Singapore Government Press Release

Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,

36th Storey, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963.

Tel: 3757794/5

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SPEECH BY GEORGE YEO, MINISTER FOR INFORMATION & THE ARTS AND 2ND MINISTER FOR TRADE & INDUSTRY, AT THE LAUNCH OF FM 96.3 - THE INTERNATIONAL CHANNEL ON 12 OCT 98 AT 9.00 AM

From the time Raffles established it as a trading post for the British East India Company, Singapore has been a cosmopolitan entrepot, linked to all four corners of the world. Foreigners have always contributed to Singapore's development, enriching the island economically and culturally. Some eventually sink roots here.

Singapore must always retain its global and cosmopolitan character. We welcome international talents to our shores, not by choice but by necessity. Without them, we will be little better than a Southeast Asian backwater.

The August 31 issue of NEWSWEEK carried a short article about where expatriate employees liked to be based. Singapore, together with the United Kingdom, the United States and Hong Kong, was one of the most popular locations voted by them.

Our objective must be to make Singapore a home away from home for Europeans, Japanese, Americans and others. Here, they find a local support system for themselves and their families - cultural facilities, schools, shops, restaurants, healthcare services, and links back to home.

With the new media technologies, we can make it easier for foreigners living here to be close to home. This desire to stay close to home is a natural human instinct. When Singaporeans are overseas, they are always eager to keep up with home news, whether by fax, telephone, TV, radio or the Internet. So, too, foreigners living in Signapore. Singapore Cable Vision now offers a range of foreign TV channels in various languages.

This morning I am pleased to announce the official launch of FM 96.3 - The International Channel. Despite competition from other media forms, radio remains a remarkably resilient broadcast medium all over the world. For a start, the International Channel will broadcast in Japanese, German and French because of the large number of Japanese, French and German speakers living and working in Singapore. If the response is good, we will consider radio broadcast of other languages as well.

The French and German programmes will be relayed 'live' courtesy of Radio France International and Deutsche Welle. In contrast, the Japanese community has decided to run its own local programmes.

I am pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm of the Japanese community here. RCS tells me that two Japanese partners of RCS - Comm Pte Ltd and Newsnet Asia Pte Ltd - have hired Japanese nationals to produce and present programmes 'live' from RCS studios in Singapore.

RCS will be launching a commercial Digital Audio Broadcasting service ('DAB' for short) in January 1999. DAB will change the face of radio and give it new life. RCS hopes to include a Japanese Channel in the new digital radio service. I am sure that the Japanese community will show the same enthusiasm in supporting it. We will of course accommodate other foreign communities as well if there is sufficient interest.

BBC FM has long been a part of our lives in Singapore. I hope the International Channel will also be. My congratulations to RCS and its partners on this official launch.