RESTRICTED
staff plus an appropriate programme allowance. Mr Muir said that there were in effect 3 options; the status quo of 15 minutes a day; to close the Service; to expand the Service, with the additional resource implications that would entail. Mr Beaney noted that Malay as distinct from Indonesian was a FCO broadcasting priority. Any additional time allocated to it might be at the expense of valuable transmitter time and resources for higher priority services.
16. Mr Udell said a MW signal to the region out of Singapore might have the greatest impact on audiences in the region. Singapore was at present putting up 4 MW transmitters to transmit to Indonesia. It might be possible to rent time on these. He reminded the meeting that closing down a vernacular was a major step. Experience had shown that it was very difficult to set it up again later if the need should arise. Mr Muir pointed out that in the case of Malaysia there was a larger audience in English. Most of the opinion formers were capable of listening to the WS in English. Mr Beaney added that the point about not being able to turn vernaculars off and on like taps had little weight if there was noone interested in listening to the existing Service. Special Projects material for local stations might be another option. Mr Rawlinson pointed out that BBC input on this would be needed for the November Prescription meeting. Mr Witherow sought to postpone consideration to the 1990 Prescription Round, but Mr Muir emphasised the need to take a view on Malay before the next Triennium funding was settled.
THAI SERVICE
17. Mr Clarke said that although the regular audience (130,000 adults) was not large, it was clearly listened to by many of the key figures in the country. Mr Rawlinson noted VOA had closed their Thai Service and now relied only on special projects material for local rebroadcasting. Mr Clarke explained that for budgetary reasons VOA had been forced to make cuts, but they were unable to cut back on programmes, only to close down an entire service. Mr Muir said that the Post had commented that elimination of the Service would send the wrong political signal to the Thais who would not understand Britain's apparent reduction of interest in the area. The BBC Thai Service clearly represented a larger proportion of Britain's effort in the region than did VOA in relation to US interests. Mr Thomas said the FCO had to be guided by the Post over the continuing value of the Thai Service. It was certainly true that influential Thais tended not to be competent English speakers, unlike, say, Malaysia. The present level of output was correct.
RB2ADN/5
RESTRICTED