Hansard, 1981-03-25

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [6th Allotted Day].

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Head J - 2.31 p.m.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head J be reduced by $10 in respect of Subhead JA-01 of the Main Estimates*. *The same amendment also stood in the name of Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng. Sir, lately there has been growing concern over the proliferation of video tape libraries in Singapore. The Government has already stated that legislation will be intro- duced at a later stage to check the proliferation of video tape libraries. Sir, legislation is necessary because we have to control tapes which are pornographic and undesirable in terms of content and theme. But here I would like to add a word of caution. In so far as video tapes are concerned, the object of legislation should be to prevent undesirable people from operating video tape libraries, in other words, the fly-by-night operators who are out to exploit the situation or to make a quick buck. The legislation, which is to be introduced should not make it difficult for the individual to borrow or to possess tapes purely for his own enjoyment. The video tape, after all, is a useful medium which, if properly utilized, can increase our fun and enrich our own cultural life. Socially I would prefer to see members of a family crowding round the video and TV sets in the evenings rather than to see members of a family playing mahjong or the children running about in the streets. Sir, there is concern over video tape library operators because many of them are collecting entrance fees and subscription fees. As a result, if an operator were to close his operations, the people who have paid entrance fees and subscription fees will stand to lose everything. I suggest that the Ministry of Culture should require operators to place a deposit with the Ministry or to provide a banker's guarantee so that, if and when they cease business, their members can recover their deposits through the Ministry of Culture. Sir, operators should also not be allowed to collect entrance fees but they may, of course, be allowed to collect deposits against renting of tapes. But such deposits should be refunded to the member on the termination of his membership. The other problem with video tape libraries is censorship. A lot of video tape library operators do not submit their tapes to the Censorship Board for censorship although they are required to do so under the law, because the Censorship Board sometimes takes as long as six months or even up to a year to screen a tape. I understand this is because of the manpower shortage which the Censorship Board has with regard to screening of such tapes. I would suggest that the video tape libraries be allowed to implement a self-censorship scheme. This would be similar to the scheme which is presently applicable to book importers. Book importers are not required to submit every copy of a book to the Ministry of Culture for censorship or screening. Instead, they are given the discretion to decide for themselves what is suitable and what is not suitable within the general policy guidelines. I would suggest that a similar system be adopted for video tape libraries and importers of video tapes. The Ministry should, therefore, provide clear policies and guidelines and it can also conduct spot checks on such people. Of course, if there are any infringements, then heavy penalties should be imposed on them. Sir, the video tape is increasing in popularity and there is nothing we can do or we should do to check its popularity. In Singapore this popularity may have come about partly because many people still consider SBC not good enough in so far as the types of programmes are concerned. As far as I am concerned, I think the SBC has come a long way since its first year of incorporation. I was one of those who used to hurl a lot of brickbats at the old RTS. But under the first Chairmanship of the Hon. Minister for Communications, the SBC has come a long way since its incorporation. I remember there used to be a joke that RTS stands for "Repeat Television Singapore" and the new SBC would stand for "Same Boring Channel". But after one year I can safely say that the SBC has done much more than I really thought it could do. But there is still room for improvement. I am sure we can provide much more by way of entertainment for our people. I would urge the SBC to seriously study or maybe make a survey of the programmes which our people enjoy most and to act accordingly. I was a bit disillusioned the other day when I read that the SBC was bargaining very hard over payments for drama serials from Hong Kong. Apparently they are paying US$200 per episode at the moment. The Hong Kong people wanted to raise it to US$800, and there was a talk that we would probably see the last of the serials. I would urge the SBC to keep a more open mind on such matters. After all, it is reaping tens of thousands of dollars per episode by way of advertising revenue. What is US$800 compared to the amount of revenue which is coming in? I would seriously remind the Minister that the SBC should never forget that its prime objective is to entertain. Again, I must say here that I was a bit disappointed the other day when my good Friend, the hon. Member for Mountbatten, mentioned that the SBC should show on prime time educational programmes on teaching people how to wash their hands. I hope the Member for Mountbatten was not serious about it because if the SBC were to take up his suggestion, I think I am going to sell my TV set and ask for a refund of my TV licence. Let us not go overboard with the moral concept and adopt this holier-than-thou attitude all the time. I believe very much and I am sure all of us here agree with the views of our Government that we have to take all steps necessary to reinforce our moral and cultural values. But put very simply, let us not take the fun out of living from our people. After all, Singaporeans are human beings. When we exhort them to work hard, they all work hard. But let us allow them the chance to play and have some fun in the evenings. When they come home after a hard day's work and switch on the TV set, do not confront them with a lot of slogans and messages on how to be good, how to work hard, and how to wash their hands. So far, the SBC is moving on the right track and I would like to say, "Keep up the good work". I hope I will be here next year to give more words of praise for the SBC.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to withdraw notice of my amendment (2) and instead speak on the subject under discussion now as that Subhead also deals with the same topic?

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Yes.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Sir, all I have got to say to the hon. Member for Alexandra is that, first, I understand that he is not married, and secondly, if he were married and has children suffering from typhoid and so on, he would not be saying what he has said just now. Sir, the question is not whether we have made a mistake in a particular activity for, say, once in 365 days in a year. It has to be looked at in its entirety. A mistake here and a mistake there, added together will give us a general impression on the performance of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. In this light, I would like to draw the attention of the Ministry of Culture to its control of sound levels in public address systems. Now, from what I know, the Ministry of Culture issues a public entertainment licence subject to the provisions of the Public Entertainments Act and to the rules and conditions stated in the licence. Some conditions even state that only amplifiers fitted with SISIR's noise level reduction unit or those bearing the seal of SISIR are permitted for use. But, Sir, I have yet to see these rules properly enforced. There are still today quite a lot of places one can go to where the noise levels are certainly not below the maximum level that the Ministry of Culture permits, be it in the restaurants, hotel or even a wayang site. People seem to disregard this ruling. It would be helpful if the Ministry of Culture can look into this matter and see what has gone wrong with its supervision, especially at a time when we are all talking about making Singapore clean, green and a pleasant place to live in. We must not forget that we live in an age where noise can be a great nuisance to our citizens. Fancy seeing on the television screen words that go something like this: "Be a good neighbour. Do not disturb your neighbour. Please turn the level of your radio or television set down." Yet outside our flats we get a public address system blasting away. I really cannot reconcile the two. Maybe the Ministry of Culture has got some explanation for this. 2.45 p.m. I can cite another example, Sir, to show how the Ministry of Culture or, more specifically, the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, seems to have bungled again. This was on the 23rd September 1980. I was watching a television show featuring a courtesy campaign. The scene was a school with Primary I students being taught how to line up in proper order. It was a pleasing sight to watch these school children lining up to buy their favourite packet of kachang puteh. But the kachang puteh seller was merrily using his hands to fill up the packets with kachang puteh, thereby, breaking the food handling regulations. An hon. Member: How is he to fill the packets?

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 With a spoon. In fact, he had a spoon. Surely there must be somebody who can sit down and study how these films are to be presented to the public. Otherwise we will get the famous "cancelling effect" that we talk of so often in this Chamber. And all the money that we spend on campaigns and so on will come to nought, wasted. Sir, I also recall the Member for Radin Mas raising a point about pictures shown on TV which did not synchronize with what was being announced. I recall that the Hon. Minister for Culture agreed with him and said that it not only embarrassed SBC but also him. Of course, this happened in the Tamil programmes. I do not know whether the SBC has since remedied this fault in the Tamil programmes. As far as the English programmes are concerned, even recently there were pictures on TV which did not synchronize with what was being announced. Only a week ago, the picture of the Minister of Education appeared on the TV screen and there was no mention of what it was all about. Sir, I raise these matters to question the quality of the work and also the work attitude of some workers in the Ministry of Culture. Until we ascertain how widespread this problem is, it is advisable to take remedial action to check the situation.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to speak on this subhead. I would like to support my colleague, the Member for Alexandra, when he spoke on the video tape As Singapore becomes a more affluent society, more people can now afford to own video cassette recorders. As a result, video tape entertainment has become very popular in recent years. To meet the increasing demand for imported pre-recorded video cassettes, many video tape libraries have sprung up all over the island. The increasing popularity of video tape entertainment has brought about serious problems for the Board of Film Censors. They are caught with their pants down when imported pre-recorded video tapes begin to flood the video tape market in Singapore. With their limited manpower and equipment, they are not able to cope with the sudden increase in workload, as more and more of these imported video tapes are submitted for censorship. Consequently, video tapes which have been submitted often take a very long time to be cleared. As the situation gets out of control, many people cash in by taking advantage of the situation. Almost overnight, numerous video tape libraries came into existence. It is common knowledge that these libraries are now flooding the video tape entertainment market with uncensored video tapes, some of which are pornographic and undesirable. If the present situation is allowed to continue, it will definitely have an undesirable effect on our population, especially the young. Of late, Sir, the situation has become worse and the Police has to step in and seize all undesirable video tapes from several video tape libraries recently. This, however, is not an effective solution to the present problems. Why did the Ministry of Culture not obtain more facilities and recruit more staff and train them to cope with the increasing workload of censorship. If possible, video tapes submitted for censorship should be cleared by the Board of Film Censors within the shortest possible time so as to save the people a lot of frustration. In view of the seriousness of these problems, I hope the Ministry of Culture will act fast before irreparable harm is done to our society.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Sir, with your permission, may I just join the previous two Members on the topic of video tapes? I have given notice of an amendment on Sub-head JC-04 on Regulatory Services and so on. May I withdraw that notice, Sir, because what I am going to say is relevant to what is being discussed now?

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Yes.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Sir, we are an open society. While we encourage the import of modern science and technology for our development, we must at the same time be on guard against the onslaught of foreign cultural influences which will erode our moral fibre. Our survival as a society and nation depends very much on our ability to withstand, overcome and avoid the negative influences of foreign or Western way of life, attitudes, standard of morality, which encroach upon our Asian ethics and moral beliefs of our forefathers who were the pioneers and who, through sheer hard work, strong family ties and obedience to cultural standards and values, helped build Singapore into what she is today. The channels through which we have been receiving Western cultural influences are the TV, cinemas and magazines. But the most widely used medium in Singapore is the TV. Nearly every home has a television set. If we visit a Singaporean's home in the evening, some members of the household will be watching TV. It is the most comfortable way of passing one's leisure time. But the impact and influence that television has on the minds of viewers is tremendous. It is no wonder that advertisers are ever ready to spend large sums of money in using this medium as the best means of promoting their products. There should, therefore, be a better and more effective control on what is offered by the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation over our TV network and what is available privately in the form of video tapes. Recently, it was reported in the press that the Police had made raids and seized thousands of video tapes which were suspected to be uncensored and even pornographic in content. This indicates that there is no effective system by which we can ensure that only desirable tapes are imported and that all tapes have been properly censored by the Ministry. It would be interesting if the Hon. Minister could enlighten me on the methods and the manner in which video tapes are being censored. What are the criteria used in censoring tapes and films? Have steps been taken to ensure that all video tapes are censored before release in the market? What measures have been taken to control the entry of insidious video tapes into the country at entry points? At present, our TV programmes consist principally of imported films, particularly from the West, Europe, the United States and Hong Kong. There is need for more locally-produced programmes and a truly balanced programme of information, education and entertainment. There is at present more of the latter and also of foreign culture, music and songs. It must be our aim always to inform and educate in whatever entertainment programmes that we produce locally. There must be more programmes of information and education, in particular, to enhance the awareness of our citizens on crucial issues affecting the country.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Mr Speaker, Sir, with your kind permission, I would like to speak on the Ministry of Culture's policy on the provision of library services for Singaporeans, particularly those in new towns springing up all over the island. Our library budget as a percentage of the educational budget is approximately 1% annually. For the financial years 77, 78 and 79 this figure was 1.03%, 1.07% and 1.13% respectively. This figure is well below the UNESCO recommended guideline of 4%, and this fact was highlighted in the National Library Annual Report, 1979/80. For the current financial year 81, if we include the grants, subsidies and other transfers for the Ministry of Education, this percentage now works out to be approximately at 0.97% which is even lower. Is it the Ministry's policy to maintain this percentage static at about 1%? If that is so, does the Ministry feel that the 4% guideline recommended by UNESCO is excessive, and that the 1% that we are operating on .is much more appropriate and relevant at this stage of our economic and social development? Mr Speaker, Sir, is it possible that our attitude towards the provision of library services takes no cognisance of the rapid changes in Singapore in recent years? With very rapid and very successful economic restructuring, today's decision-makers must respond effectively to change and for that, knowledge is critical. If our children are to be successful in tomorrow's world, then they must acquire the ability for independent information renewal because knowledge in the high technology fields becomes obsolete almost as soon as it is acquired. The highly-trained individual of the 1980s who does not continually update through the literature will become useless as a competent professional. Sir, to excel tomorrow, our children have got to acquire the reading habit today. Yet it appears that our Government's policy does not put a high priority on our libraries. In our new towns, our library building programme lags far behind those of the polyclinics, the sports facilities, the recreational facilities and the other community facilities. These facilities are essential; so too are our libraries but the progress of the library building programme is extremely slow. We are building libraries at the rate of approximately one in every 3 1/2 years. Our first branch library was built in Queenstown in 1970; the second in Toa Payoh in 1974; the third in Marine Parade in 1977; and the fourth is expected to be completed sometime later this year in Bukit Merah. 3.00 p.m. Sir, for FY 80, $4.6 million was approved for the Development Estimates; out of this $4.6 million, $4.1 million or about 90% of that sum was not spent and will be up for revoting again. This money included sums approved for computerization of library operation, improvement to the National Library, the new Bukit Merah Library and air-conditioning of the Toa Payoh Library. Are all these projects the unfortunate victims of construction shortages that we hear so much of or are they just the victims of low priority? Furthermore, plans to include the Ang Mo Kio Branch Library and the Bedok Branch Library in the Development Estimates for FY 81 now appear to be unduly optimistic. What about libraries in the other new towns that we intend to build? When will they come about? Sir, we speak of a literacy rate in Singapore of about 80% and yet the membership of the National Library is only approximately 350,000 people. This works out to be approximately 15% of the population. It appears that our literate population is not reading books from our National Library. More seriously, Sir, only 60% of our students are members of the Library. The other 400/o are not. How many of these 60% of our children who are members of the National Library regularly patronize the libraries? How many of them read the books in the libraries? What about the other 40%? One can only hope that they make full use of their school libraries. Sir, if our current policy on library services is one of normal growth - in other words, enough for inflation with an extra pinch for good measure - then we must do some serious rethinking. Our educational system has undergone a very serious revamp to provide and to ensure optimal training for our children. Our libraries must do likewise to keep pace with this new urgency. In a progressive country like Singapore, libraries must not be viewed as dispensable luxuries to be put aside. In FY 81, just to provide some degree of perspective, we intend to spend three times as much on our parks as we do on our libraries. The estimates for Parks is $22.8 million as against $7.2 million for libraries. Our libraries must form part of the basic necessities for our society. In fact, they are the investment for our future, our future which is rapidly changing and becoming increasingly more demanding. Therefore, we must not allow any physical or financial barrier to impede our children's free and easy access to books. We must help them to discover the joy of reading. Our libraries must be places where our children can go to during their leisure time. We must get our children to prefer mingling with books in the libraries to mingling with hoods in the streets. Our libraries also must unceasingly do battle with such likes as "Buck Rogers" and "The Incredible Hulk" for the minds of our children, our children who are going to be managers, engineers, technicians and other skilled professionals of tomorrow. In other words, the Hon. Minister's left hand must counter-balance the overwhelming influence of his right hand. Sir, in our Budget statement we talk extensively about formal training and education for proper manpower development. That is essential. So too is the well-located, well-stocked and well-used library. Our libraries must rise to the challenge of the 80s and our Government must assist them in this task with the appropriate policies. If our libraries fail, we will all be that much poorer tomorrow. Sir, I would urge a review of our Government's policy and priority with respect to library services and hope that this will result in increased urgency towards the provision of libraries in all our new towns with a much higher level of library services, a level that is relevant and worthy of the new Singapore of the 80s. Our people are not clamouring for library services. I believe that silence rings loud and clear.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Sir, with your permission, may I add to what the hon. Member for Kim Seng has just said?

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 Yes.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 I would like to ask the Hon. Minister for Culture whether the National Library is planning to build more branch libraries in the various new towns and when. In particular, I understand that a branch library which is planned for Ang Mo Kio New Town is expected to be completed by 1983 - 84 to cater for the population of about 250,000 residents. Would it be possible to bring forward the implementation of this project, as many residents are eagerly awaiting its completion? In response to a request from my Residents' Committee, the National Library has kindly agreed to establish a mobile library at the Housing and Development Board Ang Mo Kio (East) Area Office at Block 528 Ang Mo Kio to cater for not only the residents of Cheng San and Jalan Kayu Constituencies but also other residents of Ang Mo Kio New Town. The mobile library will operate once a week and will comprise an adult section with about 2,000 books and a children's section with about 3,000 books. Whilst the mobile library is certainly welcome as an interim measure, it is but a poor substitute for a full-scale branch library. In our efforts to promote culture and the reading habit, more branch libraries should be built as soon as possible in the various new towns if their populations are sufficiently large, as in the case of Ang Mo Kio, to justify the cost of building and operating these branch libraries. The existing libraries are well utilized and it should be possible to rotate the books amongst these libraries to minimize the inventory of books. By locating the branch libraries closer to population centres, we can cut down travelling time and expenses (this is increasingly important with rising SBS fares) whilst promoting the reading habit.

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 ( In Mandarin): Sir, what I want to talk about concerns entertainment permits. I feel that the procedure for the issuing of entertainment permits by the Ministry of Culture is rather complicated and troublesome. Sir, as you know, in July of every year the Chinese community celebrates the Seventh Moon festival in the various constituencies. In celebrating the festival groups of street wayangs and singing troupes are set up to give performances at various open spaces. The organizers will have to get permission from the Ministry of Culture to stage these performances. The Ministry will send inspectors to check whether such performances, even though permits have been given, have actually been given full approval. What happens is that although a permit is issued for a particular performance, however, the public address system for that performance is not covered by that permit. So trouble begins from there. Sir, since two different permits are required to enable such a performance to be staged, the Ministry of Culture staff should not refrain from telling the organizers that they should also apply for a permit for their public address system. It behoves on the staff in the department to let the organizers know about it. In the past such trouble happened. This year it is bound to happen again. There will again be people organizing the Seventh Moon festival. So there will again be people applying for the entertainment permit. Since it is understood that a separate permit must also be obtained for the public address system, why can the permit not be issued together? Otherwise how can the people stage the performances at all?

MAIN AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES - OF SINGAPORE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR - 1ST APRIL, 1981 TO 31ST MARCH, 1982 ( In Tamil): Sir, we are now debating on the Ministry of Culture and I thank you for permitting me to speak on this topic. I wish to bring up a few points for the attention of the Minister for Culture. The Singapore Broadcasting Corporation is a sophisticated organization and I do appreciate what it has been doing over the past one year. However, I would like to point out that there are certain shortcomings which need to be resolved. SBC grooms artistes and it also promotes sports activities. Similarly SBC's programmes should also benefit the workers of Singapore so that their attitudes can be better developed. Some of the programmes show how to cheat the police and how rape is committed. Such programmes are not conducive to our society. We should not televise programmes which promote Western culture. Since television programmes can easily influence people, they should be used to lead our people to a better future. The Ministry of Culture promotes cultural activities and other life-styles of the people, and therefore it should preserve the life-styles of Singaporeans. 3.15 p.m. I would like to point out that SBC telecasts only one Tamil film a week and this film, which used to be shown at 9 p.m. previously, is now shown at 10.30 p.m. Whenever the children watch the film at that hour they fall asleep. Adults have got to go to work the following day and so they are not able to see the film. Therefore, I would like to ask the Minister why the film could not be shown at 9 p.m. as previously. The Minister should look into this matter. Previously, during Parliament sittings, the parliamentary report was broadcast over the radio and television. In that way, members of the public were informed. Now, however, the parliamentary report is broadcast only over the radio, and not on TV. Last night, at 9.45 p.m. I listened to the English News. The replies given by the Ministers were reported in detail, but not the Members' requests. If that is so, the constituents would not know what their Members of Parliament have been debating in Parliament. Therefore, I would like to ask the Minister that SBC should give equal publicity to the speeches of the Ministers as well as those of the MPs. Other- wise, the constituents would not know what we have been discussing in Parliament. We have been elected to represent the people and we are here to convey the complaints and other comments of the public. SBC should not disregard us.