CULTURE

The inculcation of a Malayan loyalty and the development of a Malayan consciousness in our people is a task that the P.A.P. Government has shown is possible, by imaginative and constructive use of modern mass media to develop a Malayan loyalty and a Malayan consciousness in our people.

The highly complex concept of Malayan culture was given concrete expression through the open-air concerts - Aneka Ragam Ra'ayat. These concerts not only made thousands of ordinary people aware of the richness and variety of the cultural wealth at their disposal but they have also stimulated cultural activity. The enthusiastic response to the National Theatre Fund is an encouraging sign of the conscious search of the people for a Malayan culture. Work on this National Theatre will begin this year. When completed, it should contribute to the further flourishing and ultimate fusion of our diverse cultures.

The Government plans to establish a National Cultural Brigade in order to give positive and creative impulse to Malayan art, music, drama and so on. Members of the Brigade will consist of artists, painters, musicians, dramatists and all those involved in the arts and they will perform as well as teach and organise dramatic, musical and dance groups in community centres and cultural associations.

This year will also see the establishment of the Institute for National Language and Culture. The aims and objects of the Institute have already been explained to Members of the Assembly. The Institute, in addition to publishing translations of outstanding works of literature and promoting the growth and spread of the national language, will also encourage original works, literary and scientific, by local writers.

Another medium through which the Government keeps the public informed and entertained is through the 193 Community Radio Listening sets in rural areas. It is proposed to acquire another 200 sets in order to keep isolated rural communities in touch with what is going on in their country.

This year will also see the start of Commercial Broadcasting. We are being assisted by two experts from New Zealand under the Colombo Plan.

The Government has also plans to inaugurate a National Service network. At the moment Radio Singapore broadcasts four language programme and though these have ceased to be exclusively communal, they nevertheless cater to particular linguistic groups. The National Service would be identified with no particular language or cultural group. It will try to reflect a Malayan outlook and content. We hope to increase short-wave broadcasts substantially early next year.

The Government has also decided to introduce television. It is not possible at the moment to say when a television station will be in full operation, for in addition to erecting the station we will have to train technicians and programme staff to work this new mass media which can help break through the language barriers. We have had the valuable assistance of foreign experts and their report is now being studied. Active work on television will begin this year.

In the National Library it will be the policy to strengthen the Malay, Chinese and Indian sections which were neglected in the past. When the new building is completed later this year there will not be that shortage of space which had hampered expansion of the Malay, Chinese and Indian sections in the past.

The National Museum will be reorganised to make it more representative of local customs and traditions. There will be more stress on the wealth of cultural material out of which we hope to weave a Malayan culture. It will emphasise more the history and contributions that the many races have-made towards the creation of modern Singapore.

Conclusion

The second year of office of the P.A.P. Government will be a year of construction. This year will see the addition of an industrial base to our entrepot economy. As the Five-Year Development Plan, which has been prepared by the Government, gets into stride our economy will gradually lose its colonial character by ensuring a greater measure of economic self-reliance. This does not mean the advent of an economic paradise. By broadening our economic base we will enhance the chances of a better life for more of our people, in particular the underprivileged sections of our society. The necessary conditions for economic expansion are purposive action and political stability. These the Government will strive to provide. But it will not overlook the fact that the purpose of economic expansion is to benefit the people as a whole and not a privileged few.

11.20 a.m.

At the conclusion of the Yang di-Pertuan Negara's Speech, Mr Speaker, preceded by the Serjeant at Arms, the Clerk, the Clerk-Assistant and the Second Clerk-Assistant, escorted His Excellency out of the Chamber, and the Assembly adjourned without question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.

Adjourned accordingly at 11.22 a.m.