KJ
PM Lee Hsien Loong’s call on young Singaporeans to ‘dare to dream’ is revealing in itself. Against the reality of Singapore, it sounds almost like a taunt: perchance to dream, but only if you dare.
I was a schoolteacher for a time. The hours were long and the work was grueling. But I enjoyed every moment of it.. The students – for it was always about the students – had made the job possible. In many ways, they made me possible. It was, as the cliché goes, the most wonderful time of my life.
I still keep in touch with some of them. And lately – it must be that time of the year again – they were asking me about what subjects to take in JC, in university. The sad thing is, they were constantly evaluating their choices in view of a ‘future career’. Thus, their subjects had to be ‘relevant’, ‘useful’. For some of them, their parents forbade them to even consider the Polytechnic. I thought it ludicrous, and felt a little rueful. They were basing their education on appearances, on an imagined future job that might well change, that they might not be interested in, or that might not even exist by then. Were they planning for a future life of frustrations and regrets?
It is not wrong – a career and a future are important considerations. But it is sad – they are only sixteen. And it can turn cruel when, without their realizing, their future becomes futile. By then it might be too late – living out a life not one to call their own, dreaming of someone else’s dreams.
And so it was a nice surprise to hear PM Lee telling students at the recent NTU forum to ‘dare to dream’, to ‘surprise yourself with what you achieve and create a better future for all of us.’ It was surprising not because such things even needed to be told – and told to university students. It was surprising for its familiar echo of what he had said in 2004: during his first National Day Rally speech, PM Lee urged a freer Singapore. ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom’ were those promising words.
In the ensuing five years, we have had ample opportunities to admire how our garden city has bloomed: the New Media has a new lasso, the Films Act gained some sophistication, the Public Order Act transforms one into an illegal assembly, and T-shirts with marsupial prints are roundly sent to jail. And these blooms merely skim the soil of the more sturdy trunks and deeper roots of control, censorship, and surveillance. I must have repeated these examples too many times. But some things simply never change.
***
We are not actually an apathetic people. At the cusp of our independence, in the fifties and sixties, Singapore was a hotbed of social, commercial, and political activities. The women were active in politics; community and entrepreneurial spirit were sustained by the countless merchants in their shops, hawkers by their stalls, and peddlers on the streets. The kampungs were little paradise for kids. They were a home for all. Artists, poets, singers and painters were all dreaming up their various different reality. Singapore looked like a proper city then; authentic, lively, and inspiring. So where have all the flowers gone?
It is not that our children do not dream, for to dream is only human. It is what happens to their dreaming as we put them through the State’s dehumanizing system, through those indoctrination camps pretending to be schools, where cold, economistic rationalism reigns supreme, must reign supreme. It is this same system that renders politics into mere administration, citizens into populations, into collective waged labour, and art and dreams in the state’s own image: cold, economistic, utilitarian. It is not the absence of revolution and tumult that there’s a dearth of political leaders. It is this illiberal, dehumanizing system that douses political fire. All our fire.
A few years ago, when Singapore decided to be a ‘renaissance city’, its methods were predictable: it conjured a Renaissance Masterplan. And dotted throughout the edict were words like: hardware, software, systematic introduction, documentation, upgrade, benchmarking, baselines, multiplier effect.
But these are not the noble names of art. They are not the phrases of inspiration, passion, and the singular vision. They are the language of civil servants and technocrats, the meaningless jargon of econometrics.
And yet and yet, in Singapore, art cannot be a wildflower. One ‘must be realistic’, intones the Straits Times: ‘If you do not plan on becoming a concert soloist, there are enough job opportunities in the arts and arts-related fields. As Singapore gears up to be a creative hub, the number of jobs in the creative industry can only grow.’[1]
Can one plan on becoming a concert soloist? And so art becomes a ‘job opportunity’ in a country ‘geared up’ for art. Art as an investment. Art to enrich the State (now a ‘creative hub’). This is how the state dreams its dreams – the hubbub in a technocracy, the fallacies, the diktats (the fantasia of dictators). And so let a hundred artists bloom.
But Art is not an investment. It cannot be geared up. Art refuses dictation.
Like dreams, it is free. It has to be.
***
I am reminded of the story of three Singaporean boys – Cheng Yu, Keegan, and Wen Yi. Two promising pianists and a passionate actor. They were boys who dreamt, even if tentatively:
When Cheng Yu was thirteen, he won the first prize and the Marion S. Gray Outstanding Musician Award at the prestigious Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition in America. That was in 1998. Ten years later, he ended up a medical student at NUS. Couldn’t he have gone on to become a pianist of acclaim, and be alive in his dreams? No. Cheng Yu’s father had threatened to ‘become a beggar’ if he continued to study music..
Not only do we ourselves stop dreaming, we stop our loved ones from dreaming too.
Then there is Keegan. Like Cheng Yu, Keegan had also won the Marion S. Gray Outstanding Musician Award – the second Singaporean to do so. Like Cheng Yu, he also wanted to study music. But no, This time it was the State. He had to complete his full-time National Service first. ‘I tried to practise while in NS but there was hardly any time,’ Keegan said. ‘I felt quite bad about it initially; there is regret. But never mind, I have learnt to move on.’ When Keegan completes his NS, he will switch to business studies. But never mind. He has learnt the language of reality, of pragmatism. The lingua franca of Singapore.
They all have, because they must. Their respective fathers insisted on that. Nafa’s lost boys, as the media termed them. Father’s missing sons. Except, they’re still here, in captivity, kept by other people’s dreams.
Except for one. The one who got away and never came back:
Wen Yi was a fifteen year-old student. He wanted to switch his CCA from track-and-field to drama. But his parents objected to it. Sports medals count, because they can be counted. Theatre and drama can’t.
When passion meets pragmatism, the choice can be hard to bear.
So Wen Yi enacted, in real life, from his original script, his ‘final act of rebellion’. Like a good artist, the day before, he had sent out his invite, and the play had to go on: ‘Will you as a friend accompany me on this day?’
And from the eleventh-floor bedroom window of his home, he turned to brave his invisible audience.
Wen Yi reminded me of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
… Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
Except for Wen Yi, it was no dream, there was no awakening, and there was no more restoring of amends.
Wen Yi stands atop his window ledge and falls away.[2]
***
They say art mirrors reality. Doesn’t it?
Some of us wonder why Wen Yi ended his life over such a seemingly small matter. We wonder why Cheng Yu and Keegan couldn’t cut a compromise, or resume their pursuits afterwards.. But after what? For some others, they wonder why, in Singapore, dreams are made out to be a small matter, that dreams have to relentlessly be haunted by reality. And whose reality is it?
So we shake our heads and slant our glances. A life is gone, and perhaps, we all know why.
Perhaps in Singapore, it is better not to dream.
There is this marvelous song by Faye Wong, called 开到荼蘼 [kāi dào tú mí]. It is sung with incredible panache and voice, the lyrics are exquisite and steeped in the Buddhist philosophy of transcendence. Near the song’s end, it describes how a resplendent promise made by a loved one can send one’s heart a fluttering, just like how a flower blooms. But inevitably, just like every flower, every blossom – that very apex of beauty and hope – is also when that flower meets its death. 心花怒放 | 却开到荼蘼. Let a hundred flowers bloom indeed.
When we wonder, where have all the flowers gone – the musicians, artists, writers – it’s not hard to find them. Beneath the swathes of engineers and accountants, doctors and lawyers, there are those piles of abandoned hopes and deserted dreams. Occasionally, a wistful soul might catch a momentary glimpse of that other life.. The life that might have been, but now hidden in the shade or withered on the vine. And in the end, they themselves, too, like those detritus of dreams, would be buried under, in someone else’s happiness, prosperity, and eventually be forgotten, as if none of them had ever lived.
***
My advice to my former students was simple (but what else could I say?): Look around you, look at the adults, at your own parents.. Working in their jobs, living out a daily drudgery, dreaming of another life. So why not wake up to that other life that you dream about?
Wouldn’t they then be more worldly-wise, more dreamful? More fluent in laughter, in passion, in love? Wouldn’t they be happier then, however their future might turn out?
But perhaps even that is too much to ask. Too idealistic. Not practical, not pragmatic. Dream on, we like to say. This is why PM Lee’s dare to dream is revealing in itself. Against the reality of Singapore, it sounds almost like a taunt: to sleep, perchance to dream, but only if you dare. For those who do, the awakening is often rude; it is the bright daylight of Singapore. And for that they are fortunate. Because for some others, their dreams disperse without the consolation of morning.
[1] The Straits Times, “Careers in the Arts”, 14 December 2008.
[2] The Straits Times, “Boy Jumped over CCA”, 27 November 2008.
HELP keep the voice of TOC alive!
If you like this article, please consider a small donation to help theonlinecitizen.com stay alive. Please note that we can only accept donations from Singaporeans. Thank you for your assistance.Do you have a flair for writing? Volunteer with us. Email us your full name and contact details to theonlinecitizen@gmail.com
Of course it is easy for PM Lee to say “Dare to Dream” especially
his dreams about sitting on his father’s throne came true,
his wife Ho Ching whose dreams to marry into the royal famiLee came true,
his wife Ho Ching whose dreams to have unlimited shopping money came true,
his wife Ho Ching whose dreams to become most famous woman came true,
his wife Ho Ching whose dreams to have an indulging father-in-law came true,
his father whose dreams to outlast Mahathir in pulling strings came true,
his father whose dreams to see famiLee succession on the throne came true,
his father whose dreams to control all state institutions came true,
his father whose dreams to have 100% compliance in parliament came true,
his father whose dreams to be the undisputed wayang kulit master came true,
his father whose dreams to have the president eating from his hand came true,
his father whose dreams to have books praising him to heaven came true,
his father whose dreams to turn a country into a famiLee business came true,
as you can now see, all the dreams came true for the famiLee.
#47 Kelvin Tan
That’s just your reading of it, but I don’t find it persuasive. Anyway, if there’s one person whose words we need not read between the lines, it is the PM (other than the holy MM himself lar). It’s only the lesser ministers and the ST that u need to read betw the lines. Or listen with a huge pinch of salt.
U left out the most important point in your list also:
PM Lee said all that so that dreaming Singaporeans can achieve happiness, prosperity, and progress for the PAP.
Beautiful. That was stunningly beautiful.
Hats off to you KJ. Your articles are the brilliant gems in the huge dunghole that is Singapore journalism (and I’m not just talking about the mainstream media here).
To Gemami, totally agree with your points here. There is great injustice in Singapore and the world. I merely exhort that we fight it or get around it for that will always be preferable to staying in a rut (not) of our own making. There’s so many people in Singapore and on this site, blessed with the gifts of creativity and humour and parody and making portmanteau words, and I just bet that they will rise up and create such works of art that we shall all weepn to see them.
Cheers, Michelle
read what a random guy called dm has to say:
http://www.darkmirage.com/2009/09/19/dreams-are-not-for-asia/
Great stuff KJ. Long may you live to produce more gems. I shall do my little bit – and send your piece to all the members of my family, in Singapore and outside. And my friends too. Thanks KJ.
Great article. I wish i can see articles of this standard in our mainstream papers instead of drivel like Ms (left on the shelf) Sumiko Tan’s.
Singaporeans aren’t the only people in the world grappling with dreams and reality. Even in the most developed countries, a small percentage of people actually get what they want in life, and most come to grips with a dream and what is really achievable.
The larger issue is how singaporeans deal with setbacks or find a compromise between what is possible and a mere dream. I’m going to give the other side of the story, as someone who has dealt with the pains and trials of cradling an unrealistic dream in singapore -
When your parents and friends oppose your wishes, it might be because they CARE ABOUT YOU. They look at your dream profession, and look at how many people live comfortably in this job, and know what you’ll be in for a very rough time. They can’t bear to see you suffer, doing something few respect and turn professional in, so they give you an outright NO.
this weekends durin the hari rayas holidays, i noticed 1 downtrend…
in the year 2006…durin that hari raya festive seasons..you would have seen 1 big nuclues family with 1 colour bajus in hand..family to family…
this hari raya?..sad to even see 1 complete united family in 1 colour set of sarons/kebayas…all seem to mixed liked handmedown clothes…if our prince take no notice..then the grassroots leaders must be colorblind as well
so who booastin here the economy is good and UP?
Yesterday, I had a chat with my uncle. He asked me what course did I take up in Poly. I said its a course that I was interested in.
He questioned me, “Why not you take a proper course like engineering?”
#59,
Engineering? haha.
i came from a batch of poly grads where by now, most are not working in engineering.
make a guess why.
” Look around you, look at the adults, at your own parents.. Working in their jobs,
living out a daily drudgery, dreaming of another life. So why not wake up to that other life that you dream about?”
Many are so myopic that they only focus on themselves and not even know how many new citizens are in our midst already.
Well written nonsense. Indeed, this must be a literature teacher, to be so divorced from reality. If those boys, those would-be musicians were from wealthy families, maybe they could have tried to live their dream. Or maybe if their parents were of the rare sacrificial breed. But in the end, life happened.
The boy who jumped? A weakling. Those who eventually fulfill their dreams are also those who are courageous, those who are resilient. To try to succeed even of the odds are stacked against him. This boy was not it. He took the cowards way out and the world is rid of a useless weak human being. All the better for the gene pool.
My dreams were built on a life outside of Singapore, and it has been fulfilled. Thank you Singapore.
I once had a student who excelled in art. her portfolio showed a talent in designing clothes and the use of textiles. she told me her dream is to become a wedding gown designer. i encouraged her to pursue it, go to Laselle or NAFA to learn design but her parents wanted her to to something ‘stable’ like engineering. her parents told her art is useless and designers are not as ‘stable’ as ‘engineering’.
i asked her this question, “anyone can study to become an engineer by sheer hard work but do you think everyone has the talent for design?” i told her i wish that one day she will pursue her talent and become the next vera wang or tan yong. i also shared with her that with a change in economy, most of my peers who were in the ‘good’ courses (engineering) have left the profession. they end up same-same (teaching) as someone like me from the ‘lousy’ courses (arts/social sciences). engineering no longer guarantees a ‘stable’ job. i told her with globalisation, talent can be maximised anywhere in the world and not just in singapore. as an educated person, she should start to think global.
its been quite a fews years already. i’ve lost contact with this student. i hope she had pursued her dream.
It’s awfully saddening to see the majority of the comments to this article.
Constantly pushing the blame to other parties. Such anger, resentment, vindication!
Such cold pragmatism at its pinnacle:
“Well written nonsense. Indeed, this must be a literature teacher, to be so divorced from reality. If those boys, those would-be musicians were from wealthy families, maybe they could have tried to live their dream. Or maybe if their parents were of the rare sacrificial breed. But in the end, life happened.”
Life happened? Life is more than just merely living. Your life is in your hands – you are the one who gave up your dreams, gave in to “life”.
I agree with this article – it’s truly well-written and inspiring.
I actually agree with James. You see, fulfilling a dream is not just about doing one thing and then everything falls on your lap. This only happens to one in a billion. Most successful dreamers may take years, even decades to see their dreams come true…. and they deal with ridiculous odds.
And believe me, getting parents’ approval is the LEAST of your worries. The next hurdles are professional criticism, whether the existing industry accept you, finding good teachers to train you in that dream profession etc etc. The list is endless. And if you are not blessed to be in a rich family, you may have to work a day job and still fuel this dream.
I’m not discouraging anyone. I’m just telling the truth and giving a good picture of the odds one will face. i hope more will have the guts to face them.
Below lyrics aptly describe the city (or silly) state we’re in. (no pun intended)
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody’s looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused
Hey.. who says engineering can’t be a dream job?
I wonder if the sterotyped pragmatism might be a result of our level of economic development back then.
Whatever the reason, there’re more and more young people pursuing their dreams.
Give it time.
If you do not try to follow your dream, you are likely to end
up “living a life of quiet desperation” (in a job you hate).
Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them (Henry David Thoreau)
Dare to dream? It is my dream that someone else will be the next PM soon – and he will be a FT. Can the current PM please endorse this dream?
Poignantly written.
As a student it pains me how many of my teachers are now ironically seeking to fire us up to dream and encourage us to leave aside our GPAs and look beyond the tiny prisms of our worksheets.
Maybe the rot’s set in too deep.