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2005-01-19 - 10:24 a.m. 2004—Snowball, an annual year-end gay party held for the past three years, was not granted a license by the Ministry of Home Affairs. This was the latest anti-gay strike by the government: in February, Mannazine was told to ‘tone down’ its ‘overtly homosexual content’; in March, a forum called ‘The Lovers’ Lecture Series’ organized by The Fun Stage in conjunction with their gay play ‘Lovers’ Words’ was denied a license; in July, the gay Taiwanese movie ‘Formula 17’ was banned, and in the same month Lianhe Wanbao published a series of rabid and sensationalistic articles on gay saunas and pubs. And it’s gay people who are the ones with the ‘militant agenda’?
2004—Rosyton Tan’s response to the censorship of ‘15’ was to produce ‘Cut’, a 13-minute spoof of Amy Chua, the reigning Grande Dame of the MDA. MICA Minister Lee Boon Yang gruffly says: "The producer may think it is funny, but I'm afraid that I don't appreciate such unbecoming attempts to undermine the standing of a public institution”. At a screening of ‘Cut’ at the Singapore Film Festival, bureaucrats boycotted the screening, leaving empty rows of seats as a monument to their humourlessness.
2003—Royston Tan’s film, ‘15’ suffered from 27 cuts under the scissor-happy hands of the MDA. Among the objections raised were to verite-like scenes depicting gangsterism, truancy, self-mutilation, delinquency and Hokkien rap. The film was eventually released with an ‘R’ rating. What did Jack Nicholson say in ‘A Few Good Men’? "You can’t handle the truth!" Interestingly, in 2004, the gay Taiwanese film ‘Formula 17’ was banned for apparently depicting a make-believe gay universe. Then how? 15 is too real, 17’s too fake; let’s wait for the censor-pleasing film ‘16’.
2003—Six Singaporeans protest the US invasion of Iraq in front of the American Embassy. They are rounded up by the police to ‘help (the police) in their investigations’ on the SMS source which encouraged them to participate in an anti-war demonstration. ‘Help in investigations’ is a serviceable euphemism for ‘interrogation and potential intimidation’.
2002—Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble’s promotional brochures for their play ‘Fireface’ is asked to be withdrawn from circulation. The Films and Publications department states that ‘The picture of a nude woman with a cut watermelon gripped between her thighs was offensive and in bad taste’. Some of the brochures are distributed at the Singapore Art Museum, which was at that time holding an exhibition on nudes. When you have to pay to see it, it’s art; when you get it free it’s obscene.
2002—‘Causeway’ by Teater Ekamatra is censored by NAC, which expressed concern over a scene where a Malaysian character has the final say on a debate with a Singaporean character over the tudung issue, and also a scene where a boy remarks that his elderly relative ‘smells like a cow’. In the case of the latter, the playwright was asked whether such an act of insolence by an 8-year old character would ‘upset the Malay community’. Distinction was obviously not made between two four-legged farm animals—the cow and the pig.
2002—A documentary on opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam, called ‘A Vision of Persistence’, is withdrawn from Singapore International Film Festival. Lecturers and students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, who made the video, are warned that the Political Videos Act could be used against them. The film-makers make the decision not to be so persistent about screening the film.
2002—Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan, who spoke in Speaker’s Corner about the tudung issue, is charged in court for ‘speaking in public without a permit’. He faces a maximum fine of S$10,000 if he is found guilty on the charge under the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act. Internet forums start christening Singapore’s premier site for free speech ‘Speakers Cornered’.
2001 – Sintercom, a non-partisan Internet website set up by Tan Chong Kee, closes in response to SBA demanding that the site be gazetted as a political website that "engages in the propagation, promotion and discussion of political issues relating to Singapore." The Straits Times Interactive, probably the most politically-active website on the Internet, has yet to be gazetted.
2000—The play ‘Talaq’ is banned for its depiction of marital violence in the Indian-Muslim community. Following the ban, S. Thenmoli, the director of the play, decides to stage private, invitation-only performances. NAC then announces that the Drama Centre, the venue for the performance, will be closed on Saturday and Sunday. A four-hour standoff with the police at the Drama Centre eventually leads to Thenmoli’s arrest on charges of ‘trespassing on private property’.
2000—NAC pulls out funding for a production of Drama Box’s ‘Vaginalogue’, protesting against the use of the image of a vagina in the play. Director Kok Heng Leun claims that the image was taken from a health brochure readily accessible to the public. Perhaps size matters—the theatre company had wanted to project the image on a screen during the performance. Thumbnail vaginas yes; 20-foot vaginas no.
2000—Speaker’s Corner opens at Hong Lim Park. The Straits Times reports that ‘the Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park is a place where Singapore citizens can speak freely in public without having to apply for a Public Entertainment License’. A year later, James Gomez, commemorating the Corner’s first year anniversary, says, "The only thing which has grown at Speaker's Corner is the grass."
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