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.

Intelligent Nation 2015 Masterplan

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

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

Sir, the digital and interactive media is amongst the fastest growing sector in the world. I am happy to note that the Government is investing heavily in the sector. This is an important step forward in our transition to a knowledge economy and this new sector will open up many more job opportunities for Singaporeans. PM Lee, in his Budget Statement, highlighted the use of optic fibre and the latest wireless technology to ensure Singapore's economic competitiveness over the next several years.

Infocomm is definitely going to play an increasingly important role in our economy. May I ask the Minister to update us on the progress of the infocomm industry, including that of the Intelligent Nation 2015 Masterplan. Indeed, Singaporeans are already responding to this new initiative. Several polytechnics are running digital, media and animation courses. Parents are proud that their children are students of such courses. They realise that their children will have a brighter future by getting a good job in this industry.

Sir, our initiatives should aim to develop Singapore as an alternative hub for animation and design to New York, London and Vancouver. In fact, Singapore can provide an attractive Asian environment for Asian animators and designers who want to be based in a non-western environment. But how do these new initiatives face the keen competition from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China?

Dr Ong Seh Hong (Aljunied): Sir, I agree with the strategy to stay steps ahead of our competition through the enhancement of our broadband capability of ultra high speeds to our homes. Being proactive rather than reactive will give any business the cutting edge. In the IT industry, what

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is available today would be considered obsolete tomorrow.

However, I urge the Ministry to carefully review what we have learnt from the Singapore One initiative launched in 1996, before jumping into the waters. I understand that there were some areas of concern over our existing Singapore One, such as there was no clearly identified demand for the service, there was a lack of local content and applications to take advantage of the broadband infrastructure implemented under the Singapore One. There was never any "killer app" for Singapore One. Content and applications usually came from overseas. Deploying high-speed infrastructure within Singapore is of relatively little assistance when the content to be accessed is outside of Singapore. Because of the limited local market, few content providers seek to produce local content and applications for Singapore One.

On the other hand, I think we could also learn from Korea. Koreans use the Internet for lots of activities, like audio and video streaming, gaming, e-commerce and also for government transactions. The main difference between Korea and Singapore is that Korea has content together with infrastructure. Content creation is driven by these service providers in almost everything, like from weblogs to producing videos, music, etc, what they refer to as Culture creators. And because they have a unique language and culture of their own, they are able to develop a self-contained web-culture to link Koreans together in the cyberspace.

It is also well-known that in Korea, Internet users first got a taste of high-speed access at Internet cafes, so called "PC bangs" and subsequently wanted the same rapidity at home. There is also a "copy-cat" syndrome; once one person gets something, everyone else wants it also.

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Sir, can we have the same effect on the growth of the IT industry similar to that in Korea? We would need to have the sub-culture of wanting better and greater speed access from our broadband service providers. There are, however, several issues as I see them.

Firstly, we need to make it readily available to all, which means that the cost must be low. At the moment, the infrastructures are owned by two service providers. Therefore, any additional service provider would have to rent from the current two. The cost would have to be passed on to the consumers. For a new national broadband network, I ask if MICA could look into this aspect of freeing up the cost of the infrastructure so that more service providers may be available, leading to a real mushrooming of the IT industry.

Secondly, how would MICA ensure that there will be developments in the content providers to bring in the economic benefits as we invest millions, if not, billions of dollars on this national network?

Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Chairman, Sir, in 2005, Singapore was rated as the world's most successful economy in exploiting infocomm development by the World Economic Forum in its Global Information Technology Report. This means that we were leading the rest of the world in terms of the ability of individuals and Government to tap into the potential of infocomm technology as well as the Government usage of infocomm technology.

Undoubtedly, the establishment of Singapore One has helped us achieve this acknowledgement. Apart from this recognition, how do we rate the success of the old optical network, Singapore One? Although this may be difficult to quantify, have we measured the benefits and the values derived from this

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investment? What makes the iN2015 different and will it be able to extract more value from the implementation of this Masterplan? Will the new network bring down prices for end users? Will it assist vendors to make broadband services more attractive to the consumers?

I remember in the past that when we had the optical network being set up, there was a lot of work being done. So I would like to know whether the construction of the new network involves quite an amount of digging and rigging causing inconveniences for residents? Will the iN2015 also constitute a lot of construction work and cost to residents?

The evolution of society and technology has introduced new challenges for us. However, research has shown that Singapore's business investment in R&D and training continues to be minimal. I would like to know how do we then come up with new technologies, instead of just buying from suppliers? I would like to ask whether IDA can be a catalyst and impetus to new research in infocomm technology so that we could be the pioneers and inventors of new technologies instead of just users.

Dr Tan Sze Wee (Nominated Member): Mr Chairman, Sir, Singapore is fast becoming a cosmopolitan city and a global hub for people from various nationalities and talent to relocate here for work, to live and to play. MICA's vision to create a network and Net-savvy society is fast becoming a realisation. Still, the country needs to be adequately wired for appropriate optical network cables and for citizens to be infocomm-savvy in order for them to be a connected Singapore.

Sir, I would like to know, in the setting up of the new national broadband network, what is the Minister's aim to raise the national household broadband penetration rates to. If I am not mistaken,

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only about 50% of the citizens in a household with access to broadband usage are Net-savvy. How does this compare to the national household broadband penetration rates of countries such as Korea and Taiwan? Can penetration rates be raised as a result of content and cost? I think this is very important.

Infocomm 21

Mr Loh Meng See (Jalan Besar): Sir, on Infocomm 21 plan, this has been implemented for some years now. I would like to ask the Minister to give us an update on the expenditure and the benefits that have been derived from those investments.

Recently, the CEO of IDA announced the Government's plan to widen the scope of the network and introduce better technologies. In fact, if I recall, we have slackened in some ways and the choice of technology becomes very important to Singapore and we cannot make mistakes about it. I just want to be reassured by the Minister that whatever we do, the choice of technology and the network that we put in place, there are mitigations that they will not go wrong.

Most importantly, Sir, it is the perspective of the users because ultimately, it is the users that matter, whether it is in business, in schools or even the ordinary citizens. I think more could be done to encourage Singaporeans to use it. Infocomm is important for a small country like Singapore because with infocomm, the world is our oyster.

IT Governance

Dr Ong Seh Hong: Sir, since the early 1980s, the Government has been exploiting IT for continuous improvement of its business processes and innovations

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for Singapore's competitive advantage in a global marketplace. Thanks to the tremendous effort of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Singapore today is reputed to have the best e-Government model in the Asia-Pacific region, and the world's third best in the global ranking of e-Governments by Accenture's 2005 e-Government Leadership Study.

Sir, we have only heard success stories about how IT has been well deployed, used and managed by our Government agencies. There are no horror stories except for the few cases of IT security lapses reported by the Auditor-General in the past year.

The governments elsewhere have been spending a lot on IT also. It is generally perceived by the public that more money has been wasted on computerisation than has been created by it. For example, there was a report in Australia that quoted that 50%-90% of IT projects go over time, over budget, or fail to meet expectations of productivity or efficiency benefits.

Given this background, Sir, I would also ask the Minister to periodically share with us when they come across areas of implementation problems, and show direction in helping enterprise to invest in IT.

A recent research carried out by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI), a global leader in the IT governance, has highlighted the need to clearly align IT goals with business goals, to optimise value creation from IT investments, to properly manage information risks, to effectively manage IT resources, including outsourced IT capabilities, and to adequately measure IT performance.

In this regard, an appropriate IT governance framework such as COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technologies) needs to be established to govern and manage IT

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activities in the five domains of IT governance, namely, strategic alliance, value delivery, risk management, resource management and performance measurement.

Mr Chairman, Sir, as effective IT governance is the single most important predictor of the value an organisation generates from IT, I would like to ask the Minister as to what are the current status and implementation problems, if any, of the IT governance landscape in the Government agencies, especially with regard to the five domains of IT governance I have mentioned earlier, and how the Government plans to achieve a desired level of maturity in IT governance practices in Singapore, both in the private as well as the public sector. For example, what structures, mechanisms and processes will be in place to ensure that organisations get the most value from IT spending without incurring wastage or extravagance, while minimising risk to an acceptable level?

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Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung (Sembawang): Sir, in answering Prof. Ivan Png last month on data protection, the Minister announced that an Inter-Ministerial Committee comprising 16 Government agencies started to look into the regime of data protection and that they are expected to finish the work in the middle of this year. This is indeed good news. When I raised the matter in this House, in the Committee of Supply in 2002, the then Minister had pointed out that a sectoral legislation would be the way to go and that the data protection code in the private sector would be spearheaded by the National Trust Council.

A great deal of water has flowed under the bridge since then and no code has emerged. Indeed, I am not even sure what has happened to the National Trust Council.

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Be that as it may, the question I would like to ask the Minister is: what are the terms of reference for this Inter-Ministerial Committee? Is it going to take a more holistic and comprehensive approach in reviewing the area of data protection and privacy?

I ask this because, without a properly thought-out data protection regime, we are not just going to be on our way to be the intelligent nation, we could also become the most monitored and exposed nation. Because of technology like RFID, we can literally be tagged as to where we are and what we do. Personal data is collected on a grand scale, even now, and databases are being sold and mined. By matching data collected in several databases, our life stories are being recovered and revealed without our knowledge, let alone our permission. This is a high price to pay for the convenience that technology offers. We are lulled and seduced into accepting such technologies that rob us of our privacy. I believe it is the duty of the Government to act responsibly and provide protection to the individual for this most important right.

This is no academic or theoretical problem. Coincidentally, when I was looking into this problem, I glanced at Today paper on 27th February. It had a section called "Voices", and in it three readers wrote in to complain of misuse of personal information.

The first writer complained about the dangers of misplaced credit card slips containing one's credit card information, which can be retrieved and used by fraudsters to buy goods on the Internet, for example. The second writer, called "Noodie Mak", I do not know whether that is a man or woman, said that he or she obtained personal details of a friend from a local institution, including her IC number, just by doing an Internet search. He said that, armed with that, and a little bit more, he could get a SingPass and

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then sign up for a lot more things. Finally, a low-tech example. The third writer mentioned that he was required by LTA to display his name, address and IC number on his goods vehicle. He felt that persons unknown have misused this and this led to his bank informing him that two of his credit cards have been compromised.

Sir, all these are worrying accounts and show that any data protection regime must be comprehensive and not sectoral. The right to be given to data subject to object to the use of their personal data must be clearly and succinctly stated. Sir, I would, therefore, like to ask the Minister to update us on the work of the Committee and to extend the terms of reference, if necessary.

Aside from the more obvious sectors such as Government, financial and medical sectors that require stringent rules, we must also take into account workplace privacy. It is increasingly the trend that employers instal monitoring software to see how or what their employees say in their emails. The regulation of data protection is not a luxury in an info-tech world. It is a necessity. It is a fundamental right.

The Chairman: Mr Chin, you do not have the luxury of time either. Dr Tan Boon Wan, two minutes.

Internet

Dr Tan Boon Wan (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, that Singapore will establish a second high-speed network is, indeed, exciting news. In the inter-connected world today, not having access to the Internet and its service is a severe handicap. Like my colleague before me, I am interested to know how we have used the existing network before we embark on giving a new one.

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To access the Internet we need a PC and a connection to a network. Hence, it would be helpful to know the penetration rates of the PC and the Internet among Singapore households. What is the utilisation rate of our existing networks? What more can we do to enable households without a PC to get one? What can we do to get those households not connected to the Internet to do so? Is access cost an issue? How does our cost to access the Internet in Singapore compare to countries like Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea? Is it too high? Will the penetration rate of the Internet increase if the cost is reduced? If so, can we get it lowered, the sooner the better? We should increase the use of Internet among our households via the existing networks before the second network arrives.

The Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Dr Lee Boon Yang): Mr Chairman, I would like to, first of all, thank hon. Members for the comments, support and also their queries on MICA's plans for the infocomm sector. In response to Mr Seng Han Thong who raised the question about our plans for developing the infocomm sector and also asked for a review of what we have achieved so far, I would like to, first of all, outline MICA's strategies to transform Singapore into an intelligent nation and to sharpen Singapore's competitive edge. I will then respond to the specific queries from the other hon. Members later on.

Sir, in 1981, Singapore launched the first National Computerisation Plan. This year, we celebrate 25 years of infocomm development. In the past 25 years, we have successfully exploited infocomm for economic growth and job creation. Last year, the infocomm sector's estimated growth was between 6%-8%, generating about $37 billion in revenue. Employment in the sector - employment is something which Mr Seng was interested in - had increased from 108,000 in 2004 to

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110,400 last year. Demand for infocomm manpower has strengthened with 3,000 more jobs expected to be created this year. Indeed, there were about 5,700 job vacancies in the infocomm sector last year, which is more than double the 2,100 vacancies the year before, in 2004. Sir, this is a healthy sign of demand for infocomm workers. It shows that employment in this sector is continuing to grow, offering highly rewarding and fulfilling jobs for infocomm professionals and specialists.

Sir, the infocomm sector has, indeed, done very well in recent years. It has also moved up the value-chain as our companies in Singapore become more innovative. Hence, higher-value areas such as infocomm research and development, digital media, infocomm consultancy and project management and enterprise systems and integration were the biggest value and job creators.

Infocomm is, today, one of our strategic advantages. Our standing in international competitiveness rankings reflected this. The World Economic Forum 2005 Global IT report placed Singapore at the top of 104 countries in infocomm deployment. Today, we have one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world. Dr Tan Boon Wan asked what is our household PC penetration rate. About three-quarters of our households already have computers and 66% of our households enjoy Internet access, with 52% of them accessing the Internet via broadband. All Government schools enjoy broadband access. Three out of four companies use the Internet for their business activities, in one way or another, and most of them do so via broadband.

Sir, our early adoption of infocomm had given us a headstart and brought us tremendous benefits over the past 25 years. However, many countries, such as Korea, China, Japan, Thailand and

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Malaysia, also recognise the importance of infocomm as a competitive advantage. They are also making aggressive investments to enhance their infocomm infrastructures and capabilities. So we cannot afford to take it easy just because our infocomm sector has done well. Just because we have a Singapore One that has served us well over the last decade or so, it does not mean that we can relax and take it easy. If we do so, we are going to be overtaken.

Sir, our strategic response to these new challenges is the Intelligent Nation 2015 or iN2015 Infocomm Masterplan. This is a 10-year master plan to transform Singapore into an intelligent nation and global city, powered by Infocomm. We envisage pervasive deployment of intelligent digital technologies to enhance our economic competitiveness, exploit new opportunities and transform life in every possible way. Let me elaborate on two key aspects of the iN2015 Masterplan, namely, infocomm infrastructure and manpower development.

Sir, after careful study, we have concluded that a Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure (NII) is a strategic enabler for Singapore's economic restructuring and competitiveness. A Next Generation NII is critical to transform Singapore into an innovative and creative economy. This infrastructure has two components: an ultra high-speed National Broadband Network; and a pervasive wireless broadband network.

First, on the ultra high-speed National Broadband Network. Today, a high-speed broadband network is an essential infrastructure for economic development, investment and talent attraction, education and a whole host of other activities. Singapore One, the existing broadband infrastructure, has served us well over the last decade. But it is unlikely to be able to meet the expected surge in data and

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connectivity demand in the next five to eight years' time.

In order to exploit new possibilities, capture new business opportunities and maintain our regional infocomm hub status, the Government will catalyse the development of a Next Generation National Broadband Network. The network will offer ultra-high speed access, starting from 100 Mbps to more than 1 Gbps - 1 gigabit is 1,000 megabits. This network will connect all homes, schools and businesses, including those in the HDB heartland and in private developments. Workers, entrepreneurs, teachers, students, researchers, housewives, retirees and many others will be able to enjoy ultra high speed connectivity and access. Singaporeans will be able to use the latest in infocomm and media technologies seamlessly, whether they are in the office, in school or at home. For example, some healthcare and education services and information can be delivered remotely. Working parents will also find teleworking becoming more practical. People with loved ones studying or working overseas can enjoy immersive video-calls to bring families and friends closer together. Home entertainment will take on totally new forms such as high definition Internet protocol TV, IPTV or video-on-demand. The new network will change the way we work, live and learn. It will sharpen our business efficiency and spark off many new opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Sir, the new network will be open-access and carrier-neutral, in other words, it will be open to all service providers so that they can reach out to connected consumers. This will lower the entry barrier for service providers and cost to consumers. As the National Broadband Network will be a key infocomm infrastructure, the Government will work with the private sector to build a network

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that is future-proof, cost-effective and which minimises technological risk. We will use a public-private partnership model to develop this National Broadband Network. The Government is prepared to consider some funding to kick-start the project and to ensure that this ultra high-speed network will be viable, affordable and sustainable over the longer term. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) will issue a Request for Concept within a month to seek ideas and suggestions from the industry for the National Broadband Network. The inputs from the Request for Concept will form the basis for a definitive Request for Proposal from private sector participants. IDA expects this Request for Proposal to be ready by the middle of this year. I encourage all interested parties, including existing telecom licensees, to respond to our initial Request for Concept.

Sir, the second component of our Next-Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure is a pervasive nation-wide wireless network to complement the National Broadband Network for broadband access on the go, for people who are moving about. Singaporeans are already familiar with the many Wi-Fi hotspots scattered throughout Singapore. For example, in the McDonald's outlets, I understand they have Wi-Fi there. IDA will help the industry to accelerate the deployment and take-up of similar wireless broadband networks so that consumers, working professionals,

businessmen and tourists can enjoy broadband connectivity away from office or home.

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IDA's Wireless Broadband Market Development Programme will support wireless Internet service providers to deploy mesh Wi-Fi and Wi-Max networks nationally for pervasive indoor and outdoor coverage in key catchment areas, such as in the Central Business District,

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Orchard Road area and in the new developments like One-North. The goal is to facilitate commercial wireless access at highly affordable rates in the initial years. IDA will help operators to deploy a more integrated wireless broadband network across different platforms and provide innovative content on their networks to attract more users. Details will be contained in a Call for Collaboration to be issued by the end of March with commercial services by third quarter this year.

Sir, the development of a ubiquitous ultra-high speed wired National Broadband Network and a pervasive wireless network will transform Singapore into a "Totally connected, wired and wireless" Island. This will put Singapore firmly in the lead among competing countries such as South Korea, Japan and China that have also embarked on providing advanced broadband infrastructures.

In addition to next generation infrastructure, the availability of skilled infocomm manpower is also critical for Singapore to maintain our competitive advantage. Another focus under iN2015 is training of infocomm professionals with strong technical expertise in emerging and critical infocomm areas, as well as business domain knowledge such as in finance, healthcare, education and e-government. IDA has already allocated $120 million for its Manpower Development Roadmap which was launched in November last year to train more infocomm professionals in key target areas. I am pleased to inform this House that IDA will expand the National Infocomm Scholarship Scheme to attract and groom more talent. An additional $30 million will be allocated to fund 100 more scholarships in the next five years. The enhanced National Infocomm Scholarship Scheme will offer opportunities for study in overseas universities, as well as programmes jointly conducted by overseas and local universities.

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Sir, the scope of iN2015 plan is not limited to infrastructure and human resource development. It will include many other exciting initiatives in interactive and digital media, education, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and logistics, and tourism. It will guide IDA's strategies and programmes to develop our infocomm enterprises. The iN2015 Infocomm Masterplan will be finalised and announced in June 2006.

Sir, I will now address the specific questions of hon. Members. Mr Zainudin asked if the new Broadband Network would cause inconveniences to the public and whether IDA would pioneer R&D in infocomm or in the IT area.

While there may be some inconvenience, the benefits are well worth the trouble. Nevertheless, we will try our very best to minimise disruptions by coordinating roll out, where possible, with the deployment of the new estate upgrading programmes and new developments. Where there are new developments, we will try to coordinate our network roll out with the new developments. Where there are estate upgrade programmes, we will also coordinate with them. So we try to minimise the inconvenience.

In the existing housing areas, we will try out innovative construction techniques such as micro-trenching and surface ducting, so that this can minimise disruption and also, at the same time, help to reduce cost.

As for pioneering research and development (R&D) in infocomm, I agree that it is very important for us to create more proprietary intellectual properties among our infocomm companies. It is through such creation of intellectual property that we can give a competitive edge and also enhance the scope for our infocomm companies. For example, I just want to mention a local company, Trek

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2000 International. This is a Singapore company which pioneered the very popular thumb drive which most people carry around with them these days. Today it is reaping the benefit of their R&D investment. I am glad to say that I met the Managing Director of Trek 2000 recently at the IT leaders' award ceremony, and he said that there are many more ideas that they are working on. They have many more intellectual properties that they are able to exploit. So our companies are not sitting around just making old products and selling what they have been doing so for the past 10 years. They are exploring, researching and developing new products, new ideas, and this will put them at the cutting edge.

IDA will work closely with A*STAR and its research institutes to identify promising areas for infocomm research and to support critical and innovative R&D projects.

Dr Tan Boon Wan and Dr Tan Sze Wee have asked what are the measures to deepen Internet access, and what are our new targets for broadband penetration. Sir, as I said earlier on, today, about three out of every four households have computers - 74% of households have computers - with 52% of them already connected via broadband. With lower computer prices, even more families should be able to afford computers.

For the low-income families, IDA has a special programme. It is called Neu-PC programme. This programme offers subsidised PCs, not just the PC alone but it comes with a one-year Internet access package to help them bridge the digital divide. Since November 1999, 19,000 needy families have benefited from this Neu-PC scheme. We will continue to help such needy families so that they and, in particular, their children will not miss the new digital opportunities.

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Increasing competition in the broadband market has also brought prices down by as much as 70% for unlimited access plans since 2001. This has led to an increased take-up rate. The Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure with the National Broadband Network will boost broadband penetration. I think a penetration rate of 85% is certainly possible by the year 2015.

Dr Ong Seh Hong would like to know whether we have invested wisely in IT. I think he was concerned whether there are any horror stories. I am afraid I would not be able to regale Members with horror stories because I think such stories are probably very few and far in between. That is a good sign. He wants to know whether we have a good IT governance framework and how can Government ensure value for money out of IT investments, both for public and private sectors.

Sir, the Government has developed, over time, an extensive and comprehensive framework for IT governance. For example, the Public Sector Integrated Governance Framework (IGF) has been developed to guide all our agencies in the planning, investment, deployment and control of IT within the public sector.

Our public agencies have also established internal Project Approval and Project Review Frameworks, with stringent checks to ensure that IT projects are indeed value for money investments. Ongoing projects are reviewed regularly to ensure that targets are, in fact, achieved, and that there should be no horror stories to tell.

Sir, in the private sector, professional groups, such as the Singapore Computer Society and the IT Management Association, contribute to raising the level of IT competencies and proliferating best practices amongst the IT professionals. At the corporate level, the Council for

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Corporate Disclosure and Governance (CCDG) provides guidance on corporate governance, which encompasses accountability and decision making on IT investment. So, on the whole, I can assure Dr Ong that our IT investments are well guided, well motivated and, certainly, bring about the results and achieved the targets that they set out to do.

Mr Loh Meng See sought clarification on our Infocomm 21 roadmap. He wanted to know how and what we have spent on this. Infocomm 21 was a strategic plan to take infocomm to the next level. It was launched in the year 2000. It set out to harness infocomm technologies to boost our national competitiveness and improve Singaporeans' quality of life. At its heart, the Infocomm 21 roadmap aimed to develop Singapore into a vibrant and dynamic global infocomm capital with a thriving and prosperous e-economy and an infocomm-savvy e-society. I would say that we have met this target. The way international agencies and consulting companies have ranked Singapore highly in infocomm, whether on IT or e-government, indicates that we have achieved the targets that we set for ourselves in the year 2000 with Infocomm 21.

To realise the Infocomm 21 vision, the Government had, at that time, set aside $300 million. As of now, I think about 95% of the budget had been disbursed or is already committed. The remaining amount, which had been set aside to help fund the multi-year National Infocomm Scholarships, is expected to be fully committed by FY2008.

Prof. Chin Tet Yung asked about data protection. I agree with him that we must take a comprehensive and a holistic approach. As he noted, on 13th February this year, I informed the House that the

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Government is already reviewing Singapore's data protection regime and assessing the suitability of the various data protection models. I would like to reassure the House that the Government recognises the importance and impact of data protection on Singaporeans. We cannot shut out new technologies. We cannot deny our entrepreneurs and our industries the use of new technologies, including technologies such as RID, which Prof. Chin mentioned. Yes, some of these technologies can be abused. Some of them can be misused. But we certainly should not shut our minds to these technologies or the potential that they offer to us just because there is a possibility of abuse. We have to strike a right balance between facilitating the adoption of new technologies and also protecting personal data and protecting personal privacy.

As for unlawful or unauthorised surveillance by the use of technologies, we already have adequate safeguards in the Penal Code against such action or misconduct. However, we should also recognise that this is not purely a technology issue alone or that it is entirely a legal question that can be solved just by law alone. We have to understand that besides introducing a suitable regulatory framework and also raising the awareness on the use of technologies, we also have to continue with consumer education, so that all Singaporeans are more aware of the risks and that they are better prepared on how they themselves can help to prevent exploitation of their personal data.

Sir, the Inter-Ministry Committee tasked to study this matter will take a comprehensive and holistic approach in developing the appropriate personal data protection framework for Singapore. As Prof. Chin noted, I have indicated in Parliament that the Committee will complete its study and make its recommendations by the middle of this

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year, and I expect it to be able to meet this target so that we can then proceed with the appropriate model that can be used to ensure that there is a proper protection of personal data in Singapore.

The Arts

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, we have been supporting efforts to promote awareness and appreciation of artistic, cultural and historical heritage of Singapore to Singaporeans and visitors. I believe that it is our hope that through appreciation of our heritage and culture, we will be able to foster nationhood, identity and creativity. May I enquire on the status of the progress in developing arts and arts appreciation?

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Sir, we have invested lots of time, money and resources to develop arts in Singapore. What is the progress attained so far? Are we able to

cause the necessary mindset and behavioural change of Singaporeans towards arts and its appreciation in general? How do we measure these changes and success?

Sir, I would like to know also how the new Singapore Art School will be contributing to the arts landscape and the arts sector. How is the vision of developing an arts belt progressing? What other new infrastructures can we expect to further boost the arts industry? Is the strategy of supporting the arts industry through grants and subsidies sustainable over the long term?

We have great opportunity to use our rich history, background and diverse cultures and make it an integral part of life in Singapore. Are we using these resources in the most effective manner to strengthen our national identity and the sense of belonging to Singapore?

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The NAC and the National Heritage Board have often tried to promote and educate the public on the importance of culture and heritage appreciation. Late last year, the National Heritage Board announced an ambitious strategy over the next three years to strengthen Singapore's museum-going and appreciating culture, hoping to draw new audiences to Singapore museums and improve awareness and grow visitorship. We need to ask if the current efforts of enhancing the position of our heritage and culture are bearing fruit. How do we measure the outcomes?

Literary Arts

Dr Ong Seh Hong: ( In Mandarin ): Mr Chairman, last year, I asked the Government to provide more grants to our local writers and associations. The answer I received was $325,000. Compared to the Government's grants in the other fields of performing and visual arts, this amount is like a drop in the ocean. As such, despite our performing and visual arts being dynamic and vibrant, the field of literary arts is often described as a cultural desert. I hope that the Government will substantially increase its grants to support and promote our local literary compositions and writers.

First, through sponsoring the publication and circulation of literary magazines to provide more space for our writers to publish their works. We are particularly lacking in space for regular publications. I suggest that the Government sponsor the writers' associations in publishing and circulating regular literary magazines on a monthly or weekly basis, or even subscribe to space in the newspapers for local writers to exhibit their talent.

Secondly, promote newcomers. We must make a conscious effort to promote new blood. I suggest the Government, the local writers' associations and the

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press jointly initiate some "Newcomers Awards", and there should be secondary school, novice, university and open sections. Moreover, the awards should be presented separately for the four official languages. In this way, we could be more flexible and effective in obtaining our objective.

Thirdly, we should sponsor our local writers' participation in literary camps and conferences overseas and organise international activities here to help them go international and widen their scope.

Mr Chairman, I look forward to an early conversion of our local cultural desert into a green pasture.

ASEAN Culture

Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung: Sir, the ASEAN 2020 Vision sees an ASEAN community conscious of its ties in history, aware of its cultural heritage and bound by a common regional identity. It is now not a vision as such, but seems to be like a fading dream, if not a pipe dream. In terms of government participation, culture is always put on the backburner to political and economic issues.

For a very long time since 1978, there was only a Committee on Culture and Information (COCI) seeing into this culture aspect. Only in recent years, we have the Ministerial Meetings, and the first meeting was in 2003; second one, last year; and the next one, 2007. ASEAN is now nearly 50 years; next year it will be 50. COCI has made a statement assessing the tasks ahead. It says, "Cultural promotion and appreciation activities today are aimed at the younger generation. In spite of more than three decades of ASEAN cooperation, Southeast Asian people still have a long way to go in understanding and appreciating one's another culture." And in drafting what ASEAN is and how it is relevant to their lives, let me recount one example.

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I went to a digital music and media show, and was very impressed with the youngsters doing all the digital music. So I asked one of them, "Can you reproduce music as if it were from the gamelan?" So the youngster looked at me puzzled and flustered. Finally, he said, "Yes, we do "LAN-gaming" as well." Yet the gamelan is one of the more recognised musical instruments in this region. I often wonder what he would have made of the Vietnamese musical instrument called the k'longput. I always suspected that he would say, "Yes, we would play digital golf as well and k'longput is a hole-in-one!"

Sir, the questions I have for the Minister are as follows: First, while accepting that MICA's main agenda is inward looking, and that it seeks to develop creative industries in Singapore, what does it see as its role in informing and promoting ASEAN arts and culture, especially to the young? Second, would he consider developing Singapore as an international hub for ASEAN arts and culture? I see this as a plus in economic terms as well. Third, can MICA endeavour to make ASEAN culture more newsworthy? Because I can see that our media reporters do not find ASEAN culture worth reporting. Finally, can MICA, together with PA, foster more people-to-people cultural exchanges? Understanding our ASEAN neighbours is of great value, not in the sense of personal edification but it makes great economic sense as well.

Museums and National Archives

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong (Tampines): Sir, we need to give more support to our Museums and National Archives to tailor more programmes that reach out to the masses and inculcate in Singaporeans a greater sense of history. I would like to mention especially the valuable role of our National Archives. I have visited it several times and I found the research

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area quite cramped and not very welcoming for visitors. It has a feeling of an old storehouse. The building used to be a school. It is not purpose-built for modern archives. It is to the credit of the excellent staff there that the NAS has been able to deliver good service to the public, despite its cramped workspace and tight funding.

In contrast, the archives at Kew in Britain which I have also visited is a modern airy building, a state-of-the-art building, with large research areas, with proper lighting for reading and research. It feels like a library. It is like our new library in Orchard Road - very inviting. It also houses a free museum and a cafeteria. Coffee and tea are most important when one is doing research, and a boring one sometimes. It is generously funded. Every year, it holds an archive awareness campaign to show people how records in the archives are relevant to them and invite them to discover how enjoyable exploring archives can be. This is also a regular event in the US. And in the US, the archives there launched a new programme called "American Conversations" which involves a series of informal interviews with history experts, and which is open to the public.

Sir, in Singapore, I worry that not everyone fully appreciates the importance of archival records and sometimes with sad consequences. For instance, while I was researching on a biography and I needed to have access to the oral histories of various players, I found that the oral histories of key players like Dr Toh Chin Chye and Mr Ong Pang Boon were not recorded for various reasons. And one of them is that they believe that silence is golden. I think it is partly due to the lack of awareness of the role of oral history, understanding our past, and how

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it is necessary to give our oral history the role that it deserves in capturing our past.

Sir, I visited the Old Ford Motor Factory's New World War II exhibition gallery and was excited by it. I saw this audio visual called the "Trials of War" and for the first time, I learned that the war trials in Singapore, which sentenced more than 100 Japanese to be hanged, were held at the site which is now our Goodwood Park Hotel. I go to the hotel, but I never realised that this is a historical building. I hope that more can be done to earmark sites in Singapore which capture our past and in a way that will make it relevant to the present and the future.

I also wonder whether our museums and archives are world-class, and what is the vision of MICA for these organisations. What plans do they have to increase their outreach and whether they can have a paradigm shift to make sure that our museums and archives try and relate the past to present and future ---

The Chairman: Thank you, Ms Ng. Your time is up. Dr Sadasivan, can you reply, please?

The Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts (Dr Balaji Sadasivan): Sir, I thank the hon. Members - Mr Zainudin, Dr Ong, Ms Ng, Assoc. Prof. Chin - for their comments relating to arts and culture.

Art expresses the passions, achievements and aspirations of a country. As Singaporeans, we share a common experience living in a young country, creating cultural space for itself within the region. This emerges in the works of our artists as they give expression to their inner creative impulses. We have developed an eco-system in Singapore that allows the development and expression of this creative energy.

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Let me start with Mr Zainudin's question on our progress in the arts and culture, and give him some statistics which measure this progress. Over the last few years, the Government has invested substantial resources to develop our arts and culture. Today, we have a wealth of institutions such as the various arts housing facilities for local artists, Esplanade, Arts House at Old Parliament, and several museums including the Asian Civilisations Museum and the expanded National Museum now being completed.

There is an explosion of activity in the arts scene. Words are not adequate to describe this phenomenon but it can be experienced at the various arts events taking place year round. Statistics measure this phenomenon. Between 2001 and 2005, the number of arts societies and companies has grown from 506 to 600. On average, we can choose from 15 different cultural events every night. Last year, there were 590 visual arts exhibitions and more than a million ticketed arts performance attendance. Should any one of you retire, almost every day you can watch a visual exhibition during the day and a cultural performance at night that is different every day of the year.

Others have taken note of our arts scene. For example, the South China Morning Post commented in February last year that Hong Kong could boost its image as an arts hub if it took a leaf out of Singapore's book. We will continue to nurture our cultural ecology. I will cite three of our initiatives - one recently completed, another ready later this year and a third which is longer term. Just last month, our National Archives opened its facility "Memories at Old Ford Factory". This was the site where the British military forces in colonial Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on 15th February 1942. It is also a national monument. The permanent exhibition depicts the memories of personal

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experiences under Japanese Occupation, and would have been impossible without the many individuals who came forward to provide oral accounts of life during the Occupation. And I agree with Ms Irene Ng that we should increase our collection of records of oral history.

Ms Irene Ng asked about making archive materials more accessible to the general public. I agree that an easily accessible National Archives is important. Our approach is to provide accessibility through several means such as the National Archives Reference Room, travelling exhibitions, publications and e-services. More importantly, there are currently more than 900,000 archival records available for online public access from home. Efforts are being made to make more records available online. I have not been to the Kew building, but I am glad that Ms Irene Ng likes our National Library. Perhaps the National Archives can work with the National Library to make more records available to members of the public.

Museums collect and display our heritage. We share Ms Ng's view that museums should reach out to the public. Some may recall the long queue at the Asian Civilisations Museum on the last day of the "Journey of Faith" exhibition. This shows the public support and interest in museum exhibitions. The new National Museum, which will open soon, plans to reach out to the public through its invitation to all civic and cultural groups to propose innovative new projects for the museum. Last year, MICA had announced plans to convert City Hall and the former Supreme Court into a national arts gallery. This project will take several years to complete, and the public will be involved in this project.

1.00 pm

Prof. Chin advocated developing Singapore as a hub for ASEAN cultures.

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He mentioned the Committee on

Culture and Information (COCI). I understand that is called "COCI" rather than "COKI". I agree with Prof. Chin. Singapore art and culture did not develop in isolation. It is an integral part of the larger regional art scene in this part of ASEAN culture. That is why the proposed national art gallery will display Singapore art in the context of Southeast Asian art. Let me give some additional examples of our efforts in promoting Southeast Asian art and culture, in particular those from ASEAN countries. The Singapore Art Museum collaborated with regional museums and collectors to put up the ongoing exhibition "Cubism in Asia". The Esplanade also organised a bi-annual Asian Arts Mart, and this has evolved into a "must attend" event that provides a good platform to showcase contemporary Southeast Asian art forms. Not too long ago, Singapore hosted the ASEAN Children's Arts Exhibition on Kindness. NAC and NHB will continue to include Southeast Asian arts in their programmes.

Art, heritage and culture strengthen our national identity and sense of belonging, something that Mr Zainudin highlighted. Hence, community involvement in art and heritage activities is important. For example, NHB has piloted a project "Community Trails" to develop heritage trails with constituencies, schools and CDCs. The participants will research and locate sites which the residents can identify such as the Kallang Gasworks. The Balestier-Moulmein and Jalan Besar Trails will be launched in conjunction with the Singapore HeritageFest 2006, and NHB is approaching other CDCs to develop more of such Community Trails.

Dr Ong has asked about the promotion of our literary arts, particularly in the Chinese language. Sir, literature thrives when authors have a passion to write, describe, explain and illuminate the human

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condition. We cannot create great literature by just showering money. Would Shakespeare had written better plays if more money was available to him? Cervantes wrote Don Quixote in a debtors prison in La Mancha. Good literary works require great passion and not great finances. Nevertheless, the NAC provided about $270,000 in grants to literary artists in FY 2005. This money is available for publishing and they can write to the NAC for grants or publications. NAC takes a comprehensive approach, ranging from financier support to grooming of talent and organising events, such as the Singapore Writers' Festivals. In addition, NAC plans to organise a Literary Arts Professional Symposium in 2007 to bring together Singapore and overseas writers and industry players.

MICA will continue to recognise and promote local writers and artists through awards like the Golden Point Award for writers and Young Artists Award. If you have too many awards, everybody will have several awards and, after a while, awards may have no meaning. While there is an argument for more awards, as suggested by Dr Ong, we must be careful that we do not create too many awards that no one knows what the award is for. But there is a pinnacle in the art scene. We have the Cultural Medallion. Since 1979, 86 artists have been conferred this prestigious award. I am pleased to announce that from this year onwards, the President of the Republic will personally confer the Cultural Medallions to recipients. This reflects the Government's desire to accord high level recognition to artists who have achieved excellence. A vibrant art scene and a vibrant nation go hand-in-hand. One cannot exist without the other.

Knowledge and Information Services

Mr Seng Han Thong: Sir, to develop a knowledge community, our Library plays an important role in providing knowledge

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and information services to the public. I would like to congratulate the Ministry on a very successful opening of the new National Library. Singaporeans nowadays do not only go to our library to borrow books or read newspapers. In fact, our libraries organise more events like plays, reading sessions, seminars and art exhibitions for the public. The library has become not only a knowledge hub, it has also become a venue of cultural exchange for Singaporeans.

However, there is another potential reservoir of knowledge and heritage waiting to be exploited in our very well stocked National Archives. The archives plays an important role as a safe keeper of our national history. Good archives like those in Great Britain and Australia are heavily utilised by academics doing research on their nation's history and ordinary citizens doing research on their family history. Government documents are open to the public for reading after a stipulated period of time, normally 30 years. I would like to urge the Government to release more public documents for reading and research. This would enhance our position as a knowledge hub, not only in terms of scientific research and development, but also in the humanities. Encouraging our people to find out more about their roots will also enhance their sense of belonging to Singapore.

On the building of the National Archives, I agree with Ms Irene Ng that yes, it is rich in content but poor in image. If we can compare the new National Library to that of the Archives and if I give our National Library a five-star rating, Archives will barely get three stars. However, it is more important to have a rich content rather than a better image.

Library 2010

Mr Loh Meng See: Sir, I am happy that the Government is allocating new

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funds for the Library 2010 project. I just want to ask what can the public expect from this additional $118 million that has been provided for. I am also happy that in the area of knowledge and reference information materials, authenticity and trust is a virtue because we get a lot of information all over. But I am not very sure how accurate some are. I see that from the reference in the Budget book that this is the focus of the Reference Section of the Library. I just want to know whether the Reference Section is intended mainly for the scholars or they are also for the general public to use.

Sir, there is no other person who can personify the love for books than the late Mr S Rajaratnam. I wonder whether the Government can consider naming the National Library to S Rajaratnam Library.

New National Library

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, the National Library is incurring the largest share of 36.1% of MICA's operating budget this year. This is partly due to the higher operating expenses for the new National Library. In fact, it is a big chunk of the MICA's budget.

Sir, the new National Library is a beautiful building, but it is still a bad idea to build such a grand glass building requiring high maintenance and operating costs. There is misallocation of resources, eg, the public area at the basement is crowded during peak periods, whereas the upper levels remain empty and underutilised at the Reference area. I hope that the space can be more properly allocated, such that there is a more balanced utilisation of space than the current configuration. The Children's Section could be brought to a different level.

Also, there is a public request for the library to increase the limit on the number

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of children's books a person can borrow, without paying for the premium membership.

The Media

Mr Seng Han Thong: The publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons had led to angry protests from Muslims all over the world. Lives have been lost over this controversy. Singapore has an important lesson to learn from this incident.

Our media has been vigilant and sensible enough to avoid offending the sensitivities of our Muslim community. In Malaysia, the publication of cartoons led to the closure of the Sarawak Tribune , the longest serving English newspaper in Sarawak, the equivalent of our Straits Times . So this is a reminder for us that freedom of expression comes with responsibility, and this is especially so in the case of multi-racial and multi-religious Singapore.

Sir, our media regulators are going to be increasingly put to the test as our society opens up. The creative industry and the knowledge economy are being identified as the key sectors for future growth. We must impose as little restriction as we can to allow the creative users to flow. But at the same time, how does the Ministry propose to protect the privacy and security of individuals without discouraging innovation?

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Encik Yatiman Yusof): Sir, in reply to queries raised by Mr Seng Han Thong and a few others, I would like to say that our public libraries offer world-class service to Singaporeans. About 30 million people visited them each year to make 35 million loans. The libraries offer a wide range of books, audio visual

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materials and provide a collection of rare and historical publications for reference and research.

Mr Seng asked about the new programme of NLB to promote a knowledge community. The NLB will continue to enhance its offerings to meet the evolving needs of our community and to serve it better. This is the strategic thrust of the Library 2010 plan (or L2010). Formulated in consultation with library users through focus group discussions, L2010 is a five-year action plan to offer Singaporeans more comprehensive library services to meet the demands of the knowledge community where innovation and creativity are key drivers for progress.

NLB will expand its offerings beyond books, periodicals, other publications and audio visual materials to include more online digital resources. Library users will have more extensive and convenient access to knowledge and expertise. L2010 will transform our libraries into gateways to the world's resource of knowledge, information and learning for all segments of our society, not just scholars, but they include students, workers, professionals, minority communities, the unemployed, researchers, interest groups and others.

The new National Library will offer many of the L2010 services when these are launched starting this year. Since its official opening in November 2005, the new National Library has proven to be popular with Singaporeans. Since its soft opening in July last year, the new National Library saw 2.14 million visitors. This is a huge jump from 1.1 million visits to the old National Library at Stamford Road for the whole of year 2003.

Mr Chia asked about the maximum number of books a user can borrow. With 35 million loans a year, the NLB has to balance the desire to borrow more books

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with the need to ensure the availability of the NLB's collection to the large body of library users. The present loan of four items per user is reasonable. However, from time to time, the NLB had raised this limit to promote reading. For example, as part of the DEAR (or Drop-Everything-And-Read) Campaign during the year-end school holidays from November 2005 to January this year, the loan limit was raised to eight books per user. NLB will consider doing this on an annual basis.

Mr Loh Meng See spoke about the etiquette of library users and what can be expected of the $118 million new library building to Singaporeans. NLB launched the "I Love My Library" Campaign early this year in the wake of increasing incidents of poor library etiquette. This is to inculcate greater sense of ownership of public libraries so that they would treat the library's collection as they would as their own belongings, and to extend due considerations to fellow library users, as libraries are public spaces. NLB has also provided rooms for groups that wish to have discussion without affecting other users.

Mr Seng Han Thong suggested allowing public access to materials at our National Archives via the libraries. This is a similar appeal made by Ms Irene Ng for the National Archives which the Senior Minister of State had earlier replied. But I would like to add that

records are available online and they are able to access them from home. This is better than providing access via the National Library. But efforts are being made to make available records online.

1.15 pm

I agree with Mr Seng that even though the National Archives may appear old, but the contents it offers can be inspiring, and we want the contents to be shared by Singaporeans through the easiest way, ie, online.

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I would also like to clarify the point made by Mr Steve Chia on the wastage of space. Sir, our Library is one that will be responsive and adaptive to the needs of the users, regardless of their age group and interest, and their need for information. I think the new NLB building will provide the kind of facilities that would be useful to all Singaporeans. Judging by the public response to the new National Library, I am confident that this institution is well worth the investment. It will serve us well for many years to come.

On Mr Loh's suggestion that the new NLB building be named after our beloved co-founder and former Second Deputy Prime Minister, the late Mr S Rajaratnam, I would like to say that the passing of Mr S Rajaratnam is a great loss not only to those who are keen on reading books and the library, but it is a great loss to the nation. But naming an institution after him is a serious matter and requires greater study and serious consideration.

TV and Radio Licences

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): Sir, many in the public feel that the TV and radio licences should be scrapped. They say that as much as one-third of the air time is dedicated to commercial broadcasts. The revenue collected is phenomenal, especially now that the TV operator in Singapore is a complete monopoly and can dictate the price for advertising in their broadcasts. I understand that for a non-moving advertisement on TV comprising just a few seconds' flash will cost the advertiser at least $2,500. What more if the advertisement is a moving clip? The cost of the advertisement must be very high. The revenue collected by the TV operator is big enough to support its operations, including broadcasts of educational programmes. In any event, many TV programmes are repeats, especially the

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popular Jackie Chan and other movies. Viewers are, of course, unhappy.

The Chairman: Mr Chiam, you have to stop at Jackie Chan. Mr Steve Chia, you have two minutes.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, I have already given my reasons in the Budget debate for the scrapping of the radio and TV licences. I am now awaiting for the Minister's satisfactory reply.

Dr Balaji Sadasivan: Sir, I thank Mr Seng Han Thong, Mr Steve Chia and Mr Chiam See Tong for their questions and comments.

Mr Seng Han Thong had asked about guidelines for the media in Singapore, especially in the light of the Danish cartoon controversy. There are deep racial and religious tensions in the western world, as evidenced by the Paris riots and the Theo Van Gogh killing in Holland. In this combustible environment, the European media provocatively printed the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in the name of freedom of expression. This sparked off violent protests resulting in death of dozens of people and further poisoning relations between Muslims and Europeans. This is a stark reminder that freedom of expression must be exercised responsibly.

Recently, three German editors whose media companies either printed the cartoons or supported their printing visited my Ministry. They told me that to print the cartoons was a historical heritage. I told them our historical heritage included riots caused by irresponsible media and we do not want to experience this again. In December 1950, during the Maria Hertogh court hearings, racial tensions were high in Singapore. The Singapore newspapers whipped up emotions that led to three days of riots which caused 18

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deaths and injured 173 others. This is taught to our students. If any of our students become journalists, they will understand the importance of a responsible media. I told them that we have a responsible media in Singapore and our media has an important role in nation-building.

Carsten Juste, Editor-in-Chief of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten which first published the cartoons, was reported by The Telegraph to have said: "If I had known Danes would have been put in harm's way as a result of printing these cartoons, I would not have done it." There cannot be a more graphic acceptance that freedom of expression has to be exercised with good judgment and responsibility at all times.

Today, we have a respected Singapore media whose mission is to report news accurately and responsibly. Our media has helped to strengthen the resolve and resilience of Singaporeans in the face of intense economic competition, terrorism, global health threats, and social trends that go against our value system. There is currently no need to develop new guidelines, as our media has Singapore's interests at heart. From time to time, there will be criticism of our media, for example, in rankings by foreign media agencies or snide remarks by those who do not understand our society. Last year, Reporters San Frontieres based in Paris ranked our media poorly. Perhaps, those who did the media ranking did not live in the poor Paris suburbs where cars were burnt nightly during the riots. We must ask ourselves this question: do we want burning cars lighting up the sky like in Paris during the race riots last year? Even without COE, it is a terribly unnecessary destruction of property.

Sir, we should not apologise if the path we take deviates from that taken by others. We know our strengths and our weaknesses. The creative space for ideas

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and information can flourish without undermining fundamentals, such as racial harmony and social cohesion. The media has played a significant role in nation-building by educating and informing the public. Television does this through Public Service Broadcast (PSB).

Both Mr Chiam and Mr Steve Chia have raised the issue of radio and TV licence fees which are used to support public service broadcasts. Besides being entertaining, PSB programmes are important in educating our people on Singapore's history and values, as well as bonding Singaporeans together. An example would be "40-on-40" shown on Channel 5 last year, which gave Singaporeans an insight into the significant national developments over the past 40 years. Beyond this, PSB programmes also cover current affairs, local sports, quality dramas, and educational programmes for children, all of which would otherwise not be commercially viable for broadcast. This wide spectrum ensures that the different needs of our society are looked after. They also draw wide audiences due to their local flavour. In addition, about 30% of PSB funds are used to acquire quality programmes for Central, Suria and CNA.

The collection of RTV licence fees is not unique to Singapore. Many countries, such as Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, collect TV licence fees which range from $245 to $627 per annum. In Singapore, the fees have stayed at $110 per annum since 1994, despite rising costs to maintain high-quality PSB programming. Where possible, national broadcasters should strive to increase advertising revenues. I agree with Mr Chiam on that point. However, advertising revenue alone cannot support the current wide spectrum of programmes which cater to different groups of Singaporeans. The Government currently provides some funding to support PSB programmes of national interest, such as

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the National Day Parade telecast. Everyone stands to benefit from PSB programmes. The payment of RTV licence fees should be viewed as a partnership between the Government, the broadcaster and the people for the public good.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: rose ---

The Chairman: Later, Mr Steve Chia. Mr Zainudin, you have two minutes.

Creative Industry

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, in line with the Economic Review Committee's (ERC) vision of a diversified entrepreneurial and globalised economy for Singapore, the ERC has identified the creative industry as one of the three new and promising service areas to promote besides education and healthcare. MICA are the stewards of the creative industry's development strategy and have formulated industry-specific blueprints, such as the Renaissance City, Design Singapore and Media-21, as guidance in the move forward.

The creative industry has consistently grown faster than Singapore's overall GDP in the period between 1986 and 2000. Growth in the creative industry has maintained a relatively high rate of around 12.9% per annum between 1995 and 2000, as compared to the 5.8% for the overall economy. With all the current initiatives in place, how is the growth rate and development evolving? Between arts, culture, design and media, what is our area of focus? Have we determined the optimum balance of the four sectors? Are there any new initiatives in the pipeline in store for us?

Sir, we are well aware of the desire of many countries and cities to develop their own creative industry. The competition for the search of talent and investment is stiffer now and will continue to be so. I

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would like to know, Sir, how successful are we in comparison to the other cities and countries that are also vying for the same investment pie for the creative industry.

All these questions lead us to other important questions. Do we have enough manpower in this sector, and are enough jobs being created? How do we support arts institutions, such as NAFA, La-Salle and the like? Do we give them enough resources? Is there more that we can do to support such institutions?

Creative Imperative

Miss Penny Low (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Sir, at the last World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, I met Mr Samuel DiPiazza Jr, Global CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers, USA, who noted that in his 30 years of experience, he has never seen such an incredible shortage of talented people across the globe and across a wide spectrum. Curious, I sought advice from one of my good friends and a fellow Young Global Leader, Mr Shai Aggasi, a young executive board member of SAF AG, which is one of the world's largest systems integrators, and also a member of our NRF Scientific Advisory Board. Shai has recently assembled a team of 25 of the world's top brains in the very competitive IT sector.

I had wondered what was his strongest persuasion. Was it money, promise of the good life or career development? Shai explained that, while all of the above are important, these guys already have the comforts of a good life and good pay. It would have been a mistake to treat these top talents as mere engineers or managers. They are obviously superbly talented and hardworking but, most of all, they are creative people who want to create and not

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imitate or follow the norms. Hence, he persuaded them with a single vision, ie, that they have a choice of living their lives perfecting someone else's invention, or they can become the inventor. He claimed that that one idea struck a chord with all 25 top talents, and he thinks that SAP is on the verge of a great surge forward.

That conversation reminded me of another great man, ie, J F Kennedy (JFK). In the summer of 1961, a time of uncertainty at home and abroad, JKF proposed a "crazy" vision of putting a man on the moon by the turn of the decade. At that time, some sneered at the "unreachable" dream. But he was persuasive and, within two years and a huge R&D budget in space engineering and science, America saw at least 40 US-made satellites circling the earth, thousands of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs created. Space and related industries were generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and the best from all over the world came to fulfill that dream.

Back to Singapore, what is our big or "crazy" vision that will attract and retain the creative talents, both local and foreign? How do initiatives like "Cultural Capital" and "Digital Media Hub" contribute to making Singapore a vibrant, creative, eminently liveable place that talents will gravitate to? On the other hand, how can we ensure that this small geography would be liveable for both the extraordinary talent as well as the ordinary Singaporean? How are we engaging our young and old on this?

I understand that MICA is driving a multi-agency effort on the national branding and marketing of Singapore. So, what do we tell our business and leisure tourists about this global talent hub? How can tourism efforts contribute to this effort?

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In short, is our idea big or crazy enough? What is our creative imperative? Do we have a timeline set?

Creative Community

1.30 pm

Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Sir, one of MICA's missions is to develop and promote our creative industries.

And by most accounts, the Minister and his team must be congratulated for having done an excellent job thus far.

Notable events during the last year include the Singapore Arts Show 2005, a Journey of Faith, exhibiting the treasures from the Vatican collections and Nonya Kebaya, a living art which allows the younger generation of Singaporeans to be exposed to heritage art. A noteworthy event for MICA in 2005 was the full scale launch of the Creative Community Singapore Programme which is meant, and I quote the Minister, "To provide more opportunities for Singaporeans from all walks of life to unleash and express their creativity and innovative spirit and I am looking forward to talented artistes being given additional opportunities to exhibit their creations."

Exhibition space has, for the most part, been confined to the central part of Singapore. The Esplanade, for example, has a beautiful forum where gifted artistes can share their talent with both Singaporeans and visitors who go to the Esplanade. I would like to ask the Minister if more could be done to bring arts to the heartlands and if his Ministry will support artistic expressions and creativity by ordinary citizens. And I wonder if, for example, the Minister would give his backing to an ad hoc exhibition of creatively designed depictions of pachyderms being exhibited along a quiet stretch of road, perhaps in the north-eastern part of Singapore, which will bring some cheer to residents over

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there. Obviously, such depictions must not be offensive to any racial or religious group and not create a public nuisance. It must be done with the utmost of sensitivity to the feelings of residents. But if all the criteria were met, will the Minister support the forthcoming?

The Arts School

Assoc. Prof. Chin Tet Yung: Sir, the development of the creative industries requires the nurturing of young talent, and opportunities must be given to the young to develop their talents in an atmosphere conducive to both learning and also to developing their innate abilities.

This is not a subject that is easy to balance and the fact that we are going to have an Arts School, I think, is a step in the right direction, but one must be very careful what we teach and who we take and who teaches in that Arts School.

The questions I would like to ask the Minister is, first, what sort of students will qualify to be students in this Arts School? How many of them will be chosen? How old will they be? How are they to be selected? I think parents are especially anxious to know whether their children will be eligible for selection because many parents, whether rightly or wrongly, believe their children are talented.

Second, what sort of curriculum is to be expected? Because, on the one hand, we want the children to have a proper formal education but, on the other, we must be flexible enough to allow them to display their talents to the maximum and to develop their talents to the maximum. How will this curriculum look and whether going into the Arts School would, in fact, enhance their education rather than be a stumbling block later?

Finally, the staff. What can we expect would be recruited to be the Arts School's staff members? Because it is very

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necessary to have the right teachers so as to support the passion in the children. And I believe that artistic children are perhaps more temperamental than normal children. So, we need special staff to understand them and to cater to their needs.

Mr Loh Meng See: Sir, with regard to the Arts School, I think this addition will make the education system in Singapore to be wholesome.

The Sports School was recently opened for operation and there were important lessons that could be drawn from the management of the Sports School. I wonder whether there are similarities and what are the differences that we can envisage in the running of the two different schools. I am mindful, as what Prof. Chin has mentioned, that the students may be quite different. But one common factor would be the role of the parents because it is important to get the support of the parents, especially in this area on developing the art talent of our students.

Like him - Prof. Chin who spoke before me - I am interested to know whether we will be inculcating the right values in these students because the output is really dependent on the beliefs and the value systems that we impart to the students, and the creativity and the outcome of it is very much dependent on what is taught and the values of the curriculum, the teachers and the students themselves.

The other thing I would be interested to find out is the kind of fees we are going to charge. Is it very much the same like the ordinary school system, or is it going to be more, and how much more? How distinctive do we expect it to be from the students gaining the experience

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from the Arts School from that of the normal school system?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Mr Chairman, I would like to thank all the hon. Members who have spoken on creative industry, creative talent, creative community and the Arts School. I will respond to the various points that they have raised.

Let me begin with the creative industry. Mr Zainudin has asked for the growth rate and the prospect for the creative industry. In fact, as he has himself pointed out, in recent years, this sector - the creative industry, which comprises the arts, design and media - had actually grown faster than the overall Singapore economy taken as a whole. Value-added grew by about 7% for the creative sector compared to the 4% for the general economy and employment in the creative industry grew by 5.5% per annum compared to 2.3% for the whole economy for the period between 1995-2003.

In 2003, my Ministry launched the Creative Industry Development Strategy. This arose from the ERC's identification of the creative industry as a new area to drive the Singapore economy, a new area that can make significant contributions to our economy. We have budgeted about $200 million since the launch of the Creative Industry Development Strategy to promote this push into the creative industry. The $200 million is to fund the promotion of this sector between FY04 and FY08. I expect that with this additional input to promote the industry and also to develop capability within the creative industry, we should be able to maintain this space of having the creative industry growing at a higher pace than the general economy. So how do we want to do that? Our strategy is based on attracting global creative companies, enlarging our pool of creative talent, growing local creative enterprises and

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supporting R&D in key areas and also finally to encourage or support our local creative enterprises to venture into the global market.

Sir, in recent years, our local arts groups are receiving more and more invitations to perform at international events. So they are being noted. In the design sector, Singapore architects have begun to win international prizes and international recognition. They have also begun to win projects in the international arena. Many Singapore architects are now working in the Middle East, landing very big projects in the Middle East because of their design capability.

In the media sector, besides celebrated film-makers like Jack Neo and Eric Khoo, we have companies like the Peach Blossom Media, which had produced "Tomato Twins". This is the first Singapore-produced animation series. It was broadcast on Nickelodeon worldwide network. The company is listed on London Ofex market. It has sealed many co-production deals with partners in Korea, the Netherlands and the USA. So we can see that our local start-ups in the creative sector are, in fact, getting up and moving into the international arena. They have developed capabilities and products that they can be proud of. They are able to sell to international media networks and they are striking out, forging new partnerships with other creative enterprises elsewhere in order to leverage on other people's experiences and capability so that they can come up with even more innovative and persuasive products.

How are we compared to other creative cities? Can we compete with all the other cities that are attracting talent? I think Miss Penny Low asked these questions. I would like to say that we are able to compete and we are able to hold our own. For example, we have succeeded to attract several leading global design and

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creative companies to base some operations or aspects of their work in Singapore. BMW, a company that is well-known for its design and engineering, a global brand, highly sought after, has decided to locate their first Asian design centre here in Singapore. Lucasfilm has opened up a digital animation studio here in Singapore. Electronic game developers, like Electronic Arts from the US and Koei from Japan, have set up game development studios in Singapore. RGM Holdings from Australia was able to start up a US$100 million media financing fund here in Singapore. All these international players have come to Singapore. They have discovered the creative potential of Singapore. They have felt the buzz in the creative industry in Singapore. They know that we may not have all the talent that they need, but they appreciate the Singapore open-door policy towards attracting international talent will help us to overcome this shortage of domestic or local talent. We can complement and supplement our local talent with international talent. And so, they are attracted here. I would like to say, based on our recent experience, we have indeed been competitive. We have indeed been able to attract talent and also companies to come to Singapore.

By coming to Singapore, these global creative companies, these global brands, have been able to create jobs for our creative Singaporeans, whether it is in the design or in the interactive and digital media sector. They have opened up new possibilities for Singaporeans. So what we need now really is more creative people. That is the key and Miss Penny Low is absolutely correct. At the end of the day, whether a company succeeds or falls by the wayside depends on the strength of its creative and innovative human capital.

I am glad to say that our polytechnics, art colleges and universities are all rising to the challenge to groom more creative

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talent. And the Government is supporting them, giving them all the support that they need so that they can continue to groom creative talent, to seek out and enable our creative talent to attain a high level of excellence.

Recently, LaSalle-SIA College of Arts established the Puttnam School of Films. This was done in cooperation with Lord Puttnam of UK. In case hon. Members are not familiar, Lord Puttnam is the man behind such film hits as "The Killing Fields" and "Chariots of Fire". He has gone into a collaboration with LaSalle-SIA College of Arts to open up a film school here in Singapore. That means that we now have a new opportunity to train talented Singaporeans who are interested in film production.

We also have a renowned institute like DigiPen from the US, in the area of interactive and digital media, wanting to set up a campus in Singapore and I think they have agreed to start up one here. So we can look forward to another institution that will train interactive and digital media specialists.

1.45 pm

In 2005, the Media Development Authority spent about $6.8 million and this year a further $9.9 million will be spent on capability development. These are initiatives that include scholarship, training grant, forum, master classes and workshops, to train and also to inspire our creative talent. In fact, more than 4,000 people from the creative industry have benefited from these initiatives launched by the Media Development Authority.

Mr Zainudin raised the question about R&D in the creative sector. I am pleased to inform him that the National Research Foundation (NRF) has identified Interactive and Digital Media (IDM) as a strategic R&D area. Creative talent and enterprises in Singapore will thus have access to the

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NRF R&D budget which is drawn from its trust fund, starting at $500 million and will be accumulated over the years, building to about $5 billion by the year 2010. So there are tremendous resources available to support R&D in interactive and digital media. Of course, that is not the only sector that will be supported by the NRF. The NRF is also focusing on environmental technology, water technology, infocomm sector, life sciences and many other areas.

So, to better promote the interactive and digital media and industrial design, we have also included these two clusters for existing tax concession which exempt 90% of royalty income from tax. This was announced by the Minister for Finance. More details will be available from 1st April.

We hope that these initiatives will encourage local entrepreneurs to develop and exploit more intellectual properties because, at the end of the day, as I said earlier on, for many of our companies it is creativity and innovation, the ability to accumulate intellectual properties of value which you can then exploit fully, both domestically and in the international market. That is how we will grow our creative economy.

To help our creative sector venture into the growing global market, MDA had organised local media production companies to participate in major international media markets, such as MIPCOM, Cannes Film Market and American Film Market. These had already yielded some early fruits. An example, Cubics International was able to sell Singapore's full length 3-D animated film, "Zodiac - the Race Begins", to 22 countries. This is their very first full-length feature animation film, made in Singapore, being distributed to 22 countries around the world. I think this is quite an achievement for a young company.

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MICA is also helping local companies to enhance their product designs by pairing them with acclaimed international designers, including industrial designers Toshiyuki Kita, Architect Toyo Ito, BMW Group Design Director, Chris Bangle. I had the opportunity to meet both Mr Toshiyuki Kita, the industrial product designer and also Chris Bangle from BMW. What came across as the reasons for their wanting to be involved with our project to pair local companies with international designers through the Design Singapore Studio Scheme was that they were very excited about the creative talent in Singapore. They had the opportunity to interact and to meet with our students in our college of arts at LaSalle, NAFA, polytechnics, where they offer design courses, and they were very excited by the people they met who showed energy, determination and creative talent. So they wanted to work with these young people and we offered them this opportunity by pairing them up with established companies and also some internship for our younger students in the institutes that are providing design training. As a result, I think we are able to take the design capabilities in many of our companies to a new level.

I like to end this segment on the creative industry by thanking Miss Penny Low for her support of MICA's effort to promote and to develop arts and culture or, in her words, "cultural capital" of Singapore. I agree with her that there is world-wide shortage of creative talent. Apart from training, grooming, motivating our own creative talent, we have to make greater effort to attract international creative talent to join us in this industry. As I said earlier on, the fact that key players in this sector have found Singapore an interesting place for them to locate some of their business activities, suggests that we are making progress and headway and we will continue to promote our creative capability and the prospects of our creative industry so that we will

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attract even more companies and also talent to join us.

She pointed out that we also have to balance the needs of our citizens as well as the incentives for our international talent who are attracted by our vibrant creative sector. I agree with her entirely. She is absolutely right. An influx of creative talent will certainly help us to build up a strong and vibrant creative economy, which will open up many new opportunities for Singaporeans and it will also be critical in order to enable Singapore to remain relevant and competitive in this changing global environment. So I am confident that we will be able to achieve this balance of retaining our own creative talent by, firstly, training, developing them to the highest level of excellence that they can achieve, and then retaining this talent, and at the same time, supplementing our own creative talent with international talent to join us in this creative industry. I am confident that we will be able to achieve our vision of transforming Singapore into a creative hub and, at the same time, the best home for our people.

Mr Chairman, Sir, let me now turn to Mr Charles Chong on the creative community. He spoke about the Creative Community Singapore and how we launched this event with some fanfare last year. I would like to inform Mr Charles Chong that the scheme that we launched last year, Creative Community Singapore, had been very well received. We had received, in fact, a total of 159 submissions from the public, private and people sectors. So far, out of the 159 submissions, 30 had been approved for funding and more projects are likely to be approved for funding and to be implemented. So far, since the launch in July last year, seven projects have been completed. The completed projects have reached out to almost 20,000 people as participants or visitors to various exhibitions. The projects have also

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created 39 jobs and provided training to more than 800 Singaporeans involved in implementing these projects. Let me give Members an example. HYPE is one of these completed projects. It was initiated by Hewlett Packard in collaboration with the community to produce digital works with HP printer for display and sale in the Arts House Gallery. The proceeds from the sale did not go to HP. The proceeds from the sale went to the Business Times Budding Artists Fund to develop even more young artistic talent. This project was very successful, with about 720 submissions from across the community. Mr Charles Chong talked about the art from the heartlanders. This was an opportunity for the heartlanders to be involved in producing and creating art works.

Mr Koh Buck Song, the journalist, in his article in the Straits Times commented that, "Hype is the kind of corporate event for the community that can truly make a difference to the space for expression."

More community projects under Creative Community Singapore can be expected. For example, the project called "Bit-By-Bit" will provide mentorship to help community groups to produce mini-musicals. This is a value-chain of the whole process of going about producing musicals and this is working with the community group, the heartlanders, to give them an experience and a taste of what is involved to venture into creating a musical. Another project called "Moving Minds" will offer community entrepreneurship workshop modelled after the successful Stanford Technology Venture Programme. So there are many opportunities for projects under Creative Community Singapore that would involve our heartlanders, and our community organisations too.

This year, Creative Community Singapore will launch a second phase of

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its marketing campaign, including a new local TV series to encourage community entrepreneurship. We have increased public awareness. We expect more projects and wider participation.

With regard to his specific request on whether my Ministry will support ad hoc exhibit of pachyderms in quiet parts of Singapore, we are always supportive of creative ideas, whether they are pachyderms or whether they are white or black pachyderms. We will look at these proposals and certainly if they have artistic merit, he can be assured that my Ministry will support.

Let me now turn to the Arts School, Mr Chairman. Sir, I am pleased to update this House on the progress of the Arts School. Prof. Chin Tet Yung and Mr Loh Meng See had raised questions on the Arts School and I will answer them.

Construction has started at the Kirk Terrace site from last month and the consultants are working hard to meet the targeted opening of January 2008. The Arts School offers a six-year curriculum, equivalent to through-train secondary and junior college education. What would set it apart? Prof. Chin was asking what is going to be distinctive about the Arts School and what would be taught? What will set it apart from the other schools is the incorporation of the principal art subjects, namely, music, dance, theatre and visual arts, into the academic curriculum. In planning the curriculum, the principal and her team consulted with artists and visited leading international arts schools. There are already many excellent examples of arts schools elsewhere. We do not have to reinvent the wheel. We can learn from their experience. These arts schools that the principal and her team have visited include the San Francisco High School for the Arts. I have also visited this school. It is a very interesting school with a very large

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population and very talented faculty to groom young talent. The team had also visited Stockholm Music High School and the Victoria College of Arts High School.

Dialogues with parents and students were also held to gather client feedback. Mr Loh Meng See highlighted some learning points from the Sports School on how to motivate students. For the Arts School, parents and students have told us that they want students to be challenged to think critically across discipline and culture and to pursue artistic and creative excellence. The Arts School will, therefore, provide students the opportunity to work with top practitioners of various artistic discipline in Singapore and overseas. The school will also build links with the community, neighbouring museums, the National Library and the Arts Centres to stimulate learning beyond the classrooms. As its graduating qualification, the school is planning to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma. Parents appreciate its balanced, yet rigorous approach and its wide recognition by tertiary institutions here in Singapore and overseas.

Sir, we expect that our Arts School graduates will be well-equipped to pursue further studies in college, conservatory of music or university, both in the arts and in many other different fields. In fact, when I visited San Francisco School for the Arts, I met with the principal. He explained to me that nearly half of his students do not go into professional career in the arts, they went into many other things. In fact, he mentioned one of his recent leading students went on to Harvard to do international relations after graduating from the Arts School. So, the graduates from our Arts School will be future artists, creative professionals or, in fact, just well-rounded individuals, successful in many other fields, but with a strong education and a strong passion for the arts.

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2.00 pm

Sir, the issue of admission criteria is important, as Prof. Chin has said. Who will be admitted to the Arts School? Interested students must meet the key criteria of artistic talent and potential. The School will assess their talent by audition, interviews and, if necessary, admission test. While artistic talent is obviously a priority for the Arts School, the School cannot be blind to academic performance. It will also have to consider the candidate's academic record and ability to fulfil the International Baccalaureate requirement.

For its admission assessment, the School will draw from an expert panel of local and overseas artists and educationists. We are taking this approach because we understand that in the initial years, trying to assess talent of young children at the age of 13 is not going to be easy. So we have to learn through experience. We will seek support or learn from the experience of people who have done this much longer than us to devise appropriate well-rounded method of trying to identify talent.

Sir, the School will work closely with our primary schools and parents to identify potential students starting from later this year. Although the School will only open in the academic year 2008, we want to start engaging the primary schools, students and parents to open up in their mind the possibility of the Arts School as an option for them to consider. It will also announce its school fees and admission details around that time. We intend to offer bursaries and scholarships to ensure that needy talented students will not miss out on the chance to go to the Arts School.

Sir, for its first intake, the School plans to admit 200 Secondary 1 and 200 Secondary 2 students. And in its steady state, the Arts School will have 1,200

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students, aged between 13 and 18. It will take about 200 students each year. With a six-year programme, we will have a student population of about 1,200.

As the School is part of our national education system, the vast majority of the students will be Singaporeans, but it will also take in some foreign students. The exposure to talented foreign students will add to the School's cultural diversity, and it will certainly benefit our young students in Singapore, to give them an exposure to talented and creative students from the region, in particular. Foreign students, however, will not receive the fee subsidy which the Government provides for Singaporean students. So they will pay full fees.

The Chairman: We have quite a lot of time before the "guillotine" for clarifications. Ms Irene Ng.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong: Sir, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary and Deputy Chairman earlier said that content is more important in the Archives, not its image. I just wonder why this same thing is not said about museums and libraries. We aim for them to be world class, to have modern facilities and state-of-the-art buildings. It might reflect on our lack of appreciation of the role of our Archives.

I also want to clarify that, for me, what was more important - of course, rich content - but not image per se as much as what I said that it was a crammed building, it lacked facilities and that we want more people to come and access the rich treasure trove that it has within its walls.

The second point, if I may ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary, is that the move to place more records online is something that all modern archives are doing. I hope he knows that we still have

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to go down to the Archives most times to access and read the materials as we may not know what is relevant until we plough through the whole reams of stuff. And this was what I had done at Kew. I go online. I also identify the topics that I want but I go there and access the materials. I always wonder if researchers come to our Archives what sort of impression they would have of the kind of value that we place on our historical records. When I went to Kew, I had a very good impression of the British people that do value the role of their archives, equivalent to their museums and their libraries. And they give the funds that they needed and the buildings that they needed.

Sir, I hope MICA will consider upgrading the building and committing more resources to our Archives.

Encik Yatiman Yusof: Sir, if we compare the history of Singapore and the history of the United Kingdom and how the two societies developed, there is a vast difference. If we go to London, there will be records for almost every old building. The British people are very proud of their heritage and they spend enough time, effort and creativity to preserve their culture and inheritances. Ours is a young nation, but we are trying very hard to develop our historical heritage for the benefit of our people.

Yes, I do agree that having an ambience for research in the National Archives could be helpful to draw more people. I think we are moving towards that direction and I note that the Member recognises the efforts that the National Archives had done for the Ford Factory where quite a number of our displays are being shown for the people to share. I am sure that we will be looking more into this as we discover more and more important icons and important places for us to use to educate our people.

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Again, I would like to say that the online service is useful. Yes, one has to go to the Archives to do more serious research. But as I said, if the materials are available, we will share them with our people.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, permit me to supplement what my Senior Parliamentary Secretary has just said about the Archives.

I would like to thank Ms Irene Ng for her comments and her interest in the Archives. Certainly, we will want our Archives to also improve and make progress as the years go by to offer better service to the people who need to come to the Archives. We will continue, first of all, to improve the online collection of archival materials so that people can browse through the online collection from the convenience of their home. If they, as Ms Irene Ng has said, still need to come down to the Archives to study the original document, we will try our best to provide better facilities, and we are doing this.

She mentioned that she visited the Ford Factory recently when we opened the new museum there. She would have noticed that there is a brand new annexe building next to the Ford Factory. This is, in fact, a repository for our archival materials, because we have run so short of space in the National Archives to store all these materials. We have to build this new facility there. With the decanting of some of our materials there, maybe there is hope that in the present National Archives there could be some room for us to upgrade and to improve so that visitors who need to come and study documents at the Archives itself could have a more conducive environment.

The Chairman: May I remind Members that they should make their clarification short and not launch into another speech,

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so that we have more time for the answers and for clarifications?

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, I wonder whether the Senior Minister of State can clarify whether revenues collected for commercials are enough to support the operation of the TV operators, including education programmes. If so, whether it is justified for the Government to continue collecting TV licence fees.

Dr Balaji Sadasivan: The answer is no. It is not sufficient. For the English language broadcasts, the advertising revenue covers about 80% of the operating expenses. For Suria, Vasanthan, Kids and Arts Central, it covers about 29.1% of the operating expenses. For MediaCorp News, it is 30.9% of the operating expenses. So the partnership between the public, the broadcaster and the Government is necessary.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Clarification, Sir. The Senior Minister of State said that the programmes mentioned by him are not commercially viable. They are not because they are all propaganda material that the public is not interested in watching. Should not these propaganda materials be funded by the Government, or even by the PAP, just like how the old NKF actually funded their charity, and not paid by the people through the use of TV licence fees?

Dr Balaji Sadasivan: I am not sure whether Mr Steve Chia has seen Kids Central. If he has, I do not think it is propaganda. Otherwise, his definition is very broad.

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, I would like to ask the Minister what is the level of support we are giving to NAFA and LaSalle since we want to develop the talent and manpower. Is the recognition at a level of polytechnic funding equivalent to anywhere else around the world

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where arts talent is valued even higher? May I have a clarification from the Minister, please?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, as I said in my response to Mr Zainudin, the Government is giving full support to our arts colleges like NAFA and LaSalle. Both institutions are given polytechnic level per capita recurrent subsidy for students whose academic results meet the requirements for polytechnic entry. In other words, these students must meet this basic requirement.

The institutions also get ITE level per capita subsidy for students who do not meet polytechnic entry level. In other words, if they do not meet the full polytechnic entry level, they have the ITE level of subsidy.

So, on average, the arts colleges get about $10 million of recurrent funding per year. In addition, I also understand that NAFA and LaSalle each receives about $25 million and $65 million respectively of funds for their city campuses land premium, because NAFA is now in its new city campus. LaSalle is also building its new city campus. They each receive additional funding to cover both their city campus land premium and also building costs.

Overall, I must say that both art colleges do receive significant Government support and funding, which will enable them to play a bigger role in our effort to groom, nurture and develop even more creative talent among the younger generation.

The Chairman: Any more clarifications or questions? Mr Chiam.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, on the Arts School, I believe the Minister said that the academic standards are as high as the one

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taken by students at the Baccalaureate. If that is so, where is the time to train the students to specialise in the arts? They already spend so much time in the academic subjects.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, the Arts School is not just a school to train students in the arts. As I said right at the beginning in response to Prof. Chin, the uniqueness of the Arts School is that it integrates the principal arts disciplines together with a full academic curriculum. The Member asked where would the students find the time for the arts. We are not the inventor of the concept of the Arts School. Many other countries have similar Arts Schools, whether it is in the UK, America, Europe or Australia. They have succeeded in integrating the arts disciplines with a full academic curriculum. As I said earlier on, we are not trying to reinvent the wheel. We will learn from the experience of others who have gone down this path before us. They have done well and established highly regarded Arts Schools, produced graduates who can gain admission to the best of the universities in their own country or anywhere else, and I think this model is useful for us. Sir, I am confident that our Arts School will be able to teach our students

a full academic curriculum to prepare them for the International Baccalaurete Diploma and at the same time develop their artistic talent to the highest potential.

2.15 pm

Miss Penny Low: Two points of clarifications, Sir. I mentioned that with just one vision that he had, it is one simple vision, maybe not so simple, that inspires the whole generation of architects, scientific researchers, technologists and so on, to break through early impossibilities and opening up new horizons and imagination. I am wondering whether we need to also have a consistent but big and seemingly crazy idea to be put up, to message it, not only

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to Singaporeans to inspire them, but also to the foreign talent who might be attracted by this creation. By the same token, perhaps art being something which is always associated with it being colourful and attractive, it could also be the same message that is put up through our tourism initiatives. Could the Minister comment on that?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Sir, I agree that we need inspiring ideas, we need inspiring examples, and we need heroes in our creative industry. So wherever we can, we will highlight these examples. One interesting example which I would like to mention to the House is this creation of Red Dot@Traffic which is entirely a private sector enterprise. For those of you who have not driven down Maxwell Road recently, if you take a drive down there, you will see directly opposite the very serious facade of the Ministry of National Development, a building painted in bright "fire engine" red, running the whole span of the block. Within this building is housed an interesting experiment called the "Red Dot Design Museum". The Red Dot by the way is not related to the little red dot title that has been given to Singapore before. The Red Dot refers to a German organisation that awards design recognition for good product design. There is a museum there which showcases past award winners of the Red Dot design competition and the building is being developed as a design hub. Red Dot@Traffic is being developed as a design hub for the creative businesses and entrepreneurs to do their business or start-up from there.

There are many exciting ideas going on in Singapore in the creative sector. In the media sector, I have already mentioned Cubix International and Peach Blossom Media. There are many other companies out there that are breaking new grounds, innovatively exploring all kinds of ideas and possibilities to enlarge their business and market share. We do

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have in fact many such wild and crazy ideas. MICA, together with our creative industry development strategy group, is actively supporting some of these. We are also at the same time trying to encourage more wild and exciting ideas, not necessarily crazy ideas, to come from the bottom-up approach, and that is the raison d'etre for our Creative Community Singapore project, to give an opportunity for people with imagination, ideas, dreams that they want to achieve, dreams that they want to follow, to empower them to put their proposals to us. If they need funding, this is where Creative Community Singapore comes in. We are there to fund people with interesting and exciting ideas that have the potential to impact on our creative industry, community life and community bonding in Singapore. So there are many such opportunities. If the Member has more ideas, we will be very happy to consider any other suggestions from her.

Dr Warren Lee: Sir, I was wondering whether all this art buzz would feed into our thrust for creative industrial design as well.

Dr Lee Boon Yang: I agree with Dr Warren Lee that industrial design is important. That is why just now, in my main response to Mr Zainudin and also Ms Penny Low, I spoke about what we are doing under the Design Singapore Studio Scheme. The Design Singapore Studio Scheme is in fact an initiative to promote and develop our industrial design or our product design capability. That is why we sought out international designers like Toshiyuki Kita and architects like Toyo Ito to work with our Singapore companies to go into product design, to lend their expertise in product design to our local companies and local designers. This is indeed an important area because it can help our manufacturing sector to come up with better design products that can be much more desirable and can capture greater market share. We understand the

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imperative, and we are working on it. But the point I want to make is that we are very pleased with the fact that leading international designers have been happy to associate with us. They are prepared to come and support our Design Singapore Studio Scheme. So that is a very strong endorsement.

The Chairman: If there is no more clarification, Mr Seng, would you like to withdraw your amendment?

Mr Seng Han Thong: Sir, on behalf of Members who have spoken, may I thank the Minister, the Senior Minister of State and the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for sharing with us the many exciting views leading to more exciting jobs for Singaporeans and together we will see a brighter future for all. Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn .

The sum of $384,246,650 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $161,228,300 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.