PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL HERITAGE

Mr Tay Beng Chuan asked the Minister for Information and the Arts what are the current efforts made by his Ministry to preserve the rich and diverse cultural and historical heritage of our different ethnic communities and whether his Ministry will implement any financial assistance/grants and incentive schemes to encourage greater participation of private organisations and voluntary sectors in these efforts.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: MITA preserves and promotes our ethnic heritage through programmes organised by the National Heritage Board (NHB), the Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) and the National Arts Council (NAC).

NHB, for instance, has given curatorial advice on the Chinese Heritage Centre's flagship exhibition "From Segregation to Integration: The Story of the Chinese Overseas". NHB is currently providing secretariat and curatorial support to the proposed Malay Heritage Centre. It is also advising the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry on its thematic exhibitions at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall.

Similarly, NAC has been actively promoting local cultural activities through outreach programmes such as "Concert in the Park" and in the Singapore Arts Festival. For this year's Festival, the ethnic groups that were featured include Singapore Indian Orchestra and Choir, Gunong Sayang Association and Sriwana.

Many of the agencies' activities are made possible through partnership with private and public organisations. The Civic District Trail - Singapore's first permanent heritage trail to be launched at the end of this month - is one such example. Though spearheaded by NHB, this project involves the community at large. The trail takes visitors through many historic sites and preserved buildings within the Civic District, reflecting our multi-racial and multi-religious heritage.

NAC has been supporting the various arts groups by providing grants for their activities. These arts groups include Teater Kami, Sriwana, Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society, Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society, Chinese Theatre Circle, Singapore Association of Writers and Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore. Likewise, for monument buildings, PMB has been administering the "Tax-Exemption Scheme for Donations to National Monuments" since 1994. The scheme is intended to help the owner, trustee or management committee of a non-profit national monument to raise funds for its restoration. To-date, about $6.5 million of donation funds collected through this scheme have been granted tax-exemption. NAC administers a similar scheme whereby donations to arts groups channelled through NAC qualify for tax exemption. For FY 98 the scheme has attracted some $6.97 million of donation funds.

The Government approved in 1992 matching grants for endowments for the Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian communities to establish their own community-based heritage centres. The Chinese Heritage Centre is in operation. Work on the Malay Heritage Centre is in progress.