THE Singapore Parliament took its customary mid-term recess from Friday (Mar 24) and will reconvene after two weeks with a fresh agenda for the second half of the government’s term.

In a Facebook post, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: “This recess allows us to review important issues and set the direction of the government.”

President Halimah Yacob will kick off the second session of Parliament on Apr 10, with an address outlining the government’s priorities, policies and programmes for the rest of its term, before the next election that is due by November 2025.

The House will then discuss this address in a debate, which traditionally takes place within the following week.

The current 14th Parliament opened in August 2020.

During its first session, a major development was the repeal of a colonial-era law criminalising sex between men, and an accompanying constitutional change to protect the definition of marriage from legal challenges.

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Other highlights include debates on the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic; amendments to election laws to allow overseas postal voting and special voting arrangements for nursing home residents; and changes to Singapore’s retirement and re-employment ages.

Housing affordability, sustainability measures, employment and the workforce, taxes and cases of political and corporate misconduct were also heavily discussed topics.

The last time Parliament took its midterm pause, also known as being prorogued, was in April 2018, two years after the 13th Parliament was sworn in.

Its resumption was closely watched at the time, as the President’s Address was Halimah’s first, and also the first to be drafted by the fourth generation of ministers. The speech, while delivered by the president, is drafted by the government.