Mr Speaker, Sir, `No single factor is more likely to bring about a more fair and just society than equal opportunities for education for all. The ideal to which all nations in the world aspire is the utilisation of its human resources to the maximum.' Mr Speaker, these words from the policy statement by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara must ring in the ears of the people of this country with much greater significance than in other South-East Asian nations. For us, it is no longer a statement of intention, but one of fact. Free universal education for six years is a fact. Free universal education for at least ten years will be a fact in the next few years. For us in Malaysia, who are involved in nation-building, this signal achievement has even greater significance. In practice, it means equal treatment to the Chinese, Malay, Tamil and English streams in our education system with Malay as the national language. It means reducing to the minimum a contradiction which existed for more than a hundred years. In intent and purpose, it paves the way for inter-racial and inter-communal harmony and peace. The free choice which parents make of the medium of instruction for their children gives democratic lustre to equal treatment for all. Mr Speaker, these are the facts. At a later stage, I shall give you the figures. I wish to refer again to the fine words of the Yang di-Pertuan Negara I quoted earlier, and say quite frankly that we have been and are still earnest in everything we do. The social revolution, started 4½ years ago, will continue without interruption. About a third of the budget will be spent on education and this amount is more than what many countries in Asia have ever done. We never tire of this confrontation with a social problem such as education because we know that ultimately it will bring good. We do not believe in deliberately depriving our children of something beneficial and concrete for something abstract. The Singapore Government places a very high premium on the education of its children. We not only have implicit conviction, but we try to make a reality of the importance of education in the general progress of our developing nation. It is not for nothing that we have autonomy in education, among others, and we shall continue to decide how best the money should be spent for our industrious people. There are in Singapore today 464,000 children in our schools. Of this huge figure, 25 per cent are in our secondary schools. This means that one in every four of our population is in school. This is a record which is seen in the light of the fact that our children go to school every morning decently dressed complete with shoes. They go to school after having breakfast. Mr Speaker, Sir, it is our pride that in every classroom in Singapore's schools there can be found a future Malaysian citizen who will have the opportunity for a full primary and secondary education. This great expansion was achieved in four years by building 48 new schools and training 3,500 teachers who passed out as qualified teachers. Of this figure for schools, 30 are primary schools, 18 secondary schools - namely, nine secondary academic, four secondary technical and five secondary vocational schools. In addition, eight primary and secondary schools were extended to take in more students. The Teachers' Training College has likewise expanded in accordance with the policy of giving equal treatment to all the language streams of education and the relative increases in the various language streams. Within this broad framework of a system which has won the support and acclaim of all loyal and right-thinking citizens, the Government intends to present a White Paper on the next Five-Year Plan next year. In this will be incorporated such recommendations of the two Reports of the Commission of Inquiry into Education as are acceptable to the Government. To utilise the ten years of free education to the best possible advantage with a view to "the utilisation of all human resources to the maximum" is our major national objective. The social and economic needs of a changing society will necessarily demand a dynamic approach to our educational problems. We must always be ahead of the situation and Singapore, more than any other constituent State in Malaysia, needs a well-planned programme to cater for the commercial and industrialised State we are heading for. We could not turn to agriculture even if we wanted to. The national language and one or two more languages is the ideal armour for the future Malaysian. Whether it is for knowledge, employment or nation-building, or pure interest, the acquisition of an extra language is an asset. Plans are in hand to raise the standard of teaching of the second and the third languages to make every school-leaver at least bi-lingual, if not tri-lingual. This will mean that the integration of schools using different language media, introduced by the P.A.P. Government in its first term of office, will be brought one stage further. We shall establish bi-lingual schools where instruction in different subjects will be given in two languages. At the same time, the study of the national language will be intensified in all schools and at all levels as more and more teachers are trained and qualified to teach in the national language. The curricula in secondary schools will be reviewed so as to allow every pupil a wider choice of subjects. The planning and administration of all scholarships and fellowships as well as awards for training overseas are now centralised in the Scholarships Co-ordinating Committee of the Public Service Commission. This new unit will ensure that our needs for various types of training are co-ordinated and accorded the proper priority. The policy of making generous awards in the form of Government bursaries to all institutions of higher learning and at all levels will be continued and further increased. While every effort has been taken in the last four and a half years to expand and cope with the strictly educational opportunities of our children of all races, there remains the problem which since the end of World War II has beset Chinese education. This is the use the Communists make of Chinese educational issues as a cover for their nefarious subversion of students and even of teachers. They have been successful to the extent that sometimes they have brought about confusion regarding educational issues and followed this with mass agitation against the Government. Fortunately, however, the growing consciousness on the part of the people and political developments leading to independence through Malaysia have out-paced the Communists, and it is my earnest intention that before long they will be completely isolated and exposed as being nothing more than dangerous political opportunists who have all along utilised education and educational issues to further their own sinister ideological ends. This will not be an easy task and it will take many years of relentless determination before the Communists finally lose out at the hands of the people themselves. It becomes necessary for me to put before the House the problem of Communism and discipline in the schools. It is imperative that the people get a panoramic view of the whole problem and understand the intricacies therein. In this way, they will understand the position themselves and consequently understand what Government has done and will do in the future in dealing with what has for so long appeared to be an insolubly knotty problem. With national independence, Communism and Communist activities in Chinese educational institutions in the State have become a security problem which affects the peace and harmony of the races, particularly the Malays and Chinese in this country. It nonetheless constitutes a threat to the democratic basis of our society and our Government. Clearly in a matter of struggling against a totalitarian ideology which aims at destroying individual freedom and human values which we have learned to cherish and uphold over the years, there cannot be any compromise or neutrality. Seen in this light, even the most ardent existentialist in the precincts of our older university will agree that democrats too must draw the line when it involves their own survival. Let us see why the Communists have found the field of Chinese education a fertile ground to pursue their vile activities. Whether it is Israel, Kenya, Thailand or Malaysia, it is a fact that immigrant communities tend to stick together to safeguard their "common" interests. The Chinese in Malaysia are no different. Under colonial domination and discrimination which is the inevitable sequence of divide and rule, it is common knowledge that the colonial power in Singapore and Malaya took little or no interest in the education of the Chinese community. The creation of an English-educated compradore and clerical class was incidental to the general scheme of colonial exploitation. The Chinese immigrants therefore took upon themselves the task of building schools and educating their sons and daughters. Against the background of a long civilisation going back to 5,000 years of scholarship and culture, chauvinism was given added impetus by the oppression and discrimination of the colonial power whose primary concern was the exploitation of immigrant labour. The revolutions and renaisance in China in recent years could not but reinforce the trend towards chauvinism and Chinese consciousness. Pure admiration, if nothing else, is enough to rekindle nostalgia for the old country. So would Malays of Indonesian origin feel if not for the mess that is the lot across the Straits of Malacca today. Attempts to "do something" about Chinese education in the early post-war years were more in the nature of apologies for more than a century of dismal neglect. While education in the English language opened all doors to employment, it brought about frustration and a feeling of being unwanted to tens of thousands who passed out from Chinese schools annually. The Communists took this golden opportunity to exploit the growing fear which they themselves helped to spread, that Chinese education, built by the sweat and toil of the Chinese community for more than a hundred years, will be gradually eliminated. From the colonial power there was no evidence at all of any attempt to accommodate school-leavers from Chinese schools, let alone help in their expansion. The Communists, true to their deceptive ways, found enthusiastic allies in the chauvinistic leaders who champion the cause of Chinese education. It is well known that members of School Management Committees are predominantly merchants and towkays who in their time have contributed to the establishment of these schools. Some members of the Management Committees found nothing wrong in joining forces with the Communists who, on the surface, appeared to be fighting for Chinese education. This was one ground where their respective ideological, political and economic beliefs were sufficiently sunk for the common objective of "saving" Chinese education and Chinese culture. Before long, many innocent people were jointly voicing slogans like "Struggle against attempts to destroy Chinese education and culture" and "Preservation of Chinese education, language and culture" and "Do not forget our ancestors" with the Communists. Communists and Chinese chauvinists have struck common ground. The traditional respect for scholarship and culture lent force to this unholy alliance. In this atmosphere, the Communists were able to carry out planned activities to further their cause under the cover of Chinese education. In the field of education, this was the beginning of united front tactics pursued with skill and cunning by people who openly and proudly proclaim Marx, Engels and Stalin as their guiding light and inspiration. They manipulate the School Management Committees whenever they can and plant their agents wherever they want. They "eliminate" members of these committees who show independence of mind and action and refuse to be used as pawns by the Communists. But there are others who willingly lend support and knowingly allow themselves to be manipulated by the Communists in the fond belief that if the Communists are helping to further the cause of Chinese education, then there is nothing wrong to co-operate with them to help further the same cause. Mr Tan Lark Sye is one such person. He typifies others who sit in Management Committees. Two recent incidents in the Nanyang University show this. The first is the assault on six undergraduates by pro-Communist students on 12th September, 1963, on which he took no disciplinary action and, second, his support given to the pro-Communist Nanyang University graduates standing as candidates for the Barisan Sosialis in the last general elections by issuing statements drafted by these pro-Communist graduates. Then there are political innocents who want to be with the Communists in the hope that the "revolution" is just around the corner. The united front tactics of the Communists in exploiting Chinese education issues is carried into students' organisations, old boys' associations, trade unions, Management Committees, cultural bodies, sports and welfare organisations and even mutual benefit societies. They use leaders of these organisations mentioned to obtain support by statements, by cajoling others to join in demonstrations they secretly organise. They have bamboozled many a unionist to take part in strikes and in 1961 they had again succeeded to a certain extent in using these united front tactics to get students to stage examination boycotts. Their methods might differ from one organisation to another depending on the degree of support, co-operation, response, hostility or indifference on the part of the leaders of these organisations. Where they meet with ideological opposition from men with principles and guts, they are quick to use smear tactics. They will not hesitate to delve into the private lives of their opponents to discredit and smear them. They have branded those who have opposed them with epithets like "selling out Chinese education", "running dogs who destroy Chinese education and culture", and "ungrateful people who forget their ancestors". Intimidation and direct assault and violence is not altogether unknown in the tactics of the Communists. As recently as 12th September this year, there was such a case of Communist strong-arm method. On that day, the Nanyang University Consumers' Co-operative Society held its general meeting in the Assembly Hall of the Faculty of Arts building. The pro-Communist students had planned to capture it at the elections of the Committee. At this meeting, six students, most of whom were from the Commence Faculty, were assaulted by pro-Communist students after the meeting. One of them was seriously injured. The incident was investigated by the Board of Student Welfare whose secretary, Lim Kim Hiong, is known to have associated with Communist elements since his school days. It was later disclosed that one of the six attacked had stood as a candidate for the Society's Executive Committee. When the six injured students were interviewed, the Chairman of the Board of Student Welfare repeatedly asked one of the victims why he had gone to the police station to report the matter. Is it not strange that in the civilised age of today there are leaders of "student welfare" who question the wisdom of reporting cases of assault to the police? Are they seriously thinking of taking the law into their own hands and administering rough justice according to their whims and fancies? What discipline is it that eliminates all others who do not accept their dictatorial leadership? The Board decided that a thorough investigation would be instituted to identify the students who were responsible for the violent incident that evening and that the whole case would be submitted to the University Disciplinary Committee for action. Three months have passed. Neither the Disciplinary Committee, which is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, nor Mr Tan Lark Sye, the Chairman of the University Council, has taken or ordered any action. Four days after this unfortunate incident, a group of under-graduates who were about to celebrate the founding of Malaysia were forcibly prevented from carrying out their celebrations. Again, no disciplinary action was taken. The cases of indiscipline and lawlessness in the Chinese schools have been brought out by the Commission of Inquiry into the Examination Boycott set up in 1961. Members of the Assembly remember vividly the incident at Chung Cheng High School in 1950, the anti-national service action in 1954, the camping-in campaign and involvement in trade disputes leading to riots in 1955 and 1956, and more recently the examination boycott in 1961 to further the Communist opposition to merger and Malaysia. The very recent attempt to use the Singapore Rural Dwellers' Association premises to run kindergarten classes to indoctrinate children and subvert parents is one of the many examples of their methods. Mr Speaker, Sir, against this background of subversion, intimidation and open violence is the record of positive growth and expansion in the field of Chinese education planned and executed by the P.A.P. Government in the last four and a half years. Against this base accusation of attempts to destroy Chinese education is the splendid record of achievements which stare in the eyes of the Communists and pro-Communists, who fortunately cannot blind the people to hard facts and concrete proof of solid achievements. For all their deception and lies, they cannot deny that in 1959, the year the P.A.P. Government first assumed office, there were only four Government Chinese primary schools with an enrolment of 2,508. As at 30th June, 1963, there are 21 (including 14 integrated) Government Chinese primary schools with an enrolment of 12,073 - a fourfold increase. The increase in the Government Chinese secondary schools is equally impressive. In 1959 there were four Chinese secondary schools with an enrolment of 4,056. In June this year there were nine (including three integrated) schools with an enrolment of 10,428 students - another big increase. When the proposal to raise the standard of second language is implemented next year, the figures are likely to double in 1965. These figures nail the lie that the P.A.P. Government tries to destroy Chinese education. On the other hand, they show that, for the first time in the history of Singapore, Chinese education has been given a place to flourish and grow in the context of the larger national entity. The irony of the whole thing is that while the anti-national pro-Communist champions of Chinese education shout from the roof-tops about "preservation of Chinese education" and that Chinese parents should send their children to Chinese schools to the accompaniment of intimidation, assault, sit-in strikes, examination boycotts and demonstrations, more and more Chinese parents are sending their children to English schools. By their ceaseless agitation, intimidation and violence, it is the Communists and pro-Communists who are helping to destroy the growth of Chinese education and culture. Their complete disregard for student discipline and student welfare has brought disrepute to Chinese schools and fear among Chinese parents. Non-Chinese parents no doubt are observing this trend with great interest and alarm. The Communists and pro-Communists know that they are to blame for the present state of affairs. It is a matter for regret that while it is becoming increasingly clear to the people that the tactics and the anti-national activities of the Communists only help to retard the growth of Chinese education, there are still waverers in influential journals who are unwilling to confront the realities of the situation. Whether it is about indiscipline in schools, which is tied up with the Communist problem, or whether it is outright subversion which has today been bared by the Government in numerous acts of indiscipline, these people prefer to evade the issues of the day. Are they, like some members of Management Committees, also easily intimidated and cowed? There has been a relatively large expansion of Malay-medium primary schools. For the first time in the history of Singapore, two Malay secondary schools were established in the first term of office of the P.A.P. Government. There are altogether 128 Malay secondary classes in schools all over the island. The first Malay-medium secondary students have already sat for the Federation of Malaya Certificate Examination this year. Malay parents do not fear sending their children to Malay secondary schools, as the Communists have so far not been able to penetrate Malay primary and secondary schools. However, the utmost vigilance against subversion is equally necessary in the Malay stream. New schools which will begin functioning in January 1964 are the Blakang Mati Primary School, the Tanjong Rhu Primary School, the Queenstown IV Primary School, the Sembawang Malay Primary School, the Joo Avenue Primary School, the Thomson Road Secondary Vocational School, the Queenstown V Secondary Vocational School, the Old Kallang Airport Secondary Vocational School, the Dunearn Road Secondary Technical School, the Balestier Hill Secondary Technical School, the Serangoon Garden Secondary Technical School, and the Queenstown IV Secondary Technical School. In addition, the following schools will be under construction in 1964 and are expected to be ready by January 1965: Wallich Street Primary School, New Market Street Primary School, Queenstown III (North) and Queenstown III (South) Primary Schools, Changi Road, 10 m.s. Primary School, Queenstown III Secondary Vocational School, Queenstown III Secondary Academic School and the Changi Road, 10 m.s. Secondary Academic School. Other schools which will be under construction towards the latter part of 1964 include the following: Primary schools at Bukit Timah Village, Holland Village, Jurong Industrial area, Balestier Hill West, MacPherson South and Farrer Road; secondary vocational schools at Geylang Serai, Jalan Ampas, Upper Serangoon Road, Whitley Road/Dunearn Road junction; secondary academic schools at Kaki Bukit, Still Road, Bukit Ho Swee; and secondary technical schools at Upper Aljunied Road, a site near the Government Printing Office, Kim Seng Road and Alexandra Road. In 1958, there were 2,000 trainee teachers at the Teachers' Training College. With the rapid expansion in the school building programme and in the educational needs of the people generally, the number at the T.T.C. has increased to 5,000. Next year plans will be ready to build extensions to the Teachers' Training College. Two large lecture blocks, catering mainly for technical teacher training and later a library block and a hall-cum-gymnasium will be built at the present site. In the Polytechnic, entry requirements to the Professional Diploma Course are being raised, thus paving the way to higher standards and to a higher status for the institution, the largest of its kind in South-East Asia. The Report of the Committee on the Establishment of a Faculty of Technology in the University of Singapore is receiving attention. Generous bursaries have been awarded to approximately 50 per cent of Singapore students of Nanyang University, like the University of Singapore. To date, about 500 Nanyang University graduates have been appointed to various Government departments and Government aided secondary schools, after selection by the Public Service Commission. It is a pity that despite reminders, Nanyang University authorities have so far not indicated whether they are prepared to accept the Government Upper Secondary II Examination Certificate as a qualification for admission to Nanyang University. With the abolition of the Senior Middle III Examination in 1962, the first Government Upper Secondary II Examination in Chinese was held recently. This certificate has been accepted as a qualification for admission to the University of Singapore in 1964. Chinese secondary school leavers can now join the University of Singapore, after six years of secondary education, like their counterparts in the English stream. Mr Speaker, Sir, these then are the impressive and concrete achievements of the forward planning launched 4½ years ago. They can stand the test of time as much as they can stand any amount of destructive and senseless attacks from any quarter. As a matter of fact, they are like the thick armour of the tortoise - the more knocks they get, the more they reveal the achievements, progress, growth, expansion and development of education in Singapore.