The government's Budget 2012 was titled, "An Inclusive Society, A Stronger Singapore". Numerous measures among all the ministries were announced to take Singapore forward in its relentless pursuit of a better future for all. At the core of its message — as its theme says — is an inclusive society.
But to be such a society requires more than just closing the income gap, or providing subsidies to public housing, or even to making healthcare affordable, laudable as these Budget goals are. It also requires us to preserve and support the things which provide the softer edges to life, especially in a fast-paced society like Singapore. Music, the arts, poetry, literature, languages. Things which nourish the human soul.
In the case of Rediffusion, for 63 years it was the balm which soothed the spirits of our senior citizens who took comfort that in a society which progresses at breakneck speed, a little haven for temporary escape was available. The familiar sounds of local dialects, even if they were a few minutes of news bulletins, brought a sense of identity and belongingness.
Read the full article by Andrew Loh on Yahoo Singapore.
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