"We have only begun to scratch the surface..." (Straits Times [STI] interview with Mr. Michael Yap)
February 16, 1998 (Straits Times) -- Come June, Singapore will be one step closer to achieving the dream of being a truly intelligent island, with the commercial launch of Singapore ONE.
Part of a government-led project to wire up all schools, homes and offices into a high-speed, high-bandwidth network , Singapore ONE is a catch-all term to describe a host of online applications and services aimed at making life that much easier - from paying your traffic fines, to ordering flowers or movies online, to attending a Masters course without leaving the home, the programme looks set to change life here.
You could even watch your kids at home, even when you are in the office, with a remote control video hookup to your office workstation.
Mr Michael Yap, assistant chief executive (systems and infrastructure) of the National Computer Board, met RAOUL LE BLOND recently and gave an update on how Singapore ONE is faring. And he talks about how even those without computers or the means to afford access to the services it will offer will still not lose out in the coming years.
STI: Can you give us an update on Singapore ONE?
Mr Yap: Singapore ONE was launched in June last year, it has been just eight months and already we can say we have met all targets. It is jointly spearheaded by the National Computer Board, the National Science and Technology Board, the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore, the Economic Development Board and the Singapore Broadcasting Authority.
So far, we have signed agreements with private firms and other agencies to provide 103 applications, ranging from online banking services, sales, to applying for a polytechnic place to entertainment-oriented services such as online chat lounges and television news archives. and it looks set for a commercial launch in June.
We ran a pilot inviting people to try out some of the services, and the waiting list is growing, as is the list of companies queuing to get involved.
For our part, now we are looking at how to make more impactful applications which offer depth, creativity and are above all useful. We also want to see if there are ways we can mirror our content and services by marketing them to access providers in the region and further abroad.
STI: How would you characterise Singapore ONE?
Mr Yap: I would call it a meta-delivery system. Almost everything in the future will be delivered via radio, television and the Internet and Singapore ONE will integrate all these different media.
STI: Besides electronic commerce, what are some other exciting applications which we can expect?
Mr Yap: We have only begun to scratch the surface of the potential of this technology. For example, you could one day get a pharmacists' prescription without leaving your home, or talk to your friendly neighbourhood bank "video teller". You can still see her, make eye contact, which I think is what people will want rather than impersonal, unfriendly computers.
STI: Will people want all these services?
Mr Yap: I think the best thing is that Singaporeans can tailor Sin= gapore ONE to their needs, and pay for what they want. It's just like the handphone. Everbody seems to carry one but we all use a handphone differently and for different purposes. But the demand will be there once people realise how useful it is.
For instance, I am hooked up to it and let me tell you, it is beginning to change the way I live. For instance, I don't spend 30 minutes a day watching the news at 10.30 anymore.
Now, I come home, log on to my computer and access a service whch lets me browse an archive of the nightly television news. I can zoom to segments which I want to watch, even skip over the commercials if I want.
So too with electronic mail. I think I could live without a telephone, but not without electronic mail in my line of work. So it is really a matter of what you need.
STI: What is NCB's role in this, as leader, or handholder?
Mr Yap: Well, mostly we work with service providers who have ideas for services which they can offer online. Where we take the lead is in providing public goods, services which are needed by all. For example, bringing the traffic monitoring system into homes so that commuters can find out in advance what roads to avoid by checking their television. NCB is working with the Television Corporation of Singapore to put this up. We are also very much involved with projects such as polytechnic matriculation online and the Speak Mandarin campaign web site.
STI: It has been estimated that as many as two-thirds of Singapore households do not have a computer. What about people who do not own a computer, how are they going to benefit from this technology?
Mr Yap: The official estimate is that 41 per cent of households last year had a PC. But even this ratio is rising fast. The year before last, the official figure was 36% so the jump was quite a big one - 5 % in just one year. The trend in the number of Internet users also suggests that the technology is catching on.
Basically, what this means is that we have to give people compelling reasons to use Singapore ONE, by offering useful services and as broadly as possible. Essentially, it needs to reach a critical mass and it is the government's job to push it to that.
STI: How are you going to reach out to bring Singapore ONE to the masses?
Mr Yap: Everyone is going to get access, even if you don't own a PC or even a home. The government will make Singapore ONE available to all schools, in community clubs, libraries and cultural groups.
Students will get to use it in the classroom, and already in community clubs, there are Singapore ONE clubs in Tampines and Buona Vista constituencies, where young and old can go and learn how to use its applications, and make use of them. And who says people have to be confined to a PC?
One of the pillars of Singapore ONE is Internet or web-based TV, a cheap alternative which allows people to surf the Web from their colour television. So there will be a whole range of options to choose from.
STI: What about those who cannot speak English?
Mr Yap: This has been one of our key areas of research, that is, providing non-English speakers with greater access to the Net. Basically, keyboards which recognise Chinese characters can be difficult to handle, so one of the things we are looking at closely with private developers is speech recognition technology, which records a user's utterances and translates them into Chinese. (Singapore ONE also offers a service which allows the learning of languages such as Arabic.)
STI: Some may be put off with the technicality of it all. How would you respond?
Mr Yap: Many think that Singapore ONE is more difficult than the Internet. I would argue it the other way. When the Internet first came out, it was all very text-based. The services on Singapore ONE are all very user-oriented and use technology that we are all very familiar with - video, pictures, sound, that is a lot like television, radio and other media which we are already used to.
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