4.Singapore has Good reasons in promoting and supporting the Arts

My reply to the Director:

13 Nov 07

Re: Telok Kurau Studio - Set the policy RIGHT

Dear Chwee Seng

I thank you for your email dated 8th October.

Sorry for not replying earlier as I need time to regain my emotional distress and to write this long letter.

I thank you for being so kind and gracious as to grant me your ears, but I wonder why now, after more than half a year and after so many letters. I have had to repeatedly knock on the door of my MP and have endured so many frustrations, distress and psychological turmoil. I am wondering why there is a need for such a meeting when you already have made the decision?

You surely must be aware that I am in Shanghai . Is it really necessary for me to fly back so that we can have a meeting? Is this a valid and strong reason for me to apply for a grant from NAC for this journey? After all, you may say, the air ticket for this journey is only merely about S$600-S$700, a small fraction of your monthly remuneration. But for an artist, S$700 is an extremely exorbitant amount!

If I make this journey and have the meeting with you, as I did with the various Directors of NAC through the years, I trust you will not just thank me and tell me - when I hand in the minutes of the meeting - that 'There is no need for minutes to record such a meeting' as one of the Directors, now enjoying his retirement once told me. Or one other Director who told me 'I know, I know, I understand your predicament, I am always with you!' But left (for good?) for 'greener pastures' in Australia .

I appreciate your kind and gracious gesture while also anticipating the way such a meeting will progress:

1) You will thank me for making the time and effort to be there.
Ans: I have more to thank you for been so kind and gracious to grant me such a meeting.

2) You will suggest that I vacate the studio and offer me a container to store my belongings.
Ans: Thanks, but no thanks. My paintings, sculptures, equipment and other belongings will not fit into a container. Furthermore, the kind of treatment bestowed on the belongings of the two other artists previously (Ahmad? The Malay artist-I cannot recall his name- and Ng Yak Hwee) was regrettably inhumane and highly improper. Ahmad's belongings kept disappearing from the room where they were stored, and are almost gone! Well, they have themselves to be blamed as they have disappeared! Uncontactable!

The plants I kept on the corridor which provided a soft pasture of greenery in contrast to the hard, empty concrete building kept disappearing even when I was around and disappeared totally in/before April 2006 without anyone informing/consulting me! The plants drew compliments from Victor, Leo Hee Tong and Teng Nee Chong on the same floor, who sometimes watered them on my behalf. They also drew compliments from many visitors (who remarked that TKS looks more like a hospital rather than a studio space) but irked your officers - who were on routine checks - as they broke the clinically clean environment. For that I must apologise.

So, will you suggest that I ship my belongings out of Singapore since I have a studio here in Shanghai ?

3) You will suggest to me to apply for another studio space as and when I return.
Ans: I applied and waited for more than two years for this studio space! Should I reapply and wait for another two to three years, if not longer? What I am going to do in this period? I have mentioned before and I reiterate here again that I have not left the country! My extended stay - away, is because of work! Please see enclosed photo. I would like to be back home at least once a month and spend time back in Singapore to work too! I have no wish to migrate 'down under' or up here in the north! I miss Home!

4) You will remind me that there is a long queue of artists in need of a studio and tell me that my actions are selfish.
Ans: Sure, I am aware and do understand this as I was one of those who were on the queue for more then two years! But why is there such a queue? Why are there only spaces for 30 odd artists? Why has TKS remained a secluded enclosure? 'Quiet and underused' as lamented by Mr Teo Eng Seng? I remarked why has not NAC put up a CCTV, so that each artist 's usage and movement (in and out) be monitored? 'They know lah!' came the rejoinder. Of course I do understand there must be many letters complaining about me that push you to act. May I also add that newspaper coverage may not necessarily be true/reliable.

Peter Drucker asserted way back in the 1950s that workers should be treated as assets, not as liabilities to be eliminated. I must apologise that being an artist, I am such a worthless being and such a liabilitiy to you.

5) I have never and still have no interest in backbiting against other artists or their usage. I will only give you an observation I made with my own pair of eyes, not on hearsay (this was given to a Director previously): this artist has been interviewed on national TV at least twice within a year (circa/before 2004) working in his studio with ceramic flooring. His (no artist) studio in TKS has ceramic flooring! I will, and I believe many artists in the queue will salute with full body bow if you can act on this! But I can understand that even if you would like to, you cannot do very much. This is because the artist mentioned here is a Cultural Medallion recipient! However, you are official of high integrity! I believe you will. May I also take this opportunity to inform you that:

6) Here in Shanghai and in Beijing , when one Studio Space - Creative Park , as they called it here, were fully occupied, two others were created! When these two were almost filled, four others were created! Why this has not happened in Singapore ? (www.bizchinaupdate.com/content/view/276/2/)

7) When I received name cards from the Chinese entrepreneurs here, some of them listed a number of companies. Out of the 5-6 companies, one of them is a Singapore company! When I asked where and what this Singapore company is, there came a big smile! And I found out that is just their Singapore accountant's office/the Singapore accountant has arranged for such a 'non-functioning' company! But why?

8) Why have Willie and a number of other galleries set up shop in Kuala Lumpur ? Why did Tolman and a number of galleries set up shop here for 1-2 years and leave soon after? And why are the top administrators leaving too as in the case of the top three office holders in LaSalle? Always one step ahead and several steps behind.

9) We are always ahead in business and economics, but why are we always behind - several steps - in the arts? Why do we need Lui Zuo Chou to spite us - in the words of Mr Tan Swie Hian, interviewed in the Chinese current affairs progromme then: 'Lui Zuo Chou's gesture, is like giving a big tight slap on the face of the Singapore Government (刘作筹这一举止就好比在新加坡政府脸上狠狠地刮了一个耳光)'- in order to have an Asian Civilizations Museum?

10) You were the Commissioner for the Singapore Pavilion in the last Venice Biennale. You certainly have witnessed first hand the exciting works from around the globe. Have you pondered why Singapore decided so late to participate in this prestigious event after more than seventy countries had already done so?

11) I was invited to the Ninth Cuenca Biennial this year, while Singapore is going to hold its second! And all thanks to the IMF/WB meeting last year, if not for which, I believe, the Singapore Biennial will still be on the planning board.

12) We already have the Singapore Art Museum , why do we need a National Art Gallery ? Is it because Mr Lee Weng Choy - Artistic Director, The Substation - declared back then that SAM was obsolete that we now will have a NAG? Or is because of what the Middle-Eastern countries are doing? Frank Gery is designing the Guggenheim Museum for Abu Dhabi . And in Qatar , IM Pei is designing the Islamic Art Museum. (www.edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/10/04/culture.mme) We must be proud to have the 'New' NAG - housed in the former City hall/Supreme Court, or rater, the former Law Academy . May I humbly add that this will be - at best - a monument of the 20th Century?

13)The Bilbao Effect: The public thronged to Bilbao at a rate of between 800,000 and one million a year, of whom 90% were, and continue to be, from outside the Basque country and of those more than half are from countries other than Spain. It was de-industrialisation that stimulated Glas­gow to compete for and win the title European Capital of Culture in 1990; inspired Liverpool to lure the Tate to the Albert Docks in 1998; Salford to build The Lowry in 2000 and the French region of Nord-Pas de Calais to compete in 2006 for the Louvre to establish a branch in Lens. Bilbao has already recouped its expenditure many times - on the building of its Guggenheim Art Museum in less than ten years! The economic impact is so marked that it is said to have paid back the initial investment many times. www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=6289 Have we not learned?

14) We will never be lead by the nose in business an economics, but why are we always being lead by the nose in the Arts? "Human beings are forgetful; it is the duty of the artist to bring the awareness to the people to remember the important issues." Kudela.

15) I have no wish to be another ordinary artist. I want to be involved in works that are meaningful, thought-provoking and engaging. How is NAC helping in comparison to the privileges enjoyed by the Chinese (foreign) companies raised in the example on item 6?

These issues I mentioned here are highly complex and problematic. If I may, I would like you to address all these issues, item by item. Some, I believe, may not be within your capacity/office to “There are no fixed answers and there isn’t just one way of doing things. You must be flexible. There is a lot of grey” Sim Kee Boon. “He was a specialist in the grey” a colleague from the old days recalled… 10- 11.11.07 Today

Therefore, I am copying this letter to your CEO and the ministers in MICA and my MP. I know I am breaching protocol by doing this as they have help to intervene in this incident.

The PM has said recently that while SIA has been successful in breaking new ground, it faces intense competition. The key to SIA's success is its people. "Every employee must feel the sense of mission to make SIA a truly global airline, and give of his or her best."

I trust that you and your many colleagues in NAC are of great capability and high integrity. You will and have to adhere to the standing orders in the books and cannot/will not think outside the box. But may I humbly suggest you read the enclosed 2 articles – one is ‘A flight of Faith’ where a pilot made decision against the standing order on the book to fly 2 illegal immigrants into Canda , 29-30 Sept 2007; the other is more recent on the report of the passing of Mr Sim Kee Boon (“There are no fixed answers and there isn’t just one way of doing things. You must be flexible. There is a lot of grey” Sim Kee Boon… “He was a specialist in the grey” a colleague from the old days recalled…10-11 Nov.2007 Today newspaper).

I am sure you will (as declared as the Key Thrusts in all your printed materials and website) _Facilitate Internationalisation and Enhance Global Connectivity _and _Stimulate Broader and More Sophisticated Demand for the Arts_ and make Singapore a shining jewel in the world of Arts.

Thank you.

Tan Kwank Liang
(An acknowledgment of receipt of this email would be much appreciated)