Singapore Government Media Release
Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,
140 Hill Street #02-02 MITA Building, Singapore 179369.
Tel: 837 9666
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SPEECH BY MR WONG KAN SENG, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR BISHAN-TOA PAYOH NORTH GRC AT THE INTERNET HOME LAUNCH ON 12 OCTOBER 2000 AT 10 AM AT VOID DECK OF BLOCK 271, BISHAN STREET 24
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am happy to launch Singapore’s first Internet Home right here at Bishan. The conversion of a 4-room HDB flat into an Internet Home presents the possibilities of integrating infocomm technology into the homes of Singaporeans.
THE VISION OF E-LIFESTYLE; AND THE BENEFITS TO SINGAPOREANS
This Internet Home will enable us to show Singaporeans what is the meaning of an e-lifestyle. It gives us an opportunity to see how the benefits of infocomm technology can be translated to everyday living, be it at home, work or play.
The Internet Home at Bishan has 3 main features:
With this Internet Home concept, the industry partners and the government will gather feedback from the residents on:
The Benefits of the e-Lifestyle to Singaporeans
The potential benefits of bringing infocomm technology to the homes are many:
MAKING THIS A REALITY FOR ALL
Moving on from this proof-of-concept, IDA will work with the key sponsors to get feedback from the residents. IDA will then work with the industry to develop new services and product offerings for more homes. These homes will serve as the nucleus of an ecosystem that generate the demand and development of more services and applications.
The target will be for more homes to be part of this ecosystem, including the aged and multi-racial families with children of different ages. These will serve as a guiding principle for the industry to develop relevant applications and services for the different target audience and homes.
In addition, IDA will also work with HDB to identify the various hard infrastructure requirements and explore the viability of incorporating these into new homes in the future.
CONCLUSION
Finally, I am pleased to say that with today’s launch, we know that the Internet Home can become a reality. It will not be an easy task to bring these benefits to everyone in Singapore. There will be challenges ahead. These include the different technology standards available today; development of more compelling community services; and the issue of digital divide. This Internet Home at Bishan is a small step in an exciting journey towards our vision.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the generous couple, Raymond and Ashley Tang, for allowing the project team to modify their home. I am sure they will look forward to an exciting and pleasant stay in their Internet Home. My congratulations to them. I am happy that Bishan is chosen for the launch of the first Internet Home. Being a relatively newer HDB estate, Bishan has many young families which are IT savvy and eager to experience the excitement of an e-lifestyle.
This project would not have been possible without the generous support and team work from our industry partners and sponsors. I would like to take the opportunity to thank CISCO, SingTel Aeradio and ASPNetcentre for their efforts in this together with all other partners and sponsors. We would certainly like to see more of such projects with our industry players taking the lead.
Thank-you.
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