Federal Constitution NOTES Art. 17 1. The words “Federal Government” substituted for “registration authority” and “the Federal Government” for “that authority” by Act 10/1960, paragraph 2(a) and (b), in force from 01-12-1960. 2. This Article was repealed by Act 14/1962, section 5, in force from 01-07-1963, the repeal to be without prejudice to the operation of the Article as respects any application for registration thereunder made before the coming into operation of the said section 5. This Article read as follows: “17. Subject to Article 18, any person of or over the age of eighteen years who was resident in the Federation on Merdeka Day is eligible, subject to the provisions of the Second Schedule, to be registered as a citizen upon making application to the Federal Government if he satisfies the Federal Government— (a) that he has resided in the Federation, during the twelve years immediately preceding the date of the application, for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than eight years; (b) that he intends to reside permanently therein; (c) that he is of good character; and (d) except where the application is made within one year after Merdeka Day and the applicant has attained the age of forty-five years at the date of the application, that he has an elementary knowledge of the Malay language.”. 3. There are references to this repealed Article in Art. 25(1), (1a), (2), 28(1)(a), 28a(4), 43(7) and in Eighth Schedule subsections 2(3) and 20(3), hence reference to Article 17 is retained in the Federal Constitution. Art. 18 1. The words “this Constitution” which appear in Clause (1), at the end of Clause (2) and in Clause (3) were introduced by Act 26/1963, subsection 29(2), in force from 16-09-1963, and replaced references to Articles 15 and 16. The Act also inserted the words “or the Constitution of the State of Singapore” after the words “deprived of citizenship under this Constitution” in Clause (2) but they were deleted by Act 59/1966, section 2, in force from 09-08-1965. Clause (4) This Clause which read as follows was repealed by Act 25/1963, section 8, in force from 29-08-1963: “(4) For the purpose of any application for registration under any of the said Articles, a person shall be deemed to be of good character unless, within the period of three years immediately preceding the date of the application— (a) he has been convicted by a competent court in any country of a criminal offence for which he was sentenced to death; or (b) he has been detained under a sentence of imprisonment of twelve months or more imposed on him on his conviction of a criminal offence (whether during or before the said period) by such a court, and in either case has not received a free pardon in respect of the offence.”. 2. See Art. 15(1), (2), (3), 15a, 16 & 16a. Art. 19 1. The present Article was inserted by Act 26/1963, section 27, in force from 16-09-1963. Act 59/1966, section 2, in force from 09-08-1965, made the following amendments to it: Clause (1) a. the words “Subject to Clause (9)” substituted for “Subject to Clauses (7) and (9)”;