AN AFTERNOON WELL-SPENT AT THE
INDEPENDENT MEDIA FAIR SINGAPORE
The Picturehouse, Cathay Building
Saturday (1 July 2023)
Saturday afternoons, for me, are usually indolently spent in bed, usually resting in anticipation of a concert in the evening. However, last Saturday was to be somewhat different. Alerted to the Independent Media Fair Singapore by a weekly web-post by my favourite magazine on Asian affairs Mekong Review, I decided to give this interesting event a visit.
Despite being warned by my wife that there may be government spies lurking around noting who actually attends such alternative platform events, I decided to chance it. After all, Singapore isn't North Korea or the old East Germany, or is it yet? After spending four hours or so in the 5th and 6th floors of the Cathay Building, I concluded that there is hope after all. Simply because the alternative and independent media is allowed to exist by the powers-that-be, just like non-PAP political parties and politicians, as long as they tread cautiously and responsibly.
So what happened and who did I meet at this event? None of the classical music fraternity was to be found, with the sole exception of the well-known writer-poet-playwright Robert Yeo, and a high-profiled relative of former SSO players (see below). There were none of the hippy-types spotted, and even the young girls with crew-cuts, piercings and tattoos seemed to be in the minority. Everybody looked rather normal, nothing extraordinary, mostly like the people found wandering in the aisles of Books Kinokuniya, or at least what I thought was run-of-the-mill.
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| Celebrity alert! PJ Thum at the New Naratif booth, Robert Yeo checks out the books, Kirsten Han mans the Mekong Review booth. |
Booths and tables occupied much of the 6th floor, run by independent, authors, publishers, advocacy platforms, civil society groups and non-governmental organisations. The forums were held in a cosy lounge area in the 5th floor, also where a cat welfare market (my kind of thing) was taking place.
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| Cats for adoption by Cat Welfare Society. |
There were two forums, which were very well-attended by a standing room audience that dealt with the issues of running independent media platforms and publications, and readings by published authors on the art of story-telling. These I found very interesting, keeping me awake during hours which normally find me in slumber. And then there were book signings, even though there was hardly a queue to talk about. All the authors were very friendly, and genuinely pleased that I had parted with my money to buy their writings. All this will hopefully serve as encouragement for them to continue writing, and further their art of communication.
Here are some photos from the event, and it is hoped that Singapore Unbound and Mekong Review will continue to run this much-needed platform for independent voices in 2024 and the years to come.
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| The good people of Function 8, which documents the suppression and plights of alternative voices in Singapore. |
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| Opposition political figure James Gomez at his think tank Asia Centre's booth. |
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| Meeting Robert Yeo and Fong Hoe Fang, founder of Ethos Books. |
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| Sudhir Vadaketh wrote my favourite book on Singapore-Malaysia culture, Floating on a Malayan Breeze. |
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| The first forum was about negotiating independent media within Singapore's culture of fear and censure. |
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| When Alfian Sa'at speaks, people listen. |
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| Victor Fernando Ocampo reads excerpts from his short story IMD1IN10 |
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| Alfian Sa'at, medicine's loss is the arts' gain. |
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| Carrying the OG copy of Victor Ocampo's collection of speculative ficture. |
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| I finally get to meet with anti-death penalty advocate Kirsten Han, who is the daughter of SSO's former principal hornist Han Chang Zhou and violinist Priscilla Neo. |
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| The founders of New Naratif, Kirsten Han and Thum Ping Tjin. |
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