HEAD Q - MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

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Head Q - Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts

The Chairman: Head Q – Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. Miss Penny Low.

Creative Intelligent Nation: From Adoption to Diffusion

Miss Penny Low: Sir, I beg to move,

That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Estimates be reduced by $100.

Sir, a butterfly flutters in Spain, some time later, it rains in Singapore. The sub-prime borrowers in the US had their homes foreclosed and not long after, our retirees lost their nest egg. Sir, the world is interconnected in unprecedented ways and speed. As an open economy and a small island nation, our ability to network with as many nodes of the world and as fast as possible will determine our place on earth. As we morphed from a city of commerce to a creative intelligent nation, billions of dollars are invested into building mega ICT infrastructure and cutting edge R&D. In the knowledge-innovation economy, the world is our oyster and our imagination and connectedness are our limits.

[

Miss Penny Low: 4.52 pm

According to the latest Global Information Technology Report, Singapore ranks No.5 in our network readiness (after Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and USA). Having ICT infrastructure and capacity alone is insufficient to foster innovation. Having an ICT ecosystem, which includes institutional support for enterprise, legal framework around ICT deployment, fair game and lively competition, are critical to the adoption and diffusion of ICT. In this light, can the Minister:

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(1) update the House on its iN2015 and the Wireless@SG plans?

(2) enlighten us on why the adoption rate of ICT amongst our SMEs has been slow? SMEs and the industry have reflected that the grant application process is complex, and funds are available only within a very narrow scope. If this is true, would MICA simplify the process and widen the spectrum of ICT adoption funding?

(3) lay out MICA's plans to incentivise SMEs to adopt ICT; especially during this downturn. Perhaps MICA can work with associations, like SITF, to package success stories and "Happy Meals" to encourage adoption and lower barriers; and

(4) in the light of building an inclusive society, increase its funding and ICT adoption schemes, and collaborate with Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) and VWOs (Volunteer Welfare Organisations) to serve the marginalised sectors?

Madam, interestingly, while there are 1.4 billion users online, there are now 4 billion mobile phone subscribers. The two trends are drivers of digital convergence. Anecdotally, our " kopitiam uncle " and " pasar aunties " are more likely to use a cell phone than a PC. With mobile technology weaved into our everyday life with a coverage of more than 70% of earth, a floodgate of business and social network opportunities open up. In addition, with cloud computing gaining clout, and PCs may very soon become a thing of the past. IT budgets can also be cut by as high as 70% as there is now no need to maintain infrastructures and applications. Can the Minister comment on these trends and enlighten us on what MICA's plans are in riding the waves? For example, for a start, lowering voice and

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data price plans will help businesses and individuals go from adoption to diffusion.

Going forward, high bandwidth will soon become as basic a public utility as electricity. To gain high value add, the imaginative and creative capacity of our people to innovate, apply knowledge and technology will be the keys to success. I will speak on the rest of my cut in Mandarin.

( In Mandarin ): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A.] Madam, MICA started Phase 1 of the Creative Industry Development Strategy (CIDS) in 2003, and has achieved remarkable results. Apart from attaining an annual growth rate of more than 5%, there is also a significant rise in the number of people joining this industry in their creative capacity.

I feel that in the present situation of a severe economic downturn, we should step up our development of Phase 2 of the CIDS. The creative industry is not just an industry. It is a highly labour-intensive industry that can bring about a huge product chain development that will give us the competitive edge when the economy recovers. We can learn from the success stories of the United Kingdom and South Korea. It shows that investment in the creative industry is a very effective strategy during the economic recession. I hope that the Minister will give us more details on the following projects:

(l) Renaissance City 2.0 Plan;

(2) Design Singapore Plan;

(3) Media 21 Plan;

(4) Creative Industry Development Strategy 2.0 Plan;

(5) will the economic recession affect MICA's Development Master Plan and its expenditure for this Plan?

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(6) in what way can MICA support the industry and the training of creative talents so as to avoid a repeat of the dotcom bust?

Madam, we should put in a concerted effort to develop Singapore into a Creative Smart Island so that "Tomorrow will be Better"!

*Cols. 2277-2278.

Creative Industries Employment

Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade): The creative industry is a very mobile and labile one, not just at the national level but also at the international platform. It is also an industry with many freelancers. In fact, freelancers make up approximately about 35% of the manpower in the industry in Singapore today. This number is expected to rise in the background of this economic and financial crisis, and more related companies are going to probably retrench or tighten up. Does MICA plan to have some programmes or courses to harness their talent through training, paraskilling and networking?

Perhaps a central directory or register of such personnel may be useful to have. This can also help the Ministry keep score of the aggregate demand and supply of freelancers and jobs. This may also prove useful for new graduates who plan to enter the field in these difficult and challenging times.

Lowering Costs of Communications

Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Hong Kah): Madam, much effort has been put in the Budget to reduce the costs of living and costs of doing businesses. One sizeable cost that we should address is the cost of communications. Given our developed society, communications services such as mobile and broadband services have developed to be as essential as electricity, water and waste removal services. Yet,

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no measures have been included in the Budget to subsidise or reduce communications charges with schemes such as U-save.

Businesses incur significant costs through leased lines and IDD communications, while mobile and broadband subscriptions today form a substantial part of many households' expenditure. Does the Ministry have plans to reduce the cost of communications for businesses and consumers during this downturn? Are there initiatives in place to promote service providers such as the three telecom operators to provide relief vouchers for needy residents? The mobile and broadband connection today should be considered a necessity item given our connected society.

The Ministry and IDA, the regulator for connectivity services, have put in place various measures, such as the implementation of number portability and recently, an attempt to reduce the contract period of mobile phone contracts, to reduce the costs of communications by promoting greater competition. We have yet to see significant impact on the cost of communications given these efforts.

How does the Ministry rate the level of competitiveness between the telecoms, broadband and media services, such as cable and IPTV, to provide businesses and consumers with reasonable value-add and price? Is there more room to create greater competition to give better prices, content and application services?

With the Next Generation Broadband project due to be launched in the near future, can this initiative make a difference to the level of competition to the communications and media services available to consumers and businesses? I would like to know if we can also expect better price rates for communications and media services when this is implemented.

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I noted that there is a possibility of the same telecoms service provider being involved to operate the OpCo and NetCo components. I was under the impression that the rationale for separating the two components was to avoid a monopoly of the core and backbone infrastructure.

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With the NGN, what is the Ministry's execution strategy to fill its pipes with a greater variety of media and content and deliver them to consumers and businesses at affordable prices? How does it plan to balance the demand for lower content and connectivity prices, while trying to develop the industry at the same time? Especially in these difficult times, I hope that the iN2015 plan can deliver lower costs of communications while promoting the higher usage of value services and content for our businesses and consumers.

Media Hub

Miss Penny Low: ( In Mandarin ): _[For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A.]_The abrupt rise of the Korean TV serials fever does not come by chance. The Korean government's development policy gives support to the film and TV industry in terms of incentives, capital and manpower resources. The measures adopted by the Korean government include improving the relationship among the government, the industry association, film-makers and the employees in the film and TV industry.

May I ask while investing in the media, has MICA initiated any inter-Ministry cooperation activities and actively engaged the local players in the film and TV industry, particularly in the long-term strategic aspects of education, human resources and market developments?

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What policies have been formulated to lay a good foundation for the proposed Media Hub?

*Cols. 2279-2280.

Film Industry

Mr Teo Ser Luck: We need creative talents and genius to build the film industry. We have one such talent in Jack Neo, spearheading the local film industry. Then came Royston with "881". We have a few more but they are not as successful. I talked to a few of them and they felt that the going is still very tough. I think the Ministry has done a great job to kickstart the industry but I believe that we can do more. Grants, such as Media Fusion Fund, are helpful but I understand the grants usually are granted for local production that have a regional appeal. I think it is important for local productions to be successful locally first before venturing out. After all, they also represent what being Singaporean is about and they represent Singapore itself. So we should consider providing grants to such films and try not to miss out any phenomenal successes along the way. As one philosopher from the 7th century put it, "Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see". Most of us would never know what really appeals. It is a calculated risk but I think it is worth it if we can find a genius amongst the talents because that genius will make a big difference for many generations to come and help build the film industry.

The Chairman: Dr Ong Seh Hong, you have two cuts, you may take them together.

Promoting Singapore-produced TV Serials

Dr Ong Seh Hong (Marine Parade): Madam, allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate MediaCorp on the successful run of the popular locally produced television serial the "Little

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Nonya". Locally produced Chinese television serials have come a long way. To be fair to MediaCorp, I think it has been producing Chinese serials of a high standard even before the success of the "Little Nonya". Although Hong Kong has a longer history of producing popular television serials before us, we can and are beginning to give the competitors in the industry a run for their money. I urge MICA not to waver in the support of the production of local television serials, especially the Chinese language ones.

Secondly, although Singapore is generally known as a English-speaking society, I wonder why when it comes to local English TV serials, there is a comparative lack of success. Is this because of a lack of funding support? It is sad to see even as Singaporeans' appreciation of the arts grow, the locally produced English television programmes still concentrate on mindless comedies. I look forward to the Ministry's attention to this area of development although we may not be aspiring to be Hollywood.

Singapore Designs

Madam Chair, in 1995, a lone young aspiring Singapore fashion designer left our shores for the cut-throat fashion industry in London. He had no support from either the local industry or the Government. In spite of the odds, Mr Ashley Isham has made a name not only for himself but put Singapore on the fashion industry map. However, as we dip into our reserves for the first time in many years and created a budget deficit, we should not run away from supporting home-grown talents. We have come a long way since leaving young Mr Ashley Isham on his own. MICA needs to give assurance of the support that the creative arts sector can look forward to, in particular, Singapore designs.

The Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Dr Lee Boon: Column: 2214 ****

Yang): Madam, I thank the GPC Chairperson, Miss Penny Low and Members who spoke on the opportunities and challenges facing the Creative Industries, which group together the arts, design, media and infocomm. Since the launch of the Creative Industries Development Strategy in 2003, this cluster has grown by about 6% annually in value-added and contributed to the vibrancy of our economy and society. However, like other economic sectors, the Creative Industries have also been hit by the economic recession. Preliminary estimates indicated that for 2008, the Creative Industries only managed a 1% to 2% growth in value-added, compared to 9% in 2007. The infocomm sector grew by 6% to 7% in 2008, compared to 11% in 2007.

2009 will be a very challenging year for the Creative Industries. MICA will harness our resources to help creative enterprises ride the storm and prepare for the recovery. We will upgrade capabilities to prepare for economic recovery and new opportunities. We will also continue to invest in physical infrastructure for the creative industries and spend on vital R&D to be at the forefront of innovation.

Let me start with the media sector.

Miss Penny Low asked about our plans to develop Singapore into a media hub. This is indeed the objective of Media Development Authority’s Singapore Media Fusion (SMF) masterplan. SMF is an initiative to build a vibrant media ecosystem for our media companies to create and produce attractive content such as films, TV serials and documentaries for Singapore and the international market. Government will commit $230 million over the next five years for the SMF initiative. This is on top of existing government support of $500 million over five years for the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) sector.

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SMF will give a boost to the local media industry. It will stimulate demand for local contents, applications and services, and help create jobs in this sector. Under SMF, MDA will increase funding for collaborative media projects with the private sector. One such initiative is the Singapore Film Commission (SFC) New Feature Film Fund, which co-invests up to $250,000 per film. This gives emerging Singaporean talents the opportunity to direct feature films in collaboration with production companies. Last year, nine Singapore directors benefited from SFC’s funding support of over $2 million. It has resulted in the first Singapore-Japan co-production film called "Thunder Boys". We can look forward to more such co-productions and film projects in the years ahead.

I would like to take this opportunity to assure Mr Teo Ser Luck that MDA gives full support to local film makers, including those producing films with local audience appeal. The SFC’s New Feature Film Fund, which I mentioned earlier on, benefits works that are targeted at both local audience and the international market.

My response to Dr Ong Seh Hong's call for supporting local TV serials is that, yes, MDA will continue to support the production of good quality TV content. In fact, this year, MDA will fund 4,000 hours of free-to-air TV content up from 3,800 hours last year. Recent beneficiaries include the one that was mentioned by Dr Ong, "Little Nonya", and the Tamil serial "Guru Paavai". MDA also helps showcase Singapore media products at our Asia Media Festival held in Singapore and also international events such as the Cannes Film Mart. Over 110 local media companies participated in such international events last year and secured an estimated US$84 million in deals. MDA will continue to work with

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distributors and promote made-by-Singapore content worldwide. This effort has already yielded dividends with Singapore content sold to international players such as BBC (UK), ABC (Australia), Phoenix TV (China), TVB (Hong Kong), NHK (Japan), Discovery and National Geographic channels (US).

SMF will also support media financing initiatives. To date, we have anchored more than $1 billion of media funds in Singapore to finance international and Singapore media projects. MDA will continue to help media companies seeking financing for their projects.

SMF also aims to build up a strong media talent base, a concern which was mentioned by Miss Penny Low and Dr Fatimah Lateef. MDA, in collaboration with the public and private sectors, will build a pipeline of skilled media manpower. For example, MDA, WDA and the industry are working on media-related programmes to retrain and upgrade up to 5,000 workers under the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR).

MDA will introduce an attachment programme to match 500 local media professionals with companies and projects. We will also offer aspiring young talents opportunities to study full-time under the Media Education Scheme.

To stimulate growth in digital media content and applications, Government will continue to invest in R&D in the IDM sector. In the last two years, we have secured IDM industry investments of more than $200 million, creating about 800 new jobs. One example is KooBits, which was set up by a NUS engineering graduate, Mr Stanley Han. This is a platform for children to create and publish e-books. KooBits has been launched in more than 80 Singapore schools and large number of training centres in Indonesia. Another example is Garena, an online

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gaming service provider. Launched barely two years ago, Garena now boasts over 10 million registered users worldwide. Going forward, we will allocate another $70 million to support some 150 new IDM projects and start-ups. To promote commercialisation of IDM R&D output, MDA will also actively match-make local companies with global investors and distributors of such products.

In summary, SMF’s software development strategy will complement the investment in infrastructure such as the Mediapolis@one-north project. This multi-agency project by MDA, JTC, IDA and EDB will provide key infrastructure, such as world-class soundstages and post-production facility to serve media companies. MDA will launch the SMF masterplan by June and announce more details then.

Miss Penny Low asked for an update on the iN2015 masterplan. I am pleased to inform this House that IDA is making good progress with iN2015. The iN2015 masterplan is aimed at transforming the economy by the wider adoption of infocomm, nurturing globally competitive infocomm enterprises, developing a capable and competent infocomm workforce and building a Next Generation National Broadband Network, otherwise known as the NGNBN.

To promote wider adoption of infocomm, IDA has allocated $70 million for schemes such as Calls-for-Collaboration to co-develop infocomm business solutions. This includes $10 million for the Infocomm@SME programme to support infocomm adoption by local SMEs. In addition, IDA continues to promote infocomm innovation amongst SMEs with $5 million set aside from SPRING’s Technology Innovation Programme. These programmes will enable IDA to help more SMEs to adopt infocomm to enhance their business model and competitiveness. For example,

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IDA was able to help Gramercy Music implement an Enterprise Resource Planning system for its music retail business which will save the company cost and raise its efficiency. IDA will also partner SPRING to provide a single point-of-contact for relevant SME infocomm funding schemes to increase convenience for SMEs. It will work with SiTF, the chambers of commerce and other organisations to extend the use of infocomm throughout our SME sector.

Over the years, local infocomm companies have developed capabilities and solutions especially in the e-government area. To help these companies, IDA has incorporated IDA International to promote their services overseas. Companies such as ST Electronics, EcQuaria and SQLview are already working with IDA International in the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America.

Despite the adverse economic conditions, the infocomm sector will continue to provide employment opportunities for graduates. To boost the talent pool, IDA is investing about $30 million over the next five years in scholarships. A new Integrated Infocomm Scholarship will be offered. It will provide a direct route from polytechnic to university for outstanding "O" level students interested in infocomm studies. IDA will also extend the National Infocomm Scholarship for undergraduates for another three years. Already, it has awarded 155 scholarships under this scheme.

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To incentivise infocomm professionals to upgrade their capabilities, IDA will invest about $25 million to enhance its Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme.

Sponsorship for infocomm courses and certification fees will be raised from the current 50% to 80%. Companies sponsoring their employees for these courses will also be eligible for

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Absentee Payroll at $50 per day. This programme is expected to benefit about 10,000 infocomm professionals over the next two years.

BothMiss Penny Low and Mr Zaqy had spoken on the cost of communications. I am pleased to inform Members that the cost of communications via mobile, broadband and fixed line is likely to remain competitive. The mobile sector is fiercely competitive with three operators offering a variety of services. The launch of Full Mobile Number Portability in June 2008 had intensified competition as mobile operators have offered more value-for-money packages and handset subsidies. While the fixed line sector is dominated by the incumbent operator, we are also seeing competitive forces at work which will continue to bring prices down. Over the past three years, broadband rates have fallen by more than 70%. Operators have also upgraded their broadband speeds to respond to consumers' needs for higher bandwidth. The convergence of the telecoms, broadband and media sectors have also resulted in more competitive prices in the form of triple-play packages.

The Next Generation National Broadband Network (NGNBN) will contribute to further cost reduction and greater vibrancy in the infocomm and the communications sector. Mr Zaqy Mohamad had asked for an update on this project. We are pushing ahead with this critical infocomm infrastructure. The project is on schedule. IDA has awarded the NetCo Request-For-Proposal last September to OpenNet consortium to build the passive fibre-to-the-home network. The evaluation of the OpCo RFP for the company to operate the active electronics for the network is ongoing and we expect to award this OpCo contract by March 2009. Work on the network should commence later this year.

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The NGNBN will provide consumers and businesses with highly competitive broadband services based on an effective open access model. IDA will regulate the NetCo and OpCo’s wholesale prices. OpenNet, the consortium that won the NetCo RFP, had proposed monthly wholesale prices of $15 per residential connection and $50 for non-residential connection. The eventual retail prices will naturally be higher than wholesale prices. Nevertheless, with such wholesale prices, all Singaporeans can look forward to more affordable and attractive communications and media services compared with current prices.

To further optimise the use of the NGNBN, IDA will implement a neutral Singapore Internet Exchange to improve domestic internet traffic routing and access to content. IDA will also foster the growth of innovative NGNBN services through the development of Next Gen Innovation Centres. One example is Cisco’s Enabling Platform Innovation Centre, launched last December. IDA will also introduce the Next Gen Services Innovation Programme to help companies develop prototype and scalable services over the NGNBN.

Miss Penny Low sought an update on the Wireless@SG programme. I am pleased to inform this House that Wireless@SG has been completed ahead of schedule. Today, we have more than 7,400 hotspots serving most public areas throughout Singapore compared to 900 in 2006. More than 1.2 million people have signed up with the three operators for the basic tier of free wireless broadband service. Usage has also gone up from the average of 2.1 hours per month in December 2006 to 4.2 hours per month currently. IDA will consider how to further refine and enhance this programme.

Miss Penny Low asked how are we encouraging ICT adoption by our citizens. In general, Singaporeans are already tech-

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savvy. Today we have a mobile penetration rate of 131% and a household broadband penetration rate of close to 100%. IDA will continue to reach out to citizens to promote the use of infocomm technology. We will work with organisations such as NTUC to strengthen online engagement with its 500,000 members.

We will nurture a digitally-inclusive society and reach out to the marginalised sector, which was one of Miss Penny Low’s concerns. IDA’s NEU PC Plus programme offers students from low-income households and disabled people highly-subsidised computers which comes with broadband services. This programme has benefited about 7,000 households with school-going children since it started two years ago and is expected to benefit an additional 38,000 needy households by 2015. IDA will also continue its Silver Infocomm Initiative to equip our senior citizens with necessary infocomm skills.

On design, Dr Ong Seh Hong had asked about our support for the design enterprises. Last November, I launched the $12 million "Design for Enterprises" programme which will help SMEs in various economic sectors enhance their competitiveness through design innovation. I am pleased to note that about 200 companies have already expressed interest in this joint programme by DesignSingapore, IE Singapore and SPRING.

DesignSingapore has further earmarked $10 million over the next two years to strengthen the Design Capability Development Programme. This includes funding support for cross-disciplinary mentorships, scholarships, internships and overseas promotion.

DesignSingapore has promoted and profiled almost 1,500 Singapore designers since 2004 and Mr Ashley Isham was

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mentioned by Dr Ong. Indeed he was one of those that we have profiled. I remember meeting him when I visited London several years ago. It will continue to showcase Singapore designers and enterprises at prestigious international events such as the London Design Festival and Venice Biennale, the Architecture Biennale. Such promotions have yielded dividends for our designers. Just last month, home-grown furniture designer company Air Division secured on-the-spot business deals with two topline Italian furniture companies at the leading furniture fair in IMM Cologne. So despite the gloomy scenario, there is still demand for well-designed products and I am glad that our Singapore designers were able to meet up and take advantage of such demands and opportunities.

Dr Fatimah Lateef asked how we could harness the talent of freelancers in the Creative Industries. Freelancers do play an important role in the creative industries, particularly in the design sector and I am pleased to inform her that MICA has started to work with the private sector on a Creative Industries Freelancers' Network. This initiative will provide a centralised resource and contact database and a wide range of services such as training and networking to help match freelancers with companies and potential users of their design expertise. It will be launched later this year.

Madam, in conclusion, MICA is focused on assisting our creative enterprises tide over the current economic difficulties. We will also invest in manpower development and infrastructure for the longer term. We will ensure that Singapore’s Creative Industries and the wider economy will have both the software and hardware to grow and prosper once the economic storm blows over. We can look to the future with confidence in Singapore’s ability to transform into a globally competitive creative economy.

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Supporting the Arts

Miss Penny Low: Madam, the arts are like SMEs, albeit a highly missed constituency in our economic matrix, and only supported by an advocacy agency called the National Arts Council. The economic downturn is impacting these creative SMEs as corporate sponsors which is their lifeline and ticket buying public are cutting back. I would like to suggest that MICA do the following:

(1) increase funding for arts production, and incentivise a re-focus of arts operations from performance to research and content creation;

(2) support or fund artists to return to school to upgrade, research and develop new content which will surely be quite useful, especially for our broadband networks;

(3) work across Ministries to embrace or adopt arts, our artists or arts groups into their fold to continue to support work/life balance amongst corporate culture;

(4) identify opportunities for artists to directly work with the community and schools, and help look for arts spaces within community resources; and

(5) develop schemes to support young graduates who have yet to develop a track record to work with the creative industries through pragmatic placements. This could be through contracts, sessional, project-based kind of work.

And in addition, may I ask if the Minister has any plan to promote the viability of business and investment in the arts and cultural sector, where commercial opportunities could present themselves?

Two, looking beyond the current economic downturn, what are MICA’s

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plans to develop a World Class Cultural and Entertainment District as well as to position Singapore as an attractive hub for arts businesses?

Three, does MICA have any plan to motivate collaboration between the private and people sectors to inject a new vibrancy into the arts and heritage scene in Singapore?

Four, how can MICA assist the arts, heritage and cultural sector in encouraging and incentivising cultural philanthropy, which is crucial to the sustainability of a vibrant arts and cultural scene?

Madam, it is very difficult time for the arts and we know that philanthropic money have dried up. I hope the Ministry can indeed allocate more funds and help the artists overcome this difficult period.

Library Services

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Madam, $156 million has been allocated to our libraries to expand the nation's learning capacity through a network of libraries and information resource centres.

Recently, I made some online search via the Library E-resources data for articles in Chinese newspapers like Lianhe Zaobao . I encountered some problems during the search and my understanding from the library was that the Factiva limits online search by library members to only a few sources. According to the library, the reason given for this limitation was due to licensing constraints faced by the database service provider. As such not all features of Factiva are available for home online access. I would like to know what are the constraints pertaining to the licensing issue. Can we expect the issue to be resolved soon?

Next, the library seems to over-service its members who failed to return borrowed books and pay penalties. It was

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reported that the library will spend some $250,000 to send letters to those members, providing the details of individual borrower's accounts, titles of borrowed items, amount of unpaid library fines, etc. What about the administrative cost that is incurred as a result of providing these details?

The Finance Minister in his Budget speech has said that we should continue to avoid waste in Government spending and make sure we derive value in every use of taxpayers' money. I wonder why there is a need to spend $250,000 of taxpayers' money to notify those members who borrowed materials from the library but failed to return them that they will be barred from using the library service. Would just barring these members until they settled all penalties not be sufficient?

Madam, the situation of library members borrowing materials and failing to return them does not speak well of Singapore as a society. I would like to know how many library members are in arrears of penalty and owe materials to libraries. I also would like to know whether the library has plans to better manage the problem.

Cultivating a Gracious Society

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong: I am pleased that MICA is working with Singapore Kindness Movement to launch a national drive to promote graciousness in a more all-embracing way.

We live in a beautiful city, with world-class public transport, lovely parks and stunning buildings. By most standards, we enjoy a high quality of life.

But if we look at the behaviour of most Singaporeans around on the streets, life seems to be full of stress. They are so stressed that when they enter a bus or

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MRT station and they find a seat, they immediately fall asleep or they become very busy with their phones.

Strangely, they cannot see the elderly standing in front of them or the pregnant woman who is bulging in front of them. But they get very alert when it is time to shove through the crowd to get out of the station. They are in such a hurry that, when they go through a door, they do not think of holding the door open for the person behind but just let it slam. Then they go to the office, they write an angry letter to their MP that their neighbours are so noisy and ungracious.

We are all familiar with such situations. But why are we like this? Some people say it is because we are a competitive or kiasu society with each man for himself.

If you hold open the lift door for someone and give way to someone else, it means that you are letting someone else get ahead of you. If you give up a seat, it means you are being stupid. If you are driving and allow someone to overtake you or to cut in the queue, it means that you are allowing someone else to put one over you, or to use local lingo, you feel " buay tahan ". And sometimes what happens is that – I find out when I became a new driver – when you put on your indicator because you want to overtake, the car in front just speeds up. It is a phenomenon known as " ng kam wan ". It is

a peculiar thing in Singapore and I think we have to change this deep-rooted mindset if we are to be successful in our aim of inculcating graciousness as a Singapore trait.

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It is not difficult to be gracious for a short period. But to make it as part of our lifestyle, as our culture, will require

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changing the mindset of Singaporeans towards the intrinsic value of each person and our attitude towards the anonymous other.

Each person, no matter what station in life, deserves respect, consideration, their feelings matter. You value a person’s intrinsic value as a precious human being, regardless of whether you know them or will see them again. You derive satisfaction from the act of being gracious.

Madam, imagine if we live in such a Singapore: You go to the lift in your HDB block, and a neighbour holds the door open for you. He smiles and says, "thank you." You return the favour by letting them get out of the lift first and you press the "open" on the lift button.

You go to the MRT station. People stand to the side so that those who need to alight from the train do not feel that they are in a bull fight having to fight their way through. Then people enter the train without pushing and shoving. When they see an elderly or a pregnant woman in the train, they get up and offer their seat. Those who accept their kind offer smile and say, "thank you".

You go to your office building. The person in front of you holds the door open for you, you say, "thank you", and you do the same for the person behind you.

I can go on. Sir, these are just some examples of the easy and simple things which will make life so much better for ourselves and those around us. They make Singapore a better home for ourselves. It cultivates an atmosphere of goodwill that makes it easier for everyone to co-exist with one another.

Establishing a culture of reciprocity is also important. It is harder to give up your seat in the MRT train if your experience is

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that, every time you do, the person just sits down without a glance, with no "thank you". It is harder to open the door for the person behind you, if every time you do, a stream of people just breeze by as if you are the doorman.

When I talk to Singaporeans who migrate to other countries, one reason they often cite for their decision is Singapore is too pressurised a society and the people are not gracious. They want to live in a more gracious environment. And this is what we want for ourselves too. In the end, it is the people that make up the heart of any city and which defines its quality of life.

We have had many campaigns on being gracious before? What will make this work better and stick better than the previous ones? I would suggest a fundamental change in approach which focuses more on values and redefining society's idea of what it means to be "great".

I would propose the campaign slogan "Great to be gracious" showing scenes of how we want life to be, to redefine our values as a great society which will bear fruit in gracious behaviour. That graciousness is something which starts with oneself, at home and in the community. I would urge the Minister to pay special effort in reaching out to our younger generation.

Given that being gracious is rooted in one's values, I have reservations with the name "Project Gracious", which is being recommended by MICA. A project sounds very task-oriented and superficial – that it is something that has a start and an end date, that it is something you have to do; they might be even have homework, and it is not something that you want to do because you believe in it.

I also ask why we need to link it to big events like the Youth Olympics or APEC.

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We are not being gracious to please somebody else or to make sure that our tourists are happy or that tourists will spend money. We are being gracious because we want that kind of society for ourselves, and we want to build a great society.

Sir, the last time we had a campaign like this, it was at the World Bank and we tried to get everyone to smile. I think it was successful for a time. But we notice that it is a behaviour that has sunk in as a national trait. If we do want to make graciousness a part of our culture, we have to go to the root of it, the principle, the values that guide our behaviour.

Plans for the Arts and Heritage Sectors

Madam, on my second cut. Despite the recession, it is important to continue to invest in Singapore artists and arts groups, to create distinctively Singaporean content as well as to encourage collaborations with artists of other countries. This will position Singapore for the future as a thriving global arts city. How have these investments been bearing fruit since the first phase of the Renaissance City Plan (RCP) started in 2000?

This is important as we need to invest in our heritage sectors. Singapore has a rich heritage and history which deserve to be preserved and showcased better. I would urge MICA to identify a suitable site in Singapore to develop a cluster for private museums and art galleries, and to promote greater interest among Singaporeans of their programmes and exhibitions.

It will be ideal if this cluster be near the National Archives at Fort Canning Rise, another important institution. There are old shophouses and a carpark nearby which can be converted to be part of such a heritage cluster.

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The archives and heritage centres show us, and future generations, how we came to be what we are as a nation, a community or an individual. They are a hidden national asset of documents, photographs, maps, systems and radio broadcasts that constitute the primary record of our past, the very essence of our heritage.

We should do more to develop especially our National Archives and ensure it has the resources to keep up with the expanding demands. Its importance was highlighted recently during the dispute over the sovereignty of Pedra Branca.

In awarding Singapore sovereignty over the island, the International Court of Justice noted that the strength of Singapore's claim lay in a letter sent by the State Secretary of Johor in 1953 to the Singapore Government. This letter, and many other historic documents used to back up Singapore's case, was uncovered by the archives staff.

Despite its importance, the archives still fail to attract interest as part of our heritage, and suffer from under-funding and neglect. Yet, why should the loss of a contemporary artwork, or the demolition of a single historical building, provoke more attention than the loss of an irreplaceable archive collection?

Archives have long remained one of our few untapped treasures. MICA should set up a task force to look at how we can explore how the nation's archives can be turned more fully to advantage, and to seek ways of ensuring continued investment in and support for this neglected legacy. This includes renovating its building, so that it is at least on par with the standard of our National Museum and Library.

We also need a strategy for national knowledge management: for saving and

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storing our present for future generations. Sir, I have been doing quite a lot of research in the Archives in recent years and have never forgotten my excitement at dealing with some historical documents which brought to life the struggle for Singapore's independence by our modern founding fathers. But there is also frustration. Our archival collection of our modern founding fathers, for example, are quite piecemeal. There were times when I searched in vain for missing documents which could not be located, despite the best efforts on the part of the Archives.

This present Government should also be conscious of the need to capture historic moments and decisions. Future generations may be equally fascinated by our present struggle to overcome the economic crises of today. Fifty years from now, they may want to know why the Elected President decided for the first time in history to unlock the reserves. They will search for a written statement or film footage of the President announcing his historic decision to turn the second key. We hope they will not have to search in vain.

Economic Crisis and its Impact on the Arts and Culture

Mr Gautam Banerjee (Nominated Member): Madam, let me declare my interest as a Member of the National Heritage Board and a Director of School of the Arts.

As the economic crisis deepens, people are becoming more conscious of how they spend their money and the need to set priorities on where to put their money. In a belt tightening situation, it is often what they perceive to be the less essential or even non-essential items that will be sacrificed. What are these less essential or non-essential items? At this stage of our development, most Singa-

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poreans would include the participation and contribution to arts and cultural activities as non-essential items.

Whilst this may be how individuals spend their money under tight budget constraint, should the Government's spending on the arts and culture reflect a similar pattern? Madam, I hope not. I believe that the Government should take a strategic view for the development of arts and culture in Singapore. While this economic crisis is likely to be severe and prolonged, we should not treat the development of arts and culture in Singapore as a non-essential item that should be sacrificed when times are bad.

Whilst the current economic crisis is of immediate concern, we should not forget our long-term vision to build Singapore into a global city. To be a global city, we need to have both the hardware and the software which require years of continued investment. If our long-term goal is to build up a creative and vibrant arts and cultural setting in Singapore, we need to continue to invest in the development of the arts and culture even during the current economic downturn.

Madam, we must believe that Singapore has strong fundamentals and that we can weather the current financial tsunami. If we have what it takes to weather the storm, we should ensure that the strong winds do not tear down the arts and cultural scene that we have painstakingly built in recent years. Should we neglect our arts and cultural development at this stage, we run the risk of having to take a few more years to re-establish ourselves to where we are right now.

The Chairman: Dr Ong Seh Hong, you may take both your cuts together.

Creative Scholarship

Dr Ong Seh Hong: Thank you, Madam. Notwithstanding our efforts in nurturing

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budding sporting and artistic talent in Singapore, parents are practical when their children want to pursue a career in these two areas. In this economic downturn, as we grapple with ensuring company survival and savings jobs, let us not forget to continue supporting and nurturing artistic talent. Last year, MICA gave out 60 scholarships to talented youth to pursue a career in the arts. I would like to know how many scholarships in the arts we are giving out this year.

Madam, I was impressed to learn of our Singaporeans' involvement in movies like "The Big Hit" and "The Lord of the Rings". Many of the digital and artistic creations were done by a Singaporean. We have invested much in bringing the digital age into Singapore. We should not shy away from investing in human resource development in this area to support the growth of this sector. May I ask MICA what is being done to support student interest in pursuit of higher education in digital media and related fields?

Exchange Programmes

My second cut is on exchange programmes. Madam, I read with excitement of a two-day arts exchange programme which has benefited 14 Japanese and Singapore children at the Little Arts Academy last year. There is a role for the Government to play here. MICA could take a lead to source sponsors and administer arts exchange programme for our budding creative arts industry. This is something that cannot be left to the private sector to take root.

Singapore parents are practical people. Few, if at all, would want their children to take up a career in either sports or the arts. Even fewer parents will spend money or sending their children to arts exchange programmes in other countries.

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Therefore, may I urge MICA to consider more arts exchange programmes which would benefit our arts students and budding talents?

The Chairman: Dr Fatimah Lateef, you have two cuts as well. Please take them together.

School of the Arts (SOTA)

Dr Fatimah Lateef: Thank you, Madam. In 2009, the School of the Arts has just taken in the third intake of students. The new campus at Kirk Terrace will also certainly provide a more stimulating and exciting environment for an arts institution. Can MICA provide an update on the response and quality of students enrolled thus far? Will there be plans to expand the curriculum and increase the intake of students? Will there be consideration for foreign students intake?

As arts education can be costly, for the local students from low-income families, are there specific bursaries or funds that they can tap on besides the usual national level funds where they would have to compete with students from all disciplines?

Arts Outreach in the Community

I will take my second cut. Much effort has been put into bringing arts into the heartlands. This helps promote a strong audience base and an active community participation. There are currently many arts-related interest and performing groups at the local community levels, eg, Chinese opera groups, Chinese orchestra, drumming groups, etc.

Instead of just bringing professional arts groups with their programmes into the heartlands, can MICA consider more partnership with and funding for such community-based programmes? Running such groups may be costly for the local community. The partnership can enhance

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their morale and standing in the arts arena. The platform will also be a good learning and sharing avenue for those involved. Can the Ministry come up with, say, a list of the professional arts groups which are interested to do this for the local community amateur groups to approach? Perhaps, we can also have the details of the new Community Partnership Grants which can be tapped on for these purposes.

National Arts Gallery: Proposal to have a Legal History Museum

Prof. Thio Li-ann (Nominated Member): Madam, I understand that there are plans to transform the former Supreme Court buildings – both Dorrington-Ward's 1939 Supreme Court and the former City Hall – into a Singapore National Arts Gallery. Would the Minister consider setting aside parts of the buildings to be used as a venue for a legal history museum or a museum of Singapore law? These buildings are already located in the right neighbourhood in Singapore's heritage and museum districts. In addition, such an initiative would have various advantages.

Firstly, there is no better venue for having a legal history museum than the Supreme Court. The 1939 building is of particular significance as it was Singapore's Supreme Court for over 60 years, serving as a symbol of justice in our island nation. It was only the second purpose-built court house in Singapore. Many great cases had been heard within its four walls. Indeed, the public meetings held by our only post-independence Constitutional Commission were also held there. It is an instantly recognised world landmark identified with law and lawyers. Secondly, the architecture and furnishing of the building are of great historical and aesthetic value. Many members of the Legal Profession feel that it is important to retain the architecture and layout of three

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parts of the building. These are the Court of Appeal, Court No. 1 and Chambers, formerly used by the Chief Justice, and the former circular Library under the Dome.

Madam, the local bar is maturing. As the legal profession grows, it is imperative to preserve its heritage and institutional memory. Preserving these buildings and making these three venues into Chambers for a museum of legal history will allow future generation of lawyers and Singaporeans to see how justice was administered as well as to enjoy something which is aesthetically

worthy and artistically valuable. It will serve as a visual record of the past which helps us better interpret our present.

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Museums have an intrinsic value. They preserve, collect and document items important to humanity, to our culture and heritage, from the mundane and common to the rare and unique. They are more than a knowledge archive. They contribute to building a sense of community, identity and belonging by serving as a conduit for cultural transmission and continuity.

Singapore has a long and illustrious legal history dating back to colonial times. Memorable milestones include the 1872 Second Charter of Justice, which established our legal system based on the English common law, which espouses principles of common right, reason and humanity – the foundations of justice. Museums help us to remember, to see and understand the world around us. It is timely and appropriate to establish a legal history museum in this historic setting. Such a museum will not only allow Singapore to showcase its rich legal history or legacy that has made it into one of the world's best legal systems in many respects, but it will also give us the opportunity to honour the key

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personalities who have made the system what it is. Such a museum can feature both permanent and temporary exhibitions and will also act as a repository for materials relating to Singapore's legal past. This is a valuable aspect of continuing education which can stimulate intellectual creativity, exploration and dialogue. Museums are incubators for a society's self reflection about from whence it has come, where it currently is and whither it will go. They speak to what was, what is and makes us meditate upon what is to come.

Some concerned parties have pointed out their fear that without a legal history museum, many important documents and artifacts will be lost to time. For example, we have lost the valuable coroners' records that form the basic of classic books by historian, James Warren, such as "A People's History of Singapore 1880-1940". My own attempts to track down the original representations to the 1966 Constitutional Commission have also failed. Records and artifacts belonging to old law firms, lawyers and judges are now either lost or lying under appreciated in some dusty cupboard.

This reminds me a little of a line from my favourite poem by Thomas Gray entitled "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard":

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene,

The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear;

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

As far as our legal history is concerned, we can act to remedy the situation to prevent the loss or under appreciation of valuable things, to bring what is hidden in the public eye for the enjoyment, enrichment and edification of the majority of people. We need to keep some landmarks in our fast-paced rapidly changing nation, as an anchor to the past helps us remember who we are and aspire

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to be, to aid our navigation to the waters of our own unquiet times.

There are very few such museums elsewhere in the world. Economically speaking, in utilitarian or instrumental terms, a legal history museum can add to our menu of tourist attractions. Given Singapore's high standing in the legal world, such a museum would be a worthy addition to our cultural space. Culture itself embodies an intangible or spiritual value from which the soul of a nation is forged. Museums represent a hope that we will endure and having something to pass on to the next generation and generations yet unborn. Whether in a time of feast or famine, museums, including a Singapore legal history museum, would be a valuable investment for any healthy society to make.

Promoting Traditional Arts

Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tanjong Pagar): ( In Mandarin ): [For vernacular speech, please refer to Appendix A.] Madam, at the end of last year, I attended a performance of the newly arranged Teochew opera entitled "A Mother's Woes" as part of the 45th anniversary celebration of the Nam Hwa Amateur Musical and Drama Association. The performance was held at the Esplanade Theatre. I was told that this was the first time that a local dialect musical troupe performed there. It must have cost them a bomb. I was thinking why was it necessary for them to perform there. In Singapore, all the dialect operas were performed as roadside wayang with simple staging and lighting. However, that night's performance changed my point of view.

The staging of "A Mother's Woes" was simple, yet effective. The lighting design was state-of-the-art; the story was exciting; and the singing was very good. It was indeed a great audio-visual enjoyment. I am no expert in Teochew opera or dialect operas. I am just

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comparing it to modern plays and musicales.

In this performance, a lot of foreign talents had come to help us, the script writers, composer, music manager, director, stage designer, costume designer, make-up artists, musical director and some musicians were from China. But I am very glad to say that the 40-odd performers were all Singaporeans, particularly the four or five main actors and actresses were very competent in their singing technique; their stage presence was very outstanding. The President of the troupe told me that the Chinese director came here only a couple of weeks before the performance. However, our local opera singers have been practising very hard throughout the year. So, with the director's instructions, they were able to shine on the stage – and they are all amateur Teochew opera singers.

Apparently, there are many local talents and lovers of traditional arts in Singapore. I hope that MICA would continue to support the traditional arts. I would like to ask the Minister which are the organisations that have been supported by the Traditional Arts Fund since it was launched last year, and what are its plans for the future.

*Cols. 2281-2282.

The Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts (RAdm [NS] Lui Tuck Yew): Madam, first, let me thank hon. Members for their passionate advocacy for the arts and culture, for a legal history museum, for a gracious society and the many useful comments and suggestions that they have made. I would not be able to respond fully, obviously, to all the many suggestions and comments, but let me assure them that we will take this back on board to the Ministry and consider them fully.

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Let me update this House on how MICA, through the Renaissance City Plan III, will respond to this economic downturn, use arts and culture to enhance Singapore's livability and our reputation as a Global City of the Arts, build capabilities and strengthen Singaporeans' sense of rootedness.

Ms Irene Ng asked if investments in our local artistes have borne fruit since the Renaissance City Plan (RCP) was first launched. A key measure of the success of the RCP is the vibrancy of our arts and cultural scene. In the last 10 years, the number of arts activities in Singapore has quadrupled to more than 27,000 events a year. Over the same period, ticketed attendances have doubled to 1.5 million, achieving ticket sales for arts performances of about $46 million in 2008. Visitorships to our national museums have also increased more than seven fold to almost 2.5 million. The diversity in our cultural landscape is enhanced by a range of private sector initiatives in various creative fields, such as the Old School at Mount Sophia for the arts and the Mint Museum of Toys for the heritage sector. MICA will continue to work with EDB to identify suitable sites in Singapore to support the development of more clusters for private museums and the art galleries.

The RCP's reach can also be measured by the degree of participation in arts and culture among Singaporeans. Today, one in three Singaporeans attend at least one arts event annually – treble the participation rate from a decade ago. Gratifyingly, the strongest growth in arts attendance has been amongst HDB 1- to 3-room flat dwellers and those who have 'O' level education and below.

Madam, through funding under RCP, artistes and institutions have made notable achievements in artistic excellence. Over 500 artistes and arts groups have been supported by NAC to

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participate in international events and collaborations over the past five years. Singapore's major arts institutions, like the Esplanade and major events like the Singapore Arts Festival, now attract the participation of some of the world's most promising artistes. These programmes and blockbuster exhibitions in our museums have enjoyed favourable reviews and become regular features in international journals, such as the International Herald Tribune and Time magazine as well as in our local media.

Singapore's efforts to establish itself as a global city for the arts have not gone unnoticed. In a recent 15th January 2009 Forbes article on the "World's Culture Capitals" of which 10 locations were singled out for special mention, Singapore was the only one in Asia and Forbes declared that "while many perceive Singapore as a sterile business centre, its cultural presence in the East is now undeniable."

Miss Penny Low and Mr Gautam Banerjee expressed concern about MICA's funding for the arts and culture during the economic downturn. Miss Low highlighted the importance of MICA continuing to fund the arts in anticipation of a future upswing. Mr Banerjee also emphasised that to be a global city, we must continue to invest in the arts and culture in a downturn.

We understand and fully appreciate the difficulties that local arts groups will face. We are committed to sustaining the arts during this period of downturn by maintaining our level of funding support. Indeed, this is a good time to reflect and to identify new opportunities for the next phase of growth. MICA will adopt four strategies that we believe will strengthen the arts and cultural sector. They are:

(1) developing Singapore's distinctiveness and excellence as a centre for Asian arts and heritage;

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(2) building capabilities and developing talent;

(3) enhancing our cultural institutions and infrastructure towards supporting artistic excellence; and

(4) strengthening our engagement with the community.

Madam, these four strategies are aligned with MICA's three desired outcomes for the RCP programme, namely, distinctive content, dynamic ecosystem and engaged community. In the course of this year, MICA will inject an additional $8 million to support arts and culture initiatives. This is over and above the average annual RCP III funding of $23.25 million.

Let me now elaborate more on how MICA intends to implement these strategies – strengthening our distinctiveness and excellence. Be it plays, novels, music, art works or dance, a nation's collective body of creative works reflects its heritage and values that helps define its national identity. The generation of such distinctive content is at the core of the creative process. MICA will support the creation of original artistic content through new or enhanced commissioning and residency schemes.

The National Arts Council (NAC) will launch a new initiative – the International Residency Scheme – this month. A total of $2 million will be allocated for this initiative over the course of the next five years, both to attract regional artistes to collaborate with our local artistes here in Singapore, as well as to support local artistes for their residencies abroad. Depending on the success of this programme, we will consider scaling it up.

MICA will also invest $3.5 million over the next five years through the newly announced Arts Creation Fund to further

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build a body of new works with a local and Asian flavor that will appeal to both domestic and international audiences.

Mr Baey Yam Keng asked whether the NAC will continue to invest in the development of traditional arts in Singapore. The traditional arts are a distillate of our communities' rich heritage and a cornerstone for developing works that are distinctively Singaporean. About $1.5 million is already disbursed annually through direct financial assistance to traditional arts practitioners. Starting from 2008, the NAC revised its grants framework to give more attention to traditional arts and cultural groups, such as the Bhaskar Arts Academy, Chinese Calligraphy Society and Majlis Pusat. Traditional arts activities will also be incorporated at key community arts platforms. For instance, in 2009, the North West District Arts Festival will focus on ethnic arts with large-scale Malay and Indian opening events.

Beyond the development of distinctive content, MICA will also take a more comprehensive approach to building capabilities for the entire arts and culture society, including content creators, arts businesses and specialised services.

Under the Heritage Industry Incentive programme, which was launched last year, the National Heritage Board (NHB) has allocated $8 million over five years to support innovative private and people-sector led projects that contribute to the heritage industry. NHB will provide seed funding for content, capability and business development. Local company, VeeV Interactive, is one of the early recipients of HI2P co-funding, and they are currently producing an internet TV documentary on Singapore's Pioneer Artistes.

Madam, talent development must remain a key priority during these difficult

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times. And I am therefore grateful for Dr Ong Seh Hong's strong support for MICA's continued provision of arts scholarships and bursaries during this economic downturn to our arts students. In the last five years, the NAC's financial assistance for scholarships and bursaries has increased by 30%. In FY 2008, slightly more than $1 million worth of local and overseas scholarships and bursaries were awarded to 71 recipients.

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NAC's major and general grant framework

also provides funding to grow leading arts companies and support skills upgrading and research. We strongly encourage arts professionals and organisations to capitalise on these scholarships and training grant opportunities. NAC gave out approximately $7 million in grants in 2008. One recipient of the NAC Major Grant, the T'ang Quartet has gained international renown and was invited to perform in the UNESCO Award Ceremony in Paris.

Over the longer term, MICA recognises that talent in the arts should be nurtured and developed from an early age. The School of Arts (SOTA) exemplifies MICA's commitment to this ideal. Ms Fatimah Lateef has asked about SOTA's future plans, financial assistance and foreign student intake.

SOTA has operated from its interim campus at Goodman Road since 2008 and will start its next academic year in 2010 at the new premises at Kirk Terrace. In terms of number of students SOTA takes in each year, I believe is in the order of 130-150, and the number of applications well exceeds that. Let us achieve good progress. Its programmes and educational philosophy are something that are welcomed and have gained the acceptance of both students and parents. SOTA aims to nurture not just the next

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generation of artists but also creative leaders in all fields; hence, the intent of its balanced and broad-based curriculum. For the 2009 academic year, SOTA has embarked on its Artistically-Gifted Programme to offer more intensive training to the top 5% of its cohort.

Through the Ngee Ann Kongsi's generous donation of $12 million over six years, SOTA is able to offer its students school-based bursaries and scholarships, in addition to the Ministry of Education's Edusave Scheme scholarships and bursaries. For the academic year 2009, 10 SOTA-Ngee Ann Kongsi scholarships and 40 bursaries have been given out.

SOTA also appeals to students from diverse backgrounds. Of its current student population, more than 90% of the students are Singaporeans and all three racial groups are well represented.

Dr Ong Seh Hong made some very good suggestions about international exchange programmes and what we have in place to encourage cross-cultural sharing in our schools. This year, SOTA will introduce international student exchanges for its year 3 students and continue its collaborations with international schools like the Chicago Academy for the Arts. NAFA is currently negotiating an academic collaboration with Guangxi Arts Institute in China, while LASALLE holds student exchanges with overseas academic institutions, such as Tokyo University of the Arts. But I want to add that the presence of foreign students in these schools also allows such cultural exchanges to take place on a daily on-going basis.

Let me move on now to talk a little bit about enhancing institutions and infrastructure. Our next strategy is to enhance our cultural institutions and infrastructure, as well as other platforms for Singaporeans to celebrate our community heritage and identity. MICA

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and the Tote Board will enhance funding for the development and recurrent costs of selected heritage institutions, such as the Malay Heritage Centre, the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and the proposed Indian Heritage Centre. The development funding will be raised to 95% and the recurrent funding to 99% with the remaining costs to be funded by the community. The community heritage institutions will highlight Singapore's links with the region, and commemorate the contributions of our local communities.

The new National Art Gallery (NAG) will be housed in the former Supreme Court and City Hall buildings, and will focus on Singaporean and Southeast Asian art. The NAG's detailed architectural design will be finalised this year and it is expected to open to the public in 2013.

Prof. Thio Li-ann had asked if a legal history museum could be set aside within the NAG, and she did so very passionately. I have to say that there are currently no plans for such a museum, as there is already a legal history gallery in the new Supreme Court, which chronicles milestones in Singapore's legal history. Nonetheless, let me assure her that we fully appreciate the historical importance of both of these buildings and showcasing the history of the City Hall and the former Supreme Court will be an integral part of the visitor experience at the National Art Gallery.

Other heritage institutions also play an important role in documenting and preserving our national legacy. I would like to thank Ms Irene Ng for mentioning the important role the National Archives plays as a keeper of Singapore's historical and nation-building records. Indeed, NAS played a quiet but significant role in supporting Singapore's successful claim to Pedra Branca. The NAS is complemented by the Heritage Conservation Centre which is the conservator of our

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national collection of artworks and artefacts.

In the light of our growing collection, the Government funded the building of a second archives repository which opened in February 2006, to meet the storage needs over the course of the next 15 years. The electronic records system, which NAS developed, has enhanced public access to archival records. Incidentally, this is also something that has been adopted in a number of overseas markets, including the Middle East. The records, I believe, has been well used. Let me just cite one instance where one of our schools, Greendale Secondary School, made a video documentary, "Punggol Story" in 2008. Extensive archival resources, such as photographs, Government records and oral history interviews from NAS, were used in its production.

For arts infrastructure development, NAC will reconfigure some Arts Housing Scheme properties to provide more flexible-use space to support the entire art creation process. The scheme is currently being piloted at the Telok Kurau Studios and the Telok Ayer Performance Arts Centre. Under the RCP III, as we had announced recently, $180 million has also been committed to the redevelopment of Victoria Theatre (VT) and Victoria Concert Hall (VCH) to upgrade the existing spaces and provide more room for commercial and rehearsal needs. By re-energising both these venues, we will be able to attract more varied performances and audiences as well as provide more spaces for the incubation of works. The restoration and renovation will commerce in the middle of 2010.

Madam, the fourth area of opportunity is to engage the community broadly and deeply to strengthen Singapore's multi-cultural social fabric, foster a deeper

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sense of Singaporean identity and raise the quality of life for all Singaporeans. We will step up community outreach efforts to broaden access to the arts.

Despite the economic climate, MICA will continue to uphold the quality and diversity of cultural offerings which audiences here deserve and expect. Besides the Singapore Arts Festival in May and the Heritagefest in July, with more than one million participants, major upcoming events include an exhibition on Emperor Kangxi at the ACM in March, the Latiff Mohidin and Wu Guangzhong's exhibitions at SAM in March and April respectively, and the Flemish Masterpieces at the National Museum in July.

NAC's $5 million Arts for All Community Engagement Plan, launched in October 2008, encourages the community to develop a greater sense of ownership for the arts. It is committed to the principle of arts for everyone and will bring enlivening leisure options into the heartlands.

The plan comprises two pillars. There is ArtReach and ArtLink. Under ArtLink, NAC will partner other social organisations, such as SCORE, to connect specific sectors of the population with artists, so as to integrate arts into alternative spaces such as the prisons and hospitals.

ArtReach is a broad-based programme which aims to increase access to quality arts experiences for the community. It encourages the public to go beyond being passive audience to being participative artmakers.

One new ArtReach initiative launched last year was the Community Participation Grant (CPG). Dr Fatimah Lateef asked for further details for the use of this Grant. The Community Participation Grant provides funds to community art projects which involve the public working

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alongside trained artists in the creation process. The Grant provides up to $50,000 funding per recipient within a given financial year. It is open to NGOs, CDCs, community-based arts groups and artists.

Since the launch of the Grant in April 2008, a total of $86,000 in grants has been awarded. One grant recipient is the Necessary Stage for its three-year programme, "Theatre for Seniors", to nurture a spirit of community and the arts amongst senior citizens through theatre workshops.

NLB too, will be focusing on the community's needs in the years ahead. NLB will work with WDA and the CDCs to make its venues available for affordable public courses in areas of skills development, career change and job fairs.

NLB will expand its services to reach out to seniors, the disadvantaged and youths. For seniors, NLB will focus on social engagement of seniors, providing easy access and promoting awareness of library services to engage active participation for this group. The intent is to collaborate with other senior-centric organisations to develop seniors into independent and self-reliant library users making full use of the range of library services available. For children with special needs, NLB will reach out to them with its mobile bus, MOLLY, while needy children will continue to be catered for by the kidsRead service. For adults who are home-bound, NLB has launched its "Project Deliver Me" programme. The volunteers deliver books and AV materials directly to their homes. For youths and the IT-savvy, NLB will engage them through greater online capabilities like NLB's library blogs.

Mr Low Thia Khiang asked about why some features of online search were unavailable, which I believe was from home, and whether the cost of recovery

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of outstanding fines was justifiable. The NLB's e-Resources enable users to retrieve about 800,000 eBooks, 600 eMagazines and 25,000 audiobooks online for free. In addition, the National Library Board currently subscribes to four electronic newspaper aggregators who make available local and overseas e-newspapers to their subscribers. I understand that the four vendors are currently in negotiations with SPH to make SPH newspapers available for online access by library members from home.

As was announced on 8th January, from 1st April of this year, any library member with unpaid fines and fees would have their borrowing privileges suspended till outstanding fines are paid up. This change is aimed at promoting greater public responsibility in the use of library materials so that small fines do not snowball over time. Since this policy change was first announced, around 80,000 members have paid up their fines. Mailers have started going out to the 670,000 members who still have outstanding fines, from the early part of this month. These outstanding fines total about $7.3 million. We estimate that this is about 30 times the amount that is required for administrative cost. When we last had a similar exercise in 2007 to recover outstanding fines, the NLB recovered more than six times it spent on administrative cost. We believe that from a cost point of view, it is an exercise that is worth carrying out. We need to give users some advance notice and running advertisements in the newspapers and the media will not be enough. We ought to inform them directly. But more than that, it is an exercise to make sure that users of library services are also responsible users who return their books on time in order not to deny other users who may want to have access to these materials. Mailers that we send out will clearly detail fine amounts and payment options, and these include NETS, cheques, Ez-link cards and cash cards for ease of payment.

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Another means of engaging the community is through encouraging greater ownership for arts and culture. A growing number volunteer their time and talent to support events like the Biennale and the Arts Festival, and that is really very much appreciated by NAC and all involved. With regard to donations, our cultural institutions have received about $40 million worth of donations per annum in private cash and in-kind contributions, and a significant portion of this came through major donors. We should consider how we can make it more convenient for those who wish to make small donations to come forward. To facilitate this, MICA will make it easier for the public to lend their support to arts and culture through making small donations.

An online Cultural Philanthrophy Donation portal will be rolled out in the second half of 2009.

6.15 pm

Finally, let me come to the topic of a gracious society. I want to thank Ms Irene Ng for her very thoughtful and thought-provoking message. She has reminded us anew that that our people form the lens through which the entire society is viewed.

Madam, inculcating graciousness is a lengthy and painstaking process. "Project Gracious" is not a one-off event with a 2010 deadline. It represents a national long-term initiative to foster a culture of gracious living among Singaporeans. It will involve broad-based public education, complemented by people community engagement across all sectors of our society. Project Gracious builds on the sustained effort that began in 1979 with the Courtesy Campaign. This project will steer away from being overly prescriptive and will instead advocate that graciousness is about our way of life and the values that shape our social conduct, reminding us that it is values that add

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value to who we are and what we do. While previous efforts focused on specific behaviours, the effort now is to internalise enduring and endearing values that will motivate how we respond under various circumstances.

Lessons on kindness are most effective it is caught, rather than taught. The Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) will reinforce values taught to our children by first promoting them amongst adults so that children can learn by example. This programme will be introduced in pre-school centres bringing together parents with children. I am also pleased to mention that 114 schools have already expressed interest in training workshops on starting kindness initiatives for teacher-mentors and student-leaders, and this will start next month. Besides the educational institutions, the SKM is working with both public agencies and private companies to promote graciousness in the workplace, neighbourhood and in public places. There are also plans to leverage on events where new citizens can be encouraged to participate in this national effort.

In conclusion, Madam, how the entire arts and cultural community responds to these testing times will determine our shared future. MICA is committed to providing support for arts and cultural development despite the economic downturn. The arts community must be committed towards professionalism and excellence, and together we will be able to build a creative and culturally vibrant Singapore – the best home for our people. The economic downturn may be challenging times but therein too lies numerous opportunities. Initiatives such as the Arts Creation Fund will help to develop distinctive content reflecting our unique geographical and cultural context, and articulate what national identity means to us. But distinctive content alone is not sufficient. A comprehensive creative eco-system is needed to provide supporting services which can produce,

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market and deliver this content to audiences. The new capability and industry development schemes that I have touched on under the Renaissance City Plan will respond to the needs of our arts and heritage organisations at various stages of the creative process. Both these efforts will prepare Singapore for a new phase of cultural growth in the future.

Madam, as we shift our focus towards engaging the community as active participants, arts and culture will become more interactive, providing greater opportunities for different segments of the community to mingle, to exchange ideas and to better understand each other. We will thus use the platform of arts and culture to strengthen our community bonds and rootedness, and in so doing, we hope to develop a more harmonious and gracious society. It is this inclusive and cohesive society which will help us tide over these difficult times.

Improved Public Engagement through New Media and eGovernment Platform

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Madam, earlier this year, MICA presented its response to the AIMS committee recommendations. The Government has responded that it would evaluate the capacity of the Government to communicate effectively online and rethink how it engaged its citizens via the feedback loop and replying to online letters.

I would like to know what are the Ministry’s plans and if there are additional resources that will be put in place to adopt the above recommendations of the AIMS committee. What new capabilities and approaches can the public expect in their online engagement with the Government?

I also noted that many groups have voiced their displeasure that the Government would not engage them beyond the current Government platforms

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and that REACH was to be the main point of engagement.

Madam, I believe that the new media presents an excellent opportunity to engage citizens and never before has any medium enabled this opportunity for the Government to be able to reach each citizen directly – anytime, anywhere – be it in their homes, offices or personal communications devices.

I hope that the Government will not give up the opportunity to be able to connect directly with mainstream public, just because of its cautiousness to engage its critics online, one-to-one. I admit that it is an onerous task, but the technology today allows it if we are prepared to spare the investments and manpower. We have developed online tax filing systems and NSmen application systems that reach all employers and income earners in a massive scale. For all our investments in large, sophisticated projects, such as the SOE and NGN, I am sure the Government can consider implementing relevant infrastructure to be able to strengthen the connection between the Government and its citizens in a big way.

There is certainly an increasing demand for greater access to the Government from the younger generation of Internet users who want their opinions heard, and have easy access to the right services and the right people.

I hope that MICA, in view of Senior Minister of State Lui Tuck Yew's reply in this House two days ago, does not wait until the Internet community self-regulates in the way it feels comfortable before embarking on this open engagement on the Internet. Generally, Singaporeans do not speak out to right wrongdoings in public, and should we expect them to behave differently online. What would be the indicators where self-regulation is enough for the Government to liberalise

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and to open up online political space and media regulations?

I say, let us focus on engaging the mainstream population and make the Government more accessible to be engaged constructively in nation-building and policy-making. Otherwise, we will lose an entire online generation, who could have had the opportunity to grow and engage with the Government, the same way as the previous generations had grown and engaged with the Government using the traditional media and broadcast communications.

Minority TV Programming

Dr Fatimah Lateef: Madam, over the years there have been changes and expansion to the programmes over the minority TV channels, such as Suria and Vasantham. However, over time, external inputs and improvement from foreign TV channels have also been tremendous. Likewise, the competition from paid or cable TV, which offers a very attractive wide range of Malay, Tamil and Hindi programmes, has been very strong as well. Does MICA have plans to step up the programmes and performance of our minority TV channels to cope with the profusion of these imports from cable TV?

Will there be platforms and plans as well as funds to provide greater support to local minority content programmes for Suria and Vasantham channels? In fact, currently, the latter still shares a channel with the KIDs and Arts programmes.

RAdm [NS] Lui Tuck Yew: Madam, the hon. Members have raised questions on broadcasting and public engagement. Let me first address Dr Fatimah Lateef's question on future plans and funding for Suria and Vasantham.

Suria and Vasantham are important channels that reflect our multi-cultural

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heritage and way of life, and provide relevant local programmes for the communities. And therefore MDA provides funding support for the production and acquisition of quality programmes, such as news, current affairs, children, information and drama.

MDA will sustain its support for both channels during this economic downturn. Competition from other TV channels and cable TV have actually incentivised improvements and I think this is amply demonstrated by an increase in the average ratings for both channels, especially during the prime-time belt of 8 pm to 11 pm. Particularly for Vasantham, we announced at last year's COS that it will become a full-fledged stand-alone channel to offer a wider variety of programmes with more hours of broadcasting. And so it became a stand-alone channel on 19th October 2008. Since then, average ratings over the past three months have increased by more than 50%. These results affirm that Singaporeans support and enjoy local programmes on local channels.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad asked about MICA's plans on e-engagement. The Government agrees with AIMS' recommendation to adopt an evolutionary approach and has begun engaging on the REACH portal and the online letter Fora of local mainstream media. As I responded in the House two days ago, we are not close to the idea of engaging on other objective and credible sites in future.

Given the nature of the Internet, the Government has to be focused and selective on what platforms to engage netizens. As Mr Tong Sian Hwee pointed out in his letter that was published in the Straits Times Forum today, and I quote, "An unreasonable expectation is to be able to respond to or challenge all contributions." He added that, "It is also useless to enter into discussions on sites

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which are obviously anti-establishment." These are his words.

As a relatively new mode of communication, the Government will require time and resources to build up additional manpower, capacity and skills to facilitate better e-engagement. I think, obviously we should not underestimate the skill sets.

Since I have a bit of time, let me just share that when I first went to do a web chat, I started typing out an entire paragraph – obviously it took me quite a while, not that I am such a bad typist – and by the time I finished I had missed major chunks of the conversation taking place. And then I started going down to two-liners, one-liner, a few words. It was quite an experience. It was not easy to have a very meaningful and deep discussion, but I think everybody enjoyed it and that certainly appears to be the way that discussions are held in a web-chat environment. We have to adjust to it, and we have to make sure that we know how to respond appropriately so that both parties benefit fully from such an engagement. To this end, therefore, MICA has been recruiting more information officers conducting new media training and we have been sharing relevant knowledge with other agencies.

Over time, e-engagement will augment the wide range of channels the Government uses to communicate and reach out to the public. Let me assure the House that MICA is fully committed to develop the rich and richness of Government-citizen communications. Let me also take this opportunity to address some comments, including those that were just made on my reply to Miss Penny Low about self-regulation in the Internet. The comments seem to have misconstrued my remarks as a desire for more regulation on the Internet. Let me

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say clearly that I am not advocating such a position. In fact, the topic of self-regulation is what some bloggers have asked for. Members may remember that in responding to the AIMS Committee, a group of bloggers had proposed for community moderation to replace the Government's promised lighter-touch regulatory approach. It is for the online community to decide if there should be self-regulation or not. Likewise, it is for them to deliberate on how online postings could be self-regulated or moderated. The Government will continue with its promised lighter-touch regulatory approach and to engage netizens in a constructive and beneficial way.

Madam, new media opens up new frontiers and exciting opportunities for some but also has the potential to cause others to stumble. In line with AIMS' recommendation that education remains the key in combating the risk, the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has worked with the public, people, and private sectors to organise and support media literacy, public education outreach activities, targeting students, parents, educators and the public. We are mindful of the greater risks posed to minors and therefore have recommended in the AIMS report, that a new inter-Ministry Task Force on Cyber Wellness will be established and this will be chaired by the deputy secretaries from MICA and MOE. And MICA and MOE will collectively contribute a total of $10 million over the next five years for the Task Force to coordinate national efforts and develop strategies and programmes for protecting the young as well as work with other private sector partners.

In conclusion, let me assure the House that MICA remains fully committed to improving public engagement and communications, and will continue its efforts to foster a more open and inclusive society.

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6.30 pm

Miss Penny Low: Madam, on ICT (Information Communication Technology), mobile versus broadband internet, there has been a lot migration of the content from blogs to twitters, from food application to widgets.

I am wondering how much of MICA's content investments are put into mobile content versus broadband internet content creation. And given the prevalence and multi-fold surge in mobile take-up rates – I think, Minister has said is 130% for mobile and less than 100% for broadband – how is MICA encouraging the creation of mobile content and incentivising the adoption and diffusion of mobile application amongst businesses and end-users? It also has great impact on the health and education sectors as well as for the emergency preparedness and terrorist alert. So, I am wondering if MICA would be putting extra effort or extra investment into mobile content creation.

Second clarification on the marginalised sector: The Minister mentioned that we have almost 100% broadband penetration rate and about 38,000 marginalised households that are still not wired up. And it will take a few years to do so. My question is, why does it take so long? Is it a cost issue or is it a suitability issue? If it is a cost issue, then perhaps MICA can adopt a new type of laptop which is a sophisticated version of the $100 laptop which leverage on the power and advantage of clout computing that gives the user almost unlimited computing power, and all at the cost of less than $500. But if it is the suitability issue, perhaps you can look at investing and developing assistive technology to help the marginalised sector to better utilise the ICT.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Madam Chair, with regard to mobile content, I am pleased to inform the House and the Member that IDA supports the development of mobile

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content. We recognise that more and more users are shifting onto mobile platform. In fact, for instance, in the Wireless@SG initiative, we are seeing more of the users accessing Wireless@SG with mobile devices like the WiFi-enabled PDAs or the intelligent mobile phones that are being sold nowadays. So, obviously there is a greater demand and a growing need for mobile content and the IDA will support the development of this mobile application. MDA, on its part, in encouraging and supporting the content creation sector, will also encourage investment and efforts in mobile content. For instance, in the IDM sector, we have particularly interested in encouraging game developers to develop online games that are suitable for mobile application. And I believe that some of these applications have already been developed and are being tested out.

So, going forward, I think, Singapore can see more mobile content being made available. There will be diversity in mobile content, in terms of serious applications. Mobile content for leisure, for example, gaming products and mobile content in terms of information that people need when they are on the move. All these will be made available through the various mobile platforms.

With regard to the marginalised sector, I think the Member may have misunderstood me when I said that an additional 38,000 needy households will benefit by 2015. This is IDA's estimate of households who need such support. Each year there will new people coming onboard the programme. The family comes onboard the programme if they have school-going children and they have low income. We will provide them with a new or a refurbished PC (full capabilities) at a very affordable cost. So cost to the family is not an issue, neither is cost to IDA. We have the funds and we will be able to support them. But the estimate of 38,000 additional families are our

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assessment of going forward, over the next six years, what would be the number of needy families with children in school who will need this additional assistance. I just want to reiterate that it is not just providing computers. We also provide a three-year subscription for the broadband access. So, in fact, they have both the computer and broadband access that would be very useful for the students.

And I just want to say that only last Wednesday at my Meet-the-People session, I had one case of a low-income family living in a rental flat whose children have now gone on to secondary school and found that they need to have access to broadband at home. They had not asked for the service previously. But now that they discovered that with a kid in secondary school, they would benefit from having a broadband. They came to ask for assistance, and I duly wrote to the IDA to seek their assistance to provide the family under the new PC-plus programme, with both PC and also a broadband subscription. They deserve it and, I think, they will get it.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Just three points. One, on the assistance to lower communications cost for the needy. I was just wondering whether the Ministry has any specific plans to work with agency MCYS to look at whether we can provide certain assistance to subsidise communications cost for the needy.

Also, will MICA look to encourage telco providers to assist, especially the needy, in arrears over this period of time?

On School of the Arts (SOTA), I was wondering what are the Ministry's plans to help SOTA develop our world-class potentials? I understand that there are probably one or two potentials who could be world-class. Have we got good links overseas with world-class institutions to help them develop themselves?

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Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong: Madam, since we have been talking a lot on new media, can I ask the Minister for his assessment on the mainstream media?

There have been a lot of changes in the air – very fast changing world and people need to understand what is going on. And one of the missions of the media is to explain, educate and entertain. Can I ask the Minister for his assessment of the state of the mainstream media as he sees it, especially in explaining and educating the public as to the future direction that we are moving towards and the challenges that we face?

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Madam, the Senior Minister of State in his reply says that online search for SPH newspapers is available on the Library premises. But I am referring to internet search. The public is able to search for SPH media online like the Straits Times and Business Times but not Lianhe Zaobao , I do not know why. Would he like to clarify?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Madam, may I respond to the supplementary question on the communications cost for the low income and the needy.

Madam, I think, the Government recognises that in these difficult times, there will be families, there will be Singaporeans who will face financial distress. The approach is to extend to them assistance in a targeted manner. But we cannot be out there to assist in every individual service on nitty-gritty things. Hence, we have programmes like doubling of the GST rebate; assistance through rental, service and conservancy rebates; and reduction in personal income tax with a cap of $2,000. All these mean that Government is putting cash back in the hands of people. Even for the lowest income group, they will benefit from this series of rebates and grants given by the Government.

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And, I think, this is the way of helping them. If they need to meet their communication expenses like pay for their telephone bills or for their mobile phone expenses, they can draw upon this series of rebates and grants that Government has given out to meet their obligations. For those who are in arrears with their telecommunication bills, I think, they can approach the service provider and make an appeal for a deferred or an instalment payment, which is what they do. And as an MP, I regularly see people at my MPS asking for such assistance. Where possible, we will write to the operator to ask them to consider the appeal for a deferred payment or an instalment payment.

I hope that addresses the concern of the Member.

I will ask the Senior Minister of State to address the other queries.

RAdm [NS] Lui Tuck Yew: On SOTA, I think it is early days yet because it has already got three years' worth of students going in. I think the assurance is that if they are good and they really excel in their particular area, there is every possibility for them not only to think about overseas institutions but also to consider the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore. The Yong Siew Toh Conservatory is really, really world-class in terms of the facilities, drawing in a lot of top students into the institution. So I think there is actually a route for them, after the six years, coming out with the International Baccalaureate programme for those who want to continue to develop their artistic talents and to become professional artistes. That is at least one route.

On internet search – Mr Low's question. We actually have four vendors to aggregate the information from the

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newspapers, both local and overseas. That is what NLB has contracted with them to do. These vendors are now in negotiation with SPH to put the local newspapers there. Users, when at home and in the Library, I believe, can access these newspapers directly – Lianhe Zaobao website or the Straits Times website, as far as I understand the situation to be. But it is that they cannot not go through these aggregators in order to access the SPH newspapers because this is a commercial issue that is under discussion and negotiation now; so I will not be able to comment a little bit further on how exactly the negotiations are coming along.

Ms Irene Ng on the mainstream media: I think, they draw quite a lot of their revenues from advertisements and certainly during these time, we all notice that the newspapers have become a little bit thinner, and advertisement revenues have been affected. I think the Government's responses in terms of the Jobs Credit Scheme and whatever else Mr Tharman, our Finance Minister, has proposed for the Budget will also help them during this difficult period. I think, in terms of overall assessment for how the mainstream media is, my view is that it is credible, it is accurate, it is timely. And it is widely read, not only in Singapore but, I believe, also overseas, sometimes the hard copy version, sometimes the online version of the newspapers. I think they provide thoughtful pieces in terms of opinion pieces and commentaries. Not always, pro-Government, but they provide a variety of views and opinions and I think they are a reflection of some of the values that we uphold in our society.

Mr Baey Yam Keng: Madam, I would like to clarify with the Senior Minister of State about the support for traditional arts, for the example that is quoted in the community – whether the support is limited to promoting traditional arts only in

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community? Because the example I quoted in my speech is about a Teochew opera in the Esplanade. And I believe that there are good quality traditional arts in Singapore. I hope the $1.5 million, if I am not mistaken, in traditional arts fund, could also help to push and present such good traditional arts in premier platforms and venues at the Esplanade.

RAdm [NS] Lui Tuck Yew: We will certainly be prepared to consider that. Thank you for raising it.

Miss Penny Low: Madam, just two quick questions. One is for the clarification on arts scholarship. Do you also fund the arts scholarship for Masters or PhDs? Because I understand that a few applicants have been turned down.

And, second, there seems to be a lot of questions around getting performance venue or funding and opportunities for arts group. Would the Ministry also consider setting up a match.com portal for such services?

And, very quickly, third on assistive technology – would the Ministry consider developing R&D in that sector, and also making Singapore a Silicon Valley for assistive technology?

6.45 pm

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Madam, can I quickly respond to the point on assistive technology?

Certainly this is an area of interest. We cannot say that we have the capability at this juncture but we will certainly look into what is possible and work with our ICT sector. We will bring the ICT sector together with the health sector to discuss, see what we can do and how we can contribute towards developing assistive technology, which should be useful and which would also create value for our economy.

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RAdm [NS] Lui Tuck Yew: On the arts scholarship question that was raised. I believe we do although obviously it is not possible for every applicant to be successful. I think in particular we tried to encourage those who are not only already participants but who intend to take up a career in the arts and so we do fund also a larger number of scholarships at the Bachelor's level.

On funding for venues, we provide a whole scheme of funding support and I think it's useful for the applicants to direct this to NAC for greater clarification.

Miss Penny Low: Mdm Deputy Speaker, I thank the Minister and SMS for their comprehensive answer and assurance of MICA's continued commitment in the arts, culture, media and ICT sector to develop Singapore into a creative, intelligent nation.

Madam, I beg leave to withdraw my amendments and thank you for your patience, Madam.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $492,036,100 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $277,433,400 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

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