Leica M6, Claymore Hill Rd, 2009
“The first thing that the photographer learned was that photography dealt with the actual; he had not only to accept this fact, but to treasure it; unless he did, photography would defeat him. He learned that the world itself is an artist of incomparable inventiveness, and that to recognize its best works and moments, to anticipate them, to clarify them and make them permanent, requires intelligence both acute and supple.”
John Szarkowski, The Photographer’s Eye
Another Rolleiflex portrait
If you haven’t read any of Alfian’s poems or short stories, or seen one of his plays at Wild Rice then you can’t say you know Singapore literature or Singapore.
Yale NUS cancelled a program on dissent and resistance in September 2019 which Alfian was due to run. As a consequence, Alfian’s reputation and integrity have been sullied and he has been treated with dis-respect. The response by some has been sad and disgraceful.
We need more writers like Alfian.
The affair raises important issues regarding academic freedom, the limits of dissent and critique, and the role of the humanities and writers in society. Former Ambassador to the UN and US, Tommy Koh, and NMP and economist, Walter Theseira, have provided a significant defence of Singaporean writers and the humanities.
Here’s Walter summarising his speech in parliament "A Liberal Education and Corruption of the Youth in Singapore":
“1) A liberal education has nothing to with corrupting youth by fomenting subversion or dissent, but instead, encourages students to adopt the liberal principles of critical thinking, open mindedness, and critical inquiry - to examine thoughts and actions, of others and of oneself.
2) While academic freedom does not mean the right to be exposed to unsuitable topics or instructors (too extremist, lacking rigor), we must guard against closing our minds, in the guise of protecting our students from bad influences.
Just because Alfian Sa'at, a playwright, may not have the expertise to curate "Dialogue and Dissent" from an academically rigorous perspective (although administrative issues also intervened), does not mean his creative works have no relevance to Singapore, or that he should be barred from engaging the youth. Some may feel his work is 'undesirable', but I urge people to decide for themselves. (edit: I am heartened that arts observers including Tommy Koh have defended Alfian Sa'at)
3) While academics should be active outside the classroom, and can be activists who impact the world (a point celebrated by Minister Ong), activism should be separated from the classroom. Max Weber agrees with us on this one.
4) We must continue to ask challenging and critical questions at our Universities, and accept that critical work need not be perfect to be useful. If we expect only perfection from our critics, we will bias scholars towards simply regurgitating safe, received wisdom. This is not good for our students or for Singapore.
5) A liberal education should be expanded beyond just the elite; it is a foundation for lifelong learning and citizenship. We must accept that there is a right to question ideas, beliefs, and policies, and to have our own questioned, critically and respectfully. Far from corrupting the youth, a liberal education provides strength for the future.”
I thoroughly recommend Malay Sketches and Corridor. I have taught Alfian’s poems and short stories at universities, schools and writing workshops and will continue to do so.
Lady, Jakarta Selatan, August 2019
On Climate Change:
“Global warming is definitely happening and it is definitely because of human activities and it will definitely continue as long as CO2 keeps rising in the atmosphere.
The rest of the issue — how high will the temperature go, how fast will it get there, and how bad will this be — is much less certain. But no rational human being rushes headlong into an unknown when there is even a 10 percent chance of death or serious injury.
Why should we demand 100 percent certainty before avoiding this danger?
Science has given the human race a dire warning with all the urgency and certainty we should need to prompt action.
We don’t have time or reason to wait any longer.”
The science on Climate Change & its dire consequences:
Images above are from my photo story, W, The Worker From Xiangxi in This Is Not A Safety Barrier, Singapore, Ethos Books, 2016.
A good summary of recent events and analysis concerning ‘Brownface’ in Singapore can be found here at Yu-Mei’s blog. For a good summary of brown face in an Australian context see here.
There are echoes of the right wing reaction against Yassmin Abdel-Magied in the treatment of preetipls and Subhas.
In tribute to Toni Morrison, here are some quotes that seem relevant:
“The very serious function of racism … is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says that you have no art so you dredge that up. Somebody says that you have no kingdoms and so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary.”
From “A Humanist View,”a 1975 speech Toni Morrison gave at Portland State University
"I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.’”
And here is her answer to a racist question from Jana Wendt, which is similar to a question Charlie Rose posed here.
Structural and casual racism needs to be addressed and called out.
Lady, Hong Kong, Rolleiflex TLR, 2005 or 2006
On 12 July 2019, filmmaker Jason Soo and poet Ally Chua received their Singapore Unbound Fellowship awards at UltraSuperNew.
Award-winning filmmaker Tan Pin Pin presented the fellows with their awards, after which Jason spoke about his project in Thailand, and Ally, who will be going to NYC this year, read from her poetry.
The evening opened with beautiful singing by singer-songwriter Vivien Yap, who has just released her debut EP, Fables. Singapore poet Max Pasakorn was MC for the evening.
Balli Kaur Jaswal launching The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters in Singapore in May 2019 at BooksActually.
Balli has also written with great warmth and openness on inter-cultural marriage here.
Reading the news, Shanghai, 2008
“I felt shame - I see this clearly, now - at the instinctive recognition in myself of an awful enfeebling fatalism, a sense that the great outcomes were but randomly connected to our endeavors, that life was beyond mending, that love was loss, that nothing worth saying was sayable, that dullness was general, that disintegration was irresistible.”
“The inventions of philosophy are no less fantastic than those of art: Josiah Royce, in the first volume of his work The World and the Individual (1899), has formulated the following: 'Let us imagine that a portion of the soil of England has been levelled off perfectly and that on it a cartographer traces a map of England. The job is perfect; there is no detail of the soil of England, no matter how minute, that is not registered on the map; everything has there its correspondence. This map, in such a case, should contain a map of the map, which should contain a map of the map of the map, and so on to infinity.' Why does it disturb us that the map be included in the map and the thousand and one nights in the book of the Thousand and One Nights? Why does it disturb us that Don Quixote be a reader of the Quixote and Hamlet a spectator of Hamlet? I believe I have found the reason: these inversions suggest that if the characters of a fictional work can be readers or spectators, we, its readers or spectators, can be fictions.”
— Jorge Luis Borges, Partial Enchantments of the Quixote (1964)
Near Maitrichit, 2001
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Images from a trip to Paris in 2008
