ESTABLISHMENT OF BORDERLESS COMMUNICATION AND PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL AND MORAL VALUES (Resolution of contradiction)

Dr Lee Tsao Yuan asked the Minister for Information and the Arts how the apparent contradiction between the need to establish borderless communication in order to develop Singapore as a regional information hub on the one hand, and the need to protect and preserve domestic cultural and moral values on the other, is being resolved.

The Minister for Information and the Arts (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo): Mr Speaker, Sir, the need to establish borderless communication in order to develop Singapore as a regional information hub on the one hand, and the need to protect and preserve domestic cultural and moral values on the other, is not a contradiction but a challenge. Throughout history, trading communities like the Jews, Venetians, Parsees and Chinese overseas have reconciled the two needs by preserving strong family values and cultural traditions.

The internationalisation of the Singapore economy is thus not only an economic challenge for us but also a cultural challenge as well. We have to facilitate the use of information technology and make cable TV and other multi-media services available. But we also have to strengthen our cultural underpinnings as well.

Censorship can no longer be 100% effective but even if it is only 20% effective, we should still not stop censoring. The act of censorship itself affirms to young and old of our society's determination to keep to certain values. We cannot screen every bit of information that comes down the information highway, but we can make it illegal and costly for mass distributors of objectionable material to operate in Singapore. We are not the only country concerned with the increasing difficulty of censorship. The US Senate, for example, has recently voted to make any obscene communication in any form on the Internet punishable by fine and imprisonment. However, this is likely to be challenged in the US Supreme Court.

Censorship will never be enough. What is more important is our society's ability to preserve and transmit the right values. The family is key. So too our schools, our religious institutions and our civic organisations. There must be, at all levels, moral leadership. At the end of the day, it is values, culture and tradition which will hold us together.

Indeed, we can only internationalise successfully if we retain this strong sense of self and of our distinctiveness as Singaporeans.

Dr Lee Tsao Yuan: Sir, does the Ministry tend to have any sort of censorship regarding material which is critical of the Government?

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Sir, it depends on what the Nominated Member refers to as "critical of the Government", and presumably which is politically so. Over the years, we have developed a political culture which accepts certain norms, which also proscribes discussion which may be incendiary and can cause racial, religious or other kinds of hatreds. These norms will continue to apply.

What is important when we are talking about cyberspace is to make a distinction between discussion which is in the nature of narrow-casting as opposed to discussion which is in the area of broadcasting. Broadcasting is always more sensitive because large numbers of people are reached simultaneously. But in the case of Internet, it is such a jungle there and you can have all kinds of discussion going on at odd corners and no one, except for the most determined, would take notice. So for those, what I would call "niche discussions", we can take a more relaxed approach.

Dr Lee Tsao Yuan: Does the Government mean that where Internet is concerned, anything goes regarding these articles, apart from pornography?

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Mr Speaker, Sir, it is very difficult to generalise because Internet is going through a revolution and we are not quite sure how it will shape out and what new rules, new patterns, will emerge. I expect in the years to come that there will be parts of Internet which are like public spaces where communications are in the nature of broadcasting. For those public spaces, we will continue to regulate and police strictly. But where they are discussions taking place in dark alleys - and indeed community action all over the world will force certain kinds of discussion to go under deep cover - I think we can afford to be less stringent.