HEAD Q - MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

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Head Q - Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts

The Chairman: Head Q - Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. Amendment No. (1), Mr Seng Han Thong.

Arts

Mr Seng Han Thong (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, I beg to move,

That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100.

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It is heartening to note that, despite SARS and the economic downturn last year, attendance to paid performance rose. This can be attributed to MITA's effort to widen and deepen the audience base. Indeed, the Singapore Arts Festival, The Esplanade Huayi, the Pesta Raya and the Kalaa Utsavam have in a big way brought the arts to everyone everywhere.

It has been four years since the Government announced in year 2000 that the arts would be given a $15 million top-up, and this top up is part of the Government's plan to turn Singapore into one of the top cities in the world to live, work and play. May I ask the Minister if this top up from the Government will suffer a cut of 2%, as announced by DPM Lee? More importantly, will the progress of the proposed Arts School also be affected by this decision?

Sir, we have set up the Sports School which shows our commitment to nurturing sports in Singapore . Likewise, we should show similar support to promoting the arts. While the former focuses on physical development, the latter is necessary for our spiritual and cultural development. The arts place vibrancy and creativity to our nation but, at the same time, create jobs for our people. Many have argued that those who have attended concerts and productions are those who already know how to appreciate the arts. As such, more efforts should be made to reach out to others. One effective way is to incorporate the arts into the school curriculum. The other way is to set up an Arts School to nurture young artists. I believe we have to do both.

Arts and Culture

Mr Loh Meng See (Jalan Besar): Sir, I want to push the subject on the feasibility in setting up the Arts School at the secondary level. Sir, even in the Internet age, our basic needs for human

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relationships and appreciation of aesthetics and beauty remain. Also in the growing services sector, there are ample career opportunities for talent in the arts and creativity industries. Research revealed that individuals tend to achieve high levels of creativity from around the age when they are in polytechnic and colleges. So we need to provide a strong foundation for these young to blossom in later years.

Sir, I want to ask some questions. Will parents and children be able to commit to an Arts School education at a tender age? This could be made easier if this is part of a rounded secondary education. Second, can the enrolment be sustained year after year? I think this is possible if we observe the demand for enrolment in NAFA and LaSalle-SIA College, and also to cater to different talents and different kinds of intelligence of our children. Of course, there is always this constant tussle between and across the board education against developing a small pool of talent in depth. But I think they can both co-exist.

Sir, I believe that it is a matter of time that we will have an Arts School . And I wish to submit that it is better to have it now rather than later.

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Arts School

Ms Indranee Rajah (Tanjong Pagar): Sir, I am fully in support of the idea of an Arts School . The arts is important to Singapore to nurture and develop our creative talent. One point I would venture to suggest though in respect of the curriculum of the Arts School is that it should also have a practical commercial aspect to it because arts is not in the abstract. And you need funding for arts, you need to be able

to market it. For example, if you were doing fashion

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designing, it is not just a question of the creativity of designing it. You have to get the financing for your product and to be able to market it and deliver it in a timely fashion. I would just like to ask the Minister for his comments, assuming we go ahead with this, what the input of the curriculum would be, and whether there would be a commercial and practical aspect to the education as well.

Cultural Ecosystem

Miss Penny Low: Sir, last year, MITA announced its plan to build a cultural capital by harnessing our artistic talents and cultural resources. We hope to better position ourselves for greater economic benefits and improved quality of life. While we know that art for art's sake does not work, art for money's sake will also have limited success. To fulfill MITA's vision of a cultural capital, we will need to first identify a cultural ecosystem that works for Singapore. Let me explain.

Essentially, culture can be thought of as an overall ecosystem. Within it, there are numerous eco niches that affect each other and alter the fabric of the culture over time. For example, in the film industry, a good movie could only be made if you have good cinematographers, good son et lumiere (ie, sound and lights) team that captures the mood, good post production team that will create movie magic, as well as a good marketing team to promote the film itself. Of course, we will need good funding for any good films to come about. The lack of resources in any of these areas may undermine the economic potential of any good film and, obviously, the marketplace with its regulatory and cultural framework may also affect the success of the film. For example, the film "The Temptation of Christ" was a hit in some countries but a flop in others.

I would like to ask the Minister if his team has made any attempt to identify

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the environmental factors like resources that feed into the system, the species that compete for the resources and growth, the systems lifecycle and eco niches, including the parasites and scavengers that will return material resources to the ecosystem itself, and their symbiotic relationship. I believe that understanding this will help us gain systematic knowledge of how things work naturally, and introduce specific policies to help nurture the cultural ecosystem and bring us closer to the vision.

Obviously, these interventions do not refer only to fiscal or regulatory measures on the cultural scene alone. In fact, trends and policies affecting education, labour movement, technological development, philanthropy, capital infrastructure, consumer behaviour, urbanisation and the economy will have an effect on the content and structure, quality and quantity, as well as the creativity of the Singapore cultural fabric.

I would like to ask the Minister whether these elements have been examined and whether the Ministry has also mapped out what affects what, whether we have also identified the pillars of our cultural ecosystem and, if so, what are they, and how does the Minister intend to allocate the budget to this end. I understand that a big portion of last year's budget went into the redevelopment of the National Library. Is this a key pillar that deserves such a big budget allocation vis-a-vis the needs for other cultural sectors? Ultimately, the success also depends on our pool of creative talent and employment opportunities. What efforts have been made to groom, attract and retain creative talents?

The Chairman: Complete your question, please, Miss Penny Low.

Miss Penny Low: Yes. In the case of technopreneurs, we have given them the

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purpose-built One North. The same cannot be said of the artrepreneurs. Some of our national treasures are, in fact, housed in a very humble Telok Kurau studio. I urge the Minister to rethink our strategies, if we want to make serious progress in cultivating a creative industry.

The Chairman: Time is up, Miss Low. Ms Irene Ng.

Local and Global Talents

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong: Sir, last month, I attended a concert by the American vocalist Bobby McFerrin at the Esplanade. He is a 10-time Grammy Award winner known for his vocal innovations and for being a classical conductor. When he was here, he teamed up first with Jeremy Monteiro, our local jazz musician; secondly, with our local percussion band named the Tribal Tide; and the finale he teamed up with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Sir, I must confess that I have never heard of the Tribal Tide before that performance. But I was very impressed at our local level of outstanding funky fusion rhythm and by the fact that they could hold their own against the versatile voice of Bobby McFerrin. Jeremy Monteiro was also, as usual, a joy to listen to. I am a great fan of jazz, so it was very good to see him improvising with Bobby McFerrin. That night, I was very proud of our Singaporean musicians. The show brought home to me how far Singaporeans have come on the arts stage, and how they deserve to be given a greater profile in the local media especially. When I read the Straits Times review of the concert, there was only a passing mention of our local musicians, and it was almost totally all on Bobby McFerrin. I find that it does not do service to our local talents.

Sir, such collaborations between global and local talents help to lift the

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profile of our local artistes and then to the outside world and also to Singaporeans. It also shows our edge in Singapore as the place where we can find the best fusion of the East and the West. We should also encourage more such collaborations between our local and global talents to make a name in the arts on the world stage. Similarly, when our artistes go overseas, they should receive our support, especially in the local media. I am happy to note that our drama group, Wild Rice, was a hit when it performed the Singapore version of Animal Farm in New Zealand recently. The International Development Unit of the National Arts Council provides financial support, including International Grant and the International Collaboration Grant. Can I ask the Minister how many arts groups have received such support last year and how much was disbursed through these grants, and whether MITA will be spending more on these grants. I would also like to ask the Minister what more can MITA do to help our artistes to expand their external wing and make a name for themselves and for Singapore.

Cultural Capital

Dr Tan Boon Wan (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, two years ago, the Minister revealed plans to develop our cultural capital, to turn the cultural and the arts sector into an important economic sector. The Committee of Supply discussed this plan last year. I submit that the arts scene has since then become more vibrant. I would, therefore, like to ask the Minister for an update on the further progress achieved in this effort. What future plans does the Ministry have to enhance this goal further?

Employment in the Arts and Culture Industry

**__ Dr Teo Ho Pin ** : Sir, the arts and culture industry is a relatively new

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industry in Singapore. As such, not many Singaporeans are aware of its employment opportunities. Many young Singaporeans also do not have ambitions to pursue a full-time career in this industry. This situation is further worsened due to the relatively small market size in Singapore which does not provide much opportunity and jobs for our people. I am pleased to learn that the Ministry is planning to develop a creative industry where exciting jobs will be created for Singaporeans. I support this initiative, and believe there are lots of potential in venturing into the creative arena.

Sir, before we embark on plans to develop the creative industry, we must identify strategic or niche areas where Singaporeans can support a sustainable cultural ecosystem. If arts and culture are still regarded as a liability, their potential to provide employment opportunities will be severely curtailed. Thus, we need to expand the market size of our arts and culture industry.

First, we should have more extensive outreach to increase the level of participation of arts and culture activities in Singapore.

Second, we should step up our marketing efforts to profile our arts and cultural groups to the world market.

Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions:

(1) How can the arts and culture industry create jobs for Singaporeans?

(2) What are the plans to expand the market size of our arts and culture industry?

(3) How can we encourage younger Singaporeans to pursue a career in the arts and culture industry?

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Esplanade

Mr Arthur Fong (West Coast): Sir, I am in support of the Government's commitment to cut costs where there is excess fat, and this will only prepare Singaporeans to sail faster when opportunities arise with the global economic recovery. While I support the exercise to make us leaner and meaner, I certainly hope that the Minister will ensure that the Esplanade's programme will not in any way be restrained or constrained by the cuts in expenditure. I also hope that the cost-cutting will not be passed on to concert-goers in the form of more expensive tickets or a pull back in service delivery.

Sir, for a generation of Singaporeans, they remember taking walks along Elizabeth Walk with their family, or playing a round of police-and-thief at the old National Theatre grounds, or taking a roller-coaster ride at Kallang Park. Our next generation of Singaporeans will remember their time at the Esplanade, either as a participant at the Youth Festival or just plain enjoying a world-class performance in the evening at the Esplanade with close friends and family.

Sir, I raised the cost of the Esplanade at last year's COS, but concede that the benefits to our people and, more than that, to the generations to come will be worthwhile. I hope that the cost-recovery bogeyman will stay clear of this crucial stage of the Esplanade's development as one of Singapore's and, indeed, one of the world's icon for the performing arts.

Design Singapore

Mr Loh Meng See: Sir, we know the importance of design. We have seen the examples of Swatch watches, Apple Computers and Nokia mobile phones, and good designs actually command premium pricing. The challenge for us is how do we create and develop distinctive

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Singapore designs. I would like to ask the Minister what steps are taken to form the integrated design cluster and develop Singapore into the International Design Hub.

The Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Dr Lee Boon Yang): Sir, I thank the hon. Members who have spoken on the subject of the arts, cultural capital and design.

First, I would like to respond to Mr Seng Han Thong, Chairman of the GPC for Information, Communications and the Arts, who asked for a progress report on the Renaissance City project, which was started four years ago with a budget of about $50 million. The Renaissance City project aimed to establish Singapore as a city for the arts and to provide cultural ballast for nation building. Its main thrust is to develop the software to complement the new and the existing hardware or infrastructure that we have invested in. The budget was deployed for talent and audience development to create a vibrant arts and cultural scene, and to support the internationalisation of our arts and culture practitioners. To this end, MITA and the National Arts Council initiated new grants and training schemes to boost the professionalism and capabilities of our arts companies. NAC enhanced its arts education programmes and launched an arts marketing and outreach programme. To stimulate greater interest in the arts, key festivals, competitions and arts events were upgraded or created, such as the Singapore Arts Festival, Museum Fest and the Arts Month. For internationalisation, we assisted Singapore artistes and performers to gain wider international exposure.

Sir, the Renaissance City project has brought about a 26% increase in the number of arts groups in Singapore, from 435 to 549 arts groups, and a 25% increase in the number of arts and cultural events in Singapore, from 4,127 to

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5,158, over the last four years. A survey also showed that the percentage of our population who attended arts events rose from 15% to 27%. In 2002, more than one million people attended arts events. Last year, there was a slight dip, but that was probably because of the disruption caused by SARS. But it is clear that our arts audience has grown dramatically. More importantly, the Renaissance City project has deepened the interest, appreciation and understanding of our arts audience. The Renaissance City project has also boosted the standing and appreciation of our arts talents and their works at home and abroad. For example, Singapore artistes have been invited to participate in the Venice Biennale, Germany's Documenta, Shanghai's Art Festival and the Singapore Dance Theatre has gone as far as Mexico to perform in the Cervantino Festival.

Sir, the Renaissance City project has certainly helped to make our arts scene more fun and vibrant. It has contributed to making Singapore more interesting and attractive to live and work, both for our Singaporeans and also for the international visitors and talent whom we hope to attract here. The challenge is to go beyond this achievement of the Renaissance City project. Last year, the Economic Review Committee identified the creative industry as a new and promising sector of our economy. MITA's vision is to both broaden and deepen our cultural assets and to grow the contribution of the creative industry from the current 3% of our GDP to 6% of the GDP by the year 2012. To achieve this vision, Singapore will need many creative talents, including people talented in the performing and visual arts, design, creative media and information technology. Today, our young creative talent can pursue degree programmes in the arts-related discipline at our tertiary institutions. For instance, NUS offers

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degree programmes in music, theatre studies, architecture and industrial design. NTU offers degree programmes in mass communications, and will soon start offering design and media programmes. The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts provide diploma and degree courses in the arts. Polytechnics also offer design and media diploma courses. However, there is a gap at the pre-tertiary level.

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Currently, students with an interest in the arts can take arts and music electives at "O" and "A" levels. But, this is only available at a few selected secondary schools and junior colleges. Often, the students face a conflict between their arts and academic commitments. There is no dedicated development path for those who have interest and show early promise in the arts. In 2002, the Committee on Reviewing JC and Secondary School Education recommended that independent schools specialising in sports, mathematics, science and the arts would enhance our education landscape. Last year, the Remaking Singapore Committee recommended the setting up of an arts school at the secondary level. MITA followed up by appointing a Committee to study the desirability and feasibility of a pre-tertiary arts school. Mr Seng Han Thong, Mr Loh Meng See and Ms Indranee Rajah asked for a report on the progress of this study.

Sir, the Committee has concluded its study and given me a thorough briefing on its findings and recommendations. The Committee concluded that a pre-tertiary arts school was desirable and feasible. It has recommended that MITA establish an Independent Arts School for students aged between 13 and 18. Sir, I am pleased to announce that MITA agrees with the Committee's recommendation to set up an Independent Arts School to nurture our young talents who have a

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passion for the arts. I will summarise the Committee's key recommendations. But first let me point out that in its study, the Committee consulted groups of students, parents, principals, teachers, artists and creative professionals, and many other stakeholders.

On curriculum content, the Committee recommended an integrated six-year arts and academic programme for 13 to 18-year-olds. The School will offer a range of academic subjects, including mathematics, science, languages, literature and the humanities. So it is not just about arts. Together with the academic subjects, students will be exposed to the various art forms to inculcate a multi-disciplinary understanding of the arts. They will then focus on at least one arts specialty in either visual arts, dance, theatre or music. Given Singapore's multi-cultural society and Asian heritage, the students will also have the opportunity for cross-cultural learning. The School will be staffed by well-qualified and experienced teachers, particularly those with teaching expertise in the arts.

The Committee recommended that the Arts School provide learning outside the classroom. The students should have the opportunity to learn from artists and other creative professionals and to participate in projects and performances. These activities will enable students to learn the commercial aspects of the arts and creative industries. This recommendation clearly addresses Ms Indranee Rajah's call for more practical oriented courses to enable the graduates to better cope with the business challenge of an artistic career. I agree with her.

The Committee also recommended that students graduate from the Arts School with an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. The Committee was of the view that the IB offers a flexible

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curriculum emphasising critical thinking, breadth of knowledge and inter-cultural understanding that best suits both arts and academic learning. The IB diploma is a widely recognised qualification for university admission. The Arts School graduates will be able to apply for admission to NUS and NTU, and overseas universities. For example, Harvard University and other Ivy League universities in the US accept the IB diploma. Graduates who choose to further their studies outside the arts would also be able to do so with their IB diploma.

The Committee recommended that the Arts School be "permeable" with mainstream schools. This means that students of the Arts School who subsequently choose not to pursue arts specialisation can rejoin a mainstream school. Conversely, secondary students from mainstream schools could apply to the Arts School and be admitted if they fulfill the academic and artistic requirements.

Finally, the Committee recommended that the Arts School be located in the arts district because of the potential for synergy between the school and the rich resources already available in the arts district. These include the new National Library and the new Drama Centre, the new NAFA, LaSalle and the Singapore Management University (SMU) campuses. We also have the Singapore Art Museum and Asian Civilisations Museum in the arts district. In addition, NAC houses many arts groups under the Arts Housing Scheme within the district. The school will benefit greatly from the proximity to the artists and institutions and other organisations that have an active interest in the arts. We envisage their interaction and artistic collaboration will spark off a buzz.

Sir, my Ministry agrees with the Committee's recommendation that MITA

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set up an Arts School. We will carefully study its detailed recommendations on the character, features and funding of the school. We note the recommended target to establish the school in 2007. We will release the full report of the Committee later this month and set up an implementation task force.

Sir, I believe this is a significant step to strengthen arts education in Singapore. The Arts School will offer an additional option for our students to approach artistic and creative careers. It will groom talents for our arts, culture and creative industries. The Arts School will add diversity to our education landscape and offer young Singaporeans who are artistically talented a new pathway to develop and achieve their full potential. I am confident that the Arts School will contribute to the next phase of our social, cultural and economic development.

May I now turn to Miss Penny Low who spoke about the importance of looking at arts development from an ecosystem perspective. I agree with her. In trying to promote the arts, we have to understand that there is a very complex value chain and there are many people contributing to the value chain. I would rather not use those other descriptions that she had used so vividly to describe people who actually contribute to the value chain in growing our arts and creative industries. Of course, in the process, we have encountered, within this value chain, that there are big players and there are small players but they are all important players and they all contribute to creating values for the arts and creative industries.

My Ministry, together with Media Development Authority, National Arts Council, Design Singapore Council will certainly study the complexity of this value chain and try to engage every player

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along the way, regardless of whether they are big players or small players - whether they are full-time engaged in the arts or they are only contributing as a part-time participant.

Miss Penny Low also asked whether we have got our priorities right by spending so much money on the library development because she noted that a large chunk of the budget has gone towards our library programme. I just like to point out to her that what we spend on developing our library is not at the expense of our other programmes. The budget for the library was already approved some years ago as part of our Library 21 programme. We should bear in mind that libraries are a very important part of our cultural capital. Libraries today are not just places where we go and borrow a book. Our National Library has evolved into a major, social and cultural institution where it provides people with access to information, help people to update themselves with what is going on in the world of science, technology, medicine, culture, arts and social and economic developments, both here in Singapore and throughout the world. We do have to invest on our libraries and we will continue to do so to ensure that our libraries continue to serve Singaporeans in the best interest.

Next, I turn to Ms Irene Ng who spoke about the pride that she felt when she saw Singaporeans being able to collaborate with world-class musicians or performers. She asked what else we can do to help our own artistes reach out to the global stage.

As I have mentioned earlier, many of our Singapore artists and performers are already beginning to make an impact on the global stage. Right now, let me give her just five examples of how MITA hopes to develop or help our artistes to develop the external wing of Singapore arts.

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First, MITA has signed cultural Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with countries such as China, India and Ireland and cities like Paris and Melbourne. These MOUs allow our artistes to participate in our MOU partners' art festivals and cultural events. For example, through NAC's MOU with Arts Victoria in Australia, two works involving Singaporeans and Australian artistes have been co-commissioned for this year's Singapore Arts Festival. One of the works will be performed in the Melbourne Arts Festival. So it gives an opportunity for our people to collaborate with the Melbourne artistes and to jointly present their work.

Secondly, the Singapore Arts Festival Commission's productions that involved both local and foreign artistes working together. One example is last year's "The Global Soul: The Buddha Project", which was a collaboration between local company, Theatreworks, and renowned talents from Japan, Sweden, France, Thailand, Korea and China. The production subsequently toured Germany, Switzerland and Holland with great success.

Thirdly, NAC provides funding under various schemes to promote artists internationally. Last year, NAC funded 74 projects at $364,000. For example, the International Touring Grant, mentioned by Ms Irene Ng, funded Dr Adrian Chok's new media work "Gulliver's Box" at Arts Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. NAC supported violinist Kam Ning's performance in South Korea. It also funded the participation of three Singapore artists, Tan Swie-Hian, Heman Chong and Francis Ng, at the prestigious Venice Biennale 2003. As noted by Ms Ng, this year, NAC supported a group of Singapore artistes, including Wild Rice and their production of "Animal Farm" at the New Zealand International Arts Festival as a special Singapore Season. In the coming year, NAC intends to do more to

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showcase Singapore talents on the international stage.

Fourthly, the Esplanade, besides staging events featuring collaboration between Singaporeans and international performers, also organise the Asian Arts Mart in Singapore. This event showcases ready-to-tour works by Asian artists, including Singapore artists, to some 200-250 festival directors, agents and presenters from all over the world. Our arts group, such as Singapore Dance Theatre and Wild Rice had secured engagement in Australia, New Zealand, UK and US through this Asian Arts Mart.

Finally, Sir, NAC also regularly engages international cultural network such as the International Society for the Performing Arts and the International Federation of Arts Council and Culture Agencies and foreign arts media to raise awareness and interest in Singapore arts.

I next turn to Dr Tan Boon Wan who asked for an update on our effort to develop cultural capital. Dr Teo Ho Pin also asked what are the plans to expand the arts and cultural industry. Sir, cultural capital is the accumulated sum of our cultural resources, national identity, heritage, creative and artistic capability, in other words, it is our cultural DNA. It inspires new ideas and expressions, enabling Singaporeans to bring out a distinctively Singapore feel in our lifestyle, our products and our services. In a crowded globalised market, we need to differentiate our products and services to create a niche for Singapore. Cultural capital is therefore not just a key driver of the creative industries, comprising arts, design and media, it also exerts a pervasive influence on everything Singaporean.

Cultural capital takes time to build up. So are we on track with our aims and goals? The answer is yes, but we have not arrived. As a young nation, we have

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some way to go before we can attain first-world standards in the depth and breadth of our cultural capital. We are certainly enlarging our cultural capital and realising our vision of Singapore as a global city for the arts, as I have said earlier.

Today, Singapore, once described as a cultural desert, is already transformed. It is now a green oasis, not a desert. We have invested more than $1 billion in cultural assets such as museums, libraries, concert halls, and many other infrastructures and also much software in our cultural development since the 1989 Report of the Advisory Council for the Arts and Culture, and also the 2000 Renaissance City Project which I have mentioned earlier.

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As I had mentioned earlier, we are seeing growing arts audience at home. Singapore artists such as Tan Swee Hian, Ong Kim Seng and theatre-master Ong Keng Seng, have also gained international reputation. The Esplanade provides an exciting venue for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, to perform their concerts and Singapore Dance Theatre to perform their ballets. We also offer a venue for recitals by our young musicians and staging of Singapore's musicals such as Dick Lee's "Forbidden City". The Esplanade also organises annual community festivals such as Pasta Raya , Kalaa Utsavam and Huayi , as mentioned by the Chairman of the GPC earlier. These events involve local musicians, local performers and also attract many of our heartlanders. The Esplanade has also attracted international attention. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed in the Esplanade Concert Hall last Sunday. In fact, it asked to perform here because of the very favourable reviews since its inauguration. In the same week that the Vienna Philharmonic performed at the

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Esplanade, we also have performance by the equally renowned London Symphony Orchestra, the Brazilian Minister for Culture and Grammy Award winner, Gilberto Gil and Jan Garberek, one of the world's top saxophonist. Such intensity of world-class and sold-out performances in a short spell of one week would have been unthinkable pre-Esplanade days.

Last night, the Esplanade hosted the world premier of "I La Galigo" - a great Bugis epic from Sulawesi, depicting the creation and destruction of the Middle World. This production will go on to tour Europe and US. This year, NAC will also initiate a major visual arts event, called Seni Singapore. This will feature Singapore, Southeast Asian and Asian contemporary arts. It will be a prelude to a Singapore Biennale in 2006.

Sir, our cultural capital has certainly grown over the past decade and we are gaining international reputation for being an Asian, but cosmopolitan city, with multi-cultural resources and multi-lingual capability. MITA has begun to put in place the structures and platforms to support the creative industries. The Media Development Authority was formed in January 2003. Its charter is to develop Singapore as a global media city. In August 2003, Design Singapore Council was appointed to steer the national design agenda. MITA has also set up the Creative Industries Action Committee to facilitate inter-agency collaboration with key partners such as the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Manpower.

What I have described, Sir, is only the beginning of efforts to grow the creative industries and to deploy our cultural capital and contribute to our economy. I am pleased to inform this House that the Government has committed new resources amounting to about $22 million over five years to reinforce existing programmes and to roll-out other creative

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industry development strategy initiatives. This is on top of the $100 million Media 21 Fund which was announced in July last year. With this new resource, we believe that we can make an even greater impact in catalysing the growth of this promising sector. It is early days yet, and the journey is long. We will continue to work closely with industry players to sharpen our strategies and to harness the full potential of our creative sector.

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked how can the arts and culture industry create jobs for Singaporeans. Let me answer by way of an example. Last year, the Esplanade created job opportunities for nearly 15,000 local artistes and support staff. This is on top of their own staff of nearly 500 full-time and part-time employees. The local arts groups and companies, which stage events at the Esplanade, created jobs for actors, dancers, choreographers, script writers and composers. There were also jobs in theatre support and production, such as stage management, lightings, set and sound design, directing, producing and marketing, as well as those in front of house operations, such as ushering and ticket sales.

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked how we can encourage younger Singaporeans to pursue careers in the creative industries. Today, our arts colleges and polytechnics are already offering a wide range of arts, design and media diploma courses, as I have mentioned earlier. These courses are always oversubscribed, suggesting that our young people are already keen on careers in the creative industries. As our arts, culture and other aspects of the creative industries grow, it will open up even more attractive and rewarding jobs for Singaporeans. These would be an added incentive for younger Singaporeans to seek careers in the creative industries.

Mr Arthur Fong asked whether as a result of budget cut, the Esplanade's

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programming would suffer. I am glad to inform Mr Arthur Fong that the budget cut will not affect the Esplanade's programming in the coming year. The Esplanade hosted a total of 1,451 arts activities last year. This included 1,107 activities or events which were actually presented by the Esplanade itself. Next year, the company intends to build on the momentum by presenting up to 1,200 performing arts events, which is more than what they have done last year. Similarly, a total of 65 visual arts exhibitions were held at the Esplanade last year. This year, the Esplanade hopes to increase the number of exhibitions to 80. So, all in all, let me assure the Member that the Esplanade will continue with the momentum of its programmes and, in fact, where possible, it will improve the quality of the programmes that are being offered. He asked whether the budget squeeze will result in the cost being passed on to concert-goers or people attending performances. I am sure that the Esplanade management is aware of the need to price their tickets at a reasonable and affordable level, depending on the quality and the level of the performances that they are presenting.

Mr Loh Meng See spoke about the importance of design. I agree with Mr Loh Meng See wholeheartedly that good designs will command premium pricing. In August 2003, MITA formed the Design Singapore Council to develop the design cluster. This is a multi-agency initiative to implement three strategic thrusts: (a) to grow demand for design; (b) nurture an integrated design cluster; and (c) catalyse an international design status. Let me elaborate.

The first thrust, to grow demand for design, is to encourage Singapore companies, especially SMEs, to use design to develop distinctively Singaporean products and services for the global market. At the community level, the Council will support programmes to

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nurture greater awareness of designs so that Singaporeans will better appreciate how designs can enhance quality of life at home, work and play.

The second thrust, to nurture an integrated design cluster, aims to raise the standard of designs and the standing of designers and promote inter-disciplinary collaboration. The Council is studying the introduction of a "Designed in Singapore" mark for our products. Already, Creative Technology's Prodikey and Zen Portable Media Centre had won awards in the US-based International Consumer Electronics Show. Singaporean SCDA Architects was named Design Vanguard for 2003 by the influential American Institute of Architects. Song+Kelly 21, a successful home-grown fashion brand, has received world-wide accolades from key fashion institutions. Phunk Studio, a local graphic collective, has found a way to combine both east and west in their works and has gone all the way to New York. "Designed in Singapore" label for such products will enhance the standing of designers in Singapore.

Sir, the third thrust, to catalyse the International Design Centre status, aims to link Singapore with good designs, so that whenever people think of Singapore, they think of design. The Council will make Singapore attractive for local and international design organisations to hub here. MITA will continue to ensure that every effort is made to tap and nurture the design industry as an important contributor to our economy.

Miss Penny Low: I wish to clarify that my description of the ecosystem itself did not refer to the people alone but also the infrastructure, including the rules and regulations.

On the allocation of funds, I was referring specifically to the Library

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Building Fund of $200 million and not the NLB's Library 2000 development programme.

ITC Industry

Dr Tan Boon Wan: **** I would like to ask the Minister for an update of our information technology and communications industry. India and China are attracting many US and European ICT companies and jobs. How does this trend affect us? What is the future of the ICT industry in Singapore? What are our strategies and plans for the ICT industry.

Business Process Outsourcing

Ms Indranee Rajah: Sir, business process outsourcing is very much a buzz word nowadays. There is concern in America, for example, that it is moving out to low-cost countries. It is very often associated as a role that is played by large countries with low-cost population. But I was wondering if the Minister could care to comment on whether there is a niche role that Singapore could play in business process outsourcing, particularly in the area of IT, communications, design or media, because it appears that this is one of the areas which could contribute to employment in Singapore overall and that is something in which the creative industries could come into play.

Online Gaming Industry

Miss Penny Low: **** I rise to highlight an area in the creative industries which is growing rapidly across the world. This is the MUD, or Multi-User Dungeon, and MMOG, or Massive Multi-player Online Games, which take place in the virtual world where users from all over the world meet online in the game server to compete or collaborate with each other. The online gaming industry began in Korea in 1996 and Korea is now a global leader. Taiwan joined the game in 1999 and a report by market intelligence, Centre of

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Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry, estimated the revenue generated from online gaming to have grown from US$14.5 million in 2000 to US$120 million in 2003. In fact, it has registered the highest growth rate of any entertainment industry. The online gaming industry in the Southeast Asian region was worth about US$533 million in 2002 and China is also beginning to catch on to the heat. In other words, the online gaming industry is set to boom and, according to Boston.internet.com, online gaming is a niche of the US$31.7 billion world-wide gaming market. The swift growth of online gaming is unprecedented. But the question is where is Singapore in this game.

In Singapore, many industries are constrained by our scarce land resource and limited market size. But in the virtual world, the world is our oyster. Singapore is well positioned to take advantage of that. First of all, we are well-versed in English and Chinese language, of which more than 80% of the online games in the international market have been translated into the two languages. Second, our PC ownership is one of the highest and our Internet connectivity is pervasive. Third, there is also a proliferation of Internet cafes over the last three years, which has made computer gaming quite common. Hence, the presence of Internet cafes could also form a good platform and a far more effective means for new games to be introduced to the market. We should leverage on our competitive advantage to be an online gaming hosting hub for and beyond this region. We could quickly expand our creative pool to provide excellent gaming content and a vibrant multi-media industry.

What about having a multi-media academy to this end? Perhaps, IDA as well can play the role of a facilitator to help small players form a consortium so that we are able to compete on par in terms of financial muscle with very

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established players in Korea and Taiwan. Perhaps, there could also be a review of the rules safeguarding the nerve centres of online gaming which is the LAN centres for Internet cafes. There could be ways to improve its vibrancy without compromising on the possible negative effects it might have on children. After all, research from the Gannett estimated world-wide spending in this industry to reach about US$150 billion by year 2005. We should not miss this boat.

ITC Scholarships

Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Sir, even without me informing the House, we are aware how rapid the world is changing, and I attribute a lot of this to the fact that we are living in a modern and technologically driven world, specifically the info-comm technology.

Technology changes very fast, and sometimes I wonder how we can keep up. Recently as a member of the delegation of DPM's official visit to India, it was not a long one, what I saw has opened my eyes. I discovered with fascination and amazement the potential of this country. They have a pool of people, the skills and talent and naturally the hunger for knowledge and success. The IT professionals are making waves abroad and at home. This is a country that is challenged in terms of infrastructure development but it did not hinder them from exploiting technology to their advantage. I think we have a formidable challenge ahead of us. If we want to remain in the game and continue to have a share in the ICT industry I believe we can do it,

but we must continue to build capabilities and develop our manpower. Though we may be small, we can produce high quality and capable ICT professionals. In this respect, may I ask the Minister what are the IDA’s strategy and plan to further develop manpower and further uplift the capabilities of Singapore ICT practitioners.

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Dr Teo Ho Pin: Sir, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore has a vision to build a connected Singapore. It plans to get every Singaporean connected both locally and globally so as to build an e-inclusive society. As such, IDA has launched a number of initiatives to increase the IT literacy and IT skills of Singaporeans. Although over 200,000 Singaporeans have attended the national IT literacy programme, not many of them have been connected to the e-inclusive society. This is due to the lack of follow-up programmes to engage these Singaporeans in e-services, especially the e-Government services.

Sir, the Community Development Councils provide an effective outreach platform to encourage the participation of e-Government services. I hope that IDA will consider working with the CDCs to build a virtual community. To many working Singaporeans, IT skills have become a necessity for employability. Many working Singaporeans or job seekers are still lacking in IT skills, especially in the areas of office automation, work group and Internet applications. So we must step up efforts and train more office Singaporeans to be IT competent as early as possible.

Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: (1) what targets have been set to develop an e-inclusive society in Singapore? (2) what are the plans of the Ministry to engage Singaporeans in e-Government services? (3) Can the Ministry consider providing ICT training for job seekers registered with the CDCs?

Dr Tan Boon Wan: Sir, we have become a computerised and network society. As more data are kept in computers and information transmitted via electronic networks, the issues of data and network security, privacy and availability become of increasing importance, especially in the midst of increasing e-mail spamming, computer

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and network intrusions and virus attacks. What plans does the Ministry have to protect our computers and networks?

The Chairman: Mr Tan Soo Khoon is not here. Mr Ang Mong Seng is also not here. Dr Lee, do you like to reply?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, I thank Miss Penny Low for a very comprehensive review of the potential of online gaming sector. IDA is looking into building up Singapore's attractiveness as a games exchange; in other words, the preferred location in Asia where enabling services, infrastructure, capability, combined to enable digital management, distribution and publishing of online games and game services to the region.

So far, the results have been encouraging. Currently, there are at least six regional Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). I am not quite sure how these games operate, but they are known as MMOGs. These are managed out of Singapore compared with only two in the year 2002. So, we have tripled the number of such MMOGs in the last one year. More importantly, there are more companies entering our games sector. Today, there are about 40 companies across the computer games value-chain. IDA will continue to obtain industry feedback and work with other promotional agencies to anchor Singapore as the preferred Games Exchange venue for online gaming in the region.

To complement IDA's efforts, the Media Development Authority (MDA) will focus its attention on developing Singapore-based gaming companies capable of producing original, exportable and commercially successful gaming content. MDA has seed-funded at least four game development projects, and there is growing interest from the industry to create original game content which includes online game content. For publishing and distributing of online

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games, MDA will work closely with IDA and the Internet service providers with regional reach, so that they can host and distribute completed games on their network.

Mr Zainudin asked how can we continue to produce high quality infocomm technology manpower so that we can sustain our competitiveness in this growing sector. I think that is a very important point, because without the availability of high quality infocomm technology manpower, we would have great difficulty making headway, especially now when we are faced with very strong competition from countries like India and China. As it stands, our institutes of higher learning, our universities and polytechnics already provide first-class infocomm technology training to our younger Singaporeans. This effort is complemented by specialised ICT training provided, eg, by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).

IDA runs a programme called Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme (CITREP). This is the main programme to help ICT professionals keep up to date. Since the launching of CITREP, a total of more than 15,000 infocomm professionals have been trained. Last year, IDA announced that it would be injecting another $13.5 million into CITREP to train another 5,000 infocomm professionals by March 2005.

The skills and technology areas that are supported under CITREP are reviewed regularly on a yearly basis to ensure that they are properly tuned to the industry's needs. It is very important that when we invest in such training, the training correctly reflects the needs of the industry, and that is what IDA is doing.

Even as we hone the skills of the infocomm professionals who are already in the industry, we need to ensure that there is a constant flow of bright, young

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people to build up our strength and to enhance our competitiveness for the future.

I am pleased to announce that the Infocomm Development Authority will be setting up a new National Infocomm Scholarship, in partnership with the industry, to develop infocomm professionals and leaders for tomorrow. IDA is setting aside a budget of $9 million to offer up to 90 scholarships over five years.

Seven companies have joined IDA in this scholarship scheme. They are Computer Associates, Frontline, IBM, Microsoft, NCS, Oracle and SCS. I look forward to more ICT firms joining the scheme. This partnership with industry is important as it signals the commitment of industry partners. Their participation enhances the scholarship, as National Infocomm Scholars will be attached to local and overseas offices and laboratories of the industry partners. Scholars will gain valuable industry experience. They will also benefit from the mentorship of infocomm professionals from the industry itself. Scholars who perform well will also be sponsored to do their Master's degree.

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked what are the targets set to evolve an e-inclusive society and how do we expect to engage Singaporeans in e-Government service, and cooperation between CDCs and IT training providers.

Let me begin with the training part. There are already two IDA programmes to provide basic and essential IT skills for the general public and for our workforce. First, the National IT Literacy Programme (NITLP) is a nation-wide training initiative to equip Singaporeans with basic computer and Internet skills, such as information retrieval, e-mailing and conducting online transactions. This training is offered in four official languages, and they are available over

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130 locations across the island. The training is provided by approved commercial training providers and also various community organisations.

The five CDCs are valuable partners of IDA in this programme. They help to reach out to the community to encourage more Singaporeans to sign up for IT training. Since its inception in 2001 till end January 2004, the programme has benefited more than 170,000 people. The infocomm literacy rate of Singaporeans aged 15 to 69 increased from 47% in year 2000 to 60% in year 2002. The programme is succeeding to enhance employability of lower skilled workers and build an e-inclusive society by enabling all our citizens to be able to use infocomm technology, beginning with the very basic level. If CDCs come across job seekers who can benefit from such training, we will be very glad to get recommendations from the CDCs and to help such job seekers to access the appropriate training.

At the next level, the Infocomm Competency Programme (ICP) equips workers with infocomm application skills for the digital workplace. Courses cover training in work processing, spreadsheet, presentation, data base management and web page design applications. Since its inception in 2001 till end January 2004, the ICP has supported 90,000 trainees.

The infocomm competency rate of Singapoeran workers aged 15 to 69 has also increased from 43% in the year 2000 to 60% in the year 2002. Likewise, if CDCs come across job seekers who can take advantage of this infocomm competency training, then please refer them to IDA and we will ensure that they get the relevant training to enhance their employability.

There is another point in terms of engaging Singaporeans in e-Government

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services. Last July, the Government launched the E-Government Action Plan II. This is the Phase 2 of the project to expand and to enhance the e-Government services available to Singaporeans. This is a much more comprehensive phase of the project. Even more Government services will be made amenable for e-delivery to our citizens. It will take advantage of the fact that we are providing extensive training for all our citizens to enable them to use infocomm technology. As a two-pronged approach, more and more Government services will be made amenable for e-delivery to our citizens. More and more citizens will be enabled with the skill to use the latest infocomm technology to access such e-Government services. This is the way that we are approaching this effort to have a more e-inclusive society.

Dr Tan Boon Wan was concerned with computer security and piracy issues concerning information that is retained on the computer networks. Let me point out that the Infocomm Development Authority uses a multi-pronged approach to safeguard the nation against cyber attacks and initiative to support public, private and people sectors in so far as maintaining cyber security and also data privacy are concerned.

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For the public sector, policies and guidelines are already in place to guide each Government agency in managing ICT security. IDA maintains a threat monitoring and incident response capability to ensure that the Government can be forewarned of threats as well as to resolve and recover quickly from an IT security incident. IDA also promotes user awareness to raise and maintain the level of preparedness to deal with such threats.

IDA's efforts against cyber attacks for the private sector is multi-faceted. IDA operates the Singapore Computer

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Emergency Response Team (SingCERT) to detect, resolve and prevent security related incidents on the Internet. For instance, in the recent MS Blasterworm virus incident, the SingCERT works closely with Government agencies and companies to contain the virus and to minimise any disruption.

Dr Tan also asked about our plans to ensure privacy of information that is held in computer networks. The Government is mindful of the need to protect personal information. Besides our Computer Misuse Act, we have sector specific legislation such as the Medical Registration Act, the Banking Act and the Income Tax Act to protect sensitive personal data, including a person's medical and financial record. We also have a model data protection code that is benchmarked against internationally accepted standards. The code is available for adoption by the private sector. It has been embedded in the TrustSg programme, which is a nation-wide trust mark initiative supported by the IDA, to build consumer confidence to transact online and to live an e-lifestyle.

I believe the Member also mentioned spam. Spamming is a worldwide problem, not just a problem peculiar to Singapore. Only the other day, I read in the newspapers that some American Internet Service Providers, like AOL and Microsoft, are suing alleged spammers. So, you can see that it is actually a global problem and it has, in fact, continued to rise despite increasingly aggressive effort by the Government to tackle the problem. IDA has been studying various measures to curb e-mail spams. Anti-spamming legislation is one possible measure, but legislation is not a magic bullet because more than three-quarters of the spams that are received originated from overseas sources and are well beyond the reach of our laws. So a judicious combination of public education, industry self-regulation, international cooperation and techno

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logical assistance, like anti-spam filters, will be the most likely combination of measures that could have some impact on this nuisance. IDA is, in fact, conducting a review on dealing with spam.

I believe I have covered all the Members' points.

Local Movies

Mr Seng Han Thong: (In Mandarin) : Sir, if you go to India, you will come to one conclusion, that is, if you want to make money - make movies - because Indian people like to watch movies, and it has a population of one billion, which is a very large market.

Some people may be biased against the Indian movies saying that there are usually just one boy and one girl, singing, dancing and chasing each other around a tree, and it could go on forever. The Indian movies of today are no longer like this. They are now moving out of that sort of stereotype image.

In Singapore, our Jack Neo also knows that. From "Money No Enough", he is now going to the "Best Bet". I hope he has the best bet. In fact, he has already given full play to his potential, that is to say, our local movies can not only attract the local audience, but also the audiences overseas. But the Government should give him the necessary support and assistance to market his movies overseas.

However, when we talk about Singapore movies, we should not have only one Jack Neo. We should have many more Jack Neos. In the past few years, there were quite a number of local producers who made documentaries and short films. They worked very hard and tried to make contributions to our local film industry. But, without the Government's support, they are not making any headway. Yes, they need support from the Government, not only

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hardware support but also software support. We should pool our resources to have the scriptwriters, playwrights, directors and even camera crews to come together to make good, impressive films. I hope MITA would see what it can do to help our local movies prosper and make their way to the international market.

Just now Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has said there is a big Indian film festival to be held in the month of May in Singapore. I think we should promote that. The Indian people like to come to Singapore. They like to go to movies, they like to go shopping - particularly in Mustafa. I think these are all very good storylines that we can use to make movies and that they will sell well not only in Singapore but also in India. We should work hard towards this aspect. We can help our movies go into the world market, into the Indian market. So now, apart from Hollywood, Bollywood, Lollywood, maybe one day we could also have a Singolywood.

Film Industry

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, to follow up on what was said by the GPC Chairman, Mr Seng, I would like to add that we can see how a country like New Zealand is able to bring itself to world prominence in the movie industry. There is a lesson to learn from here. Several blockbusters in their pockets have helped tremendously develop their movie industry and the knock-on effect to the tourism industry as well.

I not only hope that we have many Jack Neos, but from the result of the last movie that he has made, the award that he had won in Taiwan for the young girl, I think there is also possibility for Jack Neos of Singapore to conquer the world. In this respect, I would like to ask the Minister how we can leverage on the

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growing film industry in Asia Pacific. With key players like New Zealand emerging, can Singapore position itself to ride the wave and promote our local film industry, talents and also professionals?

Media 21

Mr Loh Meng See: Sir, media competition among local newspapers and TV stations is bearing fruits as consumers are getting better quality products and services.

I am pleased to also note the progress of Singapore Press Holdings and Lianhe Zaobao in making inroads into China and also Channel NewsAsia gaining greater viewership in regional countries.

I note with interest the setting aside of the $100 million Media 21 fund to support media development programmes. I would like to ask the Minister how does the creation of the media hub called Fusionpolis in One North fit into the plans? What other efforts and resources are required to bring about the outcomes envisaged by Media 21 strategies? Do we have sufficient media talent in Singapore or would we be depending on foreign media professionals to grow in this area?

TV

Mr Ang Mong Seng: (In Mandarin) : Sir, since we have the second Chinese TV Channel, the quality of programmes in the Chinese TV channels has improved significantly. This is the result of good, healthy competition. And MediaCorp has now produced the Holland Village, I Love My Home and then presenter Dong Shu Hwa has been reading news outdoors. From Channel U, you have Kindred Spirit, Everyone Wants to Know and World Without Boundaries. These are also very good programmes that have received good feedback from the audience. But Singapore's market is very small and the two stations are all running into losses.

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As SM Lee has said, if they want to get out of the losses, they will have to solve two problems. First, is to increase more Singapore local audience and, second, to increase the revenue.

I think the two stations can have more coverage of local news and the grassroots activities in the various constituencies. Every GRC has hundreds of thousands of people. I think with the coverage of happenings in the HDB estates, it would attract more viewers to watch these programmes.

Secondly, we should have more coverage of news on our local enterprises and listed companies, thus helping our people to have a better understanding of these listed companies. For some people who want to buy shares, they will be able to have a better understanding and make informed decisions on what shares to buy. With the companies in the limelight and better viewership, they will rush to place advertisements on TV or even sponsor the programmes, thereby giving the TV stations more revenue. I think with such improvements, we will be able to get the TV stations into the black again and also at the same time, the standard of our TV programmes would be further improved.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, I thank Mr Seng Han Thong for speaking well of the local film industry, unlike Mr Chiam who, during the Budget debate, wrote off the creative sector and the film industry as one that has got no potential. Indeed, Jack Neo has shown how a local film can reach out to regional audience. He has shown how he can make a commercial success out of a Singapore product. In fact, to succeed, our film industry must look outward. This is quite obvious because of the small size of the Singapore audience. If you want to make any impact at all, you really have to make movies not just for Singapore audience but also movies that can travel to the four corners

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of the earth and be seen, appreciated and welcomed by audiences everywhere.

I agree with Mr Seng that we need to take a holistic approach in promoting the film industry. Last year, as part of our creative industry development strategy, MITA and the Media Development Authority (MDA) adopted the Media 21 report as the blueprint to develop Singapore into a global media city. The Media 21 blueprint aims to double the economic contribution of the media industry from about 1.6% currently to about 3% of our GDP and to create more and better jobs for Singaporeans in the media industry by the year 2012.

Under Media 21, a five-year $100 million fund was established to support, develop and spur the growth of local media industry, including the film industry. The scheme covers the entire value chain of film production and distribution, from the development of content, manpower, talent and infrastructure to marketing of content locally and overseas. In total, the MDA has nine schemes that Singapore film makers here can tap on, and we have set aside $25 million of the earlier mentioned $100 million Media 21 fund to develop the local film industry. For example, in the area of talent development which Mr Seng had mentioned the importance of having talent to support the growth of the film industry, MDA's media development scheme has already awarded 13 scholarships to our students in both reputable overseas universities and also local tertiary institutions. In addition, to encourage and support local budding talents keen to work on movies, we offer grants to help them produce short films. It is through the production of such short films that they can acquire the skills and expertise and experience, and go on to make full length feature films. In December last year, MDA also introduced a new scheme to help these budding film

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makers to develop their story ideas into feature film scripts.

As part of Media 21 strategy, MDA is also actively seeking co-production as a way to create content that will appeal to a global audience. For example, recently it participated in the production of a Hong Kong-Singapore movie, " Hainan Chicken Rice " with an international cast, including Sylvia Chang and Martin Yan. MDA has also partnered MTV and a local company, Mega Media, to produce a first made-by-Singapore TV series, " Rouge " for worldwide distribution. This 14-episode series will cost $2 million, with 75% of the budget spent in Singapore and will employ media talent for direction, production and acting.

Last year, MDA struck a 10-film MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with local Raintree Pictures and also collaborated with Discovery Channel to produce documentaries. Participating in such international projects will help raise the level of movie-making in Singapore. It is important for locally produced movies and films to find a marketplace in Singapore to sell their products. Therefore, over the past two years, MDA has been organising

the Asia Media Festival which encompasses a Film Market to attract international buyers and sellers to Singapore . Last year, at the Film Market, a total of 6,000 participants from 34 countries attended the event to sell and to buy international media content. Such efforts are crucial if we are to develop and to build up the reputation of Singapore as a vibrant, global media city.

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To help local film makers, MDA will continue to facilitate the participation of our local movie companies in leading international markets, such as the Cannes

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Film Festival, American Film Market and Hong Kong Filmart. And to explore new opportunities, MDA also led film industry missions overseas. For instance, there was a business mission to New Zealand last year, arising from which we are hoping to conclude a Singapore-New Zealand Co-production Agreement some time this year. This will add to the existing Co-production Agreements that we already have with Japan and Canada . Such agreements will open doors for local film makers by helping them to expand their market, collaborate on international projects and tap more resources and talent.

Mr Zainudin also drew a comparison with New Zealand and its success in the Lord of the Rings. To be realistic, we do not have the expansive and the breath-taking landscape for movies, like the Lord of the Rings or Last Samurai. But we do have the infrastructure and capabilities to become a media city. Even if we are unlikely to be the location for the next Lord of the Rings type of epic, we can offer a location where media services and projects can be conceived, developed, financed, traded and distributed to the international media market. And in the process, as we go along each step of this value chain, it will create opportunities for Singaporeans, both to contribute at the creative level and also at the supporting level.

We recognise that India and China also offer enormous opportunities for our film makers here in Singapore . So MDA is making plans to visit both China and India to discuss co-production possibilities.

Next, I turn to Mr Loh Meng See. He asked what is the progress of the plan to develop a Media Hub Fusionpolis at One-North and how will it fit into our overall development plan for the media industry. Let me clarify. Fusionpolis is planned as a home for a vibrant community of researchers, creative entrepreneurs,

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content creators, financiers and industry players from the creative media and info-communication sector. Many will be Singaporeans but we also hope to attract such talents from overseas to add to the buzz at Fusionpolis. It will provide a work, live, play and learn environment to facilitate networking and cross pollination of ideas across the diverse discipline of arts, design, media, business and technology. Fusionpolis is expected to be ready by end 2005 and will bring us closer to the overall vision of developing Singapore as a vibrant and creative hub.

He also asked whether we have sufficient media talent. As I have explained in the earlier response, we have a scheme under the Media 21 to support the development of media talent. The scheme has already made 13 grants to support four Singaporeans taking up media studies in the local Institute of Higher Learning and nine Singaporeans in renowned overseas institutions, such as the University of Southern California and the New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.

Another scheme is the Capability Development Scheme which has already benefited over 200 media professionals sent for training courses or overseas attachment. We will explore other avenues to nurture and develop our media talents, even as we try to attract international media players to locate their operations in Singapore .

Mr Ang Mong Seng suggested that the TV stations should provide more coverage of constituency events and these would help them to gain viewer share or win more viewers to the channel and, also, TV broadcasters should consider airing more programmes on local enterprises. I agree with him. I think our TV stations are already providing coverage for local events and the business sector. Our broadcasters have been covering local

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community events and they do have business programmes in their regular and special programmes. And some of these programmes are in fact public service broadcast, supported by the Media Development Authority. These programmes cut across all four languages and fall into genres such as news, information and current affairs. While we encourage media competition, coverage and programming should be left to the commercial players to decide based on their station's positioning and branding. Our TV stations are well aware of viewers' interest in programmes with strong local flavour, whether it is for information or entertainment. They will be well advised to cater to such demands if they wish to retain viewership.

Broadcasters already carry a wide range of interesting business and corporate programmes which both inform consumers and investors. They are high quality productions, such as Channel NewsAsia's Money Mind, Singapore Business Tonight, The Business Tree and We Mean Business. Channel i also has similar business programmes, such as The Making of an Entrepreneur. And Channel 8 has a magazine series called Money Week and also Evergreen Brands. Channel U carries a programme, such as Smart Investment which serves as investor education and to ensure that people who buy shares in a company know what they are doing and they are aware of a company's operations and prospects.

So I am sure that our broadcasters will know how to respond if demand for more business programmes builds up. I think I have covered all the points.

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Can I clarify a point?

The Chairman: A quick one will do, Mr Chiam.

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Mr Chiam See Tong: Yes. There is no potential for the film industry in Singapore . My emphasis is more on the strict environment that we have here and it is not conducive to the development of a vibrant film society.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, I thank Mr Chiam for his clarification. If, in fact, the strict environment is not conducive, how is it that we are already seeing successes popping up?

Mr Chiam See Tong: rose ---

The Chairman: I do not want another debate on this, Mr Chiam.

Programmes for the Elderly

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam (Nominated Member): **** Sir, in spite of all the good local programmes that are coming up, I am advocating for better and more programmes for the elderly to be aired and, also better appropriate times over the free-to-air channels and on radio too. Sir, from feedback gathered at the Programme Advisory Committee, of which I am a member, the elderly in the group and other older folks I have spoken to, have expressed the following.

One, more oldies with their favourite stars, such as Wang Sar, Yeh Fong, P Ramlee, MGR, Dean Martin in them, so that it is a flash back down memory lane for the elderly too. Two, create or buy programmes that portray the elderly as a vibrant group, instead of a fragile lot. Their suggestions include featuring sports people, such as Reynold Caleen, the marathoner, mountain climbers, retired soloist, who sailed round the world. Three, local family dramas that depict generational differences and similarities that can help the young and the old understand each other better. Also, in that, they would like to have more programmes that show the various hobbies that elderly people can pick up.

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Four, they also have discussed that there is almost a lack of older people as news readers or game show hosts. Right now, Dick Clark is still universally recognised and appreciated. What has happened to our own local older group of news readers? Five, to schedule more of these programmes in the afternoon so that it does not clash with prime time viewership and cause family problems sometimes, as they tussle over the remote control.

In all these, there is one recurring theme also that has come up, which has been brought up in Parliament before, and that is at least an hour or so of dialect programmes over radio. The community of Chinese elderly really would like to have their dialect programmes coming back to them. Lastly, the call that they made is to show greater sensitivity and not depict them as weak or frail. A good example lies in today's Forum page whereby the Chairman of the National Council Against Drug Abuse rationalises the decision to portray memory loss using an elderly woman. In his letter, and I think the irony is lost on him here, he says, the key challenge was how to drive home the message in a 30-second advertisement featuring an elderly woman with impaired memory. That is why they had to use an elderly woman. So I think we can have quite a number of lessons that we can learn on sensitive portrayal. I would like to know how MDA can fund or help to find sponsors to fund such programmes.

The Chairman: Dr Amy Khor is not here. Mr Chandra Mohan is also not here. Mr Yatiman.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Encik Yatiman Yusof): Sir, I would like to thank Ms Braema for her feedback and her passionate appeal on the need to have TV programmes for our elderly. I have noted down the eight demands given by her. I

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would like to inform Ms Braema that MDA will continue to fund and work with our local broadcasters to offer relevant programmes to the elderly. The impression that I have on the manner Ms Braema puts the questions is that there seem to be no or not enough programmes for the elderly. I would like to say that we have no lack of programmes on our free to air TV channels that cater for our elderly in all four language broadcasts.

Besides the many television serials that offer entertainment, there are a host of programmes that deal with specific topics of interest to the elderly. These range from programmes dealing with the physical well-being, such as the "Heartbeat" on Channel i which provides prognosis of common ailments, such as back pain and arthritis, to skills upgrading shows, such as "Live to Learn", " Generasi Cyber " (Cyber Generation) and " Masak Apa" (What's Cooking) on Channel NewsAsia, Vasantham and Suria, respectively to those addressing financial issues, such as Channel 8's " Huang Jin Nian Hua" , or "Golden Age" which featured skits educating the elderly on how to avoid being cheated by swindlers.

Sir, she asked whether we could have more oldie programmes that feature actors like Dean Martin, P Ramlee and MGR. I think from time to time, especially on Saturday afternoon, Suria and Vasantham do carry old movies that were very familiar to the hearts and minds of our older people. Her second request was to have programmes that project or portray the elderly as vibrant groups, those who take part in sports, climbing mountain, riding bikes. I think through our drama series, the media had portrayed fairly some older people who are still living robust lives and are inspirations to their grandchildren. I think it is unfair for us to generalise and I do not think that all of the series or programmes that we have over TV portray the elderly as old, frail

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and need help all the time. She also likes to have a local family drama that depicts similar and different ways of life. Again, through features and local drama, there are some

values, some way of life being portrayed.

1.45 pm

Regarding hobbies for the elderly, I have just seen a programme a few weeks ago about how an elderly Chinese family worked together with the young on sharing the hobbies which were familiar in the olden days, but now being transmitted to the young. She also asked: could we not present our older people as TV stars, as newscasters, presenters and sports commentators? We do have. Brian Richmond is not only a radio personnel but, from time to time, he does appear, and he is of my age, if I am old. But we do have people like him coming forward to present some important items in our local events.

Then there is also a request to schedule the programmes in the afternoon. I do not view television that much, but I believe we do have many useful programmes meant for the elderly that are featured in the afternoon on weekends.

On dialect programmes over radio, I think we already have a variety of sources for the elderly to access dialect programmes. Chinese dialect operas are available every Saturday on Arts Central, and dialect news daily on Capital Radio 95.8 FM. Dialect programmes are also available in videos and on cable TV on Starhub's Channel, TVBJ. Our approach of making available dialect programmes targetting a niche audience, while balancing the broader need to promote the use of Mandarin as a unifying language among Chinese, is a sound one which has served us well, and we will continue to do so.

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Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: Sir, just one minor clarification. I am advocating more and better programmes. It is not a zero-sum game of not having any and then now we are having some.

Encik Yatiman Yusof: I appreciate the clarification. In any TV programme that we have, there are people who say that it is not enough, but we shall try.

The Chairman: Order. I propose to take the break now.

Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 2.10 pm.

_Sitting accordingly suspended
at 1.48 pm until 2.10 pm. _

Sitting resumed at 2.10 pm

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Head Q (cont.) -

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, can I take both cuts together at the same time?

The Chairman: Yes, please.

Board of Film Censors

Censorship

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, often enough, we hear and read in the media criticisms and feedback about censorship in Singapore. But if we look closer and study the type of feedback about censorship, we will realise that the more vocal and louder voices that we hear are from people who want more freedom and

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openness. In the past few years, or maybe more, we have witnessed many relevant changes and a relaxation of the rules, and I am cheered by this development.

Several of my former expatriate friends who had lived in Singapore in the 1980s, in their recent visits, observed that Singapore has evolved tremendously. They said that some of the things that are possible and doable now were non-existent before. They are quite impressed by the changes and the progress. However, recently, at a dialogue session, I recall a father who is concerned about the photographs of scantily-clad women on the advertisement billboards at bus-stops. He was worried that his young children are easily exposed to such images, which he felt are undesirable influences to the young. Therein lies my concern. In our eagerness to facilitate creativity and give more freedom and cater to the diverse tastes, choices and lifestyles, are we listening too much to the minority and loud critics? How then do we also, in our earnestness to be as inclusive as possible, manage the sensitivities of the silent majority who generally carry conservative views? Could the Minister also enlighten us on the role of the Board of Film Censors in the light of the recent comments in the media about the practice of censorship and the Censorship Review Committee's recommendations to shift towards greater choice for the individual and greater exercise of individual responsibility?

Mr Loh Meng See: Sir, the Censorship Review Committee has done excellent work. In the recent review of the CRC, they have supported the opening up of society at a measured pace, based on our own standards. This includes adopting a more liberal attitude towards plays, movies and television programmes.

Sir, it is essential for us to preserve the high moral standards and public

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decency in Singapore. Our national shared values which include the sanctity of the family unit, moral integrity, social and religious harmony should not be compromised in any way. I wish to urge the Government not to relax and give latitude in these important areas that form the social fabric of our society. Perhaps the Minister can tell us exactly what is the balance that the Government is trying to strike in this area.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang: (In Mandarin) : Sir, censorship is a very subjective yardstick. So, when they are reviewing our censorship yardstick, we should extensively seek the views of our people and the various communities and organisations, and not forgetting the major premise that Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-religious society. The views of those who have family and children will definitely be different from those who are single. Of course, we are unable to satisfy everybody, but I think we should be able to set a standard which is agreeable and tolerated by the majority. We must strike a balance between openness and stability. That is why somebody feels that when we are opening the window, we must not forget our little fly-swatter. I agree with this.

When MITA is reviewing its censorship status, it should not be swayed by the passionate arguments of a small group of people, and, at the same time, not be bound by the conservative and outdated views of some organisations. It is just like saying that the croaking of one or two frogs at the bottom of the well is very loud and thus significant, while the sound made by the thousands of frogs in the field is not significant. That should not be the case.

There is no hard and fast rule to say that censorship review must be done at regular intervals. But, it should be done from time to time to stay relevant. Whenever a review is done, the views of

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the people from all walks of life should be extensively sought. Last year, the Censorship Review Committee's report was submitted to the Government. I would like to ask how MITA is going to promote and implement the recommendations of this report.

Advertisements in Heartlands

Miss Penny Low: Sir, I note that the Censorship Review Committee (CRC) has recommended various degrees of censorship in a few categories to cater to different people and different tastes. This is a strategic move that will help to further arts liberalisation without unnecessarily offending the more conservative segment in our society.

However, it appears that the CRC's recommendations have somehow omitted the advertisements that appear in both HDB and non-HDB heartlands in places like coffeeshops and neighbourhood centres. I have received feedback that advertisments like posters which are neither ticketed items nor limited by geographical boundaries should observe a certain degree of decency, especially if they appear near institutions of learning, like kindergartens, schools and also places of worship. Would the Minister give his views on this and look into it so that the young minds are not inadvertently influenced and religious institutions are also given its due respect?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, I thank the hon. Members who have spoken on censorship from various perspectives.

First, I will respond to Mr Zainudin who asked me to enlighten the House on the role of the Board of Film Censors. Since 1953, the Board of Film Censors has been serving an important role in our society. It ensures that films exhibited here are in accord with the level of public decency accepted by our society and do not undermine our national and public

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interests, such as law and order and racial and religious harmony. The Board of Film Censors also administers the film rating system that gives Singaporeans more choice in entertainment whilst, at the same time, protecting our young from undesirable content.

Over the years, the Board of Film Censors has shown flexibility in adapting to the changing environment while, at the same time, preserving and protecting our social values. Its guidelines have evolved and it has extended its system of public and industry consultation. Such consultation ensures that the Board of Film Censors is in tune with changes in societal values. Hence, it has developed a film rating system to accommodate individual choice. Recently, it has introduced sequential dual rating for films where different age groups can watch different presentations of the same film, thereby giving viewers more choice.

The Board of Film Censor's role is not an easy one. It has to balance the expectations of the majority and the wants of the minority. Even with the more flexibile guidelines, its decision will not satisfy everyone and there will be some who dislike the Board of Film Censors for what it does.

Sir, but the majority do support censorship. Some people hold the view that censorship is obsolete and people should be able to see anything they want. The recent Censorship Review Committee survey shows that these are clearly the views of the minority. The majority, represented by 70% of the respondents to the survey, supported our censorship policies, with over 70% accepting our standards for violence, sex and nudity, coarse language and homosexuality in each of our film ratings. To protect the young, 74% supported more censorship for contents targeted at the young. We

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should not disregard their concerns even though they might be a relatively silent group. Even in western societies, such as the United Kingdom, the US or Australia, censorship is practised to reflect social mores. The recent public backlash in the US from Justin Timberlake's and Janet Jackson's breast-baring wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl half-time show, and the subsequent implementation of a technologically advanced five-second tape delay in the live broadcast of this year's Academy Award is a case in point. It illustrates that there is a large school of opinions and concerns in every society, even in the US, who will object to some form of display that is made available to all and sundry. They in their own way also establish some standards of public decency.

Sir, I would like to emphasise that censorship decisions are not made on the whims and fancies of public officers. There is an established mechanism that involves the society in deciding on censorship issues. The Board of Film Censors regularly consults the Films Consultative Panel, a citizens committee with broad representation from society, including professionals, businessmen, educationists, social workers and community leaders. The Films Consultative Panel assists the Board of Film Censors to decide on film ratings or censorship. There is also an appeal process that provides a check on the Board of Film Censors. Should any distributor or film maker be aggrieved by the Board of Film Censors' decision, he or or she can seek redress through the Films Appeals Committee. This again is a citizens committee set up by statute, which acts as the final arbiter.

Take the film " 15 ", for example. To assess this film, the Board of Film Censors conducted screening for no less than seven different focus groups before deciding to approve the film under the

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R(A) category with certain edits. The distributor appealed against the Board of Film Censors' decision to the Films Appeals Committee. After viewing the film and deliberating carefully, the Films Appeals Committee unanimously upheld the Board of Film Censors' decison. This shows clearly that such decisions are not taken lightly. They are, in fact, taken after much consultation and deliberation.

Sir, the Board of Film Censors takes criticisms in their stride, even if such criticisms are unfair and unjustified. But it is one thing to criticise and another to publicly misrepresent the Board of Film Censors and to lampoon its staff. I read with dismay last week's Sunday Times' article which reported that Mr Royston Tan was traumatised by the Board of Film Censors' demands of 27 cuts for his film " 15 " and has set out to satirise the Board of Film Censors and lampoon one of its officers by making a new film called " Cut ".

This is an example of misrepresentation of the Board of Film Censors. I asked the Board of Film Censors whether they required or insisted on 27 cuts. Actually, the Board of Film Censors only required 10 cuts, out of which nine were to remove mention of teenage gangs and chants used by these gangs, as advised by the Police for law and order reasons. However, the producer chose to make additional edits within the gang chants or songs, thus increasing the number of edits to 27. I think it is unhealthy for public officers who were carrying out their duties to be subject to unwarranted ridicule even if it is just for a laugh. More so when such decisions were taken only after extensive consultations. The producer may think it is funny, but I am afraid I do not appreciate such unbecoming attempts to undermine the standing of a public institution. Making fun of the Board of Film Censors will not cause us to change our censorship framework to suit the

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agenda of those with vested interest or an agenda of their own. In fact, I understand that " Cut " may be passed by the Board of Film Censors uncut, even though it has gross inaccuracy and misrepresented the Board of Film Censors. I emphasise "may be" because the Board of Film Censors has not quite finalised its decisions.

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Zainudin that we should not allow the vocal minority to drown out the concerns and interests of the vast majority of Singaporeans. I also like to assure Mr Loh Meng See that even as we refine our censorship guidelines, we will not neglect our key social values, high moral standards and public decency. The Board of Film Censors will continue to serve and uphold the majority's view in the context of our Asian society and our national interest.

May I now turn to Mr Yeo Guat Kwang who asked whether we could update this House on the implementation of the Censorship Review Committee's recommendations. The Media Development Authority is implementing the Censorship Review Committee's recommendations in phases. This is because some of the recommendations involve further study and consultations with the public and the industry. Some changes have already been effected.

As I mentioned earlier on, since October 2003, films may be released or re-released under a different rating with the sequential dual rating system. This was, in fact, done with films such as " Love, Actually ". As recommended by the CRC, MITA has formed two new Committees in February this year to advise on arts issues, namely, the Arts Consultative Panel and the Arts Appeal Advisory Committee.

In April, the revised film classification system will be introduced. This is the film classification that will provide for an

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introduction of an intermediate category known as M18 category, between the NC16 and R(A) which will become R21 rating. In May, MITA will lift the ban on the magazine Cosmopolitan and exempt more genres of arts entertainment from licensing requirements. This will be followed in June by video classification and cable programme classification for NC16 and M18 on StarHub Cable Vision's Premium tiers.

Mr Yeo also asked if MITA could share its thinking about the pace of change regarding censorship guidelines. I would like to assure him that the Censorship Review Committee, in making its recommendations after extensive consultations, was mindful that the pace of change must take into account our multi-racial and multi religious society

and the need to protect our core social values, especially for the young. Their recommendations were made after comprehensive research and public consultation with a diverse range of focus groups. Their approach was to proceed at a measured pace that our society is comfortable with. Hence, in implementing the recommendations, we will not move too far ahead of the majority. Rather, we will recalibrate our censorship guidelines and framework sensitively, even as we foster an environment conducive to encouraging creativity and developing our cultural capital to bring about a more innovative and vibrant Singapore.

2.30 pm

Next, I turn to Miss Penny Low. She has expressed a valid concern, particularly advertisements that pop up in the HDB heartlands or even the non-HDB heartlands, advertisements that may offend some people. I think Mr Zainudin also reflected one feedback on such an advertisement. First, let me state that our laws clearly prohibit any obscene or

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objectionable content in any medium. The MDA regulates content in the print, broadcast and film medium. Contents in other mediums, such as billboards or posters in public places, are placed under the purview of the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS). ASAS maintains a code of advertising practice, which emphasises that advertisements should be legal, decent, truthful, and not misleading. They also emphasise public decency and protection of children and that young people's interests should also be safeguarded. As a general principle endorsed by the CRC, stricter contents are applied to advertisements in public places in view of the likelihood of uncontrolled access, as noted by Miss Penny Low. However, difference in interpretation by the advertisers in question may sometimes lead to results mentioned by her, and I take her point. I shall ask MDA to work closely with the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore to eliminate perceptions of looser standards in advertisements appearing in public. We value such feedback on advertisements and will get the relevant stakeholders to act on them.

Sir, earlier on, in my haste to comply with the time limit and I know you wield a very sharp guillotine, I apparently omitted responding to Dr Tan Boon Wan's point on information technology. May I have your permission to respond? Actually I omitted responding to Dr Tan Boon Wan and Ms Indranee Rajah. With your permission, Mr Speaker, now that we have a bit more time, can I respond to them?

The Chairman: Yes.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Dr Tan's question and similarly Ms Indranee Rajah's point, was what is the impact of this trend of business process outsourcing (BPO) on Singapore. How are we going to compete with BPO giants that have emerged on the landscape like India, for instance, Ms

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Indranee Rajah asked whether there is a role for Singapore in this new business sector. I overlooked responding to them but I would like to give the response now.

Basically, Singapore's infocomm industry remains one of our key engines of growth. First, the EDB pipeline for investments remains strong. Last year, the infocomm and media cluster was the second strongest contributor to EDB's investments commitment in the service industry, with $623 million of total business spending committed. When fully realised, these investments would generate $544 million of total value-added and 2,163 professional and skilled jobs. Secondly, the infocomm sector revenue is expected to have grown by 4½% in 2003 and projected to grow by 7½% this year. Thirdly, along with improved business turnover, we are also seeing a turnaround in job market for infocomm professionals. The Ministry of Manpower's quarterly labour market survey showed a year-on-year increase of 2.2% workers employed in the infocomm sector in 2003. This was in comparison to a decline of 2.7% for the same period between 2001 and 2002.

Dr Tan and Ms Indranee are both right that areas like business process outsourcing and the convergence of IT and media represent new opportunities but they come with many new challenges. When it comes to business process outsourcing, Singapore cannot compete with India on costs. But Singapore is still attractive for higher-end process outsourcing and services such as business continuity, disaster recovery, IT strategy and security implementation and logistics supply chain coordination. Singapore is also well-placed to serve as a hub for managing, coordinating and monitoring outsourced services that are delivered out of lower-cost regional countries. So although we may not be able to do the outsourcing work, we can be the higher-

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level nerve centre to coordinate and to manage these outsourced services. In fact, we offer extensive connectivity, high band-width, strong technical capability and a conducive environment to service such needs. IT service companies, such as IBM, EDS, HP, Satyam and Scandent recognise our advantage. They use Singapore as the location to fulfil regional shared services contract awarded by their clients. In 2003, Singapore attracted over 30 shared service business process outsourcing projects. With over 7,000 MNCs and a strong base of supporting infocomm technology companies, we offer a huge potential for companies to expand their activities and to grow.

Our advantages have also helped us to persuade companies such as SAP and Credit Suisse First Boston to locate their back-office and service support centre here in Singapore. Companies like Polaris and IBM have also sited disaster recovery operations here. They joined companies like Citigroup, BASF and Exxon Mobil in building Singapore as a strong centre for shared services and business continuity activities.

Sir, IDA will work with EDB, MAS and IE Singapore to strengthen Singapore's position as an ideal location for selected BPO services and to develop the BPO industry in Singapore.

On the convergence of IT and media sector, this provides another opportunity for Singapore to become a trading and distribution centre for digital assets - films, advertising, online games as mentioned by Miss Penny Low, and printed materials. We have successfully piloted digital cinema distribution as an example. So instead of having rolls and rolls of films being carted around, you can now distribute the films through the digital broadband network. IDA is also exploring opportunities in IT security, web services, grid computing, utility data

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centres. To tap regional opportunities, IDA is working with the Singapore Info-Comm Technology Federation to bring a cluster of local infocomm technology companies to explore the China market. So far, 20 companies have already signed up for this collective effort. We are in the process of finding a home in China for this cluster.

Public Communications

Mr Seng Han Thong (Ang Mo Kio): (In Mandarin) : Sir, one of MITA's main functions is to explain the Government's policies to the people. Last year, during the SARS epidemic, MITA and the media played an active role in educating the public on how to deal with SARS and explained the strategy very clearly to the people. As a result, Singapore was very successful in its handling of SARS, and everyone became a SARS expert.

This year, with the appearance of the Avian flu in some Asian countries, we all heard that Minister Mah Bow Tan was going to slaughter some 5,000 chickens as a preventive measure, to assure the people that the remaining chickens were safe to eat. As a matter of fact, it is quite safe to eat chicken in Singapore, but just do not eat too much. But, please, carry on eating our national favourite - chicken rice.

Why was the message transmitted so effectively? That is because it is a matter of life and death. If you eat the wrong thing, you will die. So everyone is concerned. I hope that MITA would not jump to the conclusion that our means of communications with the people are already perfected. The subject matter concerns life and death, therefore the message is noted, and the communication means effective. But for those long-term policies and intangible policies, people do

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not understand. I think we should work harder on that.

Take for example the Budget Statement, as announced by our Finance Minister. People said that it was very uneventful. I told them that this was an important Budget which urged our people to have more children so that we could have enough young people to look after the ageing population. Otherwise, when the present generation of people get older, there would not be enough young people to support us.

We also have to cultivate our talents - our local talents, together with the imported foreign talents. This is a long-term policy. We have to explain to the people so that they could understand. For example, many people thought everything was going to be all right with the arrest of Saddam Hussein. Suddenly, there was this series of explosions in Spain and people began to be alarmed, saying, "Ah, the terrorists are coming again". So how are we going to explain to our people the implications of such events? This is where public communication with the people comes in. It is a very important function.

Recently, our television channel stations have gone to the various constituencies and they do a lot of out-door telecast. Channel U has also gone out to the people and reach out to them and find out what are their views on Avian flu. I think this is very important. For the VIPs to be on TV all the time is very important. For the small people, once they get the chance to go on TV, they will treasure it forever. So I think it gives them a chance and they would like to participate, and give their views. I think when we are to explain our Government policies to the people, we should involve more public servants, civil servants, so that they could explain all these long term strategies to our people.

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Library Services

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua (Marine Parade): Sir, I would like to continue in the same vein as Mr Seng Han Thong, in terms of the importance of awareness and general knowledge. In this knowledge age, where human capital is a critical asset, the key to success is really to have a skilled and innovative workforce that constantly updates its skills and knowledge. By imparting knowledge to the people, by providing the means to empower themselves, and by firing their imagination, the library itself plays an important role in this regard.

I would like to begin by applauding the efforts of the National Library Board in reaching out to the population as a whole. I note that there are many activities geared towards the young and there has been a variety of family-oriented activities being offered. I understand that the library also organises trips to schools to raise the awareness of the library services amongst children. Schools are also doing their bit towards cultivating the reading habit, a habit that is crucial to foster a life-long learning instinct. Thus far, not surprisingly, many of these efforts would involve physical library facilities around the main library which is being built, regional libraries or those in institutions of learning, such as schools and universities. To complement this, community children's libraries were set up to bring the library closer to the people. These had mixed results, although they were instrumental in attracting people who would otherwise not make a trip to the library for a variety of reasons.

Sir, most of these activities currently reach out to the majority of the population. However, I am concerned about the access to these services for the unconverted, the ignorant or the disadvantaged. Most of these are likely to be from low income families. Equal efforts must be made towards this group

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of people and it must not be viewed as part of the corporate volunteerism programme of the National Library staff. I would like to ask the Minister what efforts are being made to literally bring the library to the people so that no segment of the population is left out inadvertently.

Encik Yatiman Yusof: Sir, when a crisis or disaster strikes, communication is indeed extremely vital. It can make a difference, whether the community will have confidence to face the situation in a peaceful manner, or there could be chaos, or even deaths. So when Mr Seng Han Thong asked about the new initiatives to help Singaporeans to understand Government policies, especially in dealing with disasters, it is crucial that we also look into the initiatives to help Singaporeans understand the policies, especially those who cannot be reached by the mass media.

Sir, in Singapore, the mass media, with its wide reach and appeal, is an important basic channel of communication between the Government and the people.

We will continue to use it as the principal means of communication of our policies with Singaporeans in a timely and responsive manner. Nevertheless, where information is crucial and additional means over and above mass media communication are required to reach all segments of the public, we will work with all relevant parties to achieve the widest possible reach.

2.45 pm

The SARS crisis is a case in point. Soon after the SARS virus hit Singapore , we set up a SARS website and worked with the broadcasters to establish a special SARS TV channel to ensure our citizens have ready access to up-to-date information. SARS information kits were also published in all four official languages and sent to every household in Singapore ,

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while briefing packages were prepared for MPs and grassroots leaders to reach constituents.

Rules regarding the use of dialects for broadcasting were relaxed to ensure that messages reach the ground. We will do what is necessary to ensure that key Government messages reach all Singaporeans, especially in a national crisis.

Sir, to this end, MITA continually strives to improve the professionalism of the public servants in public communication. This is done by our Public Relations Academy. Specially trained information officers from MITA are also seconded to various Ministries and public service agencies. Their role is to assist Ministries in their mass communication efforts.

In the face of many changes in the sphere of Government public relations, our public communication strategy remains committed to inform citizens and help them better understand Government's policies and changes.

Now, I would like to turn to the issue raised by Mrs Lim Hwee Hua. I thank Mrs Lim for raising the question of how to attract the unconverted to our library. I totally agree with her that there is an important role for the library to reach the ignorant and the disadvantaged. But there are a number of efforts in which the National Library Board (NLB) has started towards this direction. For example, the NLB organises annually a charity book donation event. For this financial year, the NLB donated over 26,000 books, 500 packs of magazines and about 1,900 audio visual materials for 56 charity and non-profit organisations to help promote reading and literacy to some 25,000 people. The organisations that benefited

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from this effort include the Movement of the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore and the Society for the Physically Disabled.

Through its Corporate Volunteerism Programme, volunteers from among NLB staff employ their skills to set up the libraries and multi-media resource centres at Gracehaven Home and Changi Women's Prison. Over 3,000 books and audio visual materials were donated to the library at Gracehaven Home and 5,000 books and magazines were given to the Changi Women's Prison. In addition, they conduct training for prison inmates in library and information technology skills.

Sir, in March last year, NLB launched a Library@office programme to attract more professionals. It is not just the ignorant and disadvantaged, those who 'can't be bothered' type are also being reached. So, we reach out to the professionals, managers, executives and businessmen (PMEBs) to the libraries, as about half of the members of this group have not borrowed any books or audio visual materials from the library in the preceding year. NLB presented some of its services at the office doorstep of the PMEBs in the central business district and selected high traffic suburban office malls. The programme was successful in reaching out to some 600,000 people and subsequently resulted in about 90,000 additional visitors to the public libraries.

Moving ahead, NLB will keep up with its effort and continuously develop new programmes to reach the disadvantaged or those who do not naturally go to the libraries.

Mr Tan Soo Khoon (East Coast): Sir, as we are slightly ahead of time, may I have your permission to speak?

The Chairman: Provided the Minister agrees to reply to your question.

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Mr Tan Soo Khoon: Sir, the telecommunications market was liberalised some years ago. While competition has certainly brought benefits to consumers, I have noted that in some instances such as charges for local calls, these have not actually been brought down. I would like to ask the Minister to enlighten us as to how competition can further benefit consumers in Singapore .

Sir, the new 3G telephones will roll out by the end of the year. Given that the telcos bidded $100 million each for the licences, and this was at the height of the dot.com boom, how does the Minister see the prices of 3G services evolving? And whether these could, in fact, be attractive enough to make consumers switch from 2G or 2½G, as we have now, to 3G.

Hong Kong offers a good example. Their telcos also bid a high price for 3G licences some years ago. But poor take-up rate has forced one telco last month to slash the cost of 3G handphones to under HK$1,000 each, and monthly charges of less than HK$200, all of which, in effect, make 3G phones cheaper than the present 2G phones.

Can I have the Minister's views, please?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, Mr Tan Soo Khoon has asked about the impact of liberalisation in the infocomm sector, particularly referring to the telecoms sector. He also asked about why charges for local calls have not dropped as a result of the opening of the market. He also asked about the pricing of the 3G services that are to be rolled out. I will respond to his points.

Sir, our telecommunications industry was fully liberalised in April 2000. Since then, we have made good progress in developing competition in the telecommunications market. Both individual consumers and business consumers

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have benefited from more than 400 new operators providing a wide range of new and innovative services at competitive prices. Today, some key telecoms sectors are already fully competitive. The mobile phone market is one good example. Consumers now enjoy a wide variety of offerings from three operators, high quality services and some of the lowest prices compared to other jurisdictions like Hong Kong , Japan and the UK . As a result, currently, Singapore has one of the highest mobile penetration rate of about 83%. Other sectors that are competitive include the wholesale international telephone service.

More competition has also been introduced in the retail broadband and retail international telephony services, with lower prices, high quality and more service differentiation. Broadband prices have fallen by as much as 50% since liberalisation with consumers able to choose from a diverse range of broadband packages.

For retail IDD services, consumers can now select from a variety of premium or budget services, including voice over Internet protocol. Since 1998, the average IDD call charges to top overseas destinations have, in fact, fallen by as much as 73%.

Sir, prices for telecoms services such as international private lease circuit and Internet connectivity have also dropped significantly over the last three years by as much as 75% and 62% respectively. However, effective competition has yet to be achieved in markets like local telephony and local leased circuits. This is due in part to fundamental market characteristics such as a high sunk cost and lack of economies of scale and scope, which render competition difficult to achieve. Other jurisdictions like the UK , US, Australia and Japan had also experienced similar difficulties.

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Sir, notwithstanding the competition status, our consumers continue to enjoy reliable and high quality local telephone services at relatively low rates compared with the US, UK, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. The rates have remained the same, unchanged, for more than 10 years. And about a year ago, some competition was introduced when StarHub completed the roll out of Singapore 's second residential fixed line network via cable. Homes are now able to take up an alternative package catering to their needs for fixed line telephone services by switching to StarHub.

StarHub will further ensure that SingTel's fixed line phone services are priced competitively. I would like to point out that Singapore 's residential fixed line market is already saturated at about 98% of households covered. We are not likely to see significant growth in this sector. Given the market saturation and the existing price level of fixed line services, there may be limited scope for competition to lower price in the future. Overall, we should give the four-year old full liberalisation of the telecommunications market the thumbs up for the benefits it has brought to consumers and businesses. But IDA will continue to be vigilant and to watch all the sectors as we go forward.

Mr Tan also asked about the status of the 3G mobile services, the roll out and pricing. There are three 3G licensees - SingTel Mobile, StarHub Mobile and M1. All the three roll-out plans for 3G services are on track to meet the roll-out deadline of December 2004. All three operators have awarded contracts to network equipment manufacturers for the deployment of their 3G networks. M1 has also begun trials of its 3G network in the central and other parts of the island. However, as with any introduction of new technology, IDA will set the overall

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framework for the commercial development, but leave it to the operators to decide on how best to price and market the new services.

The operators in Singapore have not announced their pricing strategy. But so far, we have observed in overseas market, 3G prices for data and voice have been priced competitively against existing 2G and 2½G services for voice and data. With three operators here offering a variety of service packages to meet the different needs of consumers, we can expect competitive pricing for 3G services when they are rolled out towards the end of the year.

The Chairman: Mr Seng Han Thong, are you withdrawing your amendment?

Mr Seng Han Thong: Sir, I thank the Minister for his detailed answers. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The Chairman: **** Amendment No. (2), Mr Seng.

Chatline

Mr Seng Han Thong: Sir, I beg to move,

That the sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code QM 3100.

Chatline business is flourishing. At least, the numerous pages of advertisements in the print media can testify to this. However, I am concerned that many curious youngsters, both male and female, may have fallen into this type of bogus "friendship" and wasted money and time. They may have done so because of various reasons, eg, lack of parental guidance and love, and ease of access to these chatline services. I also fear that many innocent girls may be

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misled into becoming the target of these unscrupulous chatlines.

Sir, I would urge the Government to manage it to ensure that our young will not be exposed to such undesirable lifestyle.

The Chairman: Mr Yatiman, you have one and a half minutes.

Encik Yatiman Yusof: Sir, I totally agree with Mr Seng Han Thong's concern over the proliferation of chatline audio text services and the impact on the young. I would like to emphasise here that to do so, we require a tetra-partite approach that combines the efforts of the police in legal enforcement, the chatline industry in regulating their services, the major media players in regulating advertisements and parents in guiding their children. Specifically, I would also say that the chatline operators have to accept the responsibility to protect the young and operate their services with adequate safeguards to discourage potential offenders from preying on the young.

Apart from having that to uphold higher standards, efforts are also aimed at regulating chatline advertisements to ensure that they are not misleading. Because under the new code that is to be introduced, operators would be required to carry precautionary messages in their advertisements warning users of the dangers of meeting strangers acquainted through chatlines. As these advertisements are carried by major media owners, such as SPH, it is useful if they also monitor the compliance of the chatline advertisements in their publications. We are happy to note that, so far, till December last year, SPH has improved their chatline advertising guidelines.

Finally, the efforts of the police. I think the police and the chatline industry would be successful only if there is close

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cooperation given by the parents. In other words, the parents will have to be able to come in and act on their concerns.

The Chairman: Order. Guillotine time. Mr Seng, are you withdrawing your amendment?

Mr Seng Han Thong: Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave withdrawn.

The sum of $302,693,120 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $250,464,700 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.