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10. On Cantonese. Mr McCleary said there was no case for an increase, as Chinese in the Guangdong region had access to other sources of information by virtue of their proximity to Hong Kong. Mr Udell pointed out that Cantonese Service and also some Mandarin Service programmes were rebroadcast in Hong Kong with a footprint spilling over into China also.
11. On the possible threat to the future of the Hong Kong Relay, Mr Muir said that any evidence of Chinese intentions from any source, FCO or BBC, would be extremely valuable for planning the long-term future of broadcasting to the region.
INDONESIAN/MALAY SERVICE
12.
Mr Witherow noted that it was a reflection of the quality of the BBC Indonesian Service that nearly as many people listened to it as to Radio Australia's Indonesian broadcasts which were five times as long. SW listening in Indonesia was very popular. He could not understand how the Post had concluded that an increase in the Service would have a negligible effect. Mr Thomas suggested it might be related to Radio Australia's inability to get a bigger audience despite broadcasting for 5 times as long. Mr Udell agreed that an additional 15 minutes on existing output might not have a significant effect, but suggested that a well-placed extra transmission, even of short duration, might attract a much larger audience.
13. In response to a question, Mr Clarke said that the annual cost of Malay alone was about £50,000 excluding transmission costs. There were 3 staff (out of 18 in the Service as a whole) devoted to Malay programming. These three were supervised by the senior staff of the Service who covered both languages.
14. On Malay, Mr Beaney said that the Post saw little point in maintaining the present 15 minute a day, attracting an audience of only 20,000. Either it should be eliminated entirely or increased. Mr Udell agreed that a single 15 minutes was not viable and suggested that even 20,000 regular listeners was surprisingly good. Mr Clarke said the reason for a Malay Service at all seemed to have been to avoid offending the Malays. In response to a question, he said there was no evidence of cross-listening between Malay and Indonesian. Incorporating Malay into Indonesian programming as a single service rather than as two separate
was not, therefore, a starter.
ones
15. Mr Udell said that if Malay was doubled to half an hour a day it would be possible to have a full news and current affairs programme, which might build up a reasonable following. The resource implications would be 2 additional
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