Mah Bow Tan
Singapore
“The previous generation of Singaporeans overcame huge odds together to create this improbable nation which we call home. Let this generation work as one to define our country for the next lap of our journey. Sir, on this note, I fully support the amended Motion. Page: 143”
“Like all upgrading programmes, there is a certain budget, and a certain pace at which we will build. We have completed the LUP and now we are going on towards the HIP. The Estate Upgrading Programme (EUP) is ongoing.”
“For those who cannot afford home ownership, we will provide rental flats. For the rest where there is hardship involved, that is where the safety net comes in. I do not think we should make the safety net so wide as to bring in everybody.”
“Building a studio apartment is no different from building any other HDB flat. If a person applies now and the building works start now, he can get it in two-and-a-half years to three years. We have stepped up the building of studio apartments over the last couple of years.”
“Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Health (a) how many people have signed an Advance Medical Directive (AMD) and how many have revoked them since; and (b) whether there is a need to review the current rules on AMDs which do not require a person who has revoked the AMD to inform the Registrar, thus causing uncertainty for hospitals t…”
“Parents who wish to exert more control over the maximum mobile service charges incurred by their children may consider service options such as mobile pre-paid cards. IDA is aware of the public's concerns on mobile subscriptions, and will continually review policies and look into measures to further protect the interest of consumers.”
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Every one of 3,030 lines we hold for Mah Bow Tan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 60 of 61.
“Sir, I believe that the Committee was set up, as the Member pointed out, in 1987 under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. So in fact the Ministry of Trade and Industry does have that responsibility to ensure that there are no impediments to business, whether it be red tape or whether it is in some unnecessarily inflexible implementation of rules. In so far as whether those rules concern the small and medium enterprises, the Small and Medium Enterprise Division of EDB does perform that role. BG Lee Hsien Loong: Sir, if I may just elaborate a little in Mandarin on what my Minister of State said. (In Mandarin): Sir, SMEs, are not a new question. Every year, in the debate on MTI's budget, if we do not talk about SMEs, something seems to be missing. The economic development of Singapore needs a two-pronged policy. On the one hand, we have to support the development and success of our local enterprises. On the other hand, we need to have the presence of MNCs in Singapore for their contribution to our economy. I know that many local companies take the view that the Government has been biased in favour of the MNCs, giving too many concessions to them, so that local companies are at a disadvantage in recruiting workers and in their business operations. This is understandable. However, if we look at it from the point of the Singapore worker, he has two options. He can work for the MNC or he can work for a local enterprise. Of course, he will have to make his own calculation and decide which job will give him a better income. If we make a ruling to say, "No, he cannot work for MNCs, he must work for SMEs", this will be unfair to him. Furthermore, I think politically this will not be a wise move.”
“Sir, venture capital assistance schemes are also available to the SMEs and the EDB has in fact set up a special fund to help local companies to avail themselves of venture capital funds. If there are any further details that the Member wishes to have, I will be glad to obtain further information from the EDB.”
“Restructuring does not come without a price. It is inevitable that there will be some dislocation in this restructuring process. And perhaps some entrepreneurs will have to undertake different businesses or different professions to make better use of their talents. On its part, the Government will continue to ensure that opportunities are readily available for Singaporeans to make full use of their talents to achieve a comfortable living. But to maintain our competitiveness as a country and to optimise the use of our scarce resources, we cannot yield to the easy-way-out approach of giving handouts to subsidise commercially non-viable businesses, no matter how persuasive or persistent these arguments may be. Sir, to sum up, let me conclude that on top of the present arrangement of general packages of schemes, assistance programmes, which are available to all local enterprises, we will focus our attention on nurturing different groups of local businesses. In this way, we can look forward to helping more outward looking businesses to grow beyond Singapore and at the same time to help businesses which are more domestically oriented to restructure to increase their efficiency and to improve their competitiveness.”
“With a healthy world economy, the globalisation of businesses and fast pace of technological change, there are many opportunities available for local entrepreneurs who are ready and willing to accept these new challenges. We will continue to help them upgrade their technology to enhance their international business linkages. In this connection, we are fortunate to have a strong presence of MNCs in Singapore and this strong symbiotic linkage between MNCs and local enterprises will be able to help both to further contribute to Singapore's economic development. The presence of good local supporting industries is a major attraction to MNCs to set up operations here. On the other hand, in turn, the MNCs bring along with them new technologies and global markets for local companies. Local companies with a global orientation can also seek assistance from EDB's international direct investment programme to help them grow beyond Singapore. What about the more domestically oriented local businesses? These businesses which essentially service the local market recognise that they must restructure. They must look at ways and means of enhancing their competitiveness and their efficiency. We will help them to achieve this. For example, Members have no doubt been aware of the SME Master Plan which was formulated last year. As a follow up to the SME Master Plan, EDB has formed a multi-agency SME retail plan consultative committee to draw up a retail plan whose aim is to revitalise and to accelerate the development of local retailers. When formulated, the plan will be implemented on a pilot basis in some of our HDB town centres and hopefully this will serve as models for retailers in other parts of Singapore to follow and emulate. Sir, I must add a cautionary note here.”
“The lead agency in this effort must have a good understanding, good connections, and close contacts with MNCs. There are several agencies which are able to provide this lead service. They are the EDB, NPB, TDB, NCB and so on. Sir, at this moment, I feel that the EDB is still the most appropriate organisation to lead the network. I can agree with Mr Chandra Das that small is beautiful, but I am sure he will agree with me also that sometimes big is better. Sir, let me assure the Member for Cheng San GRC and all the other Members who have spoken in this House in support of a single agency to look after SMEs that the EDB and all the other agencies involved are sparing no effort to help local enterprises grow to their full potential and to contribute to the overall economic development. I repeat again that this is best done by a multi-agency approach and not just one agency, no matter how sophisticated or competent or specialised that single agency may be. Sir, allow me at this stage also to elaborate on some of the new plans and the future plans that the Government has to help our local companies. I think this is what the Member for Thomson has asked for. For the next phase of our efforts to promote local entrepreneurship in the 1990s, we will adopt a slightly more targeted approach, to provide focused assistance to different groups of local businesses. For more outward looking businesses, companies that are already in a good position to go global, the Government will assist them to enhance its ability to adopt new technologies, to take new business approaches.”
“In 1989, there were a total of 24 MNC partnerships which gave assistance to 104 SMEs to upgrade. All this is an indication that, contrary to what Mr Leong Horn Kee called a perception gap that Government is not doing enough to help SMEs, there are in place sufficient schemes and programmes which SMEs can make use of. I grant that there are still many cases of SMEs not being familiar with the programmes that are available. I would urge the Member and all the local small and medium enterprises to familiarise themselves with these schemes. And on its part, the Government agencies involved, EDB NPB, TDB and so on will take extra care and make extra effort to disseminate this information to the SMEs. Sir, there has also been a recurrent theme in this session and also during the budget debate when Mr Chandra Das called for a separate statutory board to be set up to look after the interests of local SMEs. This proposal has been discussed before and the conclusion has been that it is better to have a multi-agency approach coordinated by one single and central agency. A multi-agency approach is necessary because the problems that are related to SMEs are multifarious, are diverse in nature, and they come under the purview of not one particular statutory board or agency in Singapore but many Ministries and many agencies. Without this multi-agency approach, a single organisation would be less able and, in fact, unlikely to be able to cater to the diverse needs of the SMEs. Sir, the SMEs in Singapore cannot survive in isolation. They need support, they need linkages. One of the most effective means of upgrading SMEs is in fact by teaming them up with MNCs through such programmes as the LIUP scheme.”
“The figures for workers in the service sector are not as easy to collate or compare. So we have taken the figures for the manufacturing SMEs as a yardstick of performance. And it shows here not only has value added per worker gone up among the local SMEs compared to the manufacturing sector as a whole, but the percentage growth of value added per worker in manufacturing has in fact out-performed the manufacturing sector as a whole. Productivity of smaller local SMEs has also significantly improved by 8.6% and absolute figures are shown in figure 5. The third figure down shows the value added per worker going up in 1988 to a figure of $28,000 per worker. In so far as different forms of assistance to local enterprises are concerned, these have also shown steady increase. I refer Members to figures in pages 5 and 6 which show the different disbursements, different amounts given out as tax incentives, as grants under the SITAS scheme, under the Product Development Assistance Scheme, under the SDF, Research Development Assistance Scheme also the amount of loans given out under the Small Industry Finance Scheme. All these numbers have gone up, indicating not only that the sector is performing well but that the Government measures are also being well used. I refer again to page 6 on the right hand side, figure 1 which shows the number of firms which are participating in the Local Industry Upgrading Programme (LIUP) Scheme. And I draw special attention to this LIUP scheme because this is a scheme which links the SMEs to the MNCs and helps to generate additional assistance to the SMEs in a way which will allow them to tap into the technology and expertise which is available in the MNCs.”
“Sir, the question of SMEs and assistance to SMEs and local entrepreneurs have been touched on by many Members of this House, both during this session as well as during the budget debate. Dr Wong Kwei Cheong asked for a progress report on what has been achieved in the Government's promotion and assistance schemes for SMEs. Mr Chew Heng Ching has also echoed the same sentiments, including the call for a single agency to supervise and coordinate these efforts. Mr Leong Horn Kee made the same point and also suggested several measures, including a monthly newsletter. Perhaps if I could answer Mr Leong Horn Kee first because it so happens that I have a copy of this newsletter which he has asked for and I have asked for it to be distributed so that all Members of this House would be able to refer to it. The EDB has produced a special edition of this monthly newsletter which at the same time also addresses the concerns of Dr Wong Kwei Cheong. In this special report, is a report card of the achievements and progress of the small and medium enterprise sector of the economy. If I can refer Members to the headlines, it says here "Local SME Sector Performed Well". I think it sums up very aptly and very nicely the performance and the achievements of the local SME sector for 1989. Let me just highlight some of the significant points that are in this newsletter. I refer Members to figure 1 on page 1 which shows the number of new businesses, new companies, that have been formed. There is a net addition reflecting a healthier environment for small and medium enterprises and for businesses in this sector. Formation of new companies and new businesses grew both in 1988 as well as 1989. Then figures 3 and 4 show the value added per worker in the manufacturing SMEs.”
“Sir, Mr Lew Syn Pau has made an interesting suggestion. On the surface of it, I see no reason why the Pasir Ris resort will not be allowed to do so. But if Mr Lew wishes to put the proposal up to the relevant authorities, my Ministry will consider his proposal seriously and sympathetically.”
“Recently also the SDF introduced a training leave scheme with the specific intention of giving workers with little education and no skills a chance to upgrade themselves. Under this scheme, SDF provides 100% funding for the training fees incurred. Sir, I can assure the Member that SDF funds will continue to be made available for workers to train and retrain and to upgrade themselves and for employers to send such workers for training. But the responsibility to recruit such workers must remain with the employers, especially with the present constraints on labour it makes good sense for employers to do so. The SDF on its part will fund their retraining costs. Mr Lew Syn Pau (Tanglin): Sir, I would like to ask a supplementary question regarding the severe shortage of hotel rooms which we were talking about on Friday before Parliament adjourned. First of all, I would like to declare my interest as the General Manager of NTUC Pasir Ris resort. Since there is a severe shortage of hotel rooms and since the NTUC has a very nice holiday resort at Pasir Ris, whilst it is fully occupied on weekends and school holidays has spare capacity during working days, will the Minister enable the NTUC Pasir Ris resort to help alleviate the hotel room shortage by allowing it to take in foreign tourists and exempt it from the provisions of the Hotel Licensing Act?”
“Sir, before Parliament adjourned on Friday, Dr Wang Kai Yuen asked whether the Skills Development Fund could be extended to help the unskilled and unemployed to get back into the workforce. One of the fundamental objectives of the Skills Development Fund is to retrain retrenched and redundant workers in order that they may be gainfully employed again. This objective is provided for under the Skills Development Levy Act. The SDF provides financial support to defray the direct retraining costs incurred by either the new employer or recognised intermediaries such as the NTUC and employer associations. There were several instances where this funding policy was activated during the last recession. In one case, SBS wanted to convert all its fleet of buses into one-man operation. As a result of this massive change, over 1,400 bus conductors were to be made redundant. SDF supported the retraining of these 1,400 bus conductors to become bus drivers. The support was up to 90% of the retraining cost. In another instance in 1986, NTUC announced plans to pay for the retraining of retrenched members in selected VITB trade skills courses. SDF also supported this effort at 90%. The retrenched worker had a choice of being re-skilled either through his intended employer or else through his respective trade union or employer association. As for the retraining of unemployed workers to enable them to join the workforce, SDF has in place a funding arrangement which assists employers to retrain housewives and other unemployed individuals wishing to re-enter the workforce. Companies in the electronics sector as well as the retail sector in fact made use of the SDF for this purpose in 1987.”
“However, we must understand that SBC has to cater for the demand of its audiences of various echelons and tastes and different ages. If a particular programme does not suit the taste of a particular section of the audience, they could easily switch to another channel immediately, or even resort to watching video-tapes. So SBC could only feature a limited number of art song and folk song items in its combined entertainment programmes. However, Channel 12 does feature a comprehensive range of artistic programmes which should satisfy the demand of those who prefer such artistic programmes. In addition, Radio 3 has been broadcasting some traditional folk songs and art songs.”
“All these years, they have been working very hard to make better and more interesting programmes to cater for the audio-visual demand of our people of various races and echelons. Sir, Mr Teo Chong Tee asked just now, and also yesterday, whether it was possible to blend in the characteristics of our multi-racial society in our Mandarin TV serials, and whether these TV serials would help to convey the messages of some of our nation-wide campaigns. Sir, I fully agree with these two suggestions by Mr Teo. As a matter of fact, in the Mandarin TV serials produced by SBC, we have from time to time introduced some scenes depicting our multi-racial characteristics. However, as Mr Teo has said, ours is a multi-racial society. In order to achieve racial harmony in Singapore, we have to be very careful in dealing with the sensitivities of the languages, religions and customs of the various races. I would urge SBC to include more scenes depicting the co-existence among our various races in Singapore in their future Mandarin TV serials. Sir, as for the second suggestion by Mr Teo, SBC has already done so. In the TV serials produced by SBC, the story-lines are generally consistent with the spirit of our nation-wide campaigns and our traditional values. We appreciate that some useful traditional values and the messages of some of our nation-wide campaigns cannot be forcibly made to appear on our TV serials in a "sermon-like" fashion, but should rather be featured subtlely in the plot, creating an imperceptible influence, as described by Mr Teo. To put it simply, what we seek to do is to educate through entertainment. Sir, now let me answer Mr Goh Choon Kang's question. I am also a lover of art songs. I am 100% in agreement with Mr Goh.”
“So I think we should leave it to the professionals in SBC to decide on such editorial matters. Similarly, for current affairs programmes on radio and TV. These are not political forums where different political parties engage in debate. These are forums and discussions for different people to air their views. The producers of these programmes should be left to decide who they wish to approach to take part in those programmes. If I remember correctly, Mr Chiam See Tong was featured in two of these programmes last year and one of the programmes was telecast as recently as two weeks ago when he was featured on the Feedback programme on consultative Government although I understand that he is not too happy with the coverage that he was given. Nevertheless, he was featured, although it is not possible for programmes like this to be left unedited. I think it answers the point that Dr Lee has mentioned that no television coverage has been given to Opposition MPs or that not enough television coverage has been given to Opposition MPs. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications and Information (Mr Ho Kah Leong)( In Mandarin): Sir, just now Mr Teo Chong Tee, Mr Peh Chin Hua, Mr Goh Choon Kang and Mr Choo Wee Khiang made some very good suggestions on the improvement of SBC. First of all, I would like to thank them for their praises for SBC and concern for the welfare of SBC staff. There is one thing in common in all their speeches, ie, they are all speaking out of loving concern for SBC with the hope that SBC would make further improvements to make their performance even better. Sir, of course, on the side of SBC, they know that their responsibilities are heavy and the road ahead is long.”
“Sir, the resources of SBC are limited and I think this is a point that we keep stressing. And because they are so, SBC has to make conscious decisions as to how to allocate these resources. When decisions are made they are made with the full realisation that the audience interest must be kept in mind. Specifically on the point of Chingay, it is not correct to say that there were only a few seconds of Chingay featured on the news because the night Chingay procession was also featured in the magazine segments of two very popular programmes, Sunday Morning Singapore as well as Studio One Presents. A full live coverage was considered but given the resources and the manpower that were required, a decision was taken not to telecast it live. Sir, I now touch briefly on Mr Choo's point about collecting SBC licence fee with ROV road taxes. I think it is a suggestion worth considering and I will pass it on to SBC. Allow me to respond to Dr Lee Siew-Choh's points. I am a little bit puzzled by Dr Lee's complaints, although we have heard it before in this House, that PAP Ministers and Backbenchers are given too much publicity on TV. He may be pleased to know that we get equally vociferous, equally urgent and, equally loud complaints from PAP Backbenchers and even Frontbenchers. Sir, Mr Choo Wee Khiang has also made the point that he is not satisfied with the coverage by SBC of PAP Backbenchers on programmes like Today in Parliament. Sir, Dr Lee asked, what guidelines does SBC use? I think the answer is very simple. SBC will take whatever is news worthy to determine whether an event or a speech by whoever is covered. This is understand- able because if it does not do so, then SBC will lose its audience.”
“In the meantime, I am pleased to announce that, as part of the on-going efforts to improve the quality of news programmes, SBC will be piloting in June a special 45-minute news programme on the main English news on Sunday nights. This will be piloted to test the audience reaction. It will include more news features, a more interactive style of reporting and it will include more wire agency news. If the new format is well received, SBC intends to adopt it on a daily basis thereafter, and possibly also for the news items in the other language streams as well. Sir, I next move to Mr Tang's comments about Chinggay particularly, but probably on a more general point about the complaint that SBC tends to be too money-oriented in its approach. Sir, I must stress here that staff and management of SBC are very, very conscious of their role in nation building. They pay a lot of attention to the news and the current affairs programmes, probably, more attention to these programmes than to the entertainment programmes because it realises that it has this very important role to play. It helps to keep the public well informed. And a well-informed public is essential because it will be better able to provide the considered well-informed opinion, feedback, suggestions and views to help Government achieve national consensus, which is so crucial to nation building. Sir, while SBC management and staff recognise this point, they also realise that this is not an easy job because there are from time to time requests or views put forth by various Members of this House as to what constitutes good information and good education programmes. Some want late news, others want morning news, some want Chingay, others want post-midnight movies to relax themselves and so on.”
“In addition to improving drama production facilities as well as training of drama performers, scriptwriters, Malay drama production crews also go on location shooting outside Singapore and every effort is being made to reflect the current trends and developments in Singapore society in the themes of SBC's Malay dramas. On the question of increasing frequency of local Malay dramas, SBC has been looking into this possibility and since March this year they have further increased the telecast frequency of acquired Malay dramas or movies from once a fortnight to once a week. Increase of local dramas will require, of course, the building of more production facilities and training of additional creative talents. This will take time. Sir, I now turn to the question of late night news which Mr Tang Guan Seng raised just now. Sir, late night news in English on Channel 12 when it was telecast attracted a viewership of 4,000 viewers. As a comparison the regular news at 9.00 o'clock attracted a viewership of 123,000, a factor of about 30. Similarly, the late night news in Chinese on Channel 8 drew about a tenth of the nightly news in Chinese at 8.00 o'clock. Given these figures and given the fact that SBC's resources are finite and limited, I think SBC took the decision to discontinue the late night news programme and it was a correct decision. However, since Mr Tang has raised this matter, I will ask SBC to keep monitoring the situation and if and when the situation changes, when viewer interest picks up, obviously SBC can consider resuming the late night news.”
“Obviously, with the limited air time that is available, SBC will have to weigh very carefully the telecast of local stage plays against other programmes which enjoy a much higher viewership. However, I take note of the Member's suggestion and I would be passing on to SBC his comments and to urge SBC to continue to play its part to promote the arts, and especially the promotion of local English plays in Singapore. Sir, I turn now to the comments by Encik Wan Hussin again and Encik Yatiman Yusof on Malay programmes. Encik Wan Hussin and Encik Yatiman have asked what measures SBC has taken to improve the quality of its Malay programmes. These measures are similar to the measures that SBC has taken to upgrade all its various language programmes. It includes the development of its human resources, the improvement of the production and presentation facilities, and the on-going review of drama or scripts by research writers and scriptwriters. Specifically on some of the Malay current affairs programme, like Tinjauan, the staff involved in Tinjauan have been sent for training, sometimes overseas, sometimes local in-house SBC training, to upgrade their production as well as their presentation skills. Where it is necessary, Tinjauan production teams have also been sent overseas to cover stories of interest. I am pleased to inform the Members that SBC will increase the frequency of telecast of Tinjauan, which is currently a monthly programme, to a fortnightly programme from October of this year. Let me now touch on the upgrading of quality of SBC's Malay dramas.”
“As for the Member's suggestion to have a separate advisory committee for Indian programmes, let me state that SBC already has a mechanism to receive suggestions and views on its programming. And this mechanism is the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) which has representation from all the communities. So matters that are related to SBC's Tamil programmes can be brought up for discussion by this Programme Advisory Committee and if the Member has any specific suggestions, I would be glad to pass them on to the PAC. So I do not think it is necessary to set up a separate advisory committee specially for Tamil programmes. Sir, I now turn to the comments by Encik Wan Hussin on the possibility of SBC producing English local dramas and plays. SBC is very aware of the growing interest in locally produced English TV dramas. And because of this, it has taken the first step of dubbing some of SBC's Mandarin programmes into English. Later this year, SBC and the Ministry of Community Development will be organising a TV playwriting competition. The best entries from this competition can be used to produce a pilot series of English language TV dramas for telecast, hopefully sometime next year. With regard to the screening of local English plays, I must inform the Member that it is not simply a matter of telecasting the stage play. In order to do justice to the play, extensive modifications and adaptation would have to be made for television. But even after doing this, experience has shown that viewership of such programmes is not high. For example, in 1988 and 1989, SBC actually telecast at prime time a series of local English plays. The viewership ranged from as low as 1,000 viewers to a high of 38,000.”
“Sir, first of all, allow me to address Mr Chandra Das's concern about the quality of the Indian programmes of SBC. He asked why the Tamil executive producer who retired last year was not replaced. He also asked whether MCI would consider additional inputs to the advisory committee on Indian programmes. Before I address the specific points, let me make a general point that SBC recognises that it has a responsibility to all its viewers, to all Singaporeans. In a multi-racial and multi-lingual society, this means that SBC must try to improve the quality of the programmes in all the various languages, even though the viewership of the minority language programmes may not be as high. On the specific point about the Tamil producer who retired last year, he was not replaced because SBC restructured the TV programme division. And instead of allocating producers along the language programme lines, it has restructured it according to different types of programmes. Under this new structure, the Tamil producers now report to the respective controllers who are in charge of variety, drama, children's programmes, culture and so on. SBC tells me that audience response to the SBC's Tamil TV programmes, particularly the variety series, has been favourable. They gave me some figures. For 1988, average viewership for the variety series, for example, was 54,000. For 1989, it went up to 59,000. This is quite commendable considering that it is quite a high percentage of the total viewership. Let me assure the Member that SBC continues to look for ways to improve its Tamil programmes. In this connection, he may be pleased to know that SBC recently recruited a Tamil producer to strengthen its capacity to produce the cultural and current affairs programmes.”
“It is inevitable that with the restructuring of our general hospitals, except for Alexandra, Changi and Woodbridge Hospitals, the number of posts available to absorb these staff will be limited. Similarly, with the reduction in number of posts the number of promotional posts will also be reduced.”
“There is currently a mechanism within the STPB which deals with all complaints. But I will pass on the Member's suggestion to the STPB to see how they can further strengthen this mechanism. RESTRUCTURED HOSPITALS (Position of pensionable nursing staff) 3. Mr Yeo Toon Chia asked the Acting Minister for Health (a) how many pensionable nursing staff have opted not to join the restructured hospitals; (b) what will be the position of these nursing staff after all the hospitals have been restructured by 1994; and (c) whether he is aware of the anxiety faced by these nursing staff over their uncertain future and promotion prospects and what he proposes to do. The Acting Minister for Health (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Speaker, Sir, a total of 325 pensionable nursing staff have opted not to join the restructured hospitals, namely, Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Toa Payoh and Kandang Kerbau Hospitals. This represents 51% of the total pensionable nursing staff in these institutions. My officials have been briefing and explaining to these staff on the advantages of joining the restructured hospitals and have been encouraging them to do so. They are also allowed to continue working in the restructured hospitals for a year before coming to a final decision. My Ministry will make every effort to post those who prefer to remain in Government service to the remaining Ministry hospitals and institutions. They may also be posted to other Ministries which have vacancies for nursing staff. My Ministry will also look into ways to retrain these nurses for redeployment to other areas of health care within the Ministry.”
“Sir, at the moment the cooperation is really on two levels. One, of course, is at the Government-to-Government level, which is conducted under the umbrella of the Asean Committee on Culture and Information (COCI). Then there is the other level which is the station-to-station level. The on-going COCI project includes annual exchanges of programmes and artistes as well as joint production of documentaries. But also on the station-to-station level, SBC has very good bilateral relations with its counterpart stations in the other countries - RTM, TVRI, Radio and TV Brunei. Also, in November last year, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Indonesia which provides for exchange of materials and programmes for broadcast in our respective countries. But I am pleased to also inform the Member that, outside of the region, SBC has got regular exchanges of news item with stations such as NHK of Japan, SBS of Australia, and CNN of USA. In addition to this, it exchanges programme materials with stations in other countries such as China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Insofar as the co-production is concerned, last year it had a very rewarding project with the BBC where it co-produced a programme called Tomorrow's World which incidentally featured Singapore as the main highlight.”
“The Singapore Government invites journalists from neighbouring countries on regular fact-finding missions or visits to Singapore, and such programmes have helped to disseminate information on Singapore. As for information flow between Singapore and the world, as I indicated earlier, apart from the wide network of media organisations that operate from Singapore, we also keep the world informed about us through the efforts of our foreign missions and also through the efforts of the various organisations that have offices overseas, like STPB, SIA, EDB, TDB and also MCI's own external publicity efforts. Encik Yatiman Yusof: Sir, on broadcasting cooperation with neighbouring countries, I just want to ask a short question. What is the Ministry's plan to broaden and deepen broadcasting cooperation with our neighbouring countries, apart from holding joint performance between SBC and the various other similar broadcasting medium, exchange of programmes and so on and so forth? Could the Minister enlighten the House?”
“I cannot agree more with Encik Yatiman Yusof when he says that information is power. But it is a power that has a double edge to it. It can do good as well as do harm. The Ministry's role in managing the flow of information between the countries in the region as well as between Singapore and the world is a critical one. We have taken advantage of our position in the region and of our excellent telecommunications and communications infrastructure to enable ourselves to become an information centre for the region and also to become an information centre for Asia and the world. We provide links via satellite with more than 50 countries. We are home to the world's major news agencies and organisations. We are served by about 4,000 foreign publications. The BBC World Service is relayed 24 hours on FM. There are 106 accredited correspondents representing some 59 foreign news media organisations. They not only cover Singapore but also from Singapore to the world. Apart from this, more and more publications, including the Economist, Time, USA Today, are printed in Singapore for regional distribution. As you can see, Sir, the role of Singapore as a regional information centre is one that we can justifiably claim to be. Steps are also being taken to improve the two-way flow of information with Asean. As the Member rightly pointed out, there are regular exchanges of information, and regular exchanges of journalists between Singapore and other countries in Asean. Malaysia's official wire news agency, Bernama, has an office in Singapore. My Ministry welcomes more such news agencies from Asean countries setting up base in Singapore. There are also regular exchanges of meetings of Asean editors.”
“Again, let me say that the Government has no objection in principle to the introduction of cable television in Singapore. Of course, if it is a commercial operation, then the usual local broadcasting requirements need to be met, such as multilingual broadcasting, conformance to our censorship standards and so on. A nation-wide cable television system requires very, very heavy investments. Although Dr Wang has pointed out that the communal antenna systems are already in place, nevertheless, we need to feed the signals to the communal TV antennae and a cabling system, if the Hong Kong experience is any indication, is an extremely expensive proposition. I am told that in Hong Kong they intend to spend well over S$1 billion to lay the cables. So before the Government can decide whether SBC should provide such a service, we need to do a very careful evaluation. Sir, Mr Lau Ping Sum has asked whether the Government will review its policy on the reception of TV3 programmes. In responding, may I first of all point out a misimpression on this matter. The Government does not prohibit Singaporeans from watching TV3, but neither should Government go out of its way to facilitate the reception of foreign commercial broadcasting stations and consequently the HDB has decided not to modify its central antenna systems to be able to do so.”
“I believe there is another important factor that we need to consider, ie, the privatisation of SBC must not leave the station without a role in nation building. We must find a way to have this happy marriage, this reconciling of two seemingly opposite roles of nation building, on the one hand, and business efficiency, on the other. SBC is currently attempting to make this marriage work, to try and reconcile these two objectives. Will a privatised SBC do a better job? I do not know, but I think we must try. My Ministry is looking at the experiences of other countries. One model is the British model where BBC, which is the national broadcasting station, competes in all areas of broadcasting with the commercial stations. Another model could be the American model. Here, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) concentrates mainly on current affairs, education, information and cultural programmes. It does so also in competition with the commercial stations. There is a third model which is the Hong Kong model where the government station produces current affairs and other educational programmes and then pays for it to be telecast by commercial broadcasting stations or, in certain cases, gets that air time free of charge. Which model, if any, or which variations thereof, will best suit our circumstances? This we need to study. My Ministry welcomes views from hon. Members of this House as to which way we should go, if we decide to go. But whether SBC is privatised or not, I must say that the Government has no objection in principle to commercial broadcasting stations in Singapore. Sir, allow me next to respond to Dr Wang Kai Yuen on the feasibility or the possibility of cable TV in Singapore.”
“Sir, last year Dr Hong Hai called for the partial privatisation of SBC. In response, I pointed out to him that this was already the case. SBC Enterprises, for example, had already been set up. This year, as I listened to Dr Hong Hai, I thought for one moment that he was going to ask Government to nationalise SPH instead. I saw many relieved faces in the press gallery when he made it clear that this was not his intention. Sir, this year, his call is not quite so revolutionary. His call is for the total privatisation of SBC and it would appear to be a next logical step. But before we answer this question, we need to ask ourselves: privatisation for what purpose? It cannot be just to subject SBC to the rigours of the commercial world, as Dr Hong Hai put it. Contrary to the popular belief that SBC is a monopoly, it already faces considerable competition. It faces direct competition from RTM, to a certain extent from TV3 and from the video cassette recorder. It also faces indirect competition from other media and other leisure activities. In fact, with the advances in satellite technology, SBC will face even stronger competition in the years ahead. This can be good news for Singapore and Singaporeans if it means a better SBC. To meet this challenge, it is necessary but not sufficient for SBC to spend money on talent and technology. It must also have the flexibility, the fleetness of foot, the business acumen, the innovativeness of the business world to be able to attract and retain its viewers. Does this then mean that the answer is to privatise SBC and to convert it into a commercial station whose performance is judged by its audience ratings and by its profits?”
“This means that diagnoses that are dependent upon these tests can be made that much sooner, and treatment initiated quicker. All these and other measures have led to improved service levels to the patients and to the public.”
“For example, it has employed additional clerks and nursing assistants, thereby freeing the highly skilled nurses who were previously engaged in clerical and minor nursing duties to concentrate on direct patient care. SGH has also been able to simplify and streamline many of the operating procedures and systems. These have reduced the number of queues and waiting time for patients. For example, the average registration time at the Specialist Outpatient Clinics has been reduced by more than half, from 30 minutes to 12 minutes now. In most outpatient clinics, the average waiting time to see the doctor after registration has also been reduced, from about 90 minutes to 45 minutes. SGH will be looking into improving the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department this year so as to reduce the waiting time for emergency cases. In the Medical Records Office, improvements have also been introduced. Following the reorganisation of the Medical Records Office, 98% of the 1,500 medical records needed daily in the Specialists Outpatient Clinics are now readily available when needed, compared to 92-95% previously. This means that the number of outpatients experiencing long waiting times while waiting for their medical records to be located has been reduced from an average of 80 each day to only 20 today. The hospital is working towards further reducing this figure. The Laboratory Services have also been improved. These are key support departments. After restructuring, SGH has been able to reduce the reporting time for laboratory tests from an average of three days to one day. For the very commonly requested tests, reporting time has been reduced from one day to only three hours.”
“Sir, if the posted prices of petrol go up and the oil companies raise their prices accordingly, I do not think there is anything that the Government can or should do. But if it happens in the reverse, we would expect the prices to also go down accordingly. SINGAPORE GENERAL HOSPITAL (Preliminary assessment of services) 7. Dr S. Vasoo asked the Acting Minister for Health if he will give a preliminary assessment of the services rendered by Singapore General Hospital since it was restructured. The Acting Minister for Health (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Singapore General Hospital has, since its restructuring on 1st April 1989, been able to properly staff and manage departments, and to reorganise and streamline work methods and procedures in many areas, thereby improving the level of service to the public. These improvements have been appreciated by its patients, as reflected in the results of a patient assessment survey involving more than 600 patients carried out early this month. The survey showed that: 83% of the repeat outpatients felt that the outpatient clinic services have improved. 55% of the first time outpatients rated the clinic services as good or very good. 70% of the repeat inpatients said that the level of ward service has improved. 78% of first time admissions rated the ward services as good or very good. Let me give Members a brief description of some of the improvements that have been introduced: In the area of recruitment and reorganisation of manpower, as an autonomous organisation, SGH has been able to recruit badly-needed personnel, and to redeploy manpower for better efficiency.”
“Sir, the deregulation has only recently taken place. I think we should let the market work itself through.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the objective of the deregulation exercise is to ensure that customers get the best service at the best possible price. We have seen in recent weeks that the deregulation is working out along the lines that the Government has planned in the sense that prices are now being offered by different oil companies at different levels. Also, as I indicated in my reply earlier, diesel prices, in line with the lowering of the wholesale price for diesel, have actually come down. I think the answer to the Member's question is yes.”
“Sir, as I indicated just now, we have not received any official complaint, so we cannot comment on this matter.”
“Sir, the Government has not received any complaint from the Malaysian authorities about Singapore aircraft flying over Malaysian airspace. It does not, as a matter of policy, comment on press reports on this matter.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I think it is prudent for STPB to continue to keep on its marketing efforts without letting up, because it is in the nature of such programmes that if you are away from the public eye or notice for a while, it is very difficult to pick up the momentum again. BILLS INTRODUCED SCHOOL BOARDS (INCORPORATION) BILL "to make provisions for the incorporation of governing boards for the purpose of conducting Government schools and aided schools and for matters connected therewith", presented by the Minister for Education (Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. MAINTENANCE OF RELIGIOUS HARMONY BILL "to provide for the maintenance of religious harmony and for establishing a Presidential Council for Religious Harmony and for matters connected therewith", presented by the Minister for Home Affairs (Prof. S. Jayakumar); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. INCOME TAX (AMENDMENT NO. 2) BILL Order for Second Reading read. 1.30 pm”
“The Government should not interfere in the operation of the free market. The quality of our hotel services is high. If we maintain this standard of service or better still upgrade it, and we continue to provide value for money, the tourism sector can continue to prosper. So STPB's promotion will stress that Singapore is a value-for-money destination. Its target will be the higher yield tourist segment, in other words, the convention visitors and the incentive tour visitors.”
“Thank you. Sir, the current average occupancy rate of gazetted hotels is about 90%. The occupancy rate is expected to remain around this level of 90% over the next two to three years, based on the projected 8% annual growth in visitor arrivals and an expected 4.5% annual growth in the supply of gazetted hotel rooms. At peak periods, especially when large conventions or exhibitions are held in Singapore, we expect a shortage of rooms. The low room rates over the last few years have helped to boost demand for hotel rooms. In view of the heavy demand for rooms, room rates have started to rise over the last few months. This will help to match supply and demand, and also spur more investments to meet the increased demand. The URA has been steadily releasing parcels of land in the city for commercial developments. Hotel developers can bid to build hotels on these sites. To help the hotel industry to plan ahead, the STPB regularly publishes tourist arrival statistics, and information on the supply of hotel rooms being planned or under construction. Hotel investors can use this information to decide more knowledgeably on their projects. How will the rise in rates affect STPB's promotion efforts? The higher rates reflect the recovery of the hotel sector which has experienced six years of low demand from 1983 to 1988. But despite the rate increases, major surveys conducted in 1989 show that Singapore hotel rates are still amongst the lowest in the region. In other words, Singapore continues to offer good value-for-money compared to other countries in the region. With an expanding economy and with labour costs going up, it is not surprising that hotel room rates have also gone up. The higher room rates will spur more hotel developments.”
“Sir, I thank the Member for supporting the Bill. May I refer him to clause 4 (subsection (4)) of the proposed Bill, and I quote: 'Where the Minister is satisfied ... that the technology acquired ... would promote or enhance the technological or economic development of Singapore ...'. I hope the Member for Eunos GRC would agree with me that this definition allows sufficient leeway to include as many of the things that he mentioned as possible, so long as the Minister is satisfied that the activity would promote or enhance our economic development. Question put, and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House. The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Mah Bow Tan]. Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed. DEPARTMENTAL TITLES”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." Last year my Ministry proposed an overseas investment incentive to encourage local companies to invest abroad to gain access to technology as well as overseas markets. This incentive is basically an extension of the Venture Capital Incentive which was announced in the 1986 Budget Statement. It will now cover all types of overseas investments that yield market, technology and/or economic benefits, besides investments in new technology. It was approved by the Ministry of Finance and announced in the 1988 Budget Statement. This incentive allows a company to deduct up to the full amount of investment, any loss arising from the sale of shares in an approved overseas investment project. The major provisions are: (a) It will be available to any local resident company that invests in an approved overseas project which would (i) provide access to technologies and/or overseas markets; and/or (ii) promote or enhance the technological or economic development of Singapore. (b) Within a period of eight years from the date of approval, any loss arising from the sale of shares or liquidation of the approved overseas project can be offset against the company's other income; and (c) Relief would be given on the difference between the purchase of the shares and the fair market value of the shares at the time of sale or, in the case of liquidation, the purchase price and the proceeds from liquidation. The Bill proposes to amend Part XIIIA of the Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act on "Venture Capital Incentives" to implement the incentive. The amended Part XIIIA will be referred to as "Overseas Investment and Venture Capital Incentives". Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I believe I do not have much time left. So I will go straight to the point. SBC's practice of not telecasting Cantonese serials, I think, is well known. It actually stopped in 1982, not 1980 as the NCMP, Dr Lee, mentioned. SBC's practice was obviously in support of Government policy to promote the use of Mandarin rather than dialects. The Member indicated that there were widespread protests. SBC is not aware of these widespread protests and I think it is their business to know about this. Because, if it is so, the news people would have known about it. Viewership fell drastically and revenue fell - I think the figures that SBC have do not support this contention. It is true that the older members of the family were deprived of their favourite Cantonese serials when this was done, and it was a sacrifice. But to be fair to them ---”
“If that is the case, Sir, I do not think a response is necessary to the Member for Tampines GRC on Satanic Verses. Suffice it though to say that the MCI did not finally decide to detain the book but actually had already made a decision and had communicated that decision to the book distributors about a month before. Sir, can I turn to the point made by the Member for Yio Chu Kang about the question of censorship standards. I agree that the standards of acceptability are not static. In fact, they move all the time and, because of this, it is incumbent that the censors are also aware of the current situation. But let me just inform the House that the Ministry's policy is to follow, not to lead, in standards of public morality. It strikes a balance between both the conservative and the liberal sections of the population because for every request or for every strident view that we are too strict there is an equally vociferous view that in certain cases we are being a bit too lenient. The broad censorship guidelines for films are, very briefly, to disallow films which are objectionable on either moral or political, communal or religious grounds, in other words, those that depict sexual permissiveness or those which attack any religion or race. However, when deciding whether to make a cut or not, the censors do take into consideration the overall theme of the film. For example, some violent scenes may be allowed if the theme is a war film. A film on a sexually transmitted disease would be allowed if the film is portraying sexually permissive behaviour. Besides consulting each other, the Ministry and the film censors also have recourse to the views of the Film Advisory Committee and the Films Appeal Committee.”
“If I may, Sir, I think the Member is correct in saying that SBC should look at these programmes. Why is it not a priority item? It is very simple. Because at the moment it is gearing up for further improving its new services in the evening where the viewership is much higher. In fact, it has had to consolidate its resources. I think Members may have realized that SBC actually had to discontinue its late news programme. In order to provide a higher level of service, SBC had, in fact, extended the news and went into a late news programme on a trial basis. That really shows that SBC has the intention of improving its news programme. But unfortunately, things did not work out. The resources that were committed to the late news programme were found to be not commensurate with the viewership. So as a result of that the late news items were discontinued. The question is whether morning television will be a success. The Member has cited the experience of Hong Kong and America and other countries. SBC is aware of these programmes and the peculiarities of the marketplace there. It is not unmindful of what it is capable of doing and what the audience in Singapore is interested in. It has looked at these issues. The situation is that at the moment the interest is not enough to sustain a morning television programme. But given the resources that it has at the moment and, in fact, with the redirection of some of the resources that were saved as a result of the discontinuation of the late TV news, steps are being taken to improve and upgrade the regular news programmes.”
“Mr Chairman, Sir, I thank the GPC Chairman for his comments. Unfortunately, since yesterday nothing has changed. SBC has not had any new information that would cause me to change my reply. However, before the GPC Chairman becomes even more disappointed, may I reassure him that in my answer yesterday I did not say that SBC is not going to do it but that it is not a priority item. In other words, the door is not closed to morning television programme. I think we can look forward to a programme of this nature which combines both educational elements as well as entertainment elements in a very well packaged manner. But unfortunately, given the resources that SBC has at its disposal at the moment, there are really other much more pressing things to do. I repeat though that the idea of packaging programmes which fulfill its objective of entertaining as well as informing, that SBC is fully in agreement with the Member. The question is how to do it, what are the resources available - in that sense I do not think the Member should be that disappointed with my reply.”
“I will finish in three minutes. First of all, quality. I think in the acquisition of the programme, it has to be very conscious of quality. Secondly, improvement in its own productions. It has been doing this through building up and nurturing its talent pool for the various kinds of programmes, the news programmes, drama programmes and the children's programmes. It has a continuing effort to seek out new talents through auditions and talent times and so on. It addition to that, it is also featuring artistes from Malaysia, from Indonesia, from India, wherever feasible. For its acquired programmes, SBC has recently been able to acquire better and more recent programmes and feature films. And programme contacts have been established in Indonesia with film distributors as well as with TVRI and similarly with film distributors and TV networks in India. SBC monitors the audience response to its programmes and where feasible requests from viewers are catered to. Finally, Sir, the request for more Malay films have been met by telecasting two movies instead of one every month. The request from Indian viewers to telecast the weekly Tamil and Hindi movies completely in one day has also been noted.”
“The production and the telecasting of local programmes will continue to be given emphasis by SBC. Quality will also continue to improve. SBC recognizes that this can only be done if it continues to attract, to retain the best talent and to provide these talents with the best facilities, the best equipment, the best training. So SBC will be investing not only the funds from the Government, but also its own funds in the recruitment and training of talent, in the upgrading of equipment and in the expansion of its facilities. I thank the Member for his concern. I am sure that all who work in SBC will be encouraged by his observation that its programmes are of a high standard and are appreciated by most Singaporeans. Finally, Sir, the points made by the Member for Tampines GRC on SBC striking a balance between achieving national objective and financial consideration. Yes, it has to achieve national objectives by educating, informing and entertaining the public through a balanced mixed in the programme that it produces as well as the programmes that it acquires. To achieve this, it has got to do two things. (1) Its programmes must attract viewers. (2) It must have enough revenue so that it can recruit and retain staff to make sure that the programmes are attractive enough. But I think the Member was asking this question in the context of what SBC is doing in so far as improving its Malay programmes. Sir, may I just very quickly elaborate on the kinds of things that SBC is doing, not actually only for the Malay programmes but also for the Indian programmes.”
“On the subject of educational programmes for parents to help them to bring up children or so-called parenting programmes brought up by Mr Chew, again these have been dealt with in documentaries and magazine programmes that SBC has acquired and, I believe, has also telecast. The Members have also cautioned SBC on the responsibility it has in the use of language. I agree with the sentiments expressed and that because it is such a powerful medium, it has to be extra careful in the use of language, both in the English language as well as in the other languages. But it is interesting to note that while the Member is wary of the use of Singlish like lah, man and so on, on the other hand, SBC has faced some pressure to telecast programmes which actually use Singlish, eg, in plays and so on. So there has to be a very judicious balance between what is negative influence and what is considered to be part of the social milieu in Singapore. Let me next turn to the point made by the Member for Jalan Besar GRC. It is actually a point which I think SBC will find most encouraging, namely, the question of more funds for SBC. Sir, it is true that SBC has a very important role to play in nation building, and this is why SBC has spent so much of its resources in producing and telecasting local programmes, even though it is much, much cheaper simply to telecast imported programmes. The local television programme content has gone up from 29 hours per week in 1980. It has doubled to 60 hours in 1988. In terms of cost, the cost of production of these local programmes have gone up from $17 million in 1980 to $59 million in 1988, a three-fold increase in cost. Apart from the increase in output, the higher costs are also due to the better quality programmes that are being telecast now.”
“I may inform the House that this, in fact, is already being done and SBC is very conscious of the need to pay its talent according to what it would be able to get elsewhere. Because without them, it would not be in a position to do what it has done and what it intends to do in so far as raising its quality of output. Next I turn to some points which were made by the Member for Eunos GRC and the Member for Thomson. I would take both of them together because they pertain to the question of educational TV. Let me point out that since the incorporation of SBC, the number of hours of programmes which could be termed educational or informational type programmes have actually doubled from 23 hours per week in 1982 to 45 hours per week in 1988, equivalent to some 28%, almost one-third of its output. These programmes include documentaries on a wide range of subjects, magazine programmes including programmes on computer usage and information technology in general. The majority of these programmes are actually telecast at times which are considered prime times, most accessible times to the target audience. If the Member is referring to educational programmes which are more of a basic educational nature, for example, the teaching of English and Mathematics, then I would refer him to the programmes which are currently available and telecast by the CDIS which SBC telecast about 11 hours per week. Also, he may be interested to know that the National Productivity Board, together with the Skills Development Fund Secretariat, is looking into the feasibility of telecasting educational TV programmes for adults to supplement the current training classes in BEST, WISE, COSEC and so on.”
“Whatever other radio stations do, Radio 10 will not be allowed to descend into what is commonly known as gutter broadcasting for the purpose of maintaining listenership and generating advertising revenue. Sir, I turn now to the points that were made by the Chairman of the GPC. He made two points. The first one is on the feasibility of having morning television. I think SBC has been studying morning television and it has been studying this in terms of the viewership available in the mornings, the types and languages of programming and, most important obviously, the cost of telecasting such morning programmes. However, given the rapid expansion of its output since 1980, SBC now feels that they have to concentrate on further raising the quality of its productions and therefore the introduction of morning television is not a priority at this point in time. The second point that Dr Hong Hai raised was the possibility of privatizing part, if not all, of SBC. Yes, it is possible to commercialize SBC's operations on a selective basis. In fact, this is already being done. In 1986, SBC Enterprises (SBC E) was formed to commercialize some of the operations of SBC. So SBC Enterprises now undertakes certain commercial activities like air time sales, production of Radio and TV commercials, sale of publications, Radio & TV Times, and the sale of its programmes. I will ask SBC to continue to identify other aspects of its operations which could be better managed commercially. But let me just add that one of the reasons that the Member gave for commercializing SBC was that it would be in a better position to pay its staff commercial rates or rates which were more commensurate with their skills and with their market value.”
“So I repeat, Sir, for this reason, my Ministry's policy is not to allow the sale and installation of TV ROs in Singapore. Mr Tang also made another point about Radio 10 and Radio Zoo. I think the gist of his point was that with so many foreign radio stations coming in, what is going to happen. Does it mean that SBC is going to follow the competitive push of the other stations and downgrade its content? Obviously, the answer is no. Radio 10 was set up as part of SBC's continuing efforts to provide better services for its listeners. In fact, even before Radio Zoo came onstream, SBC was already considering a 24-hour round-the-clock music service. I sense that Members are not very convinced of this argument. Nevertheless, I say it with full knowledge that it is the truth. As a start, in fact, just to show that this is not something that SBC cooked up towards the end, Radio 1 service was gradually being extended. First of all, it was extended to 2.00 am on Fridays, Saturdays and eve of public holidays. And this was done in November 1987. There was felt then a need for a 24-hour radio service. But I must say that Radio Zoo's appearance brought forward the launch of SBC's round-the-clock music service to 1st January this year. Sir, it is my Ministry's policy to allow SBC to determine the strategies that it is necessary to meet the interests of its listeners, to raise the quality of its programmes and to meet the competition, not only, I may add, from foreign radio stations but from all other forms of entertainment as well. However, it is very conscious that its programmes must not be in conflict with national objectives. For example, songs with lyrics which extol drug taking or permissive behaviour will not be broadcast.”