Debated in Parliament on 9 Mar 2015.
Deputy Chairman, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Estimates be reduced by $100".
The Infocomm Media Masterplan is crucial for Singapore's economic and social development going forward as it will lay out the strategies for industry development for the ICT and media sectors for the next 10 years. Along with the Smart Nation initiatives, the new cybersecurity agency and a vibrant start-up in Plug-In@Blk 71, there have been a lot of buzz generated in the ICT sector in the past year.
I would like to seek some updates on the infocomm sector which is key to Singapore's competitiveness and a means for our citizens to be connected to the globe. Can MCI provide us with the update on the progress of the Infocomm Media Masterplan? What are the benefits that Singaporeans and businesses can anticipate from the masterplan?
In addition, to the many measures to encourage technology adoption in Singapore's productivity drive, there are many sectors looking to enhance the capabilities in the areas of media technology and innovation and perhaps even R&D.
I am aware of IDA's role to promote industry development. What are some of the new products, projects or even ideas that the Ministry is helping to co-develop in the industries? There is certainly a strong role that the Ministry can play to help businesses and whole industry sectors come together to drive innovation in productivity beyond just the simple touches that we have seen in sectors, such as F&B, like self-service ordering automation using tablets and so on.
There is a treasure trove of data in customers. SMEs can also use analytics, mobile applications and e-services to grow revenue share by better understanding the customers to serve them better. Technology enhancement, advancements can also help reduce cost, but the few businesses have been able to achieve significant breakthroughs in productivity using technology, especially sectors that are still productivity-challenged. I am also keen to know if there is a SME-specific strategy for this.
Moving on to entrepreneurship in the ICT sector, we also saw the ICT sectors seeing the highest, or if not among the highest growth in the number of startups here in Singapore last year. The initial success of the Plug-In@Blk 71 initiative has shown that Singapore is
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beginning to mature as a hub for startups.
We are not yet the Silicon Valley of East, but we are maturing and continuing on this path, and hopefully will generate more home-grown ICT businesses and world-beaters as well as more jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans. What is the Ministry's game plan in this respect as part of the masterplan? How many start-ups and companies we seen grown in recent years and the number of jobs created for the ICT sector?
Moving on to Smart Nation, I would like to know to how the masterplan complements the Smart Nation vision that the Government has laid out last year. Following up on last year's Budget, can we also have an update on the heterogeneous network and the above ground box ideas that MCI and IDA shared last year? What are some of the developments that the industry can look forward to, with regards to these initiatives?
Sir, analytics have been mentioned as part of the Smart Nation visions that can help the Government and businesses analyse key trends. How is the Government using these capabilities to enhance Government policymaking and service delivery, as well as help businesses to make use of Government data to help them adapt to economic and consumer changes better?
The Ministry also looks into operations and the development of ICT services across the Ministries. Today, Government's e-services are benchmarked by end users in these capabilities and richness compared to a slew of private sector equivalent services such as e-commerce and the many mobile applications available at our consumers' disposable.
Most recently, LTA's Taxi-Taxi@SG app did not go down too well with consumers who were expecting it to also include booking services. How can the Ministry advise Government agencies on the usability of applications and better develop services that balance what the Government aims to achieve yet meet citizens' expectations? How can the Government better use its ICT capabilities to dovetail challenges in Public Service in servicing citizens?
As Singapore hits a milestone year, it is time to consolidate our technological advancements and move up the value chain to the next stage of development. These MCI initiatives will help take us there. I foresee an exciting chapter ahead that awaits Singapore as far as technology and infocommunications are concern.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Talent Development
My next cut. As Singapore embarks on its Smart Nation plan, it is important to ensure that we develop the ICT core with Singaporean talent, so that Singaporeans can benefit from
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the value-added jobs that will be created. For a period, there had been concerns that trends such as outsourcing and easy access to cheaper ICT resource in the region have held back development in high value local talents. This led to the industry not being attractive to many young Singaporeans, as junior jobs were often taken by cheaper manpower, leaving the sector with a talent gap for the future.
However, in recent years, we are seeing an insurgence in the lure of ICT companies, and we also saw a high number of ICT start-ups springing up last year. Even so, we need to do more to develop a pipeline of local talent in this sector, especially future leaders in the ICT sector.
I would like to ask MCI how Singapore intends to promote ICT as an interesting and fulfilling career choice that will lead to a strong and sustainable pool of ICT talent. What are some of these programmes and career opportunities that the Ministry and industry are working on together, now and in the near future?
It is essential to develop a Singaporean Core in the ICT sector, being a key enabler to our economy. On grooming tomorrow's leaders, what is the Ministry doing to develop future ICT leaders today, and how is it working with the industry to retain them in the sector?
One area that the industry also concerns with is helping order ICT professionals stay relevant. This sector moves at light speed as digital technology evolves very quickly and often technology becomes obsolete in the very short space of time. Their requirements on existing lifelong skills training will needed added help. Skills need to be upgraded as soon as new technologies or new innovations are introduced. Many senior ICT personnel leave the industry when they are unable to adjust or have difficulty finding their way with the new ones, once they are in the 40s or 50s.
How can IDA help older professions adjust and ensure that they have a sustainable and fulfilling career into retirement? Are there areas where we can guide them within the sector or help them with transition, hopefully as last resort, because we want to keep them in the sector, as I believe that many still have the experience to continue and develop the sector?
As technology and digitalisation is becoming increasingly pervasive in Singapore and elsewhere, it is imperative that we have the right ICT manpower talent.
*Question proposed.*
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Sir, I declare my interest as I work in the ICT industry. With the advances of technology and the pervasiveness of computers in the way we work, live and play, there is an increasing need for skills in ICT, not only within the industry, but across industries. There is, therefore, a growing need for capacity and capability in ICT, and the need for the talent is both quantity as well as the depth, especially in the areas of data science, mobility, cloud, social and most recently, cybersecurity.
As we strive to build and strengthen the Singapore Core, and with the increasing importance that ICT plays with our initiatives around Smart Nation, we must be able to attract the best talent to take up ICT specialisation in our Institutions of Higher Learning and we must be able to retain these talents in the industry.
However, given the importance and the pervasiveness of ICT and technology, we are also seeing ICT professionals having the choice to move across various industries. With the various initiatives that IDA has unveiled last year to encourage capability and talent in the industry, are we seeing early impact from these initiatives?
I would like to touch also on diversity. While females form more than 50% of graduates from our local universities, the employment trend in the infocomm industry show that participation of females in the industry account for only 29%, while graduates formed the majority of the manpower mix employed in ICT. What this shows is we are not leveraging a significant pool of the talent base. Are there initiatives to attract more females to the industry? Apart from talent within the industry, with the pervasiveness of technology, computational thinking and coding skills will also help to future-prove our students. We need to also develop these skills within curricula, not only for those specialising in ICT, but also for all students.
Sir, last month, the Government announced that it is planning to build a dedicated telecoms network for public sector use, as part of the Smart Nation push. Instead of leasing connectivity, as is usually the case now, the Government will own the network backbone infrastructure.
IDA said this is to provide a platform that is secure and trusted to safeguard potentially sensitive information used across multiple Government agencies.
Sir, there are many security and privacy mechanisms that can be put in place to prevent unauthorised access by both outsiders and insiders. Just because a network is owned by the
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Government does not, in and of itself, make it more secure than if it were owned by private entities. In any case, the Government plans to commission private sector telcos to operate this dedicated network on its behalf, so they will still have access to it as well.
The other reason cited is that the Government wants to build a common infrastructure to support the deployment of Smart Nation applications. Can this not be achieved by expanding the capacity and resiliency of existing infrastructure?
I am not sure if these reasons justify the cost to the public purse of building a dedicated network. How will the Government ensure that this dedicated network does not end up with excess capacity while the public networks become increasingly clogged? And lastly, can we be sure the Government will not sell away its telecoms network infrastructure to private enterprises in the future, like what happened to OpenNet, which was sold to a Singtel-owned company in October 2014?
Sir, the infocomm industry is an important sector and a vital sector in our quest for a knowledge-based economy. The goal of the 2050 Infocomm Masterplan is to make Singapore a Smart Nation. We would be one of the first to tap the potential of Infocomm Media (ICM). This sector's revenue in six short years more than doubled from more than $64 billion in 2007 to more than $140 billion in 2013. This is a niche industry that we can excel and do well in.
For this sector to continue growing, it needs to have vital manpower skills set and adequate human resource to support it. With the increasing digitalisation of our living spaces and our dependence on the Internet, coding and computational thinking are essential and important skills to have. I would like to ask the Ministry, what is being done to generate an early interest in ICM among our school children?
As one of the focus areas of the Infocomm Media Masterplan effort is to strengthen the capabilities of the media manpower what strategies are being put in place to develop and nurture a media talent pipeline to support the Media Masterplan? What are the plans to help those already in this industry upgrade and upskill? Are there any success stories that may serve as inspiration to others?
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Sir, investing in our cultural goods is a double win. It builds international reputation, and second and more importantly, it builds local identity and affection for Singapore.
I have three suggestions to help our cultural goods innovate and internationalise. First, let us right-size support with our creative micro-entrepreneurs in mind. The same arguments about how our smaller SMEs do not have the capital cash flow or headcount to make use of all our innovation grants apply many times more so for our micro-enterprises. Many of our best culture-builders today are still one-man operations or have tiny teams. But they could be tomorrow's SMEs if they had right-size intervention. Today's top La Salle fashion student could be the next Charles and Keith. How about we explore making micro-loans available for a designer wanting to buy a 3D printer to prototype a new jewellery line? Or a SkillsFuture scholarship for the photographer who wants to understudy a Magnum photographer? Or maybe even a Block 71 for cultural-building start-ups that provide access to free rent, community mentors and venture capitalists that will help our hungrious high-potential creatives break through into the international market?
Second, maybe we could look at building up local demand for our cultural goods with an export strategy in mind. We should begin with legislating quotas or subsidising prime-time airplay of local content, like music, music videos or short films. This is a tried and tested strategy – New Zealand, Canada, Australia, UK, all did it to prepare their cultural goods for export worthiness.
Third, let us revisit the KPIs for the development of this sector. Funding for our culture-making industries cannot be judged just on quantitative but qualitative aspects as well. For instance, when we fund films beyond just ROI at the box office, could a KPI be the number of positive mentions Singapore got in the international press, as well? In the 1990s, when South Korea saw that box office revenue of Jurassic Park equalled the total earnings from the sale 1.5 million South Korean cars, they made big policy changes to coordinate and scale their culture-making industries. Two decades later, they became a cultural giant in Asia – and we could be too!
Our local cultural makers are the hungrious in Singapore to innovate and internationalise. Could we show that we will support them in this effort?
Media consumption trends have changed dramatically in the last decade. Besides the regular news, drama, variety, infotainment and documentary
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in newspapers, on TV or radio, there is a new breed of content gaining traction with consumers, especially the young, for example, SGAG memes and YouTube channels of Wah! Banana, and Night Owl Cinematics.
Advancement in technologies such as smart phones and the Internet have enabled consumers to have more control over the range of content, mode and time of delivery.
New media content production also requires brainstorming, research, script writing, shooting, editing, graphic design – there is actually a lot of hard work behind the videos and the visuals that are being produced. Whether for mainstream or social media, the same level of creativity is required, although it might be a different form of creativity, with a dose of humour.
Given these developments, I would like to ask MCI how it intends to strengthen our media industry's capabilities so that they are kept updated and relevant.
Miss Penny Low, you can take your three cuts together.
Sir, in the Twitter office, large wall screens track tweets sent in real time, so that they can break news ahead of traditional media. YouTube is now mainstream TV. WhatsApp and WeChat easily replace SMS systems. In Singapore, I heard that in a new housing estate, only 10% of the dwelling units subscribe to the paper version of the broadsheet; the rest probably got their news via TV or online. As I observe the Gen Y, it appears that their handheld devices have become their main source of information for news or peer-to-peer reviews on what is hot, what is not.
In the age of smart phones and high Internet speed, information is on demand. Consumers' media consumption patterns have changed significantly. Also, how does MDA help guide consumers make the right decisions, enforce cybersecurity and avoid falling prey to online scams?
My second cut, and I declare my interest as a social enterprise volunteer. Entrepreneurs drive the economy and social entrepreneurs drive social capital. In Singapore, a vibrant start-up community is taking shape nicely in both sectors. What are MCI's plans to build on this
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momentum?
To succeed, entrepreneurs must make ICT integral to their business, whether to drive demand or to keep accounts.
I repeat that the growing non-profit organisations (NPOs) and social enterprise (SE) sector needs similar platforms. Each time they are told to force fit into either private sector or charity platforms, even when they neither qualify for the grants nor are the platforms the most suitable, many NPOs find it challenging to raise or justify the large upfront costs of technology. Neither can they afford to hire a technologist to integrate freeware or maintain their system. Yet, their social dividends more than justify the help they need to drive productivity and innovation. Will MCI seriously consider funding such a platform, please?
On the third cut, design for a better world. Today, design influences people's lives and is integral to the product development process. The iconic iPhone, Vespa scooters, Levi's denim jeans, Post-it pads, Streamline staplers, safety pins are all lasting products with designs that not only look good, easy to use, solve problems but also are commercial successes. Design allows businesses to edge ahead of the competition by creating new products, services and experience.
Beyond businesses, are there also new areas that design can play a key role in? The world has become complex and people are demanding more than just aesthetics. Good design has to be inclusive, sustainable and yet integrate multiple technologies successfully into social behaviours and people's lives. All with the human touch.
Human-centred designs make cities more humane, attractive and certainly much more competitive, because they attract the best people and the most talented. How can Singapore and the Design Council promote design as a tool for improving the quality of architectures, environment, Public Services and, ultimately, improve life for everyone.
Going forward, the quality of our lives will also depend on how well we can integrate knowledge with technology and creativity to find solutions with daily, social and economic concerns. What plans are there to encourage people to act responsibly, dream up new ideas and design for a better world? In particular, meaningful designs can also have a great impact on how a social organisation is perceived and how a community work to address important
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issues.
I have a suggestion. I wonder if MCI could consider spearheading a Design for Good festival, matching designers with social enterprises and charities to create better and more attractive products and services for social good.
Mr Chairman, the 3G Quality of Service framework put in place by IDA was intended to ensure good mobile service quality for end users.
The 3G Quality of Service framework sets out standards for 3G service, including the following: (a) that the nation-wide Outdoor Service Coverage should be greater than 99%; (b) the Call Success Rate should be greater than 99%; (c) the Drop Call rate should be less than 1%.
I understand that in the past, IDA has fined operators for non-compliance with these guidelines, particularly, the nation-wide outdoor service requirements. I would be interested to know whether all operators have compiled with these requirements since.
Now that the 4G networks are being rolled out on a large scale, I would also be interested to know if IDA is rolling out a survey on operators' 4G networks and if so, what the outcome of the survey is. I would also be interested to know if any service standards will be set for the 4G network.
In relation to indoor service requirements, I understand the IDA requires the in-building coverage to be at least 85%. I am interested to know how well operators have complied with the indoor service requirements and how IDA tracks compliance with this? Anecdotally, I understand that in some cases, people may not be able to get signals in their own homes. Other common areas where people have difficulty a signal include underground carparks, which I understand are not included in the 85% coverage for the in-building requirement.
Are there any plans to raise the requirements for indoor coverage as well? More generally, what steps is the Ministry taking to improve the resilience and reliability of telecommunications infrastructure to ensure that the mobile operators continue to provide consumers with quality mobile services?
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Sir, more often than not, victims of unscrupulous Premium Rate Service (PRS) providers are left to fend for themselves when they receive a rude shock from their telephone bills. For every case of PRS dispute reported, I am sure there are many more that had gone under the radar for whatever reasons.
A resident of mine related his experience to me. Whenever he tried to make a call, an advertisement would pop up on his mobile phone. He said he was then forced to click on an "OK" button to clear the screen so that he could proceed to make his call. Unknown to him, by doing so each time, he is actually initiating a PRS download. Needless to say, this English illiterate resident of mine was charged exorbitant fees when his telephone bill arrived.
The Code of Practice for provision of PRS rightly placed the bulk of the responsibilities on the providers of such services to comply. However, this Code left the duties of billing network operators, namely, the telcos, with minimal obligations although they are providing the all-important payment gateway for these PRS providers.
Surely, the telcos cannot be absolved of any responsibility when they are actually running a commercial service that unscrupulous PRS providers can exploit to collect exorbitant payments for products and services downloaded by the young, elderly and illiterate.
Should these telcos not play a more active role to ensure the vulnerable in our society are better protected? Although all telcos are required to provide a PRS barring service, such a service is not well publicised and by the time a person subscribes to it, the damage has already been done.
Sites like PAYPAL and EBAY provide buyer protection and money back guarantee even though they are just a payment gateway and an e-commerce facilitator respectively. Can IDA make our telcos do likewise?
Until the telcos take some responsibilities for the unscrupulous practices happening on their mobile networks, unsuspecting subscribers will always be vulnerable to overcharging by PRS providers out to make a quick buck.
Mr Chairman, as we grow the use of technology and cyberspace in Singapore, we must also expand in tandem its protection. In the past year, we have seen enough examples in Singapore and elsewhere on how cyberspace security may
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be breached and exploited. The Sony hacking case was an illustration of how this has now become an international cross-border threat. Our Government agencies were not spared either. And I hope that our Government cyber defences and internal security risk management has been strengthened since then. I would like to ask the Ministry how we have progressed since these incidents.
I am encouraged that the Government has also recently announced the establishment of a Cyber Security Agency (CSA) here.
How does the Government plan to engage citizens to also improve their understanding and better protect themselves from cyber threats? As an economy, the Government must provide this infrastructure to ensure that companies here feel safe. What resources would be made available to protect key sectors that are critical to Singapore's economy? The Government also needs to play an important role to engage our businesses, especially SMEs, to understand data protection as well as cybersecurity threats.
Increasingly, employees are working from home, using cloud services and also bringing their own devices to the office. Thus, companies need to be educated on not just technology security but also on risk management and legal implications.
Sir, MCI announced in January this year that it is creating a new CSA on 1 April 2015 that will be tasked with providing dedicated and centralised oversight of national cybersecurity functions. This Agency will take over the functions of the Singapore Info-communications Technology Security Authority (SITSA) and some roles of IDA.
I welcome the setting up of a centralised oversight agency. Threats to our national security are constantly evolving, and recent cyberattacks on both governments and large corporations have shown that cyberattacks have the ability to cause much damage.
Therefore, it is important that we have the capability to protect ourselves against such threats by having and maintaining a robust cybersecurity system that is able to respond to new and sophisticated threats. Our heavy reliance on info-communications technology today means that an attack would shake public confidence in Singapore as a Smart Nation. Singapore's reputation as a financial centre, transport and logistics hub could also be badly
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affected.
With this in mind, I would like to ask the Minister for an update on the transition to the CSA and how it plans to safeguard cybersecurity in Singapore, as well as how it proposes to train and nurture talent in the cybersecurity industry.
I would also like to ask how the CSA would interact with the rest of our security framework, such as the National Security Coordination Secretariat, to ensure that our cyber defence systems are well-coordinated and threats do not slip through the cracks.
Lastly, Sir, could the Minister tell us about how the $130 million National Cyber Security R&D Programme launched in October 2013 will complement the efforts in safeguarding cybersecurity?
Minister, Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.
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