No. S 524
Public Entertainments and Meetings Act
(Chapter 257)
Public Entertainments and Meetings (Speakers’ Corner) (Exemption) (Amendment) Order 2004
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 16 of the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act, the Minister for Home Affairs hereby makes the following Order:
Citation and commencement
1.  This Order may be cited as the Public Entertainments and Meetings (Speakers’ Corner) (Exemption) (Amendment) Order 2004 and shall come into operation on 1st September 2004.
Amendment of paragraph 3
2.  The Public Entertainments and Meetings (Speakers’ Corner) (Exemption) Order (O 3) (referred to in this Order as the principal Order) is amended by renumbering paragraph 3 as sub-paragraph (1) of that paragraph, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following sub-paragraph:
(2)  A performance or an exhibition at the Speakers’ Corner organised by any person who is a citizen of Singapore is exempted from the provisions of the Act if the following conditions are complied with:
(a)there are only citizens of Singapore participating in the performance or exhibition;
(b)the organiser and participants have been registered at the designated place in accordance with paragraph 4;
(c)the organiser, or an authorised agent of the organiser, is present at all times during the performance or exhibition, as the case may be;
(d)the performance or exhibition takes place —
(i)only on the date that is registered by the organiser under paragraph 4; and
(ii)only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.;
(e)the performance or exhibition does not deal with any matter —
(i)which relates, directly or indirectly, to any religious belief or to religion generally;
(ii)which may cause feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different racial or religious groups in Singapore; or
(iii)which carries violent, lewd or obscene messages;
(f)no sound amplification device is used during the performance or exhibition;
(g)no placards or banners are carried by persons participating in the performance or exhibition; and
(h)the performance or exhibition is not an assembly or a procession for which a permit is required under rule 4 of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) (Assemblies and Processions) Rules (Cap. 184, R 1).”.
Deletion and substitution of paragraph 4
3.  Paragraph 4 of the principal Order is deleted and the following paragraph substituted therefor:
Registration
4.—(1)  A citizen of Singapore —
(a)who desires to be exempted under this Order for public speaking at the Speakers’ Corner; or
(b)who organises any performance or exhibition at the Speakers’ Corner and who desires such performance or exhibition to be exempted under this Order,
shall provide in person to a registration officer at the designated place, not earlier than 30 days before the public speaking, performance or exhibition (as the case may be) at the Speakers’ Corner —
(i)the date of the public speaking, performance or exhibition;
(ii)his identity card or passport, or any other valid documentary proof of his Singapore citizenship; and
(iii)in the case of an exhibition or a performance, the names, addresses, identity card or passport numbers and such other particulars as the registration officer may require of each person participating in the exhibition or performance.
(2)  The registration officer shall register —
(a)the person referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(a) or (b); and
(b)in the case of an exhibition or a performance, each person referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(iii),
unless such person has been served with a notice of suspension or prohibition under paragraph 5 and the suspension or prohibition remains in force.”.
Amendment of paragraph 5
4.  Paragraph 5 of the principal Order is amended by deleting sub-paragraph (1) and substituting the following sub-paragraph:
(1)  Where any person being the organiser of or a participant in any public speaking, performance or exhibition at the Speakers’ Corner fails to comply with any of the conditions of exemption specified in paragraph 3 or contravenes any other written law during any such public speaking, performance or exhibition (as the case may be), the Licensing Officer may serve a notice on him for all or any of the following purposes, as the Licensing Officer thinks appropriate:
(a)to suspend him from registration under paragraph 4;
(b)to prohibit him from participating in any public speaking, performance or exhibition exempted under this Order,
for a period not exceeding 30 days from such date as may be specified in the notice.”.
[G.N. No. S 29/2003]

Made this 26th day of August 2004.

TAN GUONG CHING
Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Home Affairs,
Singapore.
[MHA (PS) 10/1/01; AG/LEG/SL/257/2002/1 Vol. 2]