Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

 Can Talented Flowers Bloom in Singapore?

This is going to be a bit of an ironic piece in as much as, I am the son of man who made pretty decent money by being “arty.” My Dad was, for a time one of the most prominent advertising film directors in town and even though he’s not had a great many jobs, just about everyone who knows him, speaks highly of his dedication to his craft. My education at boarding school and university in the UK was a result of the rewards of his talent.

So, given that this is my background, one might say that it’s a bit “rich” of me to ask the question whether “talent” can bloom in Singapore, when my father managed to succeed pretty well on his talents.

However, the answer is that my dad is an “advertising” film director. He managed to make his money through his talents because he applied artistic talent to commercial interest. Advertisers were willing to pay good money to produce TV commercials that were works of art and my father was lucky in that sense.

He and his generation had the good fortune to be born in the right time and to be in the right place in that the commercial interest of advertisers created a demand for artistic endeavors in the production of advertising. I believe that it would probably have been a different story had his artistic talents not been something that commercial interest wanted.

I stress that my dad is the living example that Singapore does produce people who are gifted and have the ability to create. However, unless your ability to create suits either the commercial interest of advertisers or a government agenda, chances are you’re going to starve.

Now, in fairness to Singapore, artist around the world tend to struggle. The joke remains that every waiter in Los Angeles is as aspiring actor or producer. Back when I was in school, we were told that if you wanted to be an actor in the UK, you needed to be part of the actor’s union and most of the members of the union were unemployed. We need to look at the fact that Vincent Van Gogh never sold a painting his lifetime. Shakespear himself, was at best “comfortable.’

So, artistic talent being commercially unappreciated is nothing new or unique to Singapore. However, there are certain aspects of Singapore’s culture which makes it particularly tough to be “talented.”

Talent is inevitably defined as someone who can pass exams and work within a system. As such, we have “talented” bureaucrats and “good workers” for multinationals or companies set up by people from elsewhere. To a certain extent, we’ve been lucky in that a good portion of our prosperity has been generated by multinationals eager to set up shop in a stable place with competent by obedient people.

However, talent and the desire to follow your heart often means not fitting into a mold. People out of the orthodox don’t get recognized or appreciated in any shape or form. I think of an opera singer I recently met, who described her friends telling her that they couldn’t understand why she’d subject anyone to screeching in a foreign language nobody understood:

https://www.tiktok.com/@tang.li0/video/7401478990281723137?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7274292816955999746

 

 Ms. Patricia Teng

As such, people who wish to pursue their dreams an make the most of their talents are forced to leave Singapore and only get any form of appreciation once they make it outside of Singapore. Our one and only gold medalist, Jospeh Schooling and our one and only tech entrepreneur, the late, Sim Wong Hoo come to mind. Both had to be in the US in order to go through the trial and error that made them “world class” in their fields.

Then, there’s policy. One of the worst examples of driving away talent, comes from our policy on National Service. For the record, I do believe in National Service and its ability to be an “equalizer.” However, let’s recognize that our military capabilities won’t be affected with a bit of flexibility. One thinks of the case of Ben Davis, who was offered a contract by Fullham United, a club in the Premier League (“EPL). The Ministry of Defense refused to let the one Singaporean talented enough to get into the EPL any exemptions or deferments (though it had no problem giving Dr. Patrick Tan, son of former President, Dr. Tony Tan a 12-year deferment to study soil in the name of national security). Ben Davis isn’t the only talent driven away by National Service. You have the pianist, Melvin Tan, who plays in concerts around the world except Singapore and the author Kevin Kwan who wrote a world-famous book that got made into a world-famous film shot in Singapore, the home land Mr. Kwan can never return to.

So, what parent in their right mind, wants to risk all of that, even if it’s the one thing that will make their kid special? In an ironic way, Singapore is starting to see the value of having creators and does all sorts of things to bring creators from around the world into Singapore. However, its ironic that at the same time it sets up a system that’s hostile to native born talents trying to make it.

It requires courage to be a “creator” in Singapore. I take the example of a musician I recently met, who was once a banker. Luckily for this particular musician, he found a support network that enabled him to make a living from his music:

 https://www.tiktok.com/@tang.li0/video/7405153177219140881?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7274292816955999746

 

Mr. Remy Fan

It’s this simple, creators, be they in visual arts, writers, musicians and other innovators need space to grow. We need an employment culture that allows us the flexibility to hire “gig” workers for certain simple jobs (thus reducing the need for cheap foreign labour), cheaper spaces for certain people to gather and a culture that encourages people to make mistakes. We need people willing to collapse and get up again to keep creating:

 

 Can you get up?

Let’s never forget that the societies that produce artist also produce scientist and entrepreneurs. These are the very things that keep the economy growing.