Singapore government says Y2K computer glitches unlikely

Asian Political News, Jan 3, 2000

SINGAPORE, Dec. 30 Kyodo

The Singapore government, confident that the city state will be able to avoid major disruptions due to the Y2K bug, Thursday urged people to party on New Year's Eve instead of worrying about the Y2K bug. "Major disruptions are unlikely," said Alan Chan, Singapore's national Y2K spokesman from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. "The government is confident of having done what's necessary to ensure Singapore is ready for Y2K. As such, there is no need for the public to take any special precautions," he said. "They should prepare for the new millennium crossover as they would any long holiday weekend. The millennium crossover is a momentous occasion -- we would like to see Singaporeans enjoying themselves as they mark this special moment." Several government agencies have organized a big bash to celebrate the countdown to the year 2000. About half a million people are expected to turn up for the giant street party stretching 3 kilometers in the downtown shopping district. The government said it is confident that there will be no major Y2K disruptions because all key government systems and critical infrastructure service providers in finance, utilities, telecommunications, transportation and healthcare have been ready since the middle of 1999. Private analysts estimate that Singapore has spent about 3 billion Singapore dollars (1.8 billion U.S. dollars) to prepare for Y2K, though officials say a more realistic figure would be tens of millions of dollars. Singapore's national Y2K web site is www.ncb.gov.sg/ncb/yr2000.