The debate on state censorship and funding in the arts was raised again in Parliament yesterday when Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leon Perera mentioned that restrictions are holding back “all that Singapore art could be”.
He had directed his question to The Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu, asking if her ministry could consider removing the restriction on National Arts Council (NAC) funding to artists. The restriction maintains that recipients of funding should not be critical of national leaders and institutions — AKA no biting of the hands that feed.
One recent infamous example would be none other than the time when the NAC revoked an $8,000 grant to Singaporean comic artist Sonny Liew over “sensitive content” in his critically-acclaimed graphic novel The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye.
The minister disagreed with the suggestion, saying that her ministry had done more than enough already in allowing critical voices in the arts sector. She even maintained that the government continues to fund art groups who put up such dissenting content and productions — in fact, funding has increased over the years.
She brought up the example of The Necessary Stage’s Gemuk Girls — which was deemed “critical of the political system” — stating that the theatre group still receives state funding.
Excerpt #03 of Gemuk Girls by The Necessary Stage from The Necessary Stage on Vimeo.
“If we agree that there should be rules and regulations to protect and maintain social harmony, then I think we can talk about how this is calibrated and whether the calibration is the right one,” Fu said. “There will always be differences at the boundary because I think it is in the nature of art to want to break away.”
The local arts community, however, wasn’t too thrilled to be deemed inherently “anti-government”.
