Ministry of Communications and Information

The Ministry of Communications and Information (Abbreviation: MCI) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore. It is in charge of information and communications technology, the media and design sectors, public libraries, as well as the Government's information and public communication policies.

Agency overview
Formed1 November 2012 (2012-11-01)
Preceding agency
  • Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA)
JurisdictionGovernment of Singapore
Headquarters140 Hill Street #01-01A, Old Hill Street Police Station, Singapore 179369
Employees2,651 (2018)[1]
Annual budget$1.04 billion (est) SGD (2019)[2]
Ministers responsible
Agency executives
  • Gabriel Lim, Permanent Secretary[3]
  • Tan Li San, Deputy Secretary
  • Janadas Devan, Chief of Government Communications
Child agencies
Websitemci.gov.sg

History
The Old Hill Street Police Station is currently the headquarters of the Ministry of Communications and Information

On 5 June 1959, the Ministry of Culture came into being with the swearing-in and appointments of ministers of the new Government of Singapore. On 1 February 1980, the Broadcasting Division of the Ministry of Culture became a statutory board, the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation.

1985 saw the dissolution of the Ministry of Culture. Its Information Division came under the new Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). Its arts promotion component was assimilated into the Ministry of Community Development (MCD) as the Cultural Affairs Division.

Five years later, on 28 November 1990, the Information Division of the MCI and the Cultural Affairs Division of MCD, together with other associated departments and statutory boards, reunited to form the Ministry of Information and the Arts (MITA).

On 1 September 1991, the Festival of Arts Secretariat, Singapore Cultural Foundation, the Arts Division of MITA, and the National Theatre Trust merged to form the National Arts Council (NAC).

On 1 October 1994, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) was formed as a statutory board under MITA to oversee and promote the broadcasting industry in Singapore.

On 23 November 2001, the information and communications technology (ICT) functions under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology came under MITA. The expanded Ministry was renamed the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, but retained the acronym MITA. In that year, Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) became one of MITA's statutory boards.

On 1 January 2003, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority, Singapore Films Commission and Films and Publications Department (previously under the MITA headquarters) merged to form the Media Development Authority (MDA). On 13 August 2004, the Ministry's acronym was changed from "MITA" to "MICA".

On 1 November 2012, MICA was renamed the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). The move followed the restructuring of two previous ministries – MICA and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) – into MCI, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). REACH (Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry @ Home) was assimilated into MCI while the resilience, arts and heritage portfolios became part of MCCY. MCI now oversees the development of the information and communications technology, media and design sectors, public libraries, and the Government’s information and public communication policies.[4]

On 18 January 2016, MCI announced that the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Media Development Authority (MDA) will be restructured into two new entities: The Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Government Technology Organisation (GTO) (now Government Technology Agency; GovTech), in the second half of 2016.[5] The new statutory boards were formed on 1 October 2016.

Statutory boards

MCI has 2 statutory boards:

MCI also manages:

Minister for Communications and Information
Years in Office Minister Political Party
1959–1965S Rajaratnam People's Action Party
1965–1968Othman Wok
1968–1969Jek Yeun Thong
1969–1978Wee Toon Boon
1978–1981Ong Teng Cheong
1981–1985S Dhanabalan
1985–1990Yeo Ning Hong
1990–1999George Yeo
1999–2001Lee Yock Suan
2001–2003David Lim Tik En
2003–2009Lee Boon Yang
2009–2011Lui Tuck Yew
2011–2018Yaacob Ibrahim
2018–S. Iswaran

References
  1. https://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/docs/default-source/budget_2019/download/pdf/39-MCI-2019.pdf
  2. https://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/docs/default-source/budget_2019/download/pdf/39-MCI-2019.pdf
  3. "Changes in Permanent Secretary appointments from January 2017". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  4. Imelda Saad; S. Ramesh (31 July 2012), MCYS, MICA to be restructured to form 3 new ministries, Channel NewsAsia
  5. "IDA, MDA to be restructured to capitalise on converging media and ICT landscape". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
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