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. Mr Seng Han Thong.

Developing the Arts and Creative Community

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

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

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Sir, we all know that Singapore is a multi-cultural society. But how cultured our society and Singaporeans are exactly? If I may define being cultured at three different levels, I dare to say that our society has moved from level one to level two. And as a result of the consistent effort on the part of MICA and the people sector, we are now heading to the third level of being a cultured society and a cultured people.

Let me elaborate. Singaporeans like to eat good food. So when we enjoy good food from different cultures, like Italian, French, Egyptian, Japanese and Vietnamese, we learn many things about them, including their people and traditions. Thus, based on the many cuisines and restaurants of different cultures we can find in Singapore, we have already achieved the multi-culturalism at the first level. I call this the "input" level. Most Singaporeans are cultured at the first level. As long as you enjoy good food, you are cultured at the "input" level.

The second level of being cultured is at the "responsive" level. In the past years, we have seen an increasing number of visitors to our museums, book fairs, arts festivals and exhibitions like the bountiful sculptures of Botero, and the audiences to our concerts, operas, performances and musicals and we know that the Broadway classic "The Sound of Music" is coming to Singapore next month. Thus, Singaporeans and visitors are responding to the artistic talents and avenues found in or introduced to Singapore. I am glad that the vision, policies and strategies of MICA to promote the arts for everyone and arts at everywhere have borne fruits.

With the opening of the Esplanade in 2002, the new National Library this year and the launch of the Creative Town Initiative, I am confident that we are moving towards the third level of being

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cultured at the "proactive participation level", where Singaporeans play an active role in using their creativity and interests in the arts to contribute to the community and society as a whole. Thus, under Media 21 plans, I would like to ask the Minister on what the Government is doing to encourage, recognise and deploy the creative talents and energies of our people for community benefit and development under the Creative Town Initiative.

MICA is also developing the creative industry. I would like to know whether the creative industry would benefit the community and society at large. If so, how are these benefits transmitted to ordinary Singaporeans? Besides, what are the additional investments that the Government would be making to develop our cultural capital and to strengthen Singaporeans' interest and knowledge in our arts and cultural heritage?

Arts and Culture

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong: If Singapore wants to cultivate creative industries and promote arts and culture to a respectable level, the most critical task now is not just pouring money into infrastructure. What is needed is content which captures the Singapore spirit and the Singapore genius and an audience who can appreciate Singapore art and literature. I would like to ask the Minister what is MICA doing to help develop a museum-loving and theatre-going people among Singaporeans.

Recently, I was in Paris. I had three hours to spare before leaving for the airport. So I asked the average Parisian on the road, "What do you think I should do for the next three hours?" The immediate response was, "You should go to our museums. We have a nice collection of arts there." And they rattle off names of their French artists that are on display there. It is a natural instinct. I wondered to myself if I were to ask, as a visitor, the average Singaporean on the

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Singapore streets, I think they would be shopping at Orchard Road, or food at Newton Circus. I think we should do more to encourage our Singaporeans to enjoy going to museums as a valuable leisure pursuit for the family, and to love the artworks by Singaporeans and the art works that they can catch at these museums. Can I ask the Ministry whether it is giving enough support to the National Heritage Board

in terms of funding to acquire regional art, including local art, and to stage world-class shows, especially shows that can travel well to promote Singapore art and Singapore artists? Sir, a museum cannot be a serious player in arts and culture if it does not have sufficient acquisition money. For example, the Singapore Art Museum would need about $3 million to buy the Tan Swie Hian Collection, but it could not do so because it has not the budget for it. But Tan Swie Hian is in fact one of our most celebrated artists. Indeed, in the July 21st issue of Time Magazine in the year 2003, it wrote:

"In Singapore, a country that has struggled to produce artists who excel in even one medium, it is starting to find someone like Tan who has thrived in so many different artforms and has achieved international acclaim for all."

I would add that it is even more startling to find that our own museum cannot have enough money to buy the artworks of these rare Singaporean artists.

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Sir, it is important for us to build up our own collection as part of our own national heritage and to enrich our cultural life. We also need to nurture our own Singapore writers. And for good writers, there needs to be an appreciation of the value of literature, not only at the ground level, but also at the policy-making level. It is not that we do not have the literary talents. We have teenage poets who have won world-wide awards in the UK,

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and I believe one reason why the world knows so much about UK, Canadian, American and Australian literature is because their writers are promoted by their countries. One long-time Singaporean writer told me that he had often been invited to other countries to get to know the writers of these countries and to read the works of these other countries. And they also ---

The Chairman: Sorry, Ms Ng. Your time is up. Mr Zainudin.

Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Sir, I will start with a series of questions and I will elaborate why.

What is the Ministry doing to strengthen our heritage and capture our past history of the nation? How do we improve awareness and build a sense of belonging through our history and heritage in our young? What are the other areas of improvement being done to make our visual arts scene more interesting and exciting? What is being done to build our national resilience through heritage and culture? How can we use our historical memories and archives to strengthen a sense of our historical heritage?

Sir, we have already 40 years of independence. It is a long time, and a lot of historical happenings have taken place. Are we exploiting the new technologies to capture and use these to promote a sense of nationhood? What is MICA doing to make our visual arts to be more exciting? I am very happy to hear that there are some plans to use City Hall and Supreme Court as a visual arts museum. I think this is a very interesting development. I have seen some examples in other countries. For example, in Paris, there was a former train station that was converted into a museum which is of world-class standard. The Musee d'Orsay is now recognised as one of the most interesting places to visit in Paris.

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Sir, some of Singapore's greatest assets, eg, our diverse culture, rich heritage and delicious food, are often taken for granted. Apart from sharing these wonderful attributes with eight million visitors who come to Singapore annually, we should encourage and strengthen our local appreciation of Singapore's culture, artistic and national heritage. What are the steps being taken by MICA to ensure that this is happening and Singaporeans are aware of this? How do we improve the level of awareness among the youths, of our past history and legacies, to build a sense of belonging and national pride?

Promoting Arts

Dr Ong Seh Hong (Aljunied): Sir, whatever earlier doubts we have had when the Esplanade was constructed in meeting its intended objectives have disappeared. Sir, the Esplanade, and subsequently all the other arts venues, have done a wonderful job in promoting the arts in Singapore. We have had the good fortune to enjoy many globally popular performances, such as "Singing in the Rain", "Mamma Mia", world famous orchestras, as well as blockbuster exhibitions, such as "Ju Min" and "Botero" and so on.

Sir, however, I am a simple man. I wonder whether all these world-renowned performances and exhibitions can be appreciated by the population at large. What attempts, if any at all, were and would be made to enhance the connection with the average Singaporean? I am concerned that when the artistic venues, such as the Esplanade, bring in internationally-renowned performances, whether there are any audits done on assessing the effects on the larger community. I would also ask if the agencies that bring in such groups can plan an interaction and appreciation programme for the heartlanders. Such interaction could perhaps be worked

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through with the CDCs or the other grassroots organisations.

On the other hand, given that we have a rich cultural heritage, arts groups can play a constructive role in raising the awareness about cultural diversity in Singapore. For example, the Singapore Kairalee Kala Nilayam could perform for the Chinese High School, so that the SAP school students could learn about Malayalam art and culture. Similarly, Malay groups can perform for the other races, etc. However, some provision needs to be in place for the successful promotion of arts at the community level.

Firstly, performance venues must be readily available and affordable. For example, I have heard from the ground that such venues in Singapore are usually fully booked long in advance. Moreover, to book a venue, there is a need to place a deposit and, in the case of venues booked through NAC, full payment needs to be made two weeks in advance. Similarly, medium-sized venues, with seating capacity of between 400 and 500, are scarce. If an arts group wants to put together a performance, they would have to compete for the same venues.

Sir, next, I would like to ask for more smaller and affordable venues to be provided for arts groups to showcase their talents. For example, in Marine Parade, the Necessary Stage is partnering the Marine Parade Community Library. This provides a focus point for arts group development and performances. I would like to suggest that we expand on such partnerships in other locations around Singapore. In effect, this will bring the arts groups to the community.

However, appreciation of the arts can only be nurtured gradually and progressively. So, in order to do so, in the beginning, I suggest that all these programmes must be simple, friendly and

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easily appreciated by the local folks. This will allow more Singaporeans to appreciate arts better.

Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Sir, the Creative Town Initiative was initiated by MICA recently. It was to allow anyone to express themselves artistically through interesting projects with a lasting impact on the community. Sir, to date, there appears to be little publicity on this initiative. Despite this, I believe that a number of initiatives or proposals have been put forward to MICA and a few may have even been approved.

Could the Minister provide more details on this and tell us what has been the response to the Creative Town Initiative and what are some of the interesting projects that have already been approved? What will his Ministry do to create greater awareness of this initiative and to encourage more to participate in this project?

Dr Tan Boon Wan (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, for arts to flourish, depending on foreign visitors is not enough. It needs a local following. It needs the support of our heartlanders. We have to promote arts in the HDB estates. We should introduce arts to our young so that they grow up loving arts. This is especially so for our museums. They are great places to visit. They have improved in practically all aspects, eg, physical environment, display, content, activities and service. I applaud our museums.

But how do we get Singaporeans to visit them and enjoy them? First, we have to create the awareness. But awareness is not enough. Many people visit the museums only to take a quick walk-through, a quick glance at the exhibits and to declare they had visited. They have to appreciate what they see. I believe that if visitors already know something about what they are going to see, they will take time to look, read the

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explanation and enjoy the exhibits. May I therefore suggest to MICA and NHB or the museums to organise talks in the heartlands for our grassroots organisations. They could then arrange for residents to tour the museums. In this way, residents will find the museums more interesting. They can bring their children and share the information with them. The interest shown by the parents will rub off on the children. It will strengthen family bonding, especially the children's respect for their parents.

May I also ask the Minister when the museum next to the former National Library will reopen to the public? I hope that it will retain the name "National Museum". This name has a certain ring and familiarity. Singaporeans will still remember fondly of the former museum. The name has been deeply etched on the minds of Singaporeans, and is one that they can associate with. Furthermore, will we see all the former exhibits displayed again in the restored museum?

Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung (Sembawang): Mr Chairman, it is said that the 21st century will be the century of cities as, for the first time in history, over 50% of the world will live in cities. In Singapore, of course, we are a city-state. So, naturally, the percentage is much higher. The challenge in many countries, including Singapore, is to make cities more desirable places to live in. On the one hand, we must recreate elements of the community or kampong spirit, a sense of place and belonging, a degree of collective security and continuity.

On the other hand, it is also necessary to achieve urban buzz to connect and maximise the possibilities of trade, of meeting people, absorbing a diversity of lifestyles and cultures and, of course, of just having plain fun. We must have civic creativity and an urbane society, all

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working for the common good. Only recently has it been recognised that the creative industries can be one of the key drivers of the modern economy, representing as much as an average of 4-5% of GDP in developed economies. In a city like London, for example, nearly 700,000 people work in the creative industries, which comprise 15% of London's economy. It nearly represents 20% of the workforce and has a turnover of between 25 - 30 billion pounds. Over 11,000 companies are classified as being cultural industry companies. I believe that London is really a model to look at.

On this note, may I first digress and congratulate the Minister and the Ministry for being involved in the London project to showcase Singapore's creative talents this year in London. I hope that this will bring excellent results of cooperation with London companies and Singapore companies and artists, so that we can grow our creative industries further.

But there must be a greater awareness, in that the creative sector must be recognised as an integrated sector. Theatre, visual arts, music or fashion, film-making, etc, they are all now interconnected. There is great convergence and symbiosis among the creative arts that never existed before. Sir, this means that there is an urgent need to create the conditions necessary, not just the development of our creative industries for the sake of economic growth, but also for the sake of our social growth and for a more gracious and interconnected society. It is in this context that I would like to ask the Minister whether there are plans to implement one of the Economic Review Committee's key recommendations, ie, developing the Creative Town Initiative. I rather prefer to call it Creative Community Initiative or Creative Communities Initiative, but that is only by the way.

Firstly, may I ask the Minister, as with Mr Charles Chong, whether the initiative

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would see the light of day soon? Would there be funds to help launch and promote projects that are within the creative industries as without?

Secondly, it is always said that we should promote social entrepreneurship that would connect individuals, enterprises and community groups to enhance community bonding. How does MICA see its role in promoting this social entrepreneurship? What sort of projects would it approve? For example, would there be funds available to help grassroots organisations which have developed projects, such as a web portal, to link businesses, grassroots organisations, schools, grassroots leaders and residents to each other? We started a project of this type in Woodlands, and I hope that the Minister will consider giving us money to maintain such a site. Sir, I declare my interest at this point.

In this context, Sir, I also hope that the Minister and his policy makers would be open-minded and supportive of all forms of creativity.

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To make a successful partnership between the arts culture and urban regeneration, we need a more imaginative understanding of arts and culture and the way they work for each other.

Policy makers must realise that there is great connectivity between high art, low art, popular art and community art. For instance, each has something to offer the other and together they all offer the population a taste of what art and culture is really about. I do hope that the Ministry would not be too stringent in their qualifying rules on this Creative Town Initiative and that they would be prepared to be open-minded about the types of projects that would be put forward for funding.

Sir, there is now widespread acceptance and in the 21st century, it will

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be creativity and innovativeness that will determine the future success of societies and cities. Cities like Singapore have only one resource, its people. How clever we are, how ingenious, how motivated, how rooted, how imaginative, how creative, we hope that the Minister ---

The Chairman: Sorry, Prof. Chin. Your time is up.

Enhancing Arts Infrastructure

Mr Loh Meng See (Jalan Besar): Sir, after two years of operation, the Esplanade is creating more than a symbolic impact on our local art scene. We have now a cultural icon in Singapore, acknowledged by the international art community as a world-class venue comparable to the best in the world. Many world-class performers and companies have been attracted to perform here to the joy and pleasures of the audiences. Singaporeans showed that they have discerning taste and will pay the price to watch highly acclaimed performances. I must add that even HDB heartlanders have not been ruled out. And I read with interest that a number of them are attending the concerts and the shows in the Esplanade.

Sir, we have had a very good start for the Esplanade and we need to keep up the momentum, building on its early success. We showed that in the case of the Esplanade, the scale, design and accessibility are the basic ingredients creating its success. The challenge remains in having to fully occupy the capacity and filling the seats in both the Theatre and the Concert Hall.

I think it is also time for us to consider an equivalent icon for the visual arts as much as the Esplanade is the icon for the performing arts. I therefore wish to commend the Ministry for persuading the Government to allow the Supreme Court Building and the City Hall to be converted

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into a world- class art gallery. I think for the Government to allocate these precious monuments for the art gallery is exemplary.

In November last year, Minister Lee Boon Yang laid the foundation stone for the redeveloped National Museum of Singapore and this will be due for completion some time in 2006. I read with interest the kind of arrangements laid out and activities in store for this National Museum and perhaps the Minister can elaborate for us what we can expect.

In time, we will have quite a number of museums with exhibition facilities in Singapore. The other notable ones are the Singapore Art Museum, Asian Civilisations Museum and others. We will need to have a lot more visitors to make the investment in these museums worthwhile. I would like to know what are the innovative ways that the Ministry can bring in the crowds and traffic to the cultural venues.

I would like to ask the Minister to share with us their plans for the art gallery at the former Supreme Court Building and City Hall and how this would tie in with the other major museums and the exhibits displayed. How can we develop a distinctive Singaporean and the values and aspirations we share as a nation and have them portrayed in our cultural facilities? In promoting cultural diplomacy, as Prof. Chin has alluded to, the Singapore Season in London and the other exchanges with other countries, how can we involve more Singaporeans so that they can benefit in broadening their horizon and perspective in the field of the arts and translate them to better appreciation of the arts and enhancing their quality of life?

Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang: Sir, the Ministry plans to convert the Supreme Court and City Hall buildings into a world-

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class art gallery. With all due respect to my hon. colleague, Mr Loh Meng See, I worry about this. Does our museum attendance really justify expanding the museum? The New Paper proclaimed that our new museum will have 11,000 square metres of space, rivalling London's national gallery which is only 10,500 square metres. But do we have a collection to justify this bigger space? Let me echo my hon. colleague, Mr Alex Chan. It is not true in this area that we build it and they will come. This does not work for museums. Let me share with Members the attendance at the Singapore Art Museum. In 1998, it was 183,000. Every year thereafter, it fell to a low of 127,000 in 2002. It recovered slightly to almost 150,000 in 2003.

Before we commit the Supreme Court and City Hall buildings, I ask the Ministry to please compare the attendance per square metre of space at our Art Museum with major art museums in other leading cities. Can we really justify this use?

Arts School

Mr Seng Han Thong: Sir, the Arts School for students aged 13 to 18 was announced last year. May I ask the Minister to update us on this project?

Sir, with a growing and more vibrant local arts scene in Singapore, parents now see that there is good future for their children in the arts. Will the Government do more to encourage greater interest, education and participation in the arts in Singapore?

I believe that the interaction, influence and exchange of creative ideas and energies between local and foreign students in the Arts School would result in a Singapore-trained artist getting more value-added experiences and multi-cultural perspectives. May I know what are the intake criteria of the Arts School for both the local and foreign students, and how

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the school would benefit the locals as well as the foreigners in this respect.

Sir, with the official opening of the new Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) Campus at Bencoolen Street later this evening, and the new National Library later this year, the arts quotient and vibrancy of the civic district is expected to be enhanced further for Singaporeans and for tourists alike. May I ask if there are any plans to create greater synergies among arts institutions here by linking up the Arts School with NAFA and other arts institutions perhaps via the through-train scheme for students?

Mr Charles Chong: Sir, I would like to thank the hon. Member who spoke before me for asking all the questions that I wanted to ask about the Arts School. I would just like to ask the Minister now whether the programmes for the Arts School have already been developed and, if so, could he provide some details to it? Perhaps, the Minister could also tell us what is the expected intake of this Arts School.

The Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Dr Lee Boon Yang): Mr Chairman, Sir, I thank the hon. Members for their comments and support for MICA's arts and heritage programmes. They have asked very thoughtful questions about what MICA is doing to develop the arts and to nurture a creative community. Before I answer these questions, let me put MICA's arts and heritage mission in perspective in the context of what we are ultimately trying to achieve as a nation and, at the same time, also to sketch a broad picture of the strategy that we need to achieve our mission. As the Prime Minister has set out during the debate on the President's Address, what we are working for is a better life for all, not just in economic terms alone, but also in having a nation

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"where everyone belongs, where each person has a role to play, and where all can live in dignity".

In the last decade, Singapore's sustained investments in the arts, heritage and cultural development have enhanced the quality of life for Singaporeans, young and old. Singapore has also become a more attractive city for international talents, and for business and leisure visitors alike. We have come a long way but we cannot claim to have arrived. We must continue to work on strengthening and enhancing our cultural capital to support economic development and distinctiveness as a global city. The competition is growing and it is not just about achieving economic competitive advantage. More importantly, we must continue to build a cohesive and resilient society firmly anchored to our history, our heritage and our shared values, a Singapore where Singaporeans are actively engaged in the community and able to express their creative energies.

Today, more and more Singaporeans are taking part in arts, heritage and cultural activities. Last year, more than 700,000 people visited our museums, of which two-thirds are Singapore residents. This is more than twice the number 10 years ago. Our arts and cultural events also attracted a growing audience. Many Singaporeans find these events entertaining, meaningful and stimulating. For example, last year, the Singapore Arts Festival attracted a record high of 916,000 people. Also, last year, about 5.8 million people visited the Esplanade, mostly Singaporeans. Many are justifiably proud of the Esplanade, not just for its unique architecture but also for the diversity of its programmes which have contributed to the vibrancy of the arts scene in Singapore. All this clearly indicates that more and more Singaporeans are showing an interest in "food for the soul".

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Sir, these are just some of the results of the programmes we have put in place over the years. All these efforts will continue. We are also setting up our first specialised Arts School, which I will say more about later. Beyond the Arts School, we will continue to build up the capacity of Singaporeans for lifelong learning in a globalised world. Here, the National Library Board will have a key role which the Senior Minister of State will explain later, when addressing other Members' questions.

Going forward, we will enhance our efforts to reach out to the people to deepen their appreciation and enjoyment of the arts. We will also encourage and support creative activities at the community level. This will be done in parallel with our effort to develop the creative industries and to generate new economic opportunities for Singaporeans. I will elaborate on this later. For our arts and creativity works to inspire and reach new heights, we must be inclusive and we must engage all Singaporeans. Sir, we have the potential and we have a rich heritage to work from. MICA will help Singaporeans to leverage on the arts and culture as we move into the next chapter of the Singapore story.

Sir, in terms of arts infrastructure, MICA recently announced our plans to transform the City Hall and Supreme Court Building into a world-class art gallery, as several Members have noted. This is a major project which highlights the Government's support for the arts. Just as the Esplanade has had a great impact on the performing arts scene, this new art gallery will also contribute to an even more vibrant visual arts scene.

Another strategic thrust by MICA is to help our more successful artists and arts companies gain recognition abroad. Indeed Singapore's efforts in globalisation must include our artists and our artistic

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community. Last year, the National Arts Council supported 45 artists and groups as they participated in major arts events around the world. This year, we are making a bigger mark on the international stage, through the on-going inaugural Singapore Season in London. Beyond London, the Singapore Season model will be used to showcase our talents and creativity to other major cities. In 2006, the Singapore Biennale will be launched and will connect Singapore to the international arts circuit, providing international and local artists opportunities for cross cultural exchanges.

Mr Chairman, Sir, I have given a broad outline of MICA's direction to develop the arts and heritage, nurture creativity, support life-long learning and present our arts and creativity to the world. MICA will actively pursue these programmes, projects and initiatives to achieve our vision of a creative people, a gracious community and a connected Singapore. Development and deployment of our cultural capital will result in a vibrant creative economy with more opportunities for our people. Sir, I will now proceed to address the issues raised by hon. Members.

First, Mr Seng Han Thong, Prof. Chin Tet Yung, Mr Charles Chong and Dr Ong Seh Hong sought information on MICA's effort to promote creativity at the community level. I am pleased to inform this House that we will launch a new initiative to support and nurture creativity among our people at the community level. We call this new initiative "Creative Community Singapore". The working title reflected in our Addendum to the President's Address was "Creative Town Initiative". We have decided that the title "Creative Community Singapore" better describes the mission of this initiative.

Creative Community Singapore will be launched in the second quarter of this year. MICA will allocate $10 million over three years, between financial years 2005

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and 2007 to support Creative Community Singapore. The objective is to provide opportunities for Singaporeans from all walks of life to express their creativity and deploy their creative energy for community benefit. Creative Community Singapore's aim is to build a creative and connected community where arts, culture, business and technology converge to empower and to engage individuals. Creativity Community Singapore will provide a variety of support, including funding to implement creative ideas.

Creative Community Singapore is steered by a partnership comprising members from the public, private and the people sector. The Community Development Councils (CDCs) have also taken a keen interest in Creative Community Singapore. The Community Development Councils are an effective outreach channel to engage and to meet the needs and expectations of the community. We are therefore very happy that all five Community Development Councils are part of the Creative Community Singapore partnership. They are helping us to ensure that this programme will better meet the needs of their residents.

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By supporting the realisation of creative ideas for the benefit of the community, Creative Community Singapore aims to touch more than 50,000 Singaporeans over the project period of three years. It will support the growth of the creative industry by recognising and enhancing the creative capabilities and skills of at least 5,000 Singaporeans. It will also support the creation of jobs and encourage business start-ups in creative areas. More importantly, Creative Community Singapore will instil confidence in Singaporeans to test out their creative ideas. We want to show that anyone, a 16-year old teenager, a retiree seeking to jazz up his retirement, a professional looking to a career switch, or

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a group of youth activists wanting to do something for the benefit of the community, they could have the opportunities to initiate and start projects which will benefit the community. Creative Community Singapore aims to inspire the community by encouraging social entrepreneurialship and showcasing how creativity could be beneficial and applicable to all. In addition, projects drawing inspiration from our home-grown creative capability, our culture and our heritage will certainly strengthen community bonding, national pride and also our sense of identity.

To answer Mr Charles Chong, MICA has already tested out the Creative Community Singapore concept on a small scale last year. We have attracted very encouraging response of 36 project proposals. 14 proposals were vetted. After vetting, 14 proposals were supported by the partnership and this first set of projects will be launched over the coming year. They will involve more than 15,000 people and provide training and skill enhancement to more than 1,000 participants.

Let me briefly describe some of these projects. Time does not permit me to cover all 14 of them. "Jam Series" is an idea proposed by a non-profit group of youth activists barely out of their teens. This group is called "Arts for Us All". This project will comprise a series of basking events, which address the point about high art and low art made by Prof. Chin. This basking event would be held in different parts of Singapore which aims to showcase our local musicians and talent and, at the same time, raise funds for charity and community work. The next one is "Saturday@Clementi Central". This is a Southwest CDC project, envisaging a monthly performance and arts bazaar to showcase local musical talent and providing budding entrepreneurs with opportunity to sell their own creative products. A third project is

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the "National Youth Poetry Slam Competition" organised by a company called "Wordforward Limited", a non-profit organisation, with a passion for this increasingly popular new literary art form, where people compete on writing and performing poetry. The competition aims to work with schools involving 99 youths and to reach out to an audience of about 12,000-15,000 students.

The Creative Community Singapore initiative also recognises the multitude of ways in which Singaporeans connect and form communities and would provide support for good creative ideas including those in cyberspace. An example of a cyberspace project that is supported is the Dream Factory. Dream Factory is an integrated web portal for youth to submit their creative ideas or their dreams in the creative industry and to receive guidance and mentorship to realise these dreams. Another example is Age-Invaders, a project that aims to combine technology and new media art into an interactive game to encourage young and old to play together in this interactive game. Such projects illustrate the multi-faceted ways in which Creative Community Singapore will reach out to the people in our heartlands.

So with the public launch of Creative Community Singapore in the second quarter of this year, we expect to see many more ideas and proposals to expose Singaporeans to the opportunities and the possibilities in the creative industry. Online projects, such as the one mentioned by Prof. Chin in his constituency, will certainly be considered for co-branding and even co-funding. I would urge Prof. Chin to get his community leaders to put up a proposal for the partnership to consider in due course.

Mr Chairman, Ms Irene Ng asked important questions about what needs to be done to create a museum-going,

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theatre-going and arts-loving people. Let me assure this House that as the Government continues to invest in our arts and heritage infrastructure, we would place equal importance on ensuring that Singaporeans could enjoy our arts, culture and heritage.

Ms Ng asked about the acquisition of local and regional artworks. The National Heritage Board has an acquisition budget which allows it to make selective purchases. She mentioned why is it that we do not have enough money to buy the collection from our foremost artist, Tan Swie Hian. The budget is there, but it is never enough. Funds for purchasing arts and heritage artifacts will never be enough and so it is up to the National Heritage Board to decide how they should deploy the budget. What I want to point out is that we do not rely on acquisitions alone to build up our national collection. In fact, the National Heritage Board works closely with patrons, donors and sponsors to build up our art collection. For example, last year we received from the Liu Kang family a substantial donation of the late Liu Kang's artworks, valued at more than $18 million. We also received a donation of 150 artworks from Mr Lim Tze Ping and his patron, Mr Koh Seow Chuan. As a result of these and many other donations, as well as careful acquisitions over the years, we now have an art collection of about 6,500 artworks, mainly local and Southeast Asian artworks.

Sir, having a good collection of artworks is not enough. We need to be plugged into the international arena, to expose Singaporeans to the richness of the world's cultures. This is why we have established close cultural cooperation with countries such as Malaysia, India, China and even further away, Turkey. We will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with a cultural organisation in the UK shortly. Such bilateral cultural cooperation enables

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us, for example, to stage, the exhibition "From the Lands of the Ottoman Sultans", at the Asian Civilisations Museum last year. I understand it was a very well received exhibition and they were good quality artifacts from the Ottoman Empire period.

Have we succeeded to attract visitors to our museums? I am pleased to highlight that more and more Singaporeans are appreciating the arts, and visiting museums. Visitorship to our national museums has increased by 43% over the past decade from 1993 to 2003. In addition, last year, more than 750,000 people attended the Heritage Festival performances and educational programmes conducted by the National Heritage Board to showcase, highlight and promote our heritage.

Sir, this trend is positive and encouraging. MICA will continue to support these outreach programmes for more Singaporeans to be appreciative of the arts, culture and heritage.

I agree with Ms Ng that MICA should encourage more public projects to enhance Singaporeans' sense of ownership. MICA supported many arts projects regardless of whether they are initiated by the public sector, the Government or by the private sector. Good examples of public art are the Land Transport Authority's Art-In-Transit project along the entire North-East MRT Line and the Singapore Tourism Board's presentation of SingArt - A Brush with Lions - in the city areas.

NAC encourages schools to engage artists to work with their students to paint murals for their schools or to brighten up the walls of neighbouring HDB apartment blocks. Increasingly, the corporate sector has been installing artworks in their buildings and offices to enhance their image, to increase the desirability of their premises and facilities and, of course, also to signal support for the arts. NHB has a

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scheme to provide double tax deduction for donation and display of sculptures in public places and also to encourage more companies to come forward, the same double tax deduction will apply, if corporations are prepared to adopt public sculptures, which they did not donate in the first instance, but adopt these public sculptures and pay for the upkeep and maintenance of these public sculptures.

To enhance Singaporeans' sense of ownership in our heritage institution, I just want to give one example from Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place. They have a scheme to encourage people to make a small donation of $200, upon which the donor's name would be inscribed on one of the bricks in the external walls of the museum. So if you go around the ACM at Empress Place today, you will see a lot of bricks with names engraved on them. These are in recognition of people who have made a small personal contribution. And I think these are ways which we will continue to engage our community, our people and build up a sense of ownership. I would ask the museums to continue to explore other avenues of enhancing this sense of ownership.

Mr Zainudin asked what are we doing to strengthen national resilience through our heritage and our culture. Sir, our heritage and culture play a very important role in defining and deepening our national identity. Hence, the National Heritage Board adopts a multi-dimensional approach to deepen appreciation of our history, recall and remind us of the adversities that our forefathers had to overcome and also our successes. National Heritage Board's programmes also bring to life the practices and traditions derived from our diverse cultural heritage which characterise our society and underpin our shared values. Such programmes have strengthened our social resilience and sense of nationhood, as noted by Mr Zainudin.

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Each year, NHB organises many activities to cater to different audiences. A good example is the HeritageFest, which I have just mentioned in response to Ms Irene Ng's remarks. This HeritageFest reached out to more than 600,000 people in July last year. During the course of the HeritageFest, Singaporeans had fun and became more aware of our heritage watching re-enactments of ethnic weddings, traditional wayang kulit, experiencing henna staining on their hands, and listening to old stories told in the old traditional street-corner storyteller sort of way. The event was held at various locations including shopping malls and bus interchanges. It attracted, as I said, 600,000 people from all walks of life. NHB is planning another HeritageFest this year which will build upon the experience of last year's event and will, hopefully, promote even greater awareness of our diversity in our culture and heritage.

2.45 pm

Sir, our museums are also presenting interesting exhibitions. We do conduct public talks and workshops to enable Singaporeans, especially children, to learn in a fun and interactive way.

For example, towards the end of last year, during the Botero exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum - the exhibition is still ongoing - after the children have gone through the exhibition, seen Botero's sometimes whimsical, inflated paintings and sculptures of people and animals, they were encouraged to draw pictures of animals. They were given the opportunity to display their paintings which got them even more excited. In the process, they had an opportunity to learn about Botero, why he has this characteristic style of presenting people and animals in an inflated way. They also learnt something about art.

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Mr Zainudin also asked whether technology is being used to bring heritage alive, make it even more compelling for the audience. I agree with him. I think we should do so, if we are not doing it. We are, in fact, exploiting every available technology to ensure that our museums are attractive and compelling and are always up to date. For instance, the Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place uses talking heads to guide visitors around the museum. So it is just not voice over recorded tape. You can actually have a video presentation to explain the artefacts and the exhibits.

Mr Loh Meng See also raised the same point about how we are going to present our exhibits in the National Museum when it re-opens in 2006. Let me assure both Mr Zainudin and Mr Loh Meng See that we will use the state-of-the-art technology in the new National Museum and in all our other museums to give visitors a more meaningful, lively and educational experience each time they visit our museums.

Sir, I fully agree with the comments made by Dr Ong Seh Hong and Dr Tan Boon Wan that Singapore's historical and cultural heritage, and our vibrant arts activities, should be appreciated by as many Singaporeans as possible, including our heartlanders. Besides the Heritage Festival which I had mentioned earlier, the National Heritage Board (NHB) organises other events to bring heritage to our heartlanders. If they do not go to the museums to experience our heritage, we bring our museums' contents to them.

I just like to mention two examples apart from the HeritageFest which I have cited earlier on. First, is the Heritage Express. In this project, NHB transformed two SMRT trains into "moving museums". These trains carried 102 information panels, brightly illustrated with good graphics and also notations, depicting different heritage themes. The routine journey of thousands of commuters from November 2003 to January 2004 became

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imperceptibly a heritage experience. We were bringing parts of the museum into commuters' daily travel. Without making any effort, they could see something and, hopefully, learn something. We hope that through such engagements, we can interest some of them to make a trip to the museum to see more of the artefacts which might have stimulated their interest.

Sir, another example is the Heritage on the Move, an interactive travelling exhibition depicting the myths and legends of Singapore, which reached out to 160,000 people last year. NHB will continue to explore new ways of promoting our heritage to our people.

NAC also has an active Arts Education Programme, which reaches out to students in more than 350 schools each year. In addition, more than 300 schools participate in NHB's Museum School Membership Scheme, which encourages student group visits to the museums and offers them the opportunity to have informative conducted tours to these museums.

Each year, the NAC also organises a variety of events such as the Concerts in the Park series to bring the arts to a wider audience for free. Last year, more than 100,000 people attended such events. NAC also partners grassroots organisations to bring the arts to the man-in-the-street. For example, NAC and Central Singapore CDC co-organised a street festival called "Arts@Tekka". This is an arts belt street festival. I will ask NAC to explore further collaborations with CDCs and to make more efforts to bring the arts to our people in the heartlands.

On making museum visits and arts performances more interesting and meaningful, I like to point out that we do offer customised packages catering to specific needs. This is to address the point made by Dr Tan Boon Wan. For

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example, Community Clubs and Residents Committees have visited the Asian Civilisations Museum, as part of the special "Harmony Tours" organised with the People's Association. I would urge more grassroots advisers to organise such tours to the ACM or some of the other museums, so that they bring their grassroots organisations' members and also their residents to learn something about our heritage.

Dr Tan Boon Wan suggested that we organise major outreach programmes to bring heartlanders to the museums, and to organise talks at the constituencies, before their museum visits. I will ask NHB to study Dr Tan's suggestion to organise pre-visit talks and to also explore other ways of attracting more people to our museums.

Sir, in the area of performing arts, I am pleased to note that more and more Singaporeans are showing keen interest. Dr Ong Seh Hong asked how many Singaporeans had actually benefited from the shows at the Esplanade. Last year, attendance at ticketed shows was more than 400,000, which means tickets were sold to more than 400,000 people to attend shows at the Esplanade. The Esplanade's survey showed that 77% of the audience at these shows were Singaporeans, and 46% of them were our heartlanders. So, obviously, our heartlanders have come to love the durian and are enjoying the fruit!

Dr Ong also asked for more smaller arts venues. I think this is a valid request. This is something which MICA and the National Arts Council are looking into. Members have already seen how we have increased the availability of smaller art venues by converting none other than our own Old Parliament House into an Arts House with small venues for recitals, experimental plays and small exhibitions. We will continue to look around to see how we can have such additional small

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venues for performances. I would like to inform the House that when the new National Library opens towards the end of this year, it will incorporate a new drama centre which will, in fact, provide a much needed venue for presentations that will attract a smaller audience.

Finally, Dr Tan suggested retaining the name of the National Museum. I am pleased to inform the House that the redeveloped Singapore History Museum at Stamford Road will revert to its original name, "National Museum of Singapore", when it re-opens in 2006. I agree with Dr Tan that the name "National Museum" is deeply embedded in the minds of Singaporeans, particularly the older generation. We certainly want the new and larger National Museum to have this link with the past. And many of the old exhibits that are in NHB's collection will certainly be presented in this new National Museum, but they will be presented in a more updated and contemporary context, so that it tells a more interesting story to our visitors.

Mr Loh Meng See asked what is MICA's strategy to promote the performing and visual arts. He also would like to know whether the arts reflect Singapore values, aspiration and heritage. Our strategy is to ensure that Singapore becomes an international hub, serving and benefiting from global economic network and business connections in the arts and, in the process, to offer many opportunities to our people.

Sir, we stand at the crossroad of East and West, North and South, where many cultures and influences meet. We cannot close our minds to the changes and the developments that are taking place around us and beyond our immediate region. Yet, we must remain firmly rooted to our Asian heritage and culture. This is our unique proposition. This is what will distinguish us.

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Our artists, whether performing or visual artists, must imbibe these values, even as they draw inspiration from external trends and developments. They must remain Singaporeans at heart so that their art will reflect our uniqueness and our national identity. They should tell the Singapore story through their artistic eyes and creative interpretation. Their commentaries and artistic insights should remain relevant to our ethos in order to contribute to our cultural capital.

3.00 pm

Indeed, Singapore's arts scene has acquired a buzz and attracted international attention. For example, since its opening, the Esplanade has received many accolades internationally, as noted by Mr Loh. Mr Loh has also commented that the challenge

is to fill up the seats in both the theatre and the concert hall in the Esplanade. I am pleased to inform the House that for the period between April last year to January this year, the Esplanade achieved an occupancy rate of 90% for the concert hall, and 83% for the theatre. I think this is an extremely good occupancy rate. Many hotels would love to enjoy such an occupancy rate. Many shows enjoyed sold-out performances, such as "Mamma Mia" and, before that, "Singing in the Rain" and, more recently, the flautist Sir James Galway's Concert. Not all sold-out shows are international. I hasten to point out that local shows have also put on good sold-out performances at the Esplanade. For example, the local acapella group "Budak Pantai" and concerts by our most famous jazz musician, Mr Jeremy Monteiro, enjoyed sold-out performances at the Esplanade. Of course, there were also shows that did not go down well. These include both international and local shows.

But this is a reflection of the variety of arts programming and shows that are available to Singaporeans today. Singaporeans have a lot to choose from. They

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can now choose from very popular performances to the more niche and experimental type. It also reflects the willingness of show presenters and promoters to stage new shows at the Esplanade and at our other performing arts venues, despite the risks of failure. And that is a good sign that we have more entrepreneurial promoters and impresarios who are prepared to make an investment to stage and promote shows, notwithstanding the business risks that they are taking.

We have to remember that the Esplanade is less than three years old. And, yet, it has already established a reputation as a place where big names in the international arts scene would like to perform. These big names are attracted here by the quality of the venue and the prestige associated with performing in the Esplanade in Singapore. The Esplanade has clearly contributed to a significant jump in the number of arts activities in Singapore, including both local and international shows.

Our local performers have benefited from this new dynamism. Some are able to stand their ground on the international stage and have been invited to participate in many international arts festivals, eg, Jacintha, the very well-known singer and Wild Rice, the theatre company, were invited to perform at the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, going along with several other Singaporean artists, performers, ceramic artist Iskandar Jalil, and writers. MICA is committed to help more of our accomplished artists to present their works on the international stage.

In January this year, Singapore sculptor, Miss Han Sai Por was a prize winner at the XIth Indian Triennale in New Delhi. Her works were presented along with works from 33 other countries. There were only 10 prizes awarded for

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the Triennale with artists coming from 33 countries. She was one of the 10 prize winners. So NAC would play an active role in supporting and securing participation of Singapore artists in major arts exhibitions and arts festivals in China, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Korea, India and many other cities in the world.

Sir, promoting Singapore arts and culture on the international stage will remain a key priority in our strategy for making Singapore a Global City for the Arts. Hence, MICA has launched a major cultural diplomacy initiative called the Singapore Season. This is to present Singapore as not just another business city, albeit a successful business city, but also a city for the arts to the international audience. The on-going Singapore Season, taking place in London, is the prototype of our cultural diplomacy. It is a concerted effort to showcase Singapore's artistic and cultural achievements. Prominent Singapore artists and arts companies are being featured in prestigious venues in London. Singapore Season brings together the Singapore Dance Theatre, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Tang Quartet, theatre maestro Ong Keng Seng, painter/calligrapher Tan Swie Hian and many others for a six-week festival. In total, 250 artists and performers are involved in the Singapore Season. On top of the arts programme, we have added several other events designed to present Singapore in a holistic manner to enhance our image as a land of opportunity with an integrated work, live, play and learn environment. In the future, other key cities will be identified for the Singapore Season, where artists, with proven track record, will be our cultural ambassadors and will be given the opportunity to showcase their works. Sir, I believe that such exposure to international audience, at times a critical audience, will challenge our artists and performers to attain a higher level of artistic excellence and creativity.

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Looking ahead, MICA has several new projects to involve more Singaporeans and to broaden their interest and appreciation of the performing and visual arts. One new project is the Singapore Art Show, scheduled for September of this year. This is an art exhibition for both outstanding and up-and-coming local artists to showcase their latest works from various genres and media. We are also planning a River Arts Mart to provide a platform for creative and artistic talents to showcase and sell their best original arts and crafts. Next year, the inaugural Singapore Biennale, which is an international visual arts event, will enhance Singapore's presence in the regional and international arts scene. It will serve to plug Singapore into the international art circuit and enhance our status as a Global City for the Arts. NAC will continue to deliver an improved programming at our annual Festival of Arts and collaborate with partners to present new events in performing arts. I understand that, for this year's Arts Festival, NAC has made special arrangements for advance booking for their key performances, such as "Swan Lake" by the Royal Ballad of UK and a concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra. They had put out tickets for these events for advance sale. I have been told that tickets have been selling very well. In fact, for these two particular events, I have been informed that about 60% of the tickets have already been pre-sold. So you can see that, obviously, there is a demand and there are many Singaporeans who are interested in the arts. They are prepared to pay to attend such performances and they will continue to support such performances.

Let me now turn to MICA's plan to transform the City Hall and Supreme Court Building into a major art gallery. I thank Mr Loh Meng See and Mr Zainudin for their support of this proposal. This gallery will reflect Singapore's artistic

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development and achievements. More importantly, it will enable us to showcase the works of artists who had made an impact on the development of art in our journey to nationhood. This new gallery will enable us to present our extensive collection of South East Asian art. We will also be able to devote significant space to host major international arts exhibitions to reinforce Singapore's position as an arts hub in the region. By locating the new art gallery in these two very important and historic buildings, we will also be making them more accessible to Singaporeans. Through such visits, many more people will better understand the historic events which took place in and around these buildings. Like the Musee D'Orsay in Paris, cited by Mr Zainudin, and the Esplanade, mentioned by Mr Loh, the new art gallery has great potential to be another inspiring cultural icon for Singapore.

Prof. Ivan Png questioned whether we need another museum. I agree with him that, in a cultural institution, it is not a question of building it and people will come. It is building, providing the facilities, having the infrastructure and making the effort to attract an audience. One cannot presume that people will turn up on their door step. As I explained earlier on, that philosophy underpins MICA's arts and heritage programme, that means, we have active outreach programmes to reach out to our people and the community to tell them about what is going on, to encourage them to come and visit, to interest them in the events that are taking place in our museum and various arts venues.

I believe Prof. Ivan Png asked about the attendance in terms of per square metre of space, how does it compare with well-known major art museums elsewhere. I am glad to inform this House that if we take Prof. Png's measurement, actually we compare quite well. The Singapore Art Museum received 172,771 visitors in 2004, which means 115

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visitors per square metre of exhibition space. This is higher than, say, the National Gallery of Australia which, by the same yardstick, had 53 visitors per square metre and the celebrated Musee D'Orsay in Paris had 103 visitors per square metre. Yes, of course, we are still below that of the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Before its closure for renovation, the MOMA in New York received 152 visitors per square metre. That is the target that we should be shooting for. Here, I would like to point out that, although Prof. Png mentioned that visitorship to the Singapore Art Museum has been falling, I think this must be seen in perspective. It did come down some years. But the visitorship to the museum could become lumpy because of the ability and capacity to mount major international exhibitions. That is why from year to year, there can be a significant difference. I would expect, like this year, we have got an increase in visitorship compared to last year because we have mounted an exhibition of "Ju Ming". We also have got the ongoing Botero exhibition and Russell Wong, our celebrated Singapore photographer. So we have attracted a lot more visitors. So there is certain lumpiness in the visitorship. We have to look at it on a more long term basis. It also become a chicken and egg question. If you have a very small museum, you are not able to mount a major exhibition, then you are less likely to succeed in attracting a big crowd.

So I like to point out that the Singapore Art Museum is in fact a very small museum - just 1,500 square metres of exhibition space, compared to the 17,500 square metres in the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. So it would naturally translate into a higher visitor per square metre ratio. I hasten to add that we should not be too complacent because we have a better visitor per square metre ratio compared to Musee D'Orsay. In fact, because it is very small size, as I

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said earlier, there is a limit to the kind and scale of exhibition that the Singapore Art Museum can organise which will draw a higher attendance of both Singaporeans and also tourists.

This space limitation is, in fact, a key constraint and that is one reason why we need to develop better facilities, a newer but differentiated art gallery to serve our own people as well as to increase the buzz in the city. So the City Hall and Supreme Court Building offer us an unique opportunity to develop a new and major cultural institution. I have explained earlier on in response to Ms Irene Ng how we have built up a strong collection of Singapore, Southeast Asian and other artworks over the years.

We have, as I said, 6,500 pieces of artworks in our collection. Hon. Members may be surprised to know that the Singapore Art Museum, with its 1,500 square metres, can only display about 200 pieces of artwork at any one time. That is going to take a long time for us to turn over our collection, as a result of which, much of our collection is not seen and cannot be appreciated by our people. On top of that, because of the space limitation, Singapore Art Museum is constrained when it reaches out to the international art exhibition circuit to try to attract major art exhibitions to Singapore. We do not have the space to do justice to these major international art exhibitions.

3.15 pm

Sir, Singaporeans' interest in the arts has grown over the years. I believe it is timely for us to have a bigger art gallery to cater to the growing needs and to add to the buzz in our city.

Sir, both Mr Seng Han Thong and Mr Charles Chong asked for an update on the development of the Arts School. Last year, also in the Committee of Supply, I informed this House that the Government had agreed to set up a pre-tertiary Arts School for artistically talented students

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aged between 13 and 18 to pursue an integrated arts and academic programme.

Sir, we have made good progress since then. In May 2004, MICA appointed a Steering Committee comprising private, public and people sector representatives from the arts and education communities to oversee the implementation of the Arts School Project. I am pleased to announce that the Steering Committee, after a comprehensive search, has appointed Mrs Rebecca Chew as the Principal-designate for the School. The Steering Committee found Mrs Chew, with her track record and training in education and the arts, very suitable to help plan and manage the School. Currently, Mrs Chew is the principal of Naval Base Secondary School. She is both an accomplished educator and administrator who has been a strong advocate for arts education throughout her career. We have started involving her in the planning for the Arts School and she will take on the role in a full-time capacity in December this year.

Sir, I am also pleased to announce that the Steering Committee has selected a site at Kirk Terrace, flanked by Cathay Building and Paradiz Centre for the School. Kirk Terrace is just at the beginning of Selegie Road. With such a location, the school will find synergy with the rich cultural and knowledge resources in the vicinity, such as the museums, the arts colleges, arts centres, Singapore Management University and the new National Library. The location will provide the students with a dynamic and inspiring environment for creativity and learning. The Committee has started work on the design of the School.

Mr Seng Han Thong asked if the School will be ready by 2007 and what facilities will be provided. The Committee on the Specialised Arts School had earlier proposed that the School start in 2007.

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After careful consideration, the Steering Committee has decided to target for a January 2008 opening to allow more time to design and build the School and to develop its curriculum before receiving the first intake of students. The Arts School will be designed to provide an academic programme, together with all the visual arts, music, dance and drama studios and related facilities for the arts curriculum.

Mr Seng also asked about the School's intake criteria and whether the School will benefit both local and foreign students. In terms of admission criteria, artistic talents and interest will be of paramount importance, and intending students will be auditioned or will be required to produce their portfolio in the case of visual arts, to qualify for admission. Prospective students will also be assessed academically for their ability to achieve the International Baccalaureate qualification which the school is offering. As for student profile, the vast majority of the students will be Singaporeans, as the Arts School is part of our national education system. However, we can also expect the School to attract and accept some students from around and beyond Asia. This is particularly important for the Arts School and its students. The arts and creativity thrive upon diversity, and cross-cultural interactions contribute to this process. The Arts School will provide its graduates - our future artists, creative professionals, and arts supporters - with the benefits of interactions and engagements with cultures other than our own during their development stage. This will be good for our young artistic talents.

With regard to Mr Seng's suggestion for the Arts School to facilitate entry of its students to institutions, such as NAFA and LaSalle, MICA will consider this idea. The Arts School's main focus is to prepare students for the International Baccalaureate. But if some of the students want to go on to NAFA and LaSalle,

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we will explore with these institutions how we can have a formal linkage to facilitate such movements.

Sir, to sum up, the arts and culture have done well over the past decade. Singapore is now a more vibrant and engaging city. MICA has developed and implemented a clear and targeted strategy to promote the arts and culture. This will continue to enrich the quality of life of our citizens and strengthen our national identity and resilience. I thank hon. Members once again for their support of our programmes and projects.

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 3.40 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 3.21 pm until 3.40 pm.

Sitting resumed at 3.40 pm

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Head Q (cont.) -

Literary Arts

Dr Ong Seh Hong: ( In Mandarin ): Sir, many literary artists or writers in Singapore are having the feeling that the Government has placed too much emphasis on promoting the performing and visual arts, at the expense of the literary arts. I believe writers in the Malay, Tamil and English languages share

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the same sentiments. I hope the Government would give them help in the following aspects:

(1) Financial assistance;

(2) Space for activities and promotion of the literary arts; and

(3) Endorsement and recognition of literary arts.

When Chinese writers publish their works, conduct activities and attend international conferences overseas, they rarely receive any support from the National Arts Council. Invariably, they have to dig from their pockets to pay for participating in these activities. For example, once in a few years, they would organise the ASEAN Literary Camp. They have to raise their own funds to organise such activities. I hope the Government could provide funds for local literary arts bodies, such as the Singapore Literary Society, the Writers' Associations, etc, so that they could organise more local and international activities, and publish more local works. These works can then be promoted in the HDB heartlands, schools, and even exported to foreign markets.

On more space to promote literary arts, I hope the Government would consider allowing some disused Government buildings to be used by these literary organisations. We should encourage libraries, schools, community clubs and the media to cooperate with the local literary arts organisations. In addition, more local writings should be included in the curriculum of our school and in the textbooks.

On endorsement and recognition, in Malaysia, our neighbour, the Chinese literary circle has been holding the "Hua Zhong Literature Award" for many years, and it has become an international award, attracting literary works from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In comparison, we

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have not had such an award. I urge the Government to support the holding of a National Literature Contest to encourage and reward local writers. Moreover, distinguished writers could be awarded National Day Awards. There used to be a vibrant Chinese literary scene in the past, with high standards. In fact, Singapore was, at one time, termed as the vanguard of Southeast Asian Chinese literature.

National Library

Mr Loh Meng See: Sir, first, on the subject of the National Library. Singapore aspires to be the centre of learning in the region. We are also interested to develop the education sector. We see a growing number of universities and learning institutions,

both local and overseas branches, being set up here. These give our students more choices in the variety of courses and in attracting foreign students from the region and beyond.

The National Library can play the pivotal role in enhancing the spirit of learning in Singapore. It is a significant symbol in our nation's drive for knowledge and learning. The new National Library building due for completion this year will give a further boost in encouraging Singaporeans to cultivate the interest and passion for learning and reading widely.

We have read from press reports of survivors in the recent tsunami disaster on how their lives were saved because of the geographical knowledge and survival instincts.

Our educational system is increasingly focusing on the core curriculum and the National Library can augment the learning as an important and useful information and resource centre. We wish to encourage students and the public to explore and learn new fields to broaden

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their minds, living and working in the globalised world. The National Library is able to give access to our people the wealth of knowledge built over the years.

Sir, there is a new trend towards "reality TV" programmes, like the Survivors, Amazing Race and the Apprentice. These are new trends in TV programming, using ordinary people behaving in different situations, and this mode has attracted world-wide audiences. Sir, interactivity is a new method of attracting interest. I just wonder how much of these interactive features will be replicated in attracting more people to our libraries and use the facilities.

As we encourage more Singaporeans to learn, to listen and to speak but not read Chinese and Malay languages, the National Library needs to adapt to this requirement and to provide for more audio facilities for those who choose to listen rather than to read. Will these be accommodated in the library facilities?

Singapore will be celebrating its 40th year of independence this year. We have over the years, books written by Singaporean authors and biographies featuring Singaporeans on their work and their lives. We need to celebrate the contributions of these Singaporeans towards nation-building through the books written. We should also be interested in foreign books written about Singapore and understand the perspective of others have of us. I hope the National Library can over time build up a collection of these precious resources, whether books and other materials, so that subsequent generations of Singaporeans can appreciate the contributions of Singaporeans, past and present, and the development of Singapore as a nation.

I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: What are the plans for the new National Library building which will be completed sometime this year? How will this library contribute to

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our lifelong learning strategy and help our citizens to prepare for the challenges of the rapid changes and transformations taking place in the world around us? Will the role of the regional libraries change in the process? What new activities and materials can the public expect in the new library? Can we look towards having the National Library being connected to the top libraries of the world?

Challenges in the ICT Sector

Sir, the next subject is on the challenges in the ICT sector. Since the article, entitled "Does IT Matter" appeared in the Harvard Business Review, it started the intense debate in the press and journals on the value of IT investment and the benefits derived from the never-ending heavy IT investment that could be more hype than real.

We have seen the waves of IT innovation from the years of development in phases over the years and, recently, the focus has been on the adoption and use of IT applications and the infrastructure to support them. Instead of installing them on their own, the option of outsourcing IT infrastructure is becoming more common using the "utility" model to buy IT services. Indeed, corporations have become increasingly vigilant and attentive to ensuring that there is a business case for IT investment and track the performance to ensure that the purported benefits are realised.

The consumers in Singapore, however, have been more carefree in their spending on mobile phones and portable devices. We have now a phenomenal penetration rate of 97% on mobile phones in Singapore. We recently saw the highly successful nation-wide 3G network roll-out which I believe surpassed the expectation of the three mobile operators.

IT security risk and invasion of privacy are still areas of concern to Singaporeans. The press report of the weakness of the

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Social Development Unit (SDU) portal does not help in giving confidence to the users. Those who have given personal information feel exposed when breaches take place. This was explained as an isolated incident. But more can be done to ensure the integrity of the system and make very secure that private and confidential information contained in any system is not easily accessed by others and by determined hackers.

In recent years, there was near-stagnation in global IT spending, but Singapore was able to grow in this highly competitive ICT sector. The outlook seems bright, considering the rise in global IT spending by companies and governments. The purchase of personal computers by companies and individuals is expected to increase. This augurs well for the players in this sector.

I am pleased to read the report of Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) that Singapore is the world's fourth most attractive outsourcing location and ranked first based on the number of offshoring projects relative to population. With this, we are successful in keeping jobs in Singapore. It shows that we could still be very competitive even though we are a high cost location. It is the total value that businesses look for and not just on cost alone. It is important that we build a critical mass in this area so that we can enjoy further economies of scale.

I wish to ask the Minister:

(1) Are there ample growth opportunities in the ICT sector in Singapore? What is being done to capture a larger share of the ICT market, both in Singapore and in the region?

(2) What is the Government doing to connect homes and increase the level of Internet usage and web applications among Singaporeans?

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(3) Do we have enough IT professionals to support the ICT sector and what more could be done to provide training and learning opportunities for Singaporeans who want to deepen their knowledge in IT to maximise the features and power of the personal computers?

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Mr Chairman, the proliferation of digital media or new media is a testimony of their popularity, especially among youths. With the current availability of infrastructure, we see advancement at blazing speed of media formats - mobile devices, weblogs, SMS, MMS, video streaming and many more.

Sir, the technology for network convergence or the combining of voice, data and video networks into a single system is already in use and within reach for the masses. With the inevitable convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology, the abuse of technology could cause undesirable social changes. We must be prepared to face the challenges in the regulation of converging media technology. I echo the concern of Mr Loh Meng See about the security, safety and privacy of users. We must also build our capabilities and capacities to manage this onslaught.

I would like to ask the Minister: what are the challenges faced by the authority with this new media and what is being done to build capabilities and capacities to tackle such problems?

I would also like to know whether such new media have been used for illegal purposes. And if there is, what can be done to prevent the technology from being used as such?

The Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts (Dr Balaji Sadasivan): Sir, I want to thank the hon. Members, Dr Ong Seh Hong, Mr

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Loh Meng See and Mr Zainudin Nordin for their cuts.

2005 will be an exciting year for book-lovers because a new National Library building will open its doors to the public. Mr Loh Meng See has noted the importance of reading and the pivotal role of the library and asked how the library will serve the public.

The new National Library building will have something for everyone. It will offer a greater access to printed and digital collections, and a wide variety of reading materials and learning programmes which will cater to young and old Singaporeans. To answer Mr Loh, there will be audio materials.

The new library building is hardware to serve the reading public. It needs a new energised management to serve as software. I am pleased to inform the House that the NLB has just completed its five-year strategic plan or L2010. Under this plan, the National Library will offer users access to knowledge, help users build up their ability to assimilate knowledge, be it to satisfy their curiosities for personal development or for research.

As NLB continues to inculcate a reading culture amongst Singaporeans, it would also help users of our libraries to actively deploy the acquired knowledge for personal, social or economic benefit. That is why the new NLB building will also house facilities like the new Drama Centre of the National Arts Council and facilities that will inspire learning and knowledge application such as an observatory pod, a programming zone, exhibition spaces, living gallery and an events plaza. Over time, I expect the new NLB building to become an icon of learning and knowledge in Singapore.

I am also happy to report on a major development within the National Library building. The new National Library will

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incorporate a new and major research institution - the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. The establishment of the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library was made possible by the generous contribution of the Lee Foundation of $60 million to the NLB. The LKC Reference Library will occupy most of the space in one of the blocks at the new National Library. It will offer a collection of 500,000 items. This reference collection will focus on a wide range of topics from business to the arts.

It will have a Singapore and Southeast Asian collection, a point that Mr Loh noted, the importance of collecting books on our local heritage.

Mr Loh Meng See also asked about the connectivity and networking of the library to complement the printed material collection. NLB would be increasing its electronic material collection from 36 databases, almost double the 19 databases, it offered in 2004, to provide users with more information resource through its digital library services.

Over the past three years, NLB has signed MOUs with several libraries overseas, allowing it to widen its access to collections outside Singapore.

4.00 pm

Finally, Mr Loh Meng See also asked if the role of the existing regional libraries will change. I would like to reassure him that our regional libraries will continue to play their important role. The libraries in NLB's network complement one another and are located in different parts of Singapore to reach out to the community, thereby making it more convenient for Singaporeans to access the knowledge of the world.

Ms Irene Ng and Dr Ong Seh Hong were concerned about another aspect of books, namely, the writers of books, the literary artists. A few weeks ago, at a function, I was urged by a well-meaning

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Singaporean that we should do more for our Chinese literary artists. So I asked him when was the last time he bought a book of Chinese fiction written by a local author. He was stumped by the question and he said he read the Chinese newspapers but was too busy to read Chinese fiction.

Our literary artists, whether writing in English, Chinese, Malay or Tamil, need people to buy their books. That is the real support they need. In a globalised world, this is a difficult challenge. Chinese writers compete in the market with writers from China and Taiwan, Malay writers with those from Malaysia and Indonesia. Tamil writers from those in Tamil Nadu. And those who write in the English language, they have to compete with everybody, with writers from the whole world, because famous authors who write their works in a non-English language would have their works translated into English. Writers now serve a global market, and the same book, the Da Vinci Code, is the best seller in Singapore and many countries around the world, including non-English speaking countries.

Singapore literary artists must write for the regional and global audience. Some Singapore writers have succeeded in doing this. Eugene and Yen Puay Noi in the Chinese language, Abdul Ghani and Masuri in the Malay language, J M Sali in the Tamil language, are well-known overseas. Tan Tee Hwee's second novel, Memo Inc, was internationally acclaimed and was on the W H Smith's top 20 Best Sellers list in Asia for more than two months.

MICA has schemes to help and encourage Singapore literary talent. The idea is to give them an opportunity to get a start, so that Singaporeans with the talent of Dan Brown, the author of the Da Vinci Code, would have an opportunity to emerge and take their place on the regional and global literary scene. MICA

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supports the local literary arts scene through programmes managed by the National Arts Council (NAC). The NAC provides financial assistance to writers through publishing grants, training and travel grants, as well as project grants for literary arts events and projects. In FY 2004, financial assistance to writers through these grants increased by 16%. So in reply to Dr Ong's request for aid to writers, I am happy to let him know that last year, $325,000 was given to literary artists to support their work. In addition, we are also helping them with housing. The NAC supports the literary arts, through the Arts Housing Scheme, which subsidises arts premises to literary arts groups, such as the Sin Sheng Poet Society and the Association of Singapore Tamil Writers.

Dr Ong also suggested a literature award for writers. I am pleased to inform the House that last year, NAC supported the National Book Development Council in organising the annual Singapore literature prize. In addition, NAC organises the biennial NAC-SPH Golden Point Award, which provides a national platform by identifying literary arts talent in the four official languages.

Sir, Mr Loh Meng See was concerned about the health of the infocomm sector and asked if Singapore's IT sector could grow when there was near stagnation in global IT spending. I am happy to say that our IT sector is healthy. Singapore's infocomm industry remains one of the key engines of growth for the economy. The pipeline for investments remains strong. Last year, the infocomm and media cluster was the second strongest contributor to investment commitments in the service industry, with $647 million in business spending, generating $1.3 billion in total value-add and 3,000 professional and skilled jobs. Revenues from the infocomm sector are expected to grow by

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6% in 2004 to $34.7 billion and to grow by 7.4% this year to $37.3 billion. The number of infocomm professionals employed is expected to grow by 3% to more than 108,000 in the coming year.

There are new growth opportunities in the infocomm sector, as pointed out by Mr Loh. Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a growth area and we have enjoyed success in this area. As pointed out by Mr Loh, Singapore is ranked No. 1 in the world for offshore projects per million population and ranked 6th globally in absolute numbers. Our high quality telecoms infrastructure, conducive regulatory environment, and well-educated workforce make us a very competitive location for higher-end outsourcing processes and services. These include business continuity, disaster recovery, IT strategy and security implementation.

The use of infocomm technologies is pervasive in Singapore. Singapore's Internet penetration rate is one of the highest in the world, with two out of every three households and three out of every four companies, having access to the Internet. More than 42% of households have a broadband connection.

Mr Zainudin has pointed out that the technologies IT and media sectors are converging and asked what MICA is doing about that. The next few years will be exciting ones, with opportunities for the innovative as the telecoms, broadcast and media and IT sectors converged. Convergence could very well shake up all the sectors. But the shake-up will provide opportunities for those who are innovative. For the consumers, convergence holds exciting promises. Some time in this exciting future, on a mobile one could talk to another person in New York at a fraction of the cost today because the voice information would be digitalised and sent across the Internet using VOIP technology. Or, one could watch the news or a movie on one's handphone or

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plug one's handphone on a plasma screen to watch a movie - a service that could be provided by one's telecoms operator. Or one could have wireless broadband through WIMAX, a service provided by one's broadcaster.

The infocomm, media, and broadcast sectors are overlapping and merging. To promote growth in this new merged sector, MICA and its statutory boards, the IDA and the MDA have adopted a multi-pronged strategy. IDA has been actively facilitating the deployment of infrastructure that will enable Singapore to employ these new technologies.

Sir, young people today could look forward to an exciting world that technology is creating for them. Sir, some Members may remember the excitement we enjoyed during our National Service days playing "Space Invaders" at the canteen in SAFTI. Young people today have not heard of "Space Invaders". They play computer games on Playstation 2 in near virtual reality with movie screen quality images. Members in this House communicate with email. The young talk to the world on blog sites. We think in terms of SDU to meet new people. They link up to the Third Degree on Friendster. It is a really cool world for young people.

While these technological advances are exciting, we must protect the vulnerable young from being exploited and prevent technology from being used for illegal purposes. To address these challenges, MDA already has in place a light touch class licence regulatory framework that ensures the industry maintains some minimum standards with regard to the Internet, SMS, MMS, and other forms of new media services. We also have deterrent legislation like the Computer Misuse Act and the Penal Code to prevent the illegal use or abuse of such technologies. MICA also intends to introduce a legislation to control spam this year. But there is a limit to what

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legislation could do in an environment where information travels across borders in bits and bytes. We need to educate parents and children to become more discerning and responsible end-users. We also need to educate organisations to pay more attention to security and the use of the same default passwords on the SDU website was a contributing factor to the lapse in security at that site. So MDA is working with companies and volunteer groups like Parents Advisory Group for the Internet (PAGi) and Touch Community Services. To help the community deal with Internet security, MDA has provided over $2.3 million in funding support for activities and programmes that help the community deal with dangers on the Internet.

Sir, the infocomm and media sectors offer great opportunities for our economy and new exciting lifestyles for our young. With the light regulatory touch, MICA's goal is to maximise these opportunities and minimise the downside. I have presented an overview. In our digital age, for more information, Members could log on to www.mica.gov.sg. I thank the Members for their cuts.

Media Development Authority Programme

Dr Ong Seh Hong: Sir, one lesson we learned during post-tsunami relief was the diminishing and diluting of Singaporean's ability to converse in Malay, as commented by Minister Mentor. I quote, "Up to the 1970s, in our markets and hawker centres, bazaar Malay was the lingua franca . Everyone could understand and speak some Malay because of our bilingual policy. Today, the lingua franca is English or Singlish. Few non-Malays can understand or speak Bahasa. We must remedy this."

Sir, what could we do to bring back some of the warmth of the kampong days when everyone could communicate in a little of each other's language? Sir, one

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way I think is to learn Malay through TV programmes. However, I was a little surprised when I found out that there is only a free-to-air Malay channel, Suria. My grassroots leaders have pointed out that even if they apply to pay television such as cable TV, there is only one Indonesian and one Malaysian channel, supplying them programmes with a setting and content not entirely familiar to them. The lack of more Malay television channels also undermines the effort of the community to promote Malay language and culture. The call for an additional Malay channel is not to reduce the importance of Suria. On the contrary, it highlights the important role played by television. In the earlier years of Singapore, television shows featuring P Ramlee could be appreciated by almost all Singaporeans. Maybe it is high time to promote the use of the Malay language through more entertaining and easy-to-understand Malay television progammes. The new channel should also focus on bringing in more educational programmes like Discovery and Animal Planet channels dubbed in Malay.

Sir, in this light, I urge the Media Development Authority to consider promoting the setting up of an additional Malay language television channel.

Radio Airtime

Ms Eunice Elizabeth Olsen (Nominated Member): Sir, Singapore is trying to develop its creative industries. Animation, film, TV and video, scriptwriting and even games are getting the best clothes to go to the grand ball known as Media Hub. But, left behind among the cinders and ashes is our own version of Cinderella - local music.

To a local musician like me, even though my CD is only sold overseas, only a fairy godmother could help the local music scene to take off. How could it,

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when our radio stations hardly play local songs, especially English ones?

There is some hope. Our Prime Minister, no less, has called for diversity and urged our youths to follow their passions. So, would Cinderella get her just rewards after slogging so hard? She has what it takes.

Last year, several local musicians performed at the first "Made in Singapore" concert. A friend of mine was duly impressed and told me our musicians just need a platform to be heard. I am very happy to hear that Creative Community Singapore would further encourage projects like Jam Series by Arts for Us All. Anyway, along came a pumpkin-turned-stagecoach called Singapore Idol, which carried Taufik Batisah to the crown, with lots of support. The lesson is clear. To succeed, Singaporeans need opportunities. To follow our passions, we need space.

There is space on TV. MDA supports local programming because it is socially relevant and creates national identity. Local music does the same. So, why not have local content requirements for radio airplay? I would like to ask if MDA could look into this.

In theory, some might think the direction of the local music industry should be market driven. But that is a vicious cycle. Fixed playlists mean local musicians could not compete fairly, even if they wanted to. Radio airplay is the most influential factor in music purchases. The public is more interested in a band whose songs they have heard on the radio. It gives them something to identify with and makes them perceive the band as successful.

And should cultural imperatives be left entirely to the market? In practice, the quota system works for the music industry. Canada, South Africa, France

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and Australia introduced quotas. Musical infrastructure, royalty payments and domestic sales grew, some to record highs.

Musicians had more resources and incentives to produce better music. Quotas increased as more local music could be supported. It is a virtuous cycle. Germany, on the other hand, rejected quotas. Its music industry shrank and it is now having a rethink.

Whether it is a voluntary system, as in New Zealand, a minimum percentage of hours a week, or number of songs per clock hour, as in the Philippines, the mechanism could be worked out. There are many options, even a tier-system for different genres. We could consult the stakeholders. I would be happy to take ownership and get involved, as long as we consider the idea and do not dismiss it out of hand. Else, talk of diversity and following our passions would turn to ashes.

Captioning of TV News

Sir, I was very happy when the Prime Minister, at his swearing-in, held up a caring and inclusive society as part of his vision for Singapore. Hence, I would like to raise an old issue, which under the new dispensation should be looked at more kindly.

The hearing-impaired community would love to feel included, and part of Singapore. One crucial way to do this is via TV captioning or subtitling of the news and other programmes. Many people think mistakenly that the issue is about access to information.

We have newspapers, Teletext, the Internet, as they say. But reading the newspapers, like surfing the Net, is a solitary activity. Watching TV, however, can be a shared and favourite pastime, especially among families. Just imagine if you were to go home tonight and find your family

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enjoying a TV show. What if you cannot share in that moment because you cannot hear and you cannot understand what is happening?

4.15 pm

TV captioning is about equal participation in society. It is about integrating the hearing impaired into our society. It has been said that not having captioning or subtitling is like a blind person not being able to read Braille.

So, for a start, I would like to ask whether MDA can ensure that the daily local news on all channels have either subtitles or captions. Please consider that we are an ageing population. Almost 400,000 or 11% of our population are 60 years and above. The elderly are the fastest growing category of individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Captioning would also help the overall development and education of our hearing-impaired children. There are about 5,300 people registered with the Singapore Association for the Deaf. The total number of hearing impaired here probably is higher. This is similar to New Zealand, which has a smaller population base and 7,700 hearing-impaired people. Yet, it captions at least 65 hours of programming a week. Australia has a Bill that requires above seven hours of captioned programmes daily, including the news and current affairs shows. In 2010, all programmes are to be captioned.

What do we have, save for one-off occasions like the National Day Rally? It is one thing to say we consider the needs of our hearing-impaired. It is another to provide for it.

While costs may be a concern, there are more options now than before. Newsrooms are becoming electric. Scripts can be entered into a computer network and broadcast as captions. If

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needed, breaking news can be excluded, given the greater difficulties. Advertisers can come on board to generate goodwill. MDA collects $95 million in annual radio and TV licences to pay for public service broadcasting and support national and community interests. We could use this. Maybe each channel could select one show each week to caption too.

The point is, let us have something, anything, on a long-term basis. We are limited only by our creativity and political will. I would be most happy to work with MDA to enact a Bill on this, if necessary.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Encik Yatiman Yusof): Sir, I would like to thank Dr Ong Seh Hong for raising the question of the need to have Malay language programming for cable TV.

In Singapore's broadcast landscape, Malay TV and radio audiences are served by Suria, a Malay TV channel, and two radio stations (Warna and Ria) operated by MediaCorp. StarHub Cable Vision has two channels targeted at Malay viewers. These are TV1 from Malaysia and the Indonesian channel TVRI.

Suria has done well in catering to the needs of the Malay community. Its programme has grown and improved over the past five years. Suria's strength is in the local programmes. It provides news, current affairs, children's drama, and variety programmes. These programmes are funded by MDA, which provided $17.4 million last year.

We have taken note of Dr Ong's suggestion on having more Malay programming on cable TV. While there are already Malay programmes on both Suria and also SCV, we agree that the programming could be improved to

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provide viewers with greater variety and choice. This will require investment in content and programming by the cable operator. If SCV finds it viable and is able to offer another pay cable channel with programming for the Malay community, it should work with MDA who will consider the application on its merits, including the ability to provide localised and differentiated programming to cater to the needs of the Malay community.

Let me now move to the question of giving radio air-time for local musicians raised by Ms Olsen. Sir, our Singapore radio stations do provide a respectable amount of air-time representing the music of local artistes. The newly-launched Lush 99.5 FM station has a dedicated weekday 7 to 10 am time belt which features local musicians. Power 98, in its Sunday 5 to 7 pm slot, also features local musicians.

The Chinese stations Y.E.S. 93.3 FM, Dongli 88.3 FM, and UFM 100.3 FM have similarly devoted air-time to local artistes. The Malay stations Warna and Ria play at least one local song per hour, or an average of 20 local songs are played each day. In addition, a weekly programme on Ria called Artis Kita aired on Sundays also showcases local talents.

Given this, it is not necessary to stipulate a minimum number of hours of air-time to be devoted to local music. The stations need the flexibility to select music that appeals to their listeners, and this would include the works of both local and foreign musicians.

Notwithstanding this, we will examine how to provide more support to local musicians, especially the budding ones. Some of our musicians have made it to the world stage and we should show them through our radio.

On subtitling or captioning for the hearing-impaired raised by Ms Olsen, I would say that it is difficult for pro

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grammes, like news bulletins, to be accurately subtitled, due to their on-the-air nature and time sensitivity. Nowadays, news bulletins are a mixture of reads by newsreaders, video-packages and "live" cross-overs to correspondents. The content of "live" cross-overs is unscripted. These practices make subtitling very difficult.

Instead of subtitles, broadcasters currently do provide captions summarising the key points in news bulletins aired on Channel NewsAsia and Channel 5. This represents a good balance between addressing the broadcaster's operational constraints, and allowing the hearing impaired and senior citizens to follow the news programmes. Viewers who want greater elaboration can turn to Teletext or the CNA news website which is updated regularly.

Sir, since 2003, the MDA has worked with MediaCorp to subtitle the Prime Minister's National Day message, something which Ms Olsen said is not a big deal, but we have made a start. MDA is also working out an arrangement with the broadcaster to provide subtitles for official scripted speeches that are carried live such as the President's Address at the opening of Parliament. MDA will continue to explore with the broadcaster on the possibility of providing subtitles for other selected information programmes on CNA and Channel 5.

On Ms Olsen's suggestion of providing subtitling of non-English programmes, many TV programmes shown in Mandarin, Malay and Tamil already have English subtitles. However, MDA will look into this matter with the idea of implementing it, not just studying it, bearing in mind the constraints that the operator will face.

Ms Eunice Elizabeth Olsen: Sir, I would like to clarify a couple of points. First, I did not say that it was not a big deal. What I meant was that it was a one-off

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thing and whether we could see that it is more sustainable. I also said that there are a lot of different methods nowadays that are very cost effective, and a lot of countries have studied it as well. I understand that there is Teletext and everything, but what I was referring to was more inclusiveness, in terms of family togetherness for the hearing impaired.

As regards radio air-time, I asked what percentage of local music has been stipulated. Or is there a percentage of local music that has been played on the radio?

Encik Yatiman Yusof: Sir, let me answer the second question first.

As I have said in my reply, it is almost difficult for us to stipulate to the broadcaster the percentage of local music that ought to be played every day. Because the different radio stations would cater for different needs, and some of them would have greater need to play local music. Let me give the Member an example. Between Warna and Ria, we have more local music played by Warna than Ria, because the tendency of Ria listeners is to listen to more westernised or rock music.

As for the Chinese and English radio stations, I think they are making real effort. They are getting more feedback on the types of music that the locals wish to hear. They even went to the marketplace and interviewed local people to know how some of the local music would be presented on the air.

On the question of captions, I wonder how the New Zealand broadcasters managed to do it. But as I explained earlier, the modern TV presentation on news is such that when you have the news carried, say, by Channel NewsAsia, we have the news reader in Singapore reading the news from a prepared text

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which is captionable. We then cross over to Indonesia to get the CNA Indonesian correspondent to give a live interview, say, with the President of Indonesia - that is not captionable. And then the correspondent goes to interview Indonesian listeners for their views - that is not captionable - and then back to the studio.

Sir, I think to avoid listeners from having a truncated form of the news which is being packaged in the form of news, interviews, commentaries and inputs, we will have to look into better technology to have subtitling or captioning incorporated. But I am not saying that we are not going to do it. We will be studying the technology to see how we could overcome the serious hindrances and achieve Ms Olsen's dream.

Dr Ong Seh Hong: Sir, I would like to thank Senior Minister of State Dr Balaji for answering my cut on literary arts. I just need to seek a few clarifications.

First, on the funding by NAC to literary writers for publications and their activities. He mentioned that $300,000 was granted last year. I would like to know what is the breakdown of this amount given to the different language groups of writers. Because in our dialogue with local Chinese literature writers, they always lamented that, first, the quantum they get is very small whenever they want to publish a book or organise big events. Secondly, they also find that the administrative process for getting the grant is very tedious.

The other clarification is regarding the National Literature Award. I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for pointing out that there is this Golden Point Award for the literature writers in the four official languages. I just want to know how does he gauge the success and prestige of this award. I understand that

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in the past, Singapore used to have the Golden Lion Award ( jin shi jiang), which is actually very well known internationally and attracts a lot of international writers from China, Taiwan as well as Hong Kong and Malaysia to participate. For this Golden Point Award, do we have the same type of standard and prestige?

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr S Iswaran) in the Chair]

4.30 pm

Dr Balaji Sadasivan: Sir, I would like to correct Dr Ong. I said $325,000, and not $300,000. He has reduced it by $25,000. The grant was given as publishing grant, international touring grant, translation grant, writer in residence grant, overseas writing programme, Iowa writing fellowship programme and mentor access programme. I do not have the information, in terms of breakdown by language groups, but we can look at that and provide him the information.

With regard to medals with prestige, I would like to point out that we give Cultural Medallions to writers, and about 14 writers have won the Cultural Medallions for their contributions. In terms of whether the award that he is talking is more prestigious, or whether the Cultural Medallion is more prestigious, that would be subjective. But really the recognition a writer gets depends on the quality of the work. No amount of medallion honours that we give can compensate for the quality of the work that he produces. And what MICA does is to give people the opportunities so that their works can be published and seen. And if the work is good, people will buy. But writers have to realise that, in a globalised world, they are competing in a globalised market, and competing in a global market is difficult.

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, as outlined in the Renaissance City Report, we need to strengthen the Singapore heartbeat

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through the creation and sharing of Singapore stories, and through films and other media. Can I get some update on the local production and the Minister's view on the quality of our local production? What is MDA doing to further improve the development of our local production?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, under the Renaissance City project, we set out to develop the arts, heritage and culture in Singapore. As I explained earlier in my reply to several Members, we have made much progress although I hasten to add that we also have not yet fully arrived. There is still a lot of work left to be done. MICA will be launching new projects, like Creative Community Singapore; NHB will be organising new activities that will promote our heritage to our heartlanders. These are programmes that will continue. Promoting the arts and culture is not a one-year or five-year effort. It is a long haul. It is more than a marathon. It is almost an unending race. It is something that we have to do. We have to renew the interest and remind each generation of our history and heritage and get them to value what has taken place in the past, to understand why it happened, the difficulty and adversity that our forefathers had to go through before we arrive at this point in time. So it is a very long-term effort. We will continue with the Renaissance City project and its successive programmes will carry on the good work.

In terms of production, I take it to mean the film production that the hon. Member is referring to. This is a growing area. The film industry is still at its infancy at this point in time. We have had some successes with local production. The most prominent, of course, is Mr Jack Neo and his series of films, which are, by now, very well known. In fact, we are showing one of his films in the Singapore Season in London. I think it is "I Not Stupid", Xiao Hai Bu Ben . I think it was a very popular

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film. So we are showing it in London in the Singapore Season.

In terms of co-production, the Media Development Authority has supported several film makers. I recall a recent example, that is, "House of Harmony", which was a co-production between a Singapore film company and a German television company. The film has been completed. It is shot entirely in Singapore. It stars Fann Wong as the leading star and leading lady in the film. It is a period film set in Singapore, in the 1920s, during the colonial era. It is a romantic film. I have seen the rough cuts of the film. It is quite an interesting film. I think it should appeal to a wide audience. It will be released, first, in Germany because that is the agreement under their co-production venture. But we will be able to see the film, I think, soon after the release in Germany. There are several other joint ventures and co-productions underway. And we hope some, if not all of these, will succeed, and some of them could become international hits. In fact, on Monday, 7th March 2005, I am attending the premiere of the first Singapore-made science fiction movie, "Avatar". I am looking forward to enjoying the movie. I hope that this is an indication of things to come that our film makers will branch into different areas. They will go into period films, like the House of Harmony. They will go into more fashionable, science fiction, using the latest computer generated imaging technology to produce special effects.

So we are making some headway. But as I said, at the beginning, the industry is still in its infancy. We have international players entering the sector in Singapore. Lucasfilm has set up a studio in Singapore; an Indian film producer has set up a digital studio in Singapore. So we should see a gathering of momentum in the years ahead. And Media Development Authority will continue to support Singapore's co-production effort to

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encourage our film producers and directors to work with international parties so that we can have a greater outreach and also to learn from these more experienced international film producers and tap their distribution network.

Dr Ong Seh Hong: I thank the Senior Minister of State for pointing out that the amount is $325,000, and not $300,000 that I misquoted. Does he agree that this is very small compared to the amount that we spent on visual arts and performing arts? Second, I would also like to point out that the Senior Minister of State has misunderstood me when he talked about the prestige of the Cultural Medallion. That is not what I am referring to. I am referring to the Golden Point Award that he mentioned, which is more for art writings. It is actually a literature writing competition. I am asking: what does he think of the standard of this Golden Point Award, compared to what we used to have in Singapore, which is called the "Golden Lion Award" (jin shi jiang), which was in the 1980s and 1990s? I remember, in those days, it attracted a lot of good writers from all over the world. Did our current Golden Point Award, or Golden Point Competition, or whatever you call it, manage to do the same? If not, what does the Ministry intend to do to raise this standard further because we used to have something so good? Why are we not following up on that?

Dr Balaji Sadasivan: Sir, we give our award to the best local writer that we can find. This is to encourage our local writers and we must give recognition to our local writers as best as we can. It is not fair to compare this award with the award that you want to give to the whole region where you have overseas people competing in it. In which case, our authors may not have a chance to get recognition and may defeat the purpose.

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With regard to what we are doing to help the writers, we are doing more than just giving the grant of $325,000. We are trying to plug our writers into the global marketplace. So we have schemes to help our writers get into the regional and global markets. Among the schemes, our efforts include cultivating and engaging the overseas publishing houses so that they will be interested in publishing the works of our writers, exploring internships of Singaporean publishing professionals at international publishing houses for the purpose of understanding how these markets work. We are also reviewing our current grant schemes to enhance support in areas like translation, so as to make it more conducive for our publishers and writers to get their works translated so that the market for their works should be greater. We are working with our MOU partners to identify key festivals overseas so that their works can be showcased. Also, we are working with our MOU partners abroad to see if we can profile our writers abroad so that their market reach is greater. I think what we have to do is try to increase the market for our writers so that people will buy their books and, thus, the best support that they want and need.

Ms Eunice Elizabeth Olsen: One quick question to the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. I would just like to ask what is the difference between insisting that MediaCorp has to farm out at least 285 hours of local production as a condition and insisting that radio must play a certain amount of local music.

Encik Yatiman Yusof: Thank you for the request for further clarification. I think there is a difference between TV requirement versus radio requirement. It is slightly different in the sense that we are talking about songs, as compared to a mix of production genre. For the television programmes, you may have current affairs, or scenes that capture Singapore's culture, its people, which

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have a tremendous value, in terms of social education and nation building. In terms of songs, there is a slight variation. I am not saying that songs do not have a role in nation building. It does tremendously, if the theme of the song covers mainly the love for the nation, love for the people, the leaders, and so on. My answer is that, what makes it different is that the TV programme has a requirement because it directly affects nation building. Whereas for radio, there is less requirement. But I must say that there is a greater realisation on the part of our local broadcast station to play more local songs. I would say that, compared to five years ago, we have done quite a lot. Apart from just playing local songs, some of the radio stations even have certain times of the day to play some songs. I will give you an example. Station UFM 100.3 FM, for example, every Sunday, between 10 pm and 12 midnight, for three hours, you have all the airings of local songs. Three hours per week may not be much, in terms of percentage or proportion. But I would say that if you have one Chinese radio station that allocates a certain amount of hours for Chinese local songs, that is a progress. Of course, we will persuade them to have more time.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, I would just want to add a little supplement to what the Senior Parliamentary Secretary has said. It is not as if MICA and Media Development Authority are not doing anything at all to encourage or cajole our broadcaster along the way to show their support for the local music industry. I am sure Ms Olsen will know that in early January, in fact, MediaCorp Radio launched a new station, called "Lush 99.5". Lush is a station that took over the frequency of Passion Radio in the past, which was the Arts Channel. In fact, MediaCorp was allocated this channel to run a new station, and MediaCorp has indicated that they will also do what they can to

promote both

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the local arts scene, including local music on the new station Lush 99.5. So, I would suggest that Ms Olsen tune in more frequently to Lush 99.5 and see whether it is doing its job promoting local arts and local music.

4.45 pm

Dr Loo Choon Yong (Nominated Member): Sir, on the question of subtitling the news broadcast, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary, in answering Ms Olsen, said that we will wait for the technology to improve, then we can subtitle the local ones and the foreign newscasts. Why has it got to be all or none? Yesterday, in this House, hon. Members talked about the short sarong - you cover the top, you expose the bottom; you cover the bottom, you expose the top. I recommend we cut the sarong into half - cover top and bottom and, at the same time, bare the midriff! It is quite acceptable.

So, why do we not go ahead and just have the subtitling for the local part and, as for the other one, wait until technology is available, and then bring it on. That way, at least, if I am deaf, I am only half deaf and not fully deaf.

Encik Yatiman Yusof: Sir, a sarong is a sarong . Once you cut it into two, it becomes two pieces and it is no more a sarong ! It would not reflect the entirety of our culture.

But, seriously, Sir, we are not saying that the TV station is not ready for that. What I am trying to explain to the House earlier is that the news is presented in a packaged form. For example, if you want to carry a report about tsunami, you have a newscaster reading, giving the figures, taking some shots of the scenes, then you go down to Phuket or Meulaboh and you interview the people there. It may come in the Malay language. From there, the newscaster will project the viewpoint. In the end, after one minute of looking at the

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news, you get a totality of the news. Having just our portion of the news caption and carrying it into the air amounts to having the sarong cut to one-third. Then, you miss covering the bigger part, which could be a crucial part of the news.

But I think we can learn from other major broadcasters. We have seen CNN doing part of that. We have seen CNBC doing that too. But the difference here is that they do it with delayed broadcast. In other words, if you want to carry the captioning from Meulaboh and Phuket, we can do it. But we delay the news by one or two hours to provide the captions together, so that the totality of the news remains intact. So, we have a choice. Do you want to have the news in real time or do you want to have the news in delayed time?

Dr Loo Choon Yong: Sir, if I may reply to the Senior Parliamentary Secretary.

I think this is one of the problems in modern management. We always put the problem as you can either have A or B. Why can we not have both A and B?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, in fact, that is what we are doing. It is not black or white. It is always some shades of grey. So, you will notice that we do provide captioning and, in fact, crawlers are used extensively, particularly on Channel NewsAsia. Crawlers are the running line of words at the bottom of the screen, and crawlers would give you an update on the news headline and key events that are shaping up in Singapore and around the world. So, it is not as if the hearing-impaired have got no access or contact with real-time news broadcasting. But to go extensively into subtitling is a totally different ball game.

We will continue to look at the possibilities. It is not just a question of technology. It is a question of timeliness

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of news, as my Senior Parliamentary Secretary has explained. There are many other factors involved. It is something that we will continue to look into. The answer is not cast in stone, that it is forever no. There could be new developments. New technology could be made available. Intelligent translation machines could be created. Artificial Intelligence could overcome translation problems. So, anything is possible. We will continue to watch technology development and the broadcasting industry's development.

Dr Geh Min (Nominated Member): Sir, I have a point of clarification for the Minister. I am afraid this is rather a silver one.

First, let me say that MICA has done a wonderful job to create a very vibrant arts scene in Singapore. But I wonder if the Minister is aware that despite this, arts groups and artists in Singapore still struggle for a living. They live from hand to mouth. And I am not talking about budding artists or arts groups. I am talking about the established ones, including some of those that the Minister mentioned. For example, there was something in the press recently that Han Sai Por, one of our award winning artists internationally known abroad, may have to close down her studio because of high rentals. And Ivan Heng of Wild Rice has recently written an article in one of the arts magazines bemoaning the fact that the pie for local arts groups is shrinking rapidly. They are in the position of SMEs competing with multinationals. So, they are competing for venues, sponsorships and audience.

The Chairman: Dr Geh Min, could you please ask your question?

Dr Geh Min: I would like to ask the Minister what MICA can do to address this problem. I understand that we have to create a fine balance between an international hub with international block

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busters and supporting the local arts scene. But, perhaps, this balance could be adjusted to give better support to Singapore artists and arts groups.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, I think what the hon. Nominated Member mentioned is not too far from what we are doing. In fact, MICA and NAC do give a tremendous level of support to local arts and arts groups. But, of course, as I have said earlier in my response to Ms Irene Ng about the acquisition of artworks, the budget is never enough for this purpose. Even though, overall, we face a budget crunch and Ministries are asked to cut down budget, what MICA has obtained for the National Arts Council, the principal agency that is nurturing, supporting and developing arts and the arts groups, has actually increased over the years. If you look at last year's NAC allocation, in terms of operating cost, it had $34.6 million. This year, it will get $36.9 million. So, despite the budget constraints and the tightening of the purse strings by the Minister for Finance, the NAC was able to obtain 7% more funds for deployment to support the arts and arts groups. And most of these funds will go towards nurturing the local arts community and supporting them in one way or another. It may not be direct grants, but includes supporting events and performances, and so on and so forth.

So, it is not true to say that we have neglected the local arts groups and over-weighted our investments in the arts to international big-ticket blockbuster events. We are conscious of the need to nurture the local artistic community and we will continue to do so within our means. In the case of Ms Han Sai Por, she faces a special problem, because the premises that she was renting at Seletar Airbase, I understand, may not be available to her in the near future. So, she has to move to another location. That is a problem that many other Singaporeans, besides artists, eg, small businessmen, also face. We

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have heard so many complaints about the difficulties small businessmen face, such as having to relocate, high rentals, etc. This is a problem not unique to just artists and the arts community. I think they will have to find a way to support themselves, to compete for resources and survive within the context of our society and economy. I understand that the theatre groups, epitomised by Wild Rice and Ivan Heng, face continuing challenges and difficulties in making a commercial proposition out of their efforts.

This is what I have said earlier on. We have made progress in the arts, but we have not quite arrived yet, where artists can achieve commercial success because the audience values their creative capabilities, output and their works, so as to afford them a return that is commensurate with their time and creative energy. But, over time, as we develop the arts, as more and more Singaporeans become aware and conscious of the value of the arts, then I think we will see a change. And I am beginning to see improvements in this area. There are already performances which are able to make a surplus, ie, after they have paid up all the expenses, they still make a surplus. So, it shows that there is a business model that is a successful commercial proposition in some of the activities undertaken by the arts.

Let me give Members an example of an arts event which was largely a local Singaporean initiative, Forbidden City. This was first commissioned for the opening of the Esplanade in 2002. It was in late 2003 or early 2004 that they reprised the production of Forbidden City, and it was very successful. They generated a surplus from the reprise of Forbidden City. The box-office takings were more than expenses and they could make a profit out of it. So, this is a good indicator that if you have a good product, a creative product that is of interest to a

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big enough audience, you will be able to make a profit out of the venture and, in fact, do well for yourself. And that is a challenge, and I would say the inspiration, for all the artists out there to try to reach this level of success and recognition.

Mr Seng Han Thong: Sir, on behalf of all the Members who have spoken, may I thank the Minister and the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for their updates on the arts scene and the various programmes initiated by MICA, as well as for your patience on certain clarifications. I observe that some of the Members are happy with the answers and some are not happy. However, everyone was entertained by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary's creative answer on the sarong cut. I believe that, with all these initiatives, we are now able to move on from level 2 of a cultured society and cultured Singaporeans to level 3.

With that, Sir, I beg to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $341,299,400 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $224,307,600 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.