TELEVISION SINGAPURA (Telecasting of student debates in Malay, Tamil and English)

Mr Teong Eng Siong asked the Minister for Culture whether TV Singapura has any plans to organise and telecast debates in Malay, Tamil and English by students.

Inche Sha'ari Bin Tadin (for the Minister for Culture): Mr Speaker, Sir, the short answer to the Member for Sembawang is "Yes". A very successful series of debates have been organised for students from the secondary and college levels in the Chinese language stream. These debates have also been edited and will be published in booklet form very soon.

Plans have been finalised to organise and telecast similar debates in the English language stream in the first quarter of 1969. It is anticipated that response from the English language stream, both in quality and quantity, will be as good as that from the Chinese language stream.

Active consideration is now being given by TV Singapura to organise similar debates in the Malay and Tamil language streams and, subject to factors such as availability of talent, broadcasting resources, etc., it is hoped that similar debates in Malay and Tamil can be organised and telecast after the debates in English.