OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS (Mailing to Singapore students abroad)

Mr Ng Yeow Chong asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Labour whether official publications and other informative materials such as "The Mirror", etc, are being mailed regularly to our students abroad from the Republic's missions overseas, so as to keep them informed of current affairs in Singapore.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Inche A. Rahim Ishak) (for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Labour): Mr Speaker, Sir, our students abroad are normally kept informed of current developments in the Republic through official publications distributed by our overseas missions. In addition to the Mirror, there is also the publication called Berita Pelajar, published by the Public Service Commission. A number of our overseas missions also publish the Singapore Newsletter which is distributed among students as well. Such publications are sent sometimes on request by individual students, or to student organisations or groups who share them. Besides these publications, some Singapore daily newspapers are available in the missions for students to read. It may well be that official publications do not reach all students, but where requests are made by individuals or groups of students, every effort is made to meet their requirements.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, will the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs be able to indicate the number of copies of such publications that are mailed to our overseas missions?

Inche Rahim Ishak: Mr Speaker. Sir, as the Member for Punggol has asked for this information, he will get it. The number of copies of the Mirror distributed to students in Australia is 180. This distribution started in 1969, and copies of the Mirror are distributed by the Ministry of Culture.

This is the alphabetical order of distribution, in Cambodia, as no students are registered with our Embassy there, we do not send any copies of the Mirror. In Canada, 89 copies. In Hong Kong, no students are registered with the Singapore Commission there, so we do not send them any. In India, 12 copies of the Mirror are distributed, and these copies are shared among the students, as the mailing list of 200 has to include Government offices in India and diplomatic missions. In Indonesia, no copies are distributed, although 11 students in Soerabaya and Jogjakarta have recently registered with the Singapore Embassy and they will be receiving the Mirror in due course. In Japan, 51 copies of the Mirror are sent directly by the Ministry of Culture. Figures are not available for Malaysia. In New Zealand, 214 copies of the Mirror are sent, and this figure includes some New Zealand and Malaysian students who want them. In the Philippines, there is no circulation because no students have as yet registered with the Singapore Embassy In Thailand, there is no circulation.

Publications available to students registered with the Singapore Embassy: the United Arab Republic, no circulation. Until January 1969, the Mirror was distributed in that country but now it has been replaced by the Singapore Newsletter issued by our Embassy in Cairo. In the United Kingdom and Eire, there are 387 copies of the Mirror in London alone and 391 copies in the other provinces in the U.K., giving a total of 778 copies. In the United States of America, 82 copies of the Mirror are distributed.

For the information of the Member for Punggol, all our missions issue the Singapore Newsletter twice a month, except those in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Manila.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: The Minister of State has mentioned that in Australia the Mirror was distributed in 1969. However, he could not indicate the date of distribution for the other missions which he named. I wonder whether he could enlighten this House on it.

Inche A. Rahim Ishak: Mr Speaker, Sir, here is a straightforward answer to a straightforward question. It could have been before or after 1969.

As to the second part of the question by the Member for Punggol. I think he has not yet returned to be an overseas student; he is still a Member of Parliament.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Is the Minister of State able to indicate that these copies are really being distributed, because when I was in some of our foreign missions, I found that a lot of such copies had not been distributed.

Inche Rahim Ishak: Mr Speaker, Sir, unless the Member for Punggol wants to split hairs and discuss the meaning of the word "distribution", I do not see the purpose of his question, except that, as I said earlier, some students get copies of the Mirror directly as they are sent direct by the Ministry of Culture. Some get them in their hostels or dor mitories or in the reading-rooms of our missions abroad and in other places where they get together.