Comments on: Cultural revolutions, wilting flowers

By: YummyMummy

YummyMummy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:23:43 +0000

“the Chinese is acknowledged as the 2nd most intelligent race after the Jews..” – Sad

Wow, what does that make my half Chinese, half Jewish son? He is indeed recognised as gifted and talented child at age 10. But luckily I have taken him out of Spore education system so that his talent and brilliant mind can have the freedom to stretch, explore and create. I don’t hide others success from him, (like SG media) instead I use them to inspire him and I let him make mistakes.

By: catlover

catlover — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:16:06 +0000

hub again?

By: speak clearer not louder

speak clearer not louder — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:06:08 +0000

i believe this article raised some very valid points. it questions whether the government’s approach to arts and its ideal to make singapore a ‘cultural hub’ is a realistic one. despite its long and constant effort, it seems to yield very little success till now.
in my opinion, there are some plausible reasons why the way the government promotes the arts is not working very well. one major problem is the way it see the arts. its aim is to use the arts as a “sophisticated branding and marketing campaign” to promote the country, like a international billboard. it is treated as a commodity. but this functional approach is not very effective, if not downright counter-productive, despite the amount of money spent on it.
arts is, first an foremost a way, an expression of the spirit of the time. it reflects the spirit of the people and the nation. it links the people through a common collectivity. it can become the emblem of one’s identity. until the government sees this as the primary aim, the arts cannot really flourish to its full potential. until the government sidestep their profit-making mentality with regards to the arts, their pronouncement to make the country a ‘cultural hub’ will always ring empty and pretentious.
a vibrant arts scene is ultimately beneficial to the country and its people itself. it can forge identity. when we look at the french, the english, the indian, the chinese or the japanese, we see how their arts reinforce and become part of their living unconscious identity and being. it is this that makes them so interesting, and so much sought after. this is what attracts the world to them.
so let’s not put the cart before the horse. let’s get our perspective correct. before we go start any ”sophisticated branding and marketing campaign”, let’s first cultivate a vibrant arts scene for ourselves because we are proud of who we are and of what we have, and because we want to preserve and express things that are precious to us. let’s put aside the selling points for this one instance, let’s not be cheap peddlers of the arts. then maybe one day, we can interest others because we have something truly uniquely Singapore.

By: PeeAndPoo

PeeAndPoo — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:08:19 +0000

Oh yes our govt only nuture artists,filmmakers or entertainers with hefty funding and publicity if ONLY they “fulfill” PAP’s propaganda!
Could you believe local film”Money No Enough” made a S$6mil box-office when the entire population was around 3.5mil then( deduct the Malays,Indians,young children and old folks-that leaves you about 1mil viewers;which means everyone went for it?Possible?)
Following its so-called success,the second movie “That One No Enough” tried to make inroads into Taiwan and only sold 47 tickets! (Obviously the local media kept mum).
By funding partisan filmmakers and “spin” the media to create a false “success” in the local entertainment scene is most disgusting.
Remember how the Auditor-General was questioning why the S$41mil funding of local films had not met its returns of due taxes? (Just go ask Raintree Pictures how much of its investments in local or foreign films had actually turned in profits.If so,then the Auditor-General would not making such statements.)
Our taxpayers money that went into such funding could be used for more meaningful artistic film or theatre works.
Of course,that would ONLY be possible if funding is not pegged to partisan political considerations!!

By: Jiekai Koh

Jiekai Koh — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:23:12 +0000

There is a tendency to blame the PAP government for the zealous and widespread censorship in Singapore. In fact, as the Rony Tan incident has revealed, an additional hurdle to overcoming censorship is the general intolerance of the Singapore public to views which are disagreeable and offensive to their own world view. As other commentators have noted, all sorts of communities in Singapore are quick to demand the arrest and imprisonment of views which offend themselves (like the pressure from LGBT groups when christian groups preach that homosexuality is evil, or continued ban on the brilliant “Life of Brian” for fear of offending Catholics, etc.). These people are slow to take a stand to say that “although I’m seriously offended, you have the right to say what you’ve just said”. But taking free speech seriously means a move towards the latter direction, not the other way round.

By: kuabili of the tiong

kuabili of the tiong — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:04:43 +0000

Please lah, we are singaporeans leh, no Revolution of any sort of thingie wan lah.

By: KNN

KNN — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:17:12 +0000

Looks like artists also know how to use the law:
http://www.fridae.com/newsfeatures/2010/02/18/9670.police-reports-lodged-against-singapore-pastor-over-offensive-gay-and-lesbian-remarks

By: Spiegel

Spiegel — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:07:15 +0000

“Dismiss PAP topdown rigidity seem t0 be missing forest for the tree. THAT is the problem.”
Government rigidity, censorship, draconian legislation, and the ISA are undesirable impediments on our society indeed. But I’m not convinced by the thesis presented here that the local arts scene is being primarily impeded by mere censorship laws.

By: KNN

KNN — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:43:33 +0000

Wow Sad are you saying something about Obama’s race?
Where are your sources for your stupid quotes?

By: MLC

MLC — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:39:54 +0000

Dismiss PAP topdown rigidity seem t0 be missing forest for the tree. THAT is the problem.

By: MLC

MLC — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:48:58 +0000

And a arts policy by a I don’t surf porn Navy General???? WHAT A EFFINGG JOKE.

By: Spiegel

Spiegel — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:41:50 +0000

“But China, the Chinese is acknowledged as the 2nd most intelligent race after the Jews, for the numerous science and arts contributed throughout history. Even the USA can’t play catch up and much of the medicine science and research was actually done , based on India, Iran and China old sciences.”

Acknowledged by whom?

By: Sad

Sad — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:24:43 +0000

I forget to add, the Jews actually won the most the Nobel Prizes. But Obama…Nobel Prize…anyone can win it:P

By: Sad

Sad — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:23:06 +0000

But China, the Chinese is acknowledged as the 2nd most intelligent race after the Jews, for the numerous science and arts contributed throughout history. Even the USA can’t play catch up and much of the medicine science and research was actually done , based on India, Iran and China old sciences.

By: Spiegel

Spiegel — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:13:31 +0000

MLC,

“So I don agrede with the critical mass argument (which is borrowed from LKY I think anyway). Statistically it does not hold water. America with 250million people has more nobel winners than 1.3billion China. Even Australia with 20 million and NZ with 5 million have a few nobel, international artists.”

Your use of the number of Nobel Prize winners is a terribly flawed way to compare achievement between countries. Consider the fact that academia in the US has been well funded and undisrupted by major political or social breakdown in last two centuries – and indeed, have only become better funded as government and corporations pour money for military and commercially-driven research, and talented exiles from the Third Reich, Soviet Union amongst others came in (think Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, Werner von Braun, Enrico Fermi etc. etc.)

Despite political and social upheavals – Spanish American War, WWI, Great Depression, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, etc., universities weren’t dislocated, students and academics weren’t displaced (although large numbers of young men did volunteer to fight). The institutions were able to continue their good work – in fact, the Manhattan Project was carried out when? During the height of WW2. The space programme? During Korea and Vietnam. Game theory, MAD, and all those strategic and social scientific concepts? During the Cold War, along the corridors of the RAND Corporation. All these conflicts were fought elsewhere – it is significant in this regard to say that the American mainland has not been involved in conventional warfare at all since the US Civil War, and has never suffered aerial bombing.

China on the other hand was in the same time period wracked with a feckless Qing government, went through a period of warlord conflicts and civil war, got invaded by the Japanese, fought another civil war, joined in the Korean War at great expense of its own people and internal social development, went through a disastrous great leap forward and cultural revolution (where academics were amongst those attacked).

Their academia has comparatively few Nobel Prizes, only because the necessary resources were scarcely available, and the hard, sustained and funded work has never been possible for them until recent times. Whilst the US varsities held the lead and remained on the cutting edge, their Chinese counterparts in the last century were fleeing wars and persecution, and when they finally get back to their work have to play catch-up.

By: MLC

MLC — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:53:19 +0000

So I don agrede with the critical mass argument (which is borrowed from LKY I think anyway). Statistically it does not hold water. America with 250million people has more nobel winners than 1.3billion China. Even Australia with 20 million and NZ with 5 million have a few nobel, international artists.

By: MLC

MLC — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:49:17 +0000

Other countries with similar even lesser populations have produced arts and artists.. Nobel winners even. Certainly our stifling political climate has to do with it. Looking at the comments here about arts . . . how it’s a means to an end! That’s the problem!

By: C.H.

C.H. — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:40:00 +0000

It would be good if the article could talk about how other governments (Hong Kong or Taiwan) support their artists and businesses…besides government support, local support (audience, sponsors, etc) is also critical to an artist’s career, else they can never break into the international market, staying and working in Singapore. Or we can start ‘importing’ foreign artistic talents and offer them citizenship too? Would they come? Would they stay? Would they contribute?

By: KNN

KNN — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:19:37 +0000

Saint Jack the book and the movie were mediocre, just like Sinkapore.

By: utopia

utopia — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:38:09 +0000

“ Even game shows are copied or franchised. Is it the easy way out, cheaper production or is it because we really cannot come up with something to compete against the West?”
You said it and you get it. SinCity is also a CopyCat Hub !