Singapore to start livestreaming Parliament sessions on Jan 4

SINGAPORE: Singapore will begin livestreaming Parliament sessions from Monday’s (Jan 4) sitting, said the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) in a press release. 

Members of the public can tune in to the original and translated versions of the proceedings in real time on the ministry's YouTube channel.

At last September’s Parliament sitting, Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran said that the Government had agreed “in principle” to livestream parliamentary sessions. 

READ: COVID-19 vaccines, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital unnecessary treatment to be discussed in Parliament on Jan 4

His announcement came five months after former Leader of the House Grace Fu rebuffed latest calls to air these sessions live, pointing out that there were other ways for people to go through these sessions, including videos of speeches and exchanges on CNA's Parliament online microsite.  

These existing channels will continue to be available, said MCI. Members of the public can watch proceedings in-person from the Strangers’ Gallery, view videos on the CNA microsite and read the full written record of parliamentary proceedings on the Hansard system of the Parliament website.

READ: Government agrees 'in principle' to livestream Parliament proceedings, MCI to study details

Monday’s parliamentary sitting will begin at 1.30pm.

The COVID-19 situation is on the agenda, with co-chairs of the multi-ministry task force - Health Minister Gan Kim Yong and Education Minister Lawrence Wong - set to delivery ministerial statements that include a third update on the Government's pandemic response. 

Members of Parliament, including Dr Lim Wee Kiak, Mr Lim Biow Chuan, Ms Foo Mee Har and Ms Sylvia Lim have asked about vaccination.

A variety of other COVID-19-related topics are also set to be discussed, including how Singapore plans to deal with the highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that was found in the UK and the Government's current strategy to progressively reopen the economy.