Chitchat Industry professionals weigh in on Shrey’s ‘Ah Boys to Men’ audition experience

Shrey Bharvaga’s Facebook post about his experiences auditioning for “Ah Boys to Men 4” have drawn widespread responses from Xiaxue and other influencers.

He was even questioned by the police on Wednesday (31 May) regarding his post after police reports were made.

But from an industry standpoint, how does his experience stack up? We spoke to several actors and directors to get an idea of what auditions are like from different perspectives.

All part of the job

“The casting director is just doing what he needs to do,” said actor Fir Rahman. “Why would you feel offended, stereotyped? It’s not a serious role.”

“I wouldn’t be offended if you asked me to speak with a particular Malay accent, like how Singaporean Malays would speak. Myself, I would speak very colloquial Malay. I’m not offended by that. I’m proud of it. That makes us special, Singaporean Malays.”

The 36-year-old Malay star of “Apprentice” and “Lion Moms” went on to explain that in the audition process, actors are sometimes required to do a variety of performances so that the production crew can assess their suitability in the role.

“If I’m asked to jump down from the second floor for casting, as long as all the safety aspects are covered, like a safety mat and harness, then I’ll jump. They just want to see how I jump.”

However, he drew the line at requests that would go against religion and ethics.

“Of course, you don’t do what’s against your religion or against something that’s not right. Like if you ask me to eat pork [for an audition], as a Muslim, I won’t.”


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Industry professionals weigh in on Shrey’s ‘Ah Boys to Men’ audition experience

Yahoo Movies Singapore Marcus Goh

1 June 2017Shrey Bharvaga’s Facebook post about his experiences auditioning for “Ah Boys to Men 4” have drawn widespread responses from Xiaxue and other influencers.

He was even questioned by the police on Wednesday (31 May) regarding his post after police reports were made.

But from an industry standpoint, how does his experience stack up? We spoke to several actors and directors to get an idea of what auditions are like from different perspectives.

All part of the job

“The casting director is just doing what he needs to do,” said actor Fir Rahman. “Why would you feel offended, stereotyped? It’s not a serious role.”

“I wouldn’t be offended if you asked me to speak with a particular Malay accent, like how Singaporean Malays would speak. Myself, I would speak very colloquial Malay. I’m not offended by that. I’m proud of it. That makes us special, Singaporean Malays.”

The 36-year-old Malay star of “Apprentice” and “Lion Moms” went on to explain that in the audition process, actors are sometimes required to do a variety of performances so that the production crew can assess their suitability in the role.

“If I’m asked to jump down from the second floor for casting, as long as all the safety aspects are covered, like a safety mat and harness, then I’ll jump. They just want to see how I jump.”

However, he drew the line at requests that would go against religion and ethics.

“Of course, you don’t do what’s against your religion or against something that’s not right. Like if you ask me to eat pork [for an audition], as a Muslim, I won’t.”

N. Mohamed Yahssir, a local Indian director and executive producer, explained that “from a director’s perspective, we will always ask our actors to try different accents, different styles. So we can change our perspective on the characters”.

“That’s a very common practice in the industry all over the world,” he said.

Yahssir, who has directed 13 Vasantham telemovies, shared an example of why the casting process could be very broad in its coverage.

“If he’s playing an officer in a romantic comedy, you’ll need to see the romantic part of it. But when he dons the uniform, it’s different. If you have a macho looking guy who looks like a top cop, but can’t perform romantically, that won’t work,” said the 34-year-old.

“So auditions are very crucial to test out the performances of an actor, from all 360 degrees. Whether it’s used in a show later is the director’s call.”

Nothing wrong if it adds value to a character

“As an actor, if the director deems that the character requires an accent to make it funnier, then that’s fine. I don’t see anything wrong with that,” said local Indian actor J Arvind Naidu. “If it adds value to a character, trying to play a character with an accent, not necessarily a Singaporean Indian, then there’s nothing wrong.”

“Like typecasting a Chinese as an ah beng. It’s a stereotype,” the 36-year-old actor said. “But if it adds value, as an actor I don’t find it offensive,” he said.

“But if they stereotype all Singaporean Indians as having accents, then that’s wrong.”

Having been in the industry for over 20 years, working on dramas and comedies for Vasantham, Arvind shared that he had only encountered a similar experience once.

“It was when in I was in the SAF Music and Drama Company, it was a mother and son performance. I played the son. We have done an accent. But at that time when we did it, it was to make it funnier. These two characters always speak with an accent. But this was done 12 to 14 years back. After that, nobody has ever asked me [to put on an Indian accent].”

Not necessarily a reaction to being rejected

“The way many people see it is that ‘aiyah, he screwed up his audition and didn’t get the role and that’s why he’s whining about it online’. To me, it’s an extremely dismissive attitude to take,” said actor Joshua Lim.

The local Chinese actor, who has starred in “Code of Law” and the “Ah Boys to Men” musical, felt that Chinese privilege might be the reason why Shrey’s experience has been viewed negatively by many.

“What was a bit disappointing for me was that there seemed to be more people who were dismissive of Shrey’s incident,” said the 32-year-old. “To me, it seems like a lack of empathy for him and what he went through in the audition room. My personal take is that his experience was that he went into the audition room as someone of the minority race.”

“It’s not about racism. It’s not about whether it’s a comedy. The issue is not to make a jab at Jack Neo or a casting director. I see it in the same way as Ebi Shankara. The race has been reduced to a certain stereotype to appeal to a mass audience.”

The casting process

Actors are rarely told immediately whether they are accepted or rejected at auditions, especially if the executive producer is not present at the casting process. They’re given an audition script to perform from, and the casting director will usually let them have several takes until they’re satisfied.

Experienced casting directors will know to ask the talent to deliver the performance in different ways, especially if the director or other members of the production crew are not present.

The audition is recorded and then later reviewed by the executive producer, and sometimes the production team as well.

Besides the performance of an actor, several other factors also determine whether an actor ultimately gets chosen or not. In many cases, it’s whether the actor has the right appearance, or look for the role. A less versatile actor may be chosen for a comedy simply because he looks comical.

Other stakeholders, such as investors or higher level executives, also have a strong say in who ultimately gets cast.

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter, having written for Police & Thief, Incredible Tales, Crimewatch, and Point of Entry. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find him on social media as Optimarcus and on his site. The views expressed are his own.

I don' think this guy is even born here. Those in the Arts world including Indians have panned him. There is racism but he took this one out of context.

I cited Ben Kingsley in "learning to drive" where he obviously when into full character. Clearly a professional.

Take Jennifer Lopez as a hispanic hotel chambermaid. Again in full character. She is a proven megastar and could have stepped way from the role and played someone swanky and classy but took on this role. And she does not need the money.

This guy also have no qualms about screwing the guy who asked for his help in landing the audition.

scroobal said:

I don' think this guy is even born here.

Click to expand...

To be fair I don't think this is a fair comment - he has been here for about 20 years and even if not born in SG has certainly lived here so after - with his background I would like to think he has actually thought these issues through - Alfian is also his alumni and has posted on similar issues albeit in a different context.

I also believe that there will be more like Shrey - who do not fit the mould of what local singkies assume to be representative of "Indian" i.e. the South Indians who have dominated that categorisation to the exclusion of other minority groups. Whatever you say about those "India Indians" there are those who have been here for about 25 years and have not looked back to giving everything up and leaving SG. They were part of a different wave of Indian migrants who have settled into Singapore and the more recent arrivals will also shift the narrative away from the dominance of the Tamils to a more varied voice of the community. It has already shifted and the South Indians will just have to deal with it.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/shreybhargava/about/?tab=page_info

Shrey began acting at the age of 5 when his mother, Rupika, enrolled him in Speech & Drama classes at the neighbourhood Kindergarten.

Shrey continued acting at his primary school, Tampines Primary and secondary school and JC, Raffles Institution.

At Raffles, Shrey participated in the annual Dramafest and bagged the awards for Best Actor in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He also won Best Director in 2013 for directing a horror play, 'Unfinished'.

Shrey was also one of the 7 team members who represented Singapore in 2012 at the international competition, Destination Imagination, where they were crowned World Champions in the 'Improvisation' category, competing against more than 70 teams from the United States, China, Japan, Korea and more.

Upon graduating, Shrey was awarded with the Kripalani Award in recognition for his outstanding achievements and contributions to the school in the field of Drama.

Shrey has also gone on to further his acting and performance training with Buds Theatre Company (Buds Youth Theatre Programme 2012), Singapore Repertory Theatre (Young Company Programme 2013-2015), Haque Centre of Acting and Creativity and The Improv Company.

Shrey is currently serving his National Service as an Actor and Host at the Singapore Armed Forces Music & Drama Company (SAF MDC).

Shrey aspires to continue acting and hosting and also wishes to dabble further into directing for stage and film. He is one of the founders of Nightingale Films SG (Facebook.com/nightingalefilmssg), a youtube channel dedicated to making short films that he set up with a bunch of his friends.

If you were born here, you would be more aware of the surrounds. After the first round of backlash he would have got his bearing right. Look at his comments after the Police visit.

Playing the race card for the wrong reason only screws the community and is no different to crying wolf and the rest paying the price. If he blogged about SAP schools and its unfairness or the HDB racial quotas for instance, I would salute him.

There was one incident where an Indian kid's family that alleged that their son was denied the President's Scholarships because of his race. Sinda and Pillay who I believed was chairing SInda then felt obliged to raise the issue thru Jayakumar. PSC was also involved and the books were opened. Not only was he outscored academically but in ECA as well. Sinda learnt its lesson.

I don't think anyone is helping him. I think it will be a long while before he rebuilds his friendships.

gatehousethetinkertailor said:

To be fair I don't think this is a fair comment - he has been here for about 20 years and even if not born in SG has certainly lived here so after - with his background I would like to think he has actually thought these issues through - Alfian is also his alumni and has posted on similar issues albeit in a different context.

I also believe that there will be more like Shrey - who do not fit the mould of what local singkies assume to be representative of "Indian" i.e. the South Indians who have dominated that categorisation to the exclusion of other minority groups. Whatever you say about those "India Indians" there are those who have been here for about 25 years and have not looked back to giving everything up and leaving SG. They were part of a different wave of Indian migrants who have settled into Singapore and the more recent arrivals will also shift the narrative away from the dominance of the Tamils to a more varied voice of the community. It has already shifted and the South Indians will just have to deal with it.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/shreybhargava/about/?tab=page_info

Shrey began acting at the age of 5 when his mother, Rupika, enrolled him in Speech & Drama classes at the neighbourhood Kindergarten.

Shrey continued acting at his primary school, Tampines Primary and secondary school and JC, Raffles Institution.

At Raffles, Shrey participated in the annual Dramafest and bagged the awards for Best Actor in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He also won Best Director in 2013 for directing a horror play, 'Unfinished'.

Shrey was also one of the 7 team members who represented Singapore in 2012 at the international competition, Destination Imagination, where they were crowned World Champions in the 'Improvisation' category, competing against more than 70 teams from the United States, China, Japan, Korea and more.

Upon graduating, Shrey was awarded with the Kripalani Award in recognition for his outstanding achievements and contributions to the school in the field of Drama.

Shrey has also gone on to further his acting and performance training with Buds Theatre Company (Buds Youth Theatre Programme 2012), Singapore Repertory Theatre (Young Company Programme 2013-2015), Haque Centre of Acting and Creativity and The Improv Company.

Shrey is currently serving his National Service as an Actor and Host at the Singapore Armed Forces Music & Drama Company (SAF MDC).

Shrey aspires to continue acting and hosting and also wishes to dabble further into directing for stage and film. He is one of the founders of Nightingale Films SG (Facebook.com/nightingalefilmssg), a youtube channel dedicated to making short films that he set up with a bunch of his friends.

Click to expand...

scroobal said:

If you were born here, you would be more aware of the surrounds. After the first round of backlash he would have got his bearing right. Look at his comments after the Police visit.

Playing the race card for the wrong reason only screws the community and is no different to crying wolf and the rest paying the price. If he blogged about SAP schools and its unfairness or the HDB racial quotas for instance, I would salute him.

I don't think anyone is helping him. I think it will be a long while before he rebuilds his friendships.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what "being aware of the surrounds" refers to. How many educated types in the majority are really aware of their surrounds which includess M- I-O? Over the course of my lifetime I still encounter these sorts - absolutely clueless. Maybe that is why the gifted programme has introduced Malay language and Malay culture as components of the curriculum. The generation grows even more apart and that whole gotong royong spirit is fraying. I spotted a group of Aunties coaxing each other to stand together so they could take a selfie at the MRT station last night - all races represented and that always makes me smile. Same thing when I see a bunch of mixed races uncles getting drunk at the kopi tiam - the full gamut of Singlish, Queen's english, Malay, Hokkien and maybe a couple of tamils words flying across their discussion which gets more heated when they are talking about Old Man and his White party.

Any issues of race have been and will always be tricky - most despite whatever the educational background do not have the maturity and depth of understanding to deal with it in a manner you and I view these matters.
Do you remember how you felt about such issues when you were in NS or of that age? Did your views not evolve through your experiences in life and through your travels and interactions? Did you not think differently when you became a minority in a overwhelmingly homogenous society when you had to live work and socialise for a prolonged period of years? I have met quite a few singkies who given postings in Europe have done nothing but bitch and moan about how they felt excluded and longed to be home where everything felt easy and familiar. Some realise and some will never do so.

This is a matter bigger than an accent - and it is an issue that will not resolve itself. But both sides should be given the space to air perspectives without descending into name calling and labels. Cultures are different. One has more opportunity at times than another. But that does not mean you must suck it up. But how you then deal with it and overcome your insecurity is what determines your resolve in life. If he cant make it with the bigots here on a small island, he is most certainly not going to be able to deal with the sharks in the film industry (outside the clutches of Jack Neo).


Ironically these guys made a video about a similar situation a little while before Shrey wrote about his encounter - art imitating life?

Ministry Of Funny
28 May at 12:31 ·
We filmed this scene as part of a video we released 3 weeks ago. Who would have thought that IT WOULD HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE so soon? Well done Ah Boys To Men for dishing out some legit casual racism, or as we call it - #RacismSiewDai.

https://www.facebook.com/ministryoffunny/?fref=nf


Alfian Sa'at
1 June at 06:30 ·

I keep hearing from some people that 'minorities can be racist too'. There is a rather prevalent idea that a member of a minority who gives an account of racism is seen as trying to gain some kind of moral superiority over a member of the majority. People get defensive when the racial grievance is seen as fossilising positions--the minorities as perpetual victims; the majority, oppressors by default.

There are many accounts by people who say how they’ve been on the receiving end of racism. But I don’t see that many accounts by people on the ‘giving end’. (This paucity is natural; we want others to think well of us.) And here I want to bring in the idea of everyday racism, which does not have to be driven by malice, which can arise through ignorance, negligence, and thoughtlessness; which is so casual and commonplace to its perpetrators that it doesn’t even register as racism.

So I’ll start, because I think accounts like this might shift the discussion a little. When I was still in primary school and my sister in kindergarten, I used to tease my sister that one of her classmates, R, was her boyfriend. She was at an age when having a boyfriend was Something Disgusting, not just because boys were gross but because we were a conservative Muslim household where the kids were told to cover their eyes whenever a kissing scene came on TV. I would repeat R’s name, turning it into a song, just to torment my sister, and she would tearfully run to my mother to complain.

R was an Indian boy.

There were many boys in her class. I wasn’t close enough with anyone to pick out the weird one or the annoying one. I picked out the one whom I thought would offend my sister the most. But how did I know it would annoy her? What if, by picking him, I was actually sending her the message that this was the worst of the lot? On account of nothing more than his race?

I am ashamed to recount this. I did not bully the boy directly, it was my sister who was bullied, but just because the boy was unaware of how I had picked and marked him does not mean what I did was any less despicable. The next question to ask is why did I not pick out a Chinese boy?

Because even at that age I was aware of some kind of pecking order, where the Chinese were at the top. Their large numbers told me this, the fact that they were my principal, most of my teachers, the doctor who did my check-up. At home someone might occasionally say something racist about the Chinese, but it was different from saying something racist about the Indians. For the Chinese, we could detect the grain of resentment in our voices, the envy at their position in society. But never contempt. It was impossible to have contempt for those whom you knew were above you. No, contempt was reserved for those we thought were lower than us.

And here I think, was that what some Indians thought of us too? “The majority might look down on us, but at least we have the Malays to look down on. Look at them, with their PSLE scores and their drug addicts and their divorce rates, at least we’ve got quite a lot of our own in the Cabinet. We can hold our heads up a little higher.” And maybe that’s what the different minorities do; climb over each other, tussling for the best view of the top—or perhaps the best spot where the top can notice us.

And there is no way to dislodge the top. The ‘racial balance’ will not allow for it. Given this kind of arrangement, I am often skeptical that ‘reverse racism’—that of minorities against the majority—has the same kinds of effects as that of its opposite. Yes, there is hurt both ways. But one of the directions comes with additional harm.

When I was in Secondary School, I got quite agitated by a series of jokes my Chinese friends were making (“What do you call a Malay guy in a BMW? -The chauffeur. What do you call a Malay guy in a shirt and tie? -The defendant.”) And so I pulled out one of those things I’d overheard at home: “Well at least we wash our behinds, unlike you”. They looked stunned. A taste of their own medicine, so hopefully they would stop. After a momentary pause, one of my friends started expressing his disgust that I would touch my behind with my bare hands. Another one joined in. I was outnumbered. You can try ‘reversing’ the see-saw but the heavier guy still wins.

Not that I didn’t continue trying to retaliate. My Indian friends taught me the word ‘munjen’, meaning ‘yellow’, to refer to the Chinese. But what negative value did yellow skin have in our national culture? It certainly didn’t have the same force as ‘black-black’. What about stereotypes? 'The Chinese are kiasu'. Oh, but that gave them a competitive edge. 'They love gambling'. What was wrong with that? The country has two casinos. 'Chinese features are unattractive'. And they could point out to the cover of any magazine to disprove you. Call us unattractive and what can we reach out for in our defence?

My friend once told me this story. He was observing Children’s Day in a Primary School in Malaysia. Each student was asked to bring some food to class. My friend was quite poor, but he still managed to bring a packet of peanuts. A girl had brought some Indian sweets, wrapped in banana leaf and newspaper. Everyone was supposed to exchange their foodstuffs. When the teacher saw the girl’s package, she said, “What’s that? So dirty!” The whole class joined in, a chorus of yucks and eews.

Nobody tried the girl’s sweets. My friend had wanted to, but didn't because he was still self-conscious about his peanuts. (And how he regrets it until today; how he wishes he had tried just one sweet.) Throughout what must have been a terrible ordeal for a ten-year-old girl, my friend noticed how she had kept a half-smile on her face, eating her sweets quietly. Our moral imagination must follow her home. Did she throw away the sweets and tell her mother that everyone in school had liked them? Or did she come home and then blame her mother for making her feel the pain of her difference on a day that was meant for celebration?

Whenever I see people discuss racism it frustrates me when it devolves into jargon: ‘social justice warriors’, ‘virtue signalling’, ‘identity politics’, ‘political correctness’. As if racism was just another kind of ‘ism’ to be dissected, as if its consequences were merely hypothetical. Whenever these discussions tilt into the abstract, I remind myself that the girl in the story is real. I remember how I teared up when I first heard the story. You can say that 'feelings are not facts' but you cannot deny that her feelings are real. There will be more girls like her, carrying the same ball of pain in them, if we don’t learn to see ourselves in the jeering faces of her classmates.


Theophi Kwek
1 June at 18:16

Woke and read this, and became unspeakably angry. Not only because Shrey Bhargava - a brave and compelling artist - has been told that his voice is worth little more than its accent, but also because a country has become even less kind, less recognizable to itself. It's not home if it isn't home for every one of us. Words for this time:
'Your words are like walls on which truth is graffiti.
This has become an island of walls.'
- from 'Singapore You Are Not My Country', Alfian Sa'at

Thoughts on Privilege
THE NECESSARY STAGE·FRIDAY, 2 JUNE 2017

If I were to sneer at a young playwright who is having difficulty getting his play staged, I would in fact be showing great insensitivity to his plight. As an established playwright with the backing of a theatre company, I have absolutely no problems getting my own plays staged. If I say to the young playwright, “If you can't get your play staged, it means you're not trying hard enough,” I am not empathising with his position but am instead drawing from my own experience, i.e., “I don't have a problem getting my plays staged so there's must be something wrong with you.”

That is the privileged position I am in, as a theatre practitioner in Singapore.

But privilege extends towards all aspects of life. We can be privileged in terms of race, faith, class, sexuality, education, employment, language... even our colour, our shape and size. Being privileged itself is not a bad thing. It's what we do with our privilege that reveals who we truly are.

In Singapore, privilege in its most negative form manifests itself in many ways:

When we insist our maid work on Sunday because that's the only day we can rest.

When we quickly cover our nose when a dark-skinned person sits next to us on the bus.

When we use our faith to publicly attack and shame those whose sexuality are not the same as ours.

When we park our car outside our child's school without a care as to who we may be inconveniencing.

When we tell someone they will look better if they lose/gain weight.

When we make a downright mess at our food court table because we don't have to clean it up.

When we don't want to employ people of certain races.

When we don't want to rent our home to people of certain races.

When we think lowly paid workers should be grateful because “at least we give them a job”.

When we speed up at a zebra crossing just as a pedestrian is about to cross it.

When we are rude to wait and retail staff because we can't get what we want or we can't get our way.

All these behaviours, and more, happen on a daily basis, and we know it.

The opposite of privilege is to be disadvantaged. The power dynamics between 'privileged' and 'disadvantaged' vary from society to society. Race and religion, for example, are more pronounced in a society like Singapore.

Shrey Bhargava was uncomfortable having to put on an exaggerated Indian accent for an audition. He was at a disadvantaged position, being a young actor looking for a job.

We have all been there... in situations where we could have said something but didn't, where we could have done something, but didn't. And we don't because at those moments, we are the disadvantaged.

As the disadvantaged, we often try to explain our position to the privileged. But we have to use the right tone or pitch, find the right time and place, or risk being called a 'shit stirrer'.

We also have to express our view without upsetting the balance, the status quo of who is privileged and who is not. Those who hold the power will still dictate the terms of our conversation.

The attitude of the government toward race politics is to tread carefully lest we have a repeat of the 1960s race riots. 'Tread carefully' means don't talk about it or deny its existence. So, it's not surprising that many citizens echo this view when confronted with assertions of racism.

It reaches a point where the disadvantaged begin to accept their position, or to 'know their place'. They begin to exist despite their position. They find their own spaces, little nooks and crannies—whether in public or in private—and that is where they retreat and remain.

It's time to change.

It's time we stand up to those who use their position of power to silence those who can barely speak. The disadvantaged need allies—those who play a crucial role as arbitrator, defender and sometimes, champion of the disadvantaged.

We are all allies in some way or other. Because, inherently, we know what is right and what is wrong. Whether in a family setting, at work, at school or in public with total strangers, we need to stop the bullying. Bullies try to get away with their abhorrent behaviour because they know they can. They will
go to great lengths to defend and justify their actions. But they must be stopped.

This is more than just about race and religion. We are more than our accents. We are more than our colour. We are more than our shapes and sizes.

When those who are privileged help those who are not, we celebrate, and rightly so. But when privilege rears its ugly head, we have to say no. That is not acceptable. No. We will not let it go. We will call you out.

To have any privilege at all, whether with gender, sexuality, race, class, education or status, is a blessing few in this world can hope to attain. If we don't want to use it to spread positivity, then stop using it to spread hate. Because one day, we may lose our position of privilege. Because one day we may be the disadvantaged. And when that day comes, we too want to be heard.

Haresh Sharma, Resident Playwright
-----
Haresh Sharma is the Resident Playwright of The Necessary Stage (TNS). This playwright's message will be published in the programme booklet of Being Haresh Sharma which will run from 29 Jun - 2 July at Drama Centre Theatre. Being Haresh Sharma is directed by Natalie Hennedige of Cake Theatrical Productions, and is part of the line-up to celebrate TNS’ 30th anniversary.

Thanks for this. Always enjoyed listening to both their views even though I might not agree with some of the things they say but clearly substantial and both are minorities.

ps. As an aside, a SPH's Felix Soh wrote a scathing article about Haresh Sharma and Alvin Tan claiming that they had marxist leaning for attending a foreign theatre workshop. The same workshops were done in some secondary schools thru NC which the principals lauded. Tommy lost his temper and ripped Felix to shreds. That was the end of his becoming an editor. Sometimes you need a person like Tommy to speak for the lesser beings. The situation is one.

scroobal said:

Thanks for this. Always enjoyed listening to both their views even though I might not agree with some of the things they say but clearly substantial and both are minorities.

ps. As an aside, a SPH's Felix Soh wrote a scathing article about Haresh Sharma and Alvin Tan claiming that they had marxist leaning for attending a foreign theatre workshop. The same workshops were done in some secondary schools thru NC which the principals lauded. Tommy lost his temper and ripped Felix to shreds. That was the end of his becoming an editor. Sometimes you need a person like Tommy to speak for the lesser beings. The situation is one.

Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing and for engaging on this issue in a manner that is befitting such a delicate matter. And for that nugget on Felix.


In case you overlooked this as i amending and posted whilst you responded:

Ironically these guys made a video about a similar situation a little while before Shrey wrote about his encounter - art imitating life?

Ministry Of Funny
28 May at 12:31 ·
We filmed this scene as part of a video we released 3 weeks ago. Who would have thought that IT WOULD HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE so soon? Well done Ah Boys To Men for dishing out some legit casual racism, or as we call it - #RacismSiewDai.

https://www.facebook.com/ministryoffunny/?fref=nf

You are right, I missed it. Great video, Lol but it indeed an everyday sad issue. They should make sure that every kid in school should see it. It will serve the country well.

gatehousethetinkertailor said:

Thank you for sharing and for engaging on this issue in a manner that is befitting such a delicate matter. And for that nugget on Felix.


In case you overlooked this as i amending and posted whilst you responded:

Ironically these guys made a video about a similar situation a little while before Shrey wrote about his encounter - art imitating life?

Ministry Of Funny
28 May at 12:31 ·
We filmed this scene as part of a video we released 3 weeks ago. Who would have thought that IT WOULD HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE so soon? Well done Ah Boys To Men for dishing out some legit casual racism, or as we call it - #RacismSiewDai.

https://www.facebook.com/ministryoffunny/?fref=nf

Click to expand...

scroobal said:

Thanks for this. Always enjoyed listening to both their views even though I might not agree with some of the things they say but clearly substantial and both are minorities.

ps. As an aside, a SPH's Felix Soh wrote a scathing article about Haresh Sharma and Alvin Tan claiming that they had marxist leaning for attending a foreign theatre workshop. The same workshops were done in some secondary schools thru NC which the principals lauded. Tommy lost his temper and ripped Felix to shreds. That was the end of his becoming an editor. Sometimes you need a person like Tommy to speak for the lesser beings. The situation is one.

Click to expand...

Appreciate the reminder to the FS write-up from 1994 - looked around and found this - there is a need to continue a collective preservation of such incidents as we are in a generation disconnected from this past** - people such as Shrey should make an effort to also educate themselves on the wider struggle of the arts in Singapore beyond just issues of race and privilege:

Preamble:
On February 5, 1994, the Straits Times (ST) published a report by Felix Soh that Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma – artistic director and resident playwright of The Necessary Stage (TNS) – were trained at workshops conducted by the Brecht Forum in New York. After this fiasco of insinuating that they were attempting to promote Marxist principles through theatre in Singapore, both Tan and Sharma went abroad for further studies in Directing and Playwriting respectively. In 1997 and 1998, Haresh Sharma and Alvin Tan were respectively accorded the Young Artist Award in Singapore. Since the incident of February 1994, both of them have also collaborated in more than fifty play productions and other printed publications. In the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2010, TNS staged the play “____ Can Change”, consisting of three parts, namely, “Singles Can Change”, “Homosexuals Can Change”, and “Marxists Can Change”. Following the performance of this play, Teng Siao See and Kwee Hui Kian from s/pores interviewed Mr. Alvin Tan.

H: Were you extremely worried after reading the article?

A: About three days after the news report (February 5, 1994) appeared, Tommy Koh wrote a letter to the ST to defend us, saying that Forum Theatre is banned but not TNS. Then we were told by friends that it was mainly because we had no connections with any political exiles. And we are like, “Oh I see, my goodness, we did not know….” About the workshops in New York, it was only because we were then travelling in America and incidentally came across them. And the ISD (Internal Security Department) personnel might have thought that these workshops were recommended by the political exiles or from my friends linked to the YCS (Young Christian Students), CJC (Catholic Junior College), or the Liberation Theology background, and how these individuals might have influenced us. You see, the people arrested under the third swoop of the “Operation Spectrum” in 1987 were said to be connected to the PETA (the Philippines Educational Theatre Association), which was allegedly influenced by Liberation Theology from Latin America, and resulted in the People’s Power and political movements in the Philippines in the 1980s and the downfall of Marcos in 1986. Hence the Malaysian and Singaporean authorities were alerted by these incidents, and the resultant “Operation Lalang” and “Operation Spectrum” in these countries. Mind you, I am making connections between these events myself….

S: So after you returned from your further studies, did you feel that you are still being followed…?

A: We felt that there was less surveillance. In 1997 and 1998, we got the Young Artist Award respectively. Apparently, the award was delayed, for about two to three years. Then in year 2000, we got this place in Marine Parade as the premises for TNS. That’s why one part of the play is “Marxists Can Change”. Then in 1999, we staged the play “Completely With/Out Character”, a biographical story on Paddy Chew – the first Singaporean with AIDS to publicly come out with his illness. We had been interviewed by some foreign journalists. The interview subsequently appeared in a special issue in Time magazine, Asia Edition, with a woman blowing a bubble gum on the cover.[1] The article begins with the discussion of the Paddy Chew play, and George Yeo – Minister for Information and the Arts at that time – was quoted to say that the play never passed his desk; in other words, that the Singapore government allowed it. That’s when we began to realize that we are probably a group that the government needs to show the outside world once in a while that there are these “liberal freaks” in Singapore, and that the government is liberalizing. We realize that we are in this kind of unique position….

http://s-pores.com/2011/09/interview-with-alvin-tan/

Here is a chronology:

Chronology of a controversy

The controversy over Performance Art and Forum Theatre have already made an impact on the arts scene in Singapore. Comprehensive documentation and a fuller history are essential to understanding the larger issues, but for starters Lee Weng Choy gives a chronology.

SUNDAY 26 DECEMBER 1993 to SATURDAY 1 JANUARY 1994

The Artists' General Assembly (AGA), a week-long arts festival, takes place at the 5th Passage Gallery in the Parkway Parade Shopping Centre. Organised by The Artists Village and 5th Passage Artists Ltd., the festival includes sculptural installations, live music, poetry readings, an international video festival, performance art and a forum on the state of alternative art.

Some of the events of the festival are covered by The New Paper (TNP). No other representatives of the media attend (as far as the organisers know). Also of note, just two days before the start of the festival, the Board of Film Censors ban three videos (out of the more than 100 in the video festival).

The Artists Village was founded in 1988 by Tang Da Wu and a group of young artists, and was originally based in a kampung studio space in Sembawang. The artists work in many mediums, including painting, sculpture, installation and performance art. In general, the works are experimental and avant garde. Some of the members (at the time of the AGA) were: Amanda Heng, Koh Nguang How, Zai Kuning, Lee Wen and Vincent Leow. 5th Passage Artists Ltd., founded in 1991, has managed the only artists collective gallery in the country. Run by Suzann Victor, Henry Tang, Susie Lingham and Iris Tan, the group has focussed on issues of gender and identity, and on the work of women artists. It has strongly supported alternative art and music as well as performance art.

The 12-hour AGA New Year's Eve show is part of a series of New Year events that began with The Artists Village 24-hour "Time Show" (89/90). The Substation held "Round the Clock" for New Year's 90/91, and 5th Passage organised a 12-hour New Year's show, "Body Fields" (91/92). A minor controversy ensued over Vincent Leow's performance at "Body Fields" he drank his urine during the performance but the police and government took no action against either artist or organisers.

WEDNESDAY 29 DECEMBER 1993


Tongues Untied by Marlon Riggs (USA) and Game of the Year by Ellen Pau (HK) are shown in their erased state they had been banned by the Board of Film Censors, the former for its homosexual content, the latter for political sensitivity. The spokesman for the Board said: "It's the gallery's decision. As long as the segment shown is erased, we're satisfied" (TNP 24.12.93). During the showing some artists present performances.



THURSDAY 30 DECEMBER 1993

TNP runs its cover story on the video showing and the performances.



FRIDAY 31 DECEMBER to SATURDAY 1 JANUARY 1994

Josef Ng Sing Chor and Shannon Tham Kuok Leong perform during the 12-hour New Year's Eve event, which includes numerous other performances, literary readings and live music. Ng's performance focusses on the arrest of 12 men for allegedly committing homosexual solicitations and the press's exposure of the incident. Tham's performance concerns the "sensationalised" coverage of the AGA by TNP. (See review of Ng's performance.)



MONDAY 3 JANUARY 1994

TNP runs its cover story on the performances of Ng and Tham. The cover is a close-up shot of Ng standing face to a wall, with his black swimming trunks lowered, apparently cutting his pubic hair. The headline reads: Pub(l)ic Protest. Inside photos include one of Tham burning a page from TNP. The Shin Min and Lianhe Wanbao also run stories on the performances.



TUESDAY 4 JANUARY 1994

The National Arts Council releases the following statement:


The National Arts Council (NAC) noted with consternation the report in The New Paper, Shin Min and Lianhe Wanbao yesterday (3.1.94) of two artists putting on so-called performance art: One snipped off his pubic hair while the other vomited, both publicly in protest against allegedly unfair reports by the press.

NAC finds the acts vulgar and completely distasteful, which deserve public condemnation. By no stretch of the imagination can such acts be construed and condoned as art. Such acts, in fact, debase art and lower the public's esteem for art and artists in general.

If an artist has any grievances there are many other proper ways to give vent to their feelings. Artists with talent do not have to resort to antics in order to draw attention to themselves or to communicate their feelings or ideas. By staging such tasteless performances, 5th Passage or any other arts organisation for that matter cannot expect any form of support or assistance from NAC.



WEDNESDAY 5 JANUARY 1994


The Straits Times (ST) reports that the National Arts Council has condemned the two performance art pieces. The management of Parkway Parade Shopping Centre tells 5th Passage to quit their premises. TNP runs another cover story on Josef Ng. ST and TNP quote two opinions each on the acts in question. Notable among them: ST quotes the late Confucian scholar Wu Teh Yao, and TNP quotes Dr K. K. Seet of the National University of Singapore's Theatre Studies Programme, both of whom say the performances are not art and both of whom saw neither.

From FRIDAY 7 JANUARY 1994

ST starts publishing a handful of letters in their forum page regarding the performance art pieces. The majority reproach the acts of cutting pubic hair and vomiting. Conspicuous among the letters is the fact that no one states that they saw either performance.



WEDNESDAY 12 JANUARY 1994

Police charge Josef Ng with committing an obscene act in public. Ng is released on $3,000 bail. If convicted he faces a fine of up to $2,000 or three months jail, or both.



THURSDAY 20 and FRIDAY 21 JANUARY 1994

Organisers of 5th Passage and Lee Wen, president of The Artists Village, each send letters to Professor Tommy Koh, the chairman of the NAC, asking for an opportunity for the two arts groups and the NAC to meet and discuss the situation.



FRIDAY 21 and SATURDAY 22 JANUARY 1994

The Ministries of Home Affairs and of Information and the Arts issue jointly a statement making clear the Government's disapproval of the two performance art pieces. The next day ST reports (22.1.94):

[The Government] is concerned that new art forms such as "performance art" and "forum theatre" which have no script and encourage spontaneous audience participation pose dangers to public order, security and decency, and much greater difficulty to the licensing authority.

"The performances may be exploited to agitate the audience on volatile social issues, or to propagate the beliefs and messages of deviant social or religious groups, or as a means of subversion," the [Ministries'] statement said.

The following action will be taken:

·Police will reject all future applications by the group 5th Passage for a public entertainment licence to stage any such performance without fixed scripts.

·The two men involved in the acts will be barred from future public performances. The police will reject applications for public entertainment licences for any performance or exhibition by 5th Passage or any other group involving artist Josef Ng Sing Chor, 22, and art student Shannon Tham Kuok Leong, 20.

·The NAC will bar 5th Passage from getting any grant or assistance. It will also not support "performance art" or "forum theatre" staged by other groups, but their other projects will be considered.

·Iris Tan Khee Wan, a founder-member of the group and organiser of the event held at Parkway Parade from Dec 31 to Jan 1, will be prosecuted for providing public entertainment without a licence, as the performances continued past the approved time.

·Organisers of scriptless public performances will have to provide a synopsis when they apply to the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit for a licence. If approved , they will have to put down a security deposit.

The charge against Tan was later amended to that of allowing a "vulgar act" to occur, in breach of the conditions of a public entertainment licence.

[Note: Forum Theatre and performance art are distinct art forms; readers may wish to refer to Langenbach on performance art (Commentary December 1993 and in this volume) and to Moorthy and to Krishnan on Forum Theatre (in this volume).]



SATURDAY 22 JANUARY 1994

National Arts Council Chairman Tommy Koh says he is prepared to meet members of the arts community to talk about the new curbs on art. ST reports (23.1.94):


[Koh] added that he was scheduled to meet about

80 members of the arts community, including his advisors on the arts scene, tomorrow.

The meeting had been arranged some time ago, but he would be happy to discuss the impact of the move against 5th Passage at the meeting, he said.

No members of 5th Passage or The Artists Village attend the meeting since in the earlier arrangements they had not been invited.



SATURDAY 5 FEBRUARY 1994

ST publishes the article "Two pioneers of forum theatre trained at Marxist workshops" by Felix Soh. The Necessary Stage (TNS) staged Forum Theatre in July 1993 after its artistic director, Alvin Tan, and its resident playwright, Haresh Sharma, had returned from attending workshops in New York. Soh reports:


[The workshops] were conducted by the Brecht Forum, a Marxist cultural and public education organisation whose founder Augusto Boal has declared that all theatre is necessarily political and that it is a "very efficient weapon for liberation."...

The company's publications, like its programmes and newsletters, explain the forum theatre concept but do not say that Mr Sharma and Mr Tan were trained in the art forum at the Marxist Brecht Forum....

So is The Necessary Stage, which went professional only in 1992, using theatre for a political end?

ST publishes alongside Soh's article TNS's brief replies to the questions that Soh had faxed to them earlier. The questions ask if TNS has a political agenda and if they are using theatre as a political tool to effect social change. Kok Heng Leun, TNS's business manager, states that TNS does not have a political agenda and is not using Forum Theatre as a political tool.

Commentary (The NUS Society Journal) holds an informal gathering of various members of the arts community to talk about the controversy over performance art and Forum Theatre.


MONDAY 7 FEBRUARY 1994

Tommy Koh, Chairman, NAC, writes to ST's forum page responding to Felix Soh's article:


I would like to point out respectfully that your report has a slant which tends to put TNS in a bad light.

TNS has a good track record and is one of the most promising theatre groups in Singapore ...

The NAC will continue to support TNS as long as it keeps up its good work.

The only exception is that the NAC will not provide assistance to TNS to stage forum theatre.


TUESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 1994

ST runs an article giving Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma's explanation on why they attended the Brecht Forum workshops; they state:


"The workshops we attended in New York were two of numerous other workshops we have attended in order to improve our professional skills as theatre practitioners" ...

"We have absolutely no political motivation. Thus, we are greatly saddened and disheartened" by Mr Soh's article and the slant he has taken.

ST also runs two articles which address the ban on performance art: "Liberalising the arts takes time" by Koh Buck Song (see "Liberalising the Arts" in this volume) and "Do not proscribe political art" by T. Sasitharan. Koh writes:


What justifies the stern action [by Government] is that the two [Ng and Tham] appear to be using the umbrella of art to shield a political statement aimed at exerting pressure on the authorities on the gay issue.

Sasitharan: So how far should art be allowed to go in expressing the political? As far as the artist deems necessary. That is the only honest answer.


TUESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 1994

Representatives of 5th Passage Artists Ltd. and The Artists Village have a closed-door formal hearing with the National Arts Council.


WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 1994

ST runs an article reporting that eight members of The Artists Village have pulled out of the forthcoming Adelaide Arts Festival because of lack of funding. Anima Gallery, Adelaide, had invited the eight artists to the Fringe Festival and was making arrangements for the visit. The eight had hoped for a $3,000 grant from the NAC, but since its new policy on performance art, the NAC would not have given any grant.


THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY 1994

Responding to a question filed by Nominated Member of Parliament Kanwaljit Soin, Minister for Information and the Arts, Brig-Gen (NS) George Yeo reiterated the Government's position that while art, especially theatre, could not avoid commenting on social and political conditions in society, it should not be used in Singapore to promote particular political causes, and certainly not in a covert way.


"Otherwise, the Government will be forced to treat and regulate such performances as a form of political activity, which will be quite different from the NAC's present approach towards the art, and will surely retard the development of art in Singapore," he said (ST 24.2.94).



TUESDAY 15 MARCH 1994

BG George Yeo says in Parliament that "the recent controversial performance by the arts group Fifth Passage was a good opportunity to define which areas are off-limits to the arts in Singapore" (ST16.3.94).


SUNDAY 27 MARCH 1994

"Surrogate Desires 94" opens, an exhibition of five installations in the Pacific Plaza Shopping Centre. It is 5th Passage's first show after losing their gallery space at Parkway Parade. Before issuing the licence, the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU) requests written assurance from the organisers that there will be no nudity in the art works. After communications between PELU and the organisers, no specific assurances are deemed necessary since the artists' proposals already indicated that there would not be any nudity. The exhibition gets its licence and goes on without incident.

MONDAY 18 APRIL 1994

The case of Iris Tan comes to Court. District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim discharges Tan after hearing the Prosecution's case but before hearing the defence. The Court says that the Prosecution has not established the basic ingredients of the charge. Tan was charged with allowing the breach of the public entertainment licence condition that entertainers should not make vulgar actions during their performance. The Court rules that the licence was granted only up to midnight Dec 31, 1993. Josef Ng's act was made around 12:30am on Jan 1, 1994, thus it was not covered by the licence. 5th Passage had applied for the licence to extend to the early hours of Jan 1, but the licensing unit officer admitted in court to making the error of granting it only to midnight. The Prosecution appeals against the judgment.

(Of note: The witness from the NAC states that as far as she knows no one from the NAC witnessed the performance. And the police officer states that apart from interviewing the entertainment licensing official, The New Paper reporter who filed the story, Iris Tan, Suzann Victor and Josef Ng, no members of the audience were interviewed in their investigation.)


FRIDAY 6 to SATURDAY 7 MAY 1994

Teater Ekamatra presents "Kebyar" at the Drama Centre. The dance performance is directed by Zai Kuning, and features Kuning, other Artists Village members and music by NunSex. PELU attaches clauses to the licence, notably: dancers should not wear revealing attire or touch each other.


MONDAY 9 to TUESDAY 10 MAY 1994

Raw Theatre opens at the Substation arts centre with "Artists' Project", a scriptless multi-media performance featuring Amanda Heng, Susie Lingham, Lee Weng Choy and others. The Substation puts down a $1,000 deposit to get the entertainment licence; the performance goes on without incident.



WEDNESDAY 11 to THURSDAY 19 MAY 1994

The Art-2 gallery at the Substation presents Vincent Leow's exhibition of paintings, "Chop Suey".



WEDNESDAY 11 MAY 1994

Kuo Pao Kun, Substation art director and prominent leader in the arts community, in an interview with ST (regarding his forthcoming fund-raising lecture for the Substation) comments on the AGA and Forum Theatre controversy (ST 11.5.94):


The Government bypassed all the institutional structures set up over the last three years: the NAC, the arts advisors, the review committee and the resource panel ...

They were all there to be consulted, but the Govern-ment chose to deny the very institutions it created itself. In one stroke, all these were arbitrarily brushed aside at a time when the "consultative spirit" and "due process" were being underlined as fundamental traits of this nation.

What the authorities failed to consider was that, by doing so, they had inflicted serious damage to their own moral credibility.



MONDAY 16 MAY 1994

The case of Josef Ng Sing Chor comes to Court. District Judge Ch'ng Lye Beng presides. Ng, after last-minute deliberations with his counsel, pleads guilty to committing an obscene act in public. The offence is punishable with a jail term of up to three months, a $2,000 fine, or both. Defence counsel S. Magintharan asks for the case to be adjourned till the next day to tender a written mitigation plea.



TUESDAY 17 MAY 1994

The Court fines Josef Ng $1,000 for cutting his pubic hair and exposing his buttocks during his performance on Jan 1. ST reports (18.5.94):


Based on information from reports in The New Paper, police took action against Ng for performing the obscene act in public.

Defence counsel S. Magintharan said in mitigation that ... [Ng] had taken part in stage performances since 1987, and had received several letters of appreciation.

Counsel, who said Ng did not perform for money, added: "He did it for the love of art and in the interest of expand ing the general outlook of art in Singapore."



THURSDAY 18 to SUNDAY 21 MAY 1994

TNS presents the double-bill "Talk" and "Logos" during the Raw Theatre programme at the Substation.



WEDNESDAY 15 to TUESDAY 21 JUNE 1994

TNS presents "Three Years in the Life and Death of Land" at the Drama Centre as part of the Singapore Arts Festival 1994. ST gives the performance a favourable review.



SATURDAY 9 to SUNDAY 17 JULY 1994

The Substation presents "Departures", an exhibition by Koh Nguang How, Zai Kuning and Lee Wen.



TUESDAY 2 AUGUST 1994

The Prosecution's appeal against Iris Tan's acquittal (18 April) is heard in High Court. The Prosecution argues that the district judge should have amended the charge against Tan from one of violating certain conditions of the licence to that of providing entertainment without a licence. (Recall that the licence was valid only till midnight 31 December; Josef Ng's performance took place in the early hours of 1 January; the licensing unit officer admitted in court to mistakenly granting it only to midnight.) Chief Justice Yong Pung How allows the prosecution's appeal. The case is remitted to District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim, with an order to amend the charge against Tan.



August/September 1994

The case of Iris Tan comes to Court. District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim convicts Tan on the grounds that the offence is one of strict liability. Tan is fined $700. The Defence appeals against the judgment.



Thursday 30 March 1995

The Defence's appeal against Iris Tan's conviction is heard in High Court. The Defence argues that Tan acted under a mistake of fact and that she believed in good faith that she had a valid licence. Chief Justice Yong Pung How dismisses the appeal on the grounds that Tan had the burden to check, with due care and attention, that the licence was correct.



Note:

Until this day (March 1996), Josef Ng and Shannon Tham continue to be "banned" from performing or exhibiting art in public.


Lee Weng Choy was a co-editor of Commentary . He participated in TNS's Forum Theatre, and was a speaker at the AGA forum on alternative art. He witnessed both Josef Ng's and Shannon Tham's performances, and was present in Court during both Iris Tan's and Ng's cases.

http://biotechnics.org/Chronology of a controversy.htm

Felix covered the defence beat before taking over. as Foreign News Editor and had access to Defence matters that other journalists did not have. He had no links to ISD or anything in MHA. He must have thought that he had gained background to do intelligence in Defence. Apparently he worked on it for months and interviewed extensively but it turns out the wrong lot.

He must have thought this was the greatest expose ever - Marxist part 2. ISD was shocked when they saw it. Interestingly no one was summoned.

When Tommy Koh launched his broadside, SPH came crying, pissing in their pants. They assumed that he counterchecked with someone inside Intelligence. It became a smear based on total incompetence by a single individual. Anyway it's seems god stepped in eventually as in the real one and not the one squatting rent free in the Istana.

I always wondered what would have happened to these totally innocent 2 chaps if Tommy did not step in.

He never became Editor and he took over the digital space from BigBertha after she screwed up Project Eyeball and the Board lost it.

gatehousethetinkertailor said:

Appreciate the reminder to the FS write-up from 1994 - looked around and found this - there is a need to continue a collective preservation of such incidents as we are in a generation disconnected from this past:

Preamble:
On February 5, 1994, the Straits Times (ST) published a report by Felix Soh that Alvin Tan and Haresh Sharma – artistic director and resident playwright of The Necessary Stage (TNS) – were trained at workshops conducted by the Brecht Forum in New York. After this fiasco of insinuating that they were attempting to promote Marxist principles through theatre in Singapore, both Tan and Sharma went abroad for further studies in Directing and Playwriting respectively. In 1997 and 1998, Haresh Sharma and Alvin Tan were respectively accorded the Young Artist Award in Singapore. Since the incident of February 1994, both of them have also collaborated in more than fifty play productions and other printed publications. In the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2010, TNS staged the play “____ Can Change”, consisting of three parts, namely, “Singles Can Change”, “Homosexuals Can Change”, and “Marxists Can Change”. Following the performance of this play, Teng Siao See and Kwee Hui Kian from s/pores interviewed Mr. Alvin Tan.

H: Were you extremely worried after reading the article?

A: About three days after the news report (February 5, 1994) appeared, Tommy Koh wrote a letter to the ST to defend us, saying that Forum Theatre is banned but not TNS. Then we were told by friends that it was mainly because we had no connections with any political exiles. And we are like, “Oh I see, my goodness, we did not know….” About the workshops in New York, it was only because we were then travelling in America and incidentally came across them. And the ISD (Internal Security Department) personnel might have thought that these workshops were recommended by the political exiles or from my friends linked to the YCS (Young Christian Students), CJC (Catholic Junior College), or the Liberation Theology background, and how these individuals might have influenced us. You see, the people arrested under the third swoop of the “Operation Spectrum” in 1987 were said to be connected to the PETA (the Philippines Educational Theatre Association), which was allegedly influenced by Liberation Theology from Latin America, and resulted in the People’s Power and political movements in the Philippines in the 1980s and the downfall of Marcos in 1986. Hence the Malaysian and Singaporean authorities were alerted by these incidents, and the resultant “Operation Lalang” and “Operation Spectrum” in these countries. Mind you, I am making connections between these events myself….

S: So after you returned from your further studies, did you feel that you are still being followed…?

A: We felt that there was less surveillance. In 1997 and 1998, we got the Young Artist Award respectively. Apparently, the award was delayed, for about two to three years. Then in year 2000, we got this place in Marine Parade as the premises for TNS. That’s why one part of the play is “Marxists Can Change”. Then in 1999, we staged the play “Completely With/Out Character”, a biographical story on Paddy Chew – the first Singaporean with AIDS to publicly come out with his illness. We had been interviewed by some foreign journalists. The interview subsequently appeared in a special issue in Time magazine, Asia Edition, with a woman blowing a bubble gum on the cover.[1] The article begins with the discussion of the Paddy Chew play, and George Yeo – Minister for Information and the Arts at that time – was quoted to say that the play never passed his desk; in other words, that the Singapore government allowed it. That’s when we began to realize that we are probably a group that the government needs to show the outside world once in a while that there are these “liberal freaks” in Singapore, and that the government is liberalizing. We realize that we are in this kind of unique position….

http://s-pores.com/2011/09/interview-with-alvin-tan/

Click to expand...

Just when lunching with the other one was not enough....

She just could not resist:

http://themiddleground.sg/2017/06/04/kopi-bertha-iced-mocha-shrey-bhargava/

Kopi with Bertha: Iced mocha with Shrey Bhargava
by Bertha Henson and Sharanya Pillai

A WEEK after he returned home to Singapore for his university vacation, the sky fell on Shrey Bhargava. After what can be described as a “bad day at work’’ (my words), he took to Facebook to rant about his experience with an audition for a part in Ah Boyz to Men 4, found support and sympathy among his friends – and decided to make his post public.

“I never thought it would go viral,’’ he said. But with the thousands of “likes’’ came the brickbats, smeared with heinous racist comments which almost sent him into a depressive spiral. His girlfriend and family members took to banning him from looking at his Facebook account for a while, to shield from the harsher barbs.

Then he got an invitation to lim kopi with the police. He and his family spent a couple of days worrying that he might have landed on the wrong side of the Sedition Act or other laws, for starting a conversation that was proving so divisive. It turned out all right. You can read it here.

Sitting across me at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf outlet in Century Square on Friday night, there was no sign that the incident was getting him down. In fact, he seemed energised. He was sparking a conversation that he said had to be held: the casual racism that minorities experience all their life. Not that the majority Chinese were deliberately racist, he caveated quickly, they were just oblivious to the impact of their words and actions.

Mr Bhargava is 22 years old, a first-generation Singaporean whose parents hailed from north India. He is studying at the University of Southern California, and plans, he made it plain, to be an artiste who means to put up a “mirror to society’’.

Online, he is crossing swords with the likes of blogger Xiaxue, the crew associated with the Jack Neo film, and those who thought he was being overly sensitive about being asked to act “more Indian’’ and to put on a thicker Indian accent because this would raise more laughs.

He was derided as an appuneneh, told to “go back to India’’, quit acting and flip prata – and those were just the milder versions. He quipped that he would be a rich man if there was a dollar for every prata remark levelled at him.

We had a long tangle about his original post, trying to pin down the key reason for his angst. I suggested that people were attacking him on several fronts, on his past, authentic accents, the right of movie producers and so forth, because his post could be read in many different ways. He concedes that he should have been more temperate, instead of using words like “disgusted’’ in his post. But, hey, he never intended it to go viral!

But because of the reactions he had received, he had been trying to dissect his own feelings – why he felt what he felt. It came down to this: He was upset that a non-Indian casting director had assumed that she knew more about what makes an Indian “more Indian’’ and who had decided that it was a “thick Indian accent’’. He was told to project this image in a big budget movie, which wasn’t even in line with the thoroughly Singlish script he was asked to read. Worse, he was told to make it ‘’funny’’.

So, it would be okay if an Indian casting director suggested this? He initially said it be a little more acceptable, before adding later that an Indian wouldn’t even have asked for such a portrayal, having been at the receiving end of casual racism himself. The casting director simply did not think twice about what she was telling an Indian could be derogatory.

The premise of the film also matters, he said: “NS is a very Singaporean topic. (For) a film that has that sort of responsibility to then use words or phrases like ‘be more Indian’ so casually in an audition is necessarily problematic.”

He thinks that the Chinese were upset by his post because they believed they were being called out as “racist’’ and hence, “bad’’ people. This was not the case, he said, they just didn’t know better. They would recognise the impact, however, if they had lived abroad and became members of a minority community. In other words, an “outsider’’. The majority everywhere have always enjoyed the privilege of being secure in their identity, he added.

So you are asking for everyone to be more politically correct, especially in the way the Chinese majority interacts with the minorities? He prefers to describe it as a heightened awareness of their words and actions.

The responses to his post were proof enough of their ignorance. They just couldn’t understand why he was upset because they never had to experience life as a minority member.

“I’ve got a ton of really nasty remarks that have served to prove my point that this is a problem,” he said.

“Personally, that demoralised me a lot. But for each message I got like that, I got 10 messages from Chinese and non-Chinese friends, teachers and mentors who have poured their support for me.”

He thought people who said he should “just act’’ know nothing about the meaning of being an artiste. While movie-makers have the right to cast roles whichever way they please, actors themselves could start trying to influence the portrayals of ethnic groups.

The Mind Your Language days were so 70s, he said. People have moved on and expect to see more diverse experiences.

His is the confidence and idealism of youth, who hopes for a race-blind society and a media environment which stops caricaturing races and therefore, embedding these stereotypes even further. He thinks this will be achieved with a more vocal and more informed younger generation. This, notwithstanding “institutionalised’’ or structural racism like the CMIO categories and the reserved elected presidency.

“Since young, it’s somehow embedded in you that you are defined by your race. This is a structural problem that is ingrained and takes years to change,” he said, and wondered aloud if we could imagine a Singapore without the CIMO racial categories.

We decided not to go there because, among other things, we’d be stuck overnight at the café.

What about the standup comedy routine in which he caricatured Indians, which Xiaxue said showed him to be a hypocrite? He held forth on how most comedians make fun of themselves. In any case, it was his first comedy routine done while he was in junior college. He was young and regretted the act as soon as he performed it.

What about his Arab journalist character in one episode of The Noose? He said he was trying to “satirise a stereotype’’– that Arabs cannot run away from the perception that they are terrorists, despite earnest attempts to do good. “Cheem,’’ I said.

What does this episode do for his acting future?

He acknowledged that his bridges had been burnt with the companies associated with ABTM4, such as JTeam Productions. But the reach of his post has made him known to a wider network. He had been getting messages of support, including from a filmmaker based in the United States.

I wondered about how different this young man was compared to many others his age I’ve had contact with in university. Mr Bhargava was never at a loss for words. His responses came quick. He could see that the issue was a big one but never shied away from saying his piece with aplomb.

Perhaps, it was because unlike most other young Singaporeans, he’s a first-generation Singaporean, unfettered by the experience of past generations who grew up in a minority setting.

His parents, he said, were amazed at the racist comments directed him. They themselves were never subjected to such barbs, given that they belonged to the majority community in India.

He said that as a first-generation Singaporean, it may take a “smaller threshold” for him to speak out against casual racism than a Singaporean Indian “who’s had generations ahead of him”.

“Maybe as they are growing up, the grandparents might be like, this happens, just learn to deal with it,” he said.

Years of co-mingling with other races might have led to the minorities resigning themselves to the slights and comments directed at them. But – why should they?

I suggested tentatively the idea that talking about race could pose law and order problems. He caught on immediately and said fears of racial riots such as what happened in the 1960s were part of Singapore’s “post-traumatic stress syndrome’’. He wouldn’t be drawn into saying whether tempers would result in violence, but asked if the alternative of staying mum was any better.

He added: “Just because [racism] has existed for a long time, or generations of Singaporean Malays and Indians have internalised this as something that will exist or have a defeatist attitude to just deal with it – does that make it okay for it to exist?”

Two hours later, and Mr Shrey Bhargava looks like he could go on forever. What was a personal post about a bad day at work had led him to explore the multi-faceted aspects of racism. He was eager to continue the conversation and I had to keep saying that I was more than twice his age and needed sleep.

Yes, we could talk about race forever. It’s a never-ending story for Singapore.

So this shitskin is a scion of 2 shitskins from Filthy India.
Fuck his whole family.

Fucking neh really want to stir up racist hatred.

After I read the interview and his background of his parents migrating here from North India , I am of the view that he was not playing the racial card intentionally but he does not understand what the local dynamics. Before political correctness became an art form, the words - mama, chinaman, mat, etc were used interchangeably as choice words of good friends as well as derogatory terms. The context was important. The "bayi" for the sikhs was another in the pot mix. Those were fun days. And doing NS was yet another environment where the terms were applied both ways. The words Kelingkia were used freely and it was par for the course in the right context.

The concerns here is that no one including Big Bertha had sat down with this chap to explain the racial cryptography for Singapore. He probably thinks he is right and Singaporeans are inherent racist. And sadly this will end in no resolution. And this where the media has failed as the natural forum for resolving such issues.

One has to be a real idiot if they think racism does not exist. It's here to stay and fuck those morons who think otherwise.

The North Shitskin can fuck his whole family back to India where they can enjoy being the majority while looking at his grandma gang-raped by 50 other shitskins daily.

scroobal said:

The local Chinese actor, who has starred in “Code of Law” and the “Ah Boys to Men” musical, felt that Chinese privilege ....

Click to expand...

There is no such thing as Chinese privilege or White privilege. It is just some crap invented to shame Chinese or Whites so that they will be under your control.

scroobal said:

After I read the interview and his background of his parents migrating here from North India ....

Click to expand...

He's not concerned about the rape culture and caste system in India but with a little accent? He should just pack and return to India if he could not accept Singapore. Don't expect Singapore to change for him.

Viewpoint

It's time to start the discussion on racial stereotypes

John Lui

Film Correspondent

PUBLISHED

MAY 31, 2017, 5:00 AM SGT



Actor Shrey Bhargava said in public something that minority-race actors grumble about all the time among friends.

Judging from the reaction on his Facebook page, you would think he had stepped on a puppy, torn up the Singapore flag or sold national secrets to a foreign power.

But all he did was put up a post about his audition for the upcoming Ah Boys To Men 4 movie. The casting director asked him to do a caricature Indian, he did it and left feeling disgusted.

To use an army metaphor, he stuck his head out of the trench and drew fire. Lots and lots of it.

He has received some messages of support, but the majority of comments have been brutal.

The milder ones call him a crybaby. At the other end of the spectrum, a "truther" online campaign seeks to out him as a hypocrite, as a performer who has used a thick Indian accent for comedy - with the aim of destroying his career.

If he had left the production unnamed, his would be one more complaint in a sea of Facebook complaints. He would have gotten a few likes from friends and a few shares, and that would have been the end of it.

Actor's rant on racism draws flak

But what stood out about Bhargava's post was that he named the movie franchise. It is a mostly Mandarin one that is hugely popular with Mandarin speakers, directed and produced by Jack Neo, an iconic Chinese personality, and a franchise about a topic - national service - that holds a deep meaning for male Singaporeans.

To use another military metaphor, he stepped on a landmine.

Bhargava, a Singaporean who has served national service, was tried and sentenced online for the crime of smearing the sacred combination of Neo, national service and Chinese-language comedy.

He had, without meaning to, drawn lines in the sand - between English and Mandarin speakers, Chinese and minority races, and "snobs" who like highbrow comedy versus "slobs" who like Neo's brand of slapstick.

Many of the comments are of the "it's only a movie, suck it up, get over it; you are an actor, act like one; everyone has things about their job they don't like, stop whining" variety.

Which I do not understand. Movies are milestones in our lives; they express the things we cannot say. If movies were trivial, why bother retorting on Facebook?

Also buried in there is the assumption that there is no such thing as dignity and respect in the acting profession. Huh? Are actors lesser humans compared with bus captains or airport counter personnel?

For the moment, Bhargava seems to be okay. He has opened a Pandora's box, releasing thoughts and feelings suppressed in a multiracial society with a strong bias against rocking the boat, and he seems to want to keep the lid open by posting articles about racial stereotypes in movies and on television.

Good for him. Get the discussion going and it will be good for everyone - Indians, Chinese, Malays and, yes, snobs and slobs.