Debated in Parliament on 5 Nov 2014.
Dr Chia Shi-Lu asked the Minister for Communications and Information whether the Ministry will consider regulating the playing of music in public places, including retail outlets, to exclude songs with lyrics which promote or suggest violence or prejudicial action against individuals or groups by gender, race, religion or disability.
Madam, as the media regulator, MDA regulates: (a) the playing of songs over the radio; (b) music sold at retail outlets; and (c) songs performed in concerts. The first two are co-regulated, whereby broadcasters and retailers take guidance from and abide by MDA's Free-To-Air Radio Programme Code and Guidelines for Audio Materials, respectively. Concerts are classified under arts entertainment licences issued by MDA. MDA's regulatory focus is on songs that denigrate race and religion, or those that promote drug-taking, anti-social behaviour, crime or violence.
It is not practical for MDA to extend its regulatory ambit to all public places which play songs as background music, such as retail outlets and shopping malls. Doing so would be burdensome and disproportionate to the risk involved. Even if rules were created to regulate such businesses, it would preferably be based on a co-regulatory model, which would still require businesses to exercise their own judgement based on a set of guidelines drawn up by MDA.
Therefore, I would encourage retailers, shops and malls which play music within their premises to exercise common sense and social responsibility in their selection of music, and ensure that the songs played in their premises will not cause offence to their customers.
In a recent case, a customer had noticed inappropriate music being played at a fashion retail store and spoken up against it. I am glad to note that, according to news reports, the retailer has acknowledged the mistake and apologised. This incident shows that the common sense and civic-mindedness of the public is important in highlighting such issues for their satisfactory resolution. We can all play a part in catching and preventing prejudice in our society. Public education and awareness have a larger role to play in such instances, than does regulation.
I thank the Minister of State for her very comprehensive reply. I have two supplementary questions. First, I would like to ask whether or not the Ministry has any data on what is the prevalence of such complaints of a similar nature, maybe over the past few years. Secondly, even in the absence of some sort of regulatory framework at this point in time, I was wondering whether the Ministry would consider having some sort of feedback or surveillance mechanism to get an idea of this problem. In
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this particular case, it was brought to the attention of the public by a young person who is quite active on social media, but there could be many other Singaporeans who may feel offended and may not have a proper way of airing their concerns or grievances.
Madam, I do not have data of the first sort that Dr Chia has asked about. I would imagine that in some of these cases, if customers do notice inappropriate music being played, that at least in some of these cases, they would be able to resolve it bilaterally with the business or the retail outlet that is concerned. As for his suggestion of whether we are considering putting in a feedback or surveillance system, we do not have plans to do so at the moment. I think that we would always be prepared to look at cases where if the consumer has tried to bring it to the attention to the management of the business premises in the first place, but perhaps did not get satisfaction, we would always be prepared to look at it if they were to raise it to us.
PAPERCUTS