The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI; ms, Kementerian Perhubungan dan Penerangan; zh, 通讯及新闻部; ta, தொடர்பு, தகவல் அமைச்சு) is a ministry of the

Government of Singapore The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore to mean the executive branch of the state, which is made up of the president and the Cabinet. Although the president acts in their personal discretion in the exercis ...

responsible for overseeing the development of the infocomm technology, cyber security, media sectors, as well as the government’s information and public communication policies. It is also responsible for maintaining the national library, national archives and public libraries.

History

On 5 June 1959, the Ministry of Culture came into being with the swearing-in and appointments of ministers of the new

. On 1 February 1980, the Broadcasting Division of the Ministry of Culture became a statutory board, the

Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

. 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 The Media Development Authority (abbreviation: MDA) was a statutory board of the Singapore Government, under the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). History MDA was formed on 1 January 2003 by the merger of Singapore Broadcastin ...

(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 The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) was a ministry of the Government of Singapore tasked with building a "cohesive and resilient" society in Singapore. On 1 November 2012, the MCYS was restructured and became the M ...

(MCYS) – into MCI, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

REACH Reach or REACH may refer to: Companies and organizations * Reach plc, formerly Trinity Mirror, large British newspaper, magazine, and digital publisher * Reach Canada, an NGO in Canada * Reach Limited, an Asia Pacific cable network company ...

(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. On 18 January 2016, MCI announced that the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the

(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. The new statutory boards were formed on 1 October 2016.

Organisational structure

MCI has two statutory boards, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the

National Library Board The National Library Board (NLB) is a statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Communications and Information of the government of Singapore. The board manages the public libraries throughout the country. The national libraries ...

(NLB). MCI also manages the Cyber Security Agency, a national agency overseeing cybersecurity strategy, operations, education, outreach, and ecosystem development and the

Personal Data Protection Commission Personal may refer to: Aspects of persons' respective individualities * Privacy * Personality * Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship Companies * Personal, Inc., a Washingto ...

, Singapore's primary data protection authority.

Ministers

The Ministry is headed by the Minister for Communications and Information, who is appointed as part of the

Cabinet of Singapore The Cabinet of Singapore forms the executive branch of the Government of Singapore together with the President. It is led by the Prime Minister who is the head of government. The prime minister is a Member of Parliament (MP) appointed by the ...

. The incumbent minister is

Josephine Teo Josephine Teo Li Min (née Yong; zh, s=杨莉明, t=楊莉明, poj=Iôⁿ Lī-bêng, p=Yáng Lìmíng; born 1968) is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of the Cyb ...

from the

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...

References

External links

Official website of the Ministry of Communications and Information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts 2012 establishments in Singapore

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

Ministries established in 2012

Communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...