SINGAPORE - This year's National Day Rally, slated to take place on Sunday (Aug 19), will be a more engaging one as government agency Reach plans more feedback channels for Singaporeans to share their opinions.

This includes Reach's new innovation: an interactive chatbot on its website and Facebook page.

The rally, which will be held at the Institute of Technical Education in Ang Mo Kio, will see Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong give the annual Rally speech, where he will outline the Government's priorities and upcoming plans.

Singaporeans who want to share their own ideas and feedback on his speech can, for the first time this year, participate in a virtual listening point by engaging with an interactive chatbot on Reach's website and Facebook page to share their views.

A WhatsApp chat group will also be started by Reach, and those who sign up to be in the group can then exchange views with one another there.

On top of such online engagements, two public forums co-chaired by several ministers - one in English and the other in Mandarin - will be held on Aug 21 and Sept 1 respectively.

Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong and Minister of State Sam Tan will co-chair the English forum, while Senior Minister of State Koh Poh Koon and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Sun Xueling will front the Mandarin forum.

Dr Koh and members of parliament such as Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Ms Rahayu Mahzam and Mr Vikram Nair will also be on several radio programmes.

Reach will also be holding a series of listening points, which are mobile and open-concept engagement booths, in the heartlands and city centre to give the public an accessible way to provide their feedback on PM Lee's speech.

The public may also share their feedback via Facebook, Twitter, SMS, toll-free calls, e-mail and mail. Reach's feedback exercise will run from Aug 19 to Sept 8.

For more information, visit www.reach.gov.sg/nationaldayrally2018