechanisms against adverse reports present difficulties when seen in the light of Article 12 of the Constitution, which is meant to guarantee equal protection under the law to minorities without discrimination, since bills containing differentiating measures that are presented to the President for assent can be seen as "inconsistent with the fundamental liberties of the subject".