PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Pensions Act.

Interpretation.
2. —(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

"elected Member”, “non-constituency Member” and “nominated Member" shall have the same meanings as in Article 39 (1) (a), (b) and (c) of the Constitution, respectively;

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"future Member" means a person —

(a) who becomes, by election or appointment, a Member at any time after 1st January 1995 without previously having been, before or after that date, a Member or an office-holding Member;

(b) who, having been a Member before 1st January 1995 but not being a Member on that date, becomes, by election or appointment, a Member at any time after that date; or

(c) who, being an elected Member on 1st January 1995, becomes —

(i) a non-constituency Member or nominated Member at any time after 1st January 1995 with or without a break in his service as a Member; or

(ii) an elected Member at any time after 1st January 1995 with a break in his service as a Member after that date,

and for the purposes of paragraph (c), a Member’s service shall be deemed not broken but continuous if, following the dissolution of Parliament or his seat therein becoming vacant under the provisions of the Constitution, he is elected as a Member at the ensuing general election or the ensuing by-election to fill that vacancy;

"Mayor" means a Mayor appointed under rules made under the People’s Association Act (Cap. 227);

"Member" means a Member of Parliament;

"office" means the office of Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Speaker, Senior Minister, Minister, Senior Minister of State, Minister of State, Mayor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Parliamentary Secretary or Political Secretary;

"office-holding Member" means a Member who holds or has held any office and includes a Speaker who is not an elected Member of Parliament;

"prescribed commutation factor” and “prescribed discount rate" mean, respectively, such factor and rate as the President shall prescribe for the purposes of this Act;

"reckonable service" , in relation to service as a Member, means service on and after 3rd June 1959 in Parliament as a Member of Parliament; and in relation to service in any office, means service on and after 3rd June 1959 in that office.

(2) The reference to service in Parliament in the definition of “reckonable service” in subsection (1) shall be read as including a reference to service in the Legislative Assembly on and after 3rd June 1959 and before 9th August 1965.

(3) Where a Speaker is not, or has not been, an elected Member of Parliament for any period, “salary” shall, for that period, mean the salary payable to him in respect of his service as Speaker.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where for any period a person who is eligible for any pension or other benefit under this Act voluntarily refrains from receiving the whole or any part of any salary due to him in respect of the office held by him, then, in calculating his pension or benefit he shall, for such period, be deemed to have received the full salary to which he was entitled as holder of that office.

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