The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye launch at Kinokuniya

The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye was launched yesterday at Kinokuniya by Sonny Liew.

Recent controversy does not seem to have dampened enthusiasm for the book - Kinokuniya’s main store sold out. The fact Sonny is a Liverpool FC supporter also should not distract from how wonderful and important this book is for Singapore and comics. 

I’m half way through the book. I'll finish it by the end of the day. I think the design and art work are beautiful … and it’s funny. A great deal of research, craft, intelligence and talent has gone into the book. I’d put it up there with Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman, Harvey Pekar etc as an example of how documentary graphic stories/comics shift perspectives and make you think in new ways.

I grew up on Beano, Mad magazine and Commando comics (I used to look like Dennis the Menace). So I love the range of graphic styles displayed in the book. These diverse styles and influences reflect the history of comics and the theme of exploring multiple narratives, and highlight the need to tell stories at a personal level beyond the dominant orthodoxy.

There is an in depth interview by Paul Gravett with Sonny here.

Speaking of the past and visual stories, here are links to images from March 2015 following the death of Lee Kuan Yew: 

• Vigil
• Tribute
• After
• Cortege

Old Man, Tekka Centre, Singapore

Although a form of compromise has been reached in the NLB pulping controversy, the issue remains what type of society does Singapore wish to be? A Singapore open to alternatives, tolerant and inclusive, a place where the majority respects the right of minorities to co-exist and the rule of law prevails? Or a community where the wishes of an 'offended', militant, populist mob determine the agenda and squash any deviation from 'community norms'. Cherian George discusses these issues here.

These type of questions face many countries in the world today (see the treatment of asylum seekers & Islamophobic attitudes in Australia). 

The tendency towards nationalism and a rigid, authoritarian vision for society will increase as economic challenges arise and the gap between rich and poor widens. This will lead to reactionary forces importing more culture wars - with governments continuing to demonstrate they have neither the ability, nor the desire, to hold in check such conflicts arising from alternative visions of society. 

Suchen Christine Lim's speech at the Asia Pacific Writers Translators conference on 17 July 2014 is important in this context. Her wonderful speech covers the NLB book pulping issue and the important role of literature in a multicultural society. You can read the speech here.

Let People Think For Themselves

Say No to Censorship

Allow children to experience and read about different lives, different ways and different worlds, allow children to ask questions. They are more intelligent than you think. Allow people to think for themselves. If you want a creative, entrepreneurial, dynamic, pluralistic, knowledge based society don’t ban books. If you want a society that is kinder and tolerant and diverse and is sensitive to its weakest members then don’t ban books.

Be inclusive, respect differences, don't ban these books:

• And Tango Makes Three
• The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption

The thing is words have power and if you start pulling books from library shelves and banning books, you then feel it’s ok to impose your own ideas on others by regulating and policing “acceptable ideology”, then you move on to excluding and marginalising people with ideas and behavior you don’t like - telling people unless you conform to majority norms then you are nothing - until finally you end up normalizing the persecution and brutality of minorities, and you end up with an intolerant, static, authoritarian society.

By all means disagree and bring your children up the way you want, but please don't ban books for other more tolerant, less judgmental people and think you are protecting them in any way.

Fascism doesn’t announce itself with the bang of jackboots on the streets outside, it starts with a whimper from those who should know better, who acquiesce in demonizing a minority and perform such a seemingly petty act as pulling a few books from a library shelf.

But it’s not petty to ban books and pulp them.

It’s an attack on knowledge. It’s an act of bigotry and it’s wrong.

Relevant Links:

• Singapore Writers Not Happy Over NLB Controversy
• Singapore Review of Books: The End of Innocence
• Pulping Penguins: the NLB and a space that used to be ours
• Preserve Common Space Or Regress To A Feuding Society