FEEDBACK TO CENSORSHIP REVIEW COMMITTEE

FEEDBACK TO CENSORSHIP REVIEW COMMITTEE: 11.

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts what will the Censorship Review Committee do to obtain the views of the average Singaporean who may not necessarily be part of an organised campaign to liberalise censorship as opposed to just receiving feedback from such organised campaigns.

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The Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (RAdm [NS] Lui Tuck Yew): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Censorship Review Committee (CRC), was appointed in September last year to conduct a mid-term review of content regulation issues across the spectrum of broadcast, films, videos, publications, audio materials, the arts and new media. In addition to recommending refinements to existing content policies and standards, the Committee is also expected to propose ways to improve community engagement, public education and industry co-regulation.

Like previous CRCs, it is important that this CRC seeks public feedback from a cross section of our society. Hence, the Committee has conducted eight focus group discussions with representatives not just from the industry, but also the community, to gather views and suggestions from them. For the community groups, discussions were held with parents, educators and youths. In addition, the CRC has consulted with the various advisory committees of the Media Development Authority (MDA), whose members come from all walks of life, and understand our community's concerns and sensitivities relating to content across the various mediums.

The CRC has also been receiving feedback at its website from members of the public since the website was launched last month. I would like to encourage Singaporeans to give their views and suggestions to the CRC via the website at www.crc2009.sg .

In addition, the CRC will be commissioning a nationwide survey this month to seek the public's views on major content issues and content standards. The survey's sample size will be representative of the Singaporean population.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to assure Mr de Souza and the House that the CRC

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will seek views and suggestions from the various segments of our society so that the Committee's recommendations will reflect our societal norms and values. Let me emphasise that fundamentally, it is societal norms and values that shape our content standards and the extent to which we should liberalise or tighten. While certain groups may be more vocal, it is important that we listen to and recognise the concerns of other groups in our community as well, and strike the right balance.

I am confident that the CRC will consider all views fairly and objectively, and ensure that our content standards and regulations are in tune with the times but, at the same time, reflect and uphold our societal norms and values.

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Thank you, Minister, for the reply. It is a very positive move that the focus groups have been convened and that there have been eight so far. But if this is a national wide feedback generating process, is the CRC going to convene more focus groups than just eight and, if so, what are the intervals between each focus group and would it go beyond just parents, youth and educators, perhaps going into the heartlands to see what the silent majority think about either broadening or tightening censorship?

RAdm [NS] Lui Tuck Yew: Sir, indeed, that is the purpose of the survey and the survey would, I believe, reach out to about 1,000 people, reflecting the different segments of the society and, hopefully, through the survey, be able to gather feedback and inputs or some of their concerns, issues and priorities. For the focus groups, I think the eight groups have reached out to 150 people across industries, both the publishers as well as publishing industries, the arts groups and media but importantly also, of course, educators, parents and youth, as I

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mentioned earlier. I am confident that in combination, this will allow the CRC to have a feel of the pulse of what the norms and values are and how this may have shifted over time.