Continuing from: "17 TYPES OF OFFENCES COVERED UNDER CONTEMPT OF PARLIAMENT
Offenders under the Privileges Act would not be prevented from contesting elections, as Parliament is not a court of law, even though the House has the power to imprison.
But, unlike in Britain, Parliament here can refer a charge to the Attorney-General (AG), as Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, a member of the Privileges Committee, told the press last week.
The courts only come in when Parliament so decides, as provided for under section 21 (1c) of the Act. If contempt of Parliament cases are pursued in court, and a person is fined more than S$2,000 or jailed for more than a year, he would be disqualified from becoming an MP.
As constitutional law professor Valentine Winslow explains to Insight: "It is Parliament's decision to waive its jurisdiction and give it to the court."
If cases go to court, offenders can be represented by lawyers, and Parliament would need a "more cast-iron case" with proof beyond reasonable doubt, he adds.
However, Dr Kevin Tan thinks that such referrals to the AG, an untested point of law, could be seen to go beyond Parliament's powers already conferred by the Privileges Act. There should be no need to "criminalise" acts of contempt of Parliament.
He argues that referrals could also come into conflict with Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression, and open up the question of who is the final judge in such cases - Parliament or the court?
The Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act here is derived from English law. So Singapore's Parliament enjoys powers similar to those of the two Houses of the British Parliament.
There, the power to punish contempt has existed since the 16th century, to protect servants of the Crown from undue influence or harassment. During the reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547), the House of Commons was allowed to assume this jurisdiction.
Today, the interpretation of what counts as contempt is as wide in Britain as it is here, given the scope of the 17 kinds of offences.
Erskine May's Parliamentary Practice (1989) defines contempt as not only anything that obstructs or impedes the workings of Parliament or its Members, but also anything with "a tendency, directly or indirectly, to produce such results".
During the Budget debate in March 1994, Leader of the House Wong Kan Seng complained in Parliament about a Straits Times column by journalist Cherian George. The article said Speaker Tan Soo Khoon and his deputy Eugene Yap had cut off parliamentary exchanges with "ruthless efficiency", and that this "may result in public disillusionment with the country's principal democratic institution".
In Mr Wong's opinion, it carried an innuendo of unfair and improper use of the guillotine procedure, and was thus a contempt of Parliament.
Mr George apologised the next day, and the matter was not pursued.
"Contempt may in theory be anything which offends the dignity of the House," writes Oxford don Sir David Yardley, in his book, Introduction To Constitutional And Administrative Law (1995).
"Diverse activities of individuals outside the House may be held by the House to amount to contempt, and the courts of law are powerless to decide otherwise."
Some observers suggest that there may be a possibility of abuse, with offenders not allowed legal representation, and with Parliament being both judge and jury.
As Sir Yardley puts it: "Often the cases alleged are not really infringements of the necessary freedom of the House, but merely instances where MPs have felt annoyed about things said about them."
Citing a British case in which a parliamentary committee dismissed a complaint against an MP without hearing from those who made it, Street and Brazier note that such committees which disregard natural justice while acting as "judges in their own cause" could leave themselves open to criticism.
There is an avenue of appeal in cases of contempt of court, but none for contempt of Parliament. This is an area in which legal thinkers have considered reform in Britain.
"It is incongruous, to say the least, that members of the House of Commons should be more sensitive than judges to hostile criticism," say Manchester University academics Harry Street and Rodney Brazier, editors of de Smith Constitutional and Administrative Law (1985).
In Dr Kevin Tan's book, a question posed to students is whether this Act could, in theory, be used by a one-party-dominated House to victimise the opposition.
Clearly, public opinion is one check against Parliament of any abuse of its powers.
Another more important check is the discretion and moral integrity of MPs themselves, says Sembawang GRC MP and lawyer K. Shanmugam. "Parliament is supreme and sovereign, and subject only to its working within the framework of the Constitution generally and of this Act specifically," he adds.
Any perception of abuse, however, would be a political problem, not a legal one, says NMP Walter Woon. "I would be happier if there was some appellate body, but I'm at a loss to think who could be on it."
To be continued...