I read with alarm the letter by Miss Susan Tan (Do not allow busking as a day job; April 17).

Buskers are passionate artists honing their skills.

Miss Tan's views that busking may evolve to become a form of begging, or that foreign students should not resort to busking to finance their studies are matters for the National Arts Council (NAC) to sort out.

In fact, the NAC busking scheme was set up to weed out busker wannabes who do not measure up or beggars-in-disguise.

So, rather than the call to disallow busking as a day job, she should call for more policing on the part of NAC to ensure there are no illegal buskers on our streets.

She also said that she had noticed an increasing number of buskers in Singapore. Isn't this a good thing as it reflects that the arts scene here is flourishing?

Wee Toon Hee