Malaysia and Singapore are just simply two funny, intertwined brothers. Can’t find it here? Just cross the border and get it. Good simple free trade, but keep our freedom away from the Big Brother, hopefully.guansin's post on the Airkosong blog about book-banning and cross-border book trade is spot on, and thank goodness for it. And with Shadrake's arrest, he says :
Booksellers in Malaysia, time for your contribution to the freedom of Singaporeans now, and make money from it.Absolutely!
Bissme S interviews award-winning playwright Alfian Sa’at in The Sun about living and writing in Singapore, and his brushes with censorship.Some of the challenges that we face are universal. It is difficult to make a living and a career out of writing and publishing in Singapore. For a country of 4.5 million people, I believe that there are fewer than 10% who are active readers. From that percentage, even fewer pick up and read works written locally. Readership is a challenge. We don’t have a reading culture. If you look at the bestseller lists, they are works, in a sense, already successfully and globally marketed, like Harry Potter. A lot of self-help books reach the bestseller list. That happens to be the reading diet of the Singapore population.
I am inspired whenever I come to Kuala Lumpur. I feel there are little pocket freedoms which I do not find in Singapore. There is greater freedom of expression in Malaysia.(Alfian is currently doing a residence at CHAI House.)
The National Library of Singapore has a newly refurbished bus to serve as a mobile library for the "under-served" (e.g. children's homes, orphanages, special needs schools).
It really makes reading for kids look fun and funky! Are we jealous or what?
The National Book Council's Centre for Literary Arts and Publishing (CLAP) is organising workshops:1. Chinese Children’s Literature Workshop for Parents by Dr Chua Chee Lay.
This bilingual workshop helps parents to select and evaluate Chinese children’s books using commendable authors, children's books (fiction and non-fiction) and websites for young readers. 15 July 2006 (Saturday), 9.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m - Geylang East Community Library - S$50.00 per person or S$80.00 for both parents
2. Romancing Singapore: From Tropic to Global by Dr Shirley Geok-Lin Lim.
This introductory workshop, will focus on Singapore through poems, stories, novels, and plays as a tropical island, exotic locale, romantic East, social struggle, dystopic settlement, as city, home and globe. It offers theoretical frames through which to hear these multiple voices and provide discussion and creative occasions for participants to interact with each other and with the instructor. 16 – 17 August 2006 (Wednesday to Thursday), 9 a.m. – 5 p.m - The Cube, Singapore Arts Museum (SAM) - S$350.00 per person, (S$300.00 for Early bird registration by 4 August 2006.)
Then there's the first Singapore International Storytelling Festival (SISF) which will be held between 30th August and 9th September 2006. The festival features live storytelling by the best of Singapore and international storytellers, and weaves in live performance from Singapore’s classical violinist Min Lee.
When things are banned, it’s pathetic. Who bans things? People who are frightened. It’s fear. So what are they frightened of? Of people writing or saying something? And why are they frightened? When someone bans something, it’s very revealing ...says Paul Theroux in an interview with Kristina Tom in today's Star. He was referring to the Singaporean government's banning of the film of his novel Saint Jack.
One thing I say in the book is that Singapore has changed radically, so that was never in doubt! Censorship is still a daily reality in Singapore, but I feel that the unbanning of Saint Jack is a very crucial symbolic act - the film stands in for a past that Singapore's authorities have spent 28 years trying to eradicate, so by saying "You can watch it now", it is finally accepting that it's OK for people to reconsider those times. But the fact remains, the world of Saint Jack has disappeared. You can't go back there, but you can now take a look at the movie".Just as one country loosens up about its past, another clamps down. Read yesterday in the Star that the Malaysian government's decision to ban Amir's The Last Communist has been made final. Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said:
It will be like allowing a film portraying Osama Bin Laden as a humble and charitable man to be screened in the United States. ... People who don’t know about Chin Peng will think what a ‘poor old man’ he is.A plausible reason? Are Malaysian audiences so undiscerning - particularly those gullible arty-farties who go to see Amir's films? Or does this banning also speak most loudly about the insecurities of the banners?
