Shah Salimat is the editor-in-chief of Popspoken, an entertainment, lifestyle and issues newsblog in Singapore. He tweets at @shahsalimat. The views expressed are his own.
(Disclaimer: Shah and Stephanie were part of a now-defunct artiste collective called ‘The Project’ a few years ago by Matthew Zachary Liu.)
For far too often, Singaporeans have been told to follow the system that was designed for their own good. Go to school, get a degree, slog through work and never speak up.
It is understandable that Stephanie Koh (also known as Steph Micayle) feels infuriated at the by-the-book system that has bred a lack of creativity and gumption among our citizens.
Her solution? Leave the country.
For many others, their decision is to stay here and change the way things are.
In the area of sociopolitics, bloggers like Bertha Henson herald a new wave of active citizenry. Once the Wild Wild West of dissident views, Bertha’s objective and balanced viewpoints may have gotten Media Development Authority officials hot under the collar but her stance has ushered a smarter way to critique policy.
For a more activist approach, one can look towards Andrew Loh, who holds court at both publichouse.sg and The Online Citizen. Pushing for more human rights and taking a critical stance on public housing policies, he has never been one to mince his words. He may have said a nasty word or two towards the President, but his work is not reflective of a troublemaker’s agenda.
The same can be said for Alex Au, whose data-crunching revelations on key government policies outweigh his political-figure zingers that are often sensationalised by a clueless mainstream media. Even individuals like Jolovan Wham continue to scour the ground to find foreign workers victimised by their employers, despite facing stumbling blocks along the way.
If Koh has beef with the lack of a creative culture, then she will surely know that her stint as backstage host of reality singing competition The Final 1 revealed talented artistes who are staking their own ground in the arts scene.
The push for a greater civic consciousness and non-conformist culture has never been greater. Deborah Emmanuel is a poet-educator who partnered with Olivia Kwok and other poets to launch a fundraiser to help fellow poet Jocelyn Suarez who suffers from Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. A benefit event gathered poets and musicians together — just the type of civic-mindedness the arts scene needs.
When it seems like the mainstream media are ignoring Singapore artistes, websites like Bandwagon, Other Sounds and Obscured.sg are consistently writing about Singapore acts and profiling their stories. Every gig or exhibition is one step closer to a vibrant culture, and the new wave of media gets it.
None of these changemakers were introduced into the public sphere by some fancy top-down government initiative. These were individuals who decided that they held the key to a better Singapore, no matter how big or small their actions are.
The frustrating aspect of being a changemaker is the resistance that comes with change. Many stakeholders have to be persuaded, including the government. Sometimes, other parties are not able to see the full picture. If intentions are in the right place and initiatives are beneficial, there is much to be proud about our countrymen’s gumption.
We can sit here all we want and agree or disagree about Koh’s views on Singapore, but she has already taken the one-way ticket out of the Little Red Dot.
Will you pack up your bags and leave or stay and fight for a better homeland? The choice is yours. If you do pick the latter, then maybe one day the subculture of change will finally surface in the mainstream.
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