WEBVTT

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So my ten year old son

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likes to begin a story out of nowhere.

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He used to start his compositions

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with "one day".

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And until I told him,

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"You know,

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you need to be more creative.

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Everything you write

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begins with 'one day'.

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You need to be more creative".

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So now he starts with a dialogue.

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He tells me, "I don't know how a story

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should begin,

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I can only write what happens".

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So, reading his compositions

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I know he has a bright future

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writing reports

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but that is another story.

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But my son taught me

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a useful lesson though:

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How should stories begin?

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Whose stories are we telling?

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Who are we in the story?

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Where are we telling the story from?

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Wait, the arrow right or left?

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[Gestures]

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Oh, shit!

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[Laughter]

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I only know how to tell stories, yeah.

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Oh, okay.

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So let's consider this photograph:

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One day, it was raining,

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a woman sheltered

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an old lady with a hijab

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and someone photographed

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her thoughtful gesture.

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The end.

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Just the way my son would write his compo.

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But this picture went viral,

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and the story that anchors it

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tells us a lot about what multiracialism

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means in Singapore.

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The emphasis on the Malay hijab girl

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being oh so kind

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to cover the head of a random

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Chinese old lady

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with her tudung.

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Except, the old lady was her grandmother.

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Except, they didn't have an umbrella.

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Except, she was the child

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of a Chinese man

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who married a Muslim woman

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and became Muslim.

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Except, why is this even a story?

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[Laughter]

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Sakinah would later write on her blog

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that she felt like an animal on exhibit

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both exposed and violated

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because, as she quotes,

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"People feel they have the right

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to decide whether or not

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she is my grandmother,

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or some random Chinese lady

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just based on their

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yet-to-mature world view".

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End quote.

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Sakinah's personal story

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drops the mic on racial harmony,

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or any attempts to racialise harmony,

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or any attempts to harmonise racism.

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Like Sakinah, I, too, am an outlier,

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a trans-identified, queer, Malay Muslim

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with a phD.

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As an outlier, depending on which

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axis of privilege we intersect,

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be it class, race, religion,

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gender or sexuality,

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the stories we tell often goes

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two ways:

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reshape the mainstream,

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or be forgotten altogether.

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What kinds of stories get remembered

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in Singapore?

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Okay, this way it works.

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Oh, okay.

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Okay.

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So growing up in Singapore,

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the only true Singapore stories

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that I used to believe in

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were by Russell Lee.

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[Laughter]

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Okay.

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So my first lesson in multiracialism

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was in understanding that

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there was a Chinese hell

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that was different

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from a Malay hell.

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[Laughter]

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Okay.

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That Chinese see Chinese ghosts

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and Malays see Malay ghosts.

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[Laughter]

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And Indians, you know,

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they see everything.

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[Laughter]

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So, it got me thinking:

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"Are ghosts in Singapore

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so adept at racial profiling?

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What is going on here?"

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So obviously for this course today,

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I mean not course, um,

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for this talk today

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I'm going to talk about Singapore stories.

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Thank you Russell Lee for that cover page.

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Okay, so in 2009, I was spurred

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to examine the history

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and representation of the Pontianak

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in Singapore for my Masters thesis.

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Because of the mass anxiety

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that was surrounding

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something called "Nenek Keropok",

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an old Malay lady who goes

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door to door

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specifically targeting Malay houses

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begging people to buy her keropok

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which is some kind of fish snack.

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Okay.

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So if you should refuse,

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and never refuse an entrepreneurial

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spirit okay?

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She would unleash the Pontianak

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into your house.

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So in 2009,

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mind you, I was writing my thesis

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on the Pontianak,

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so this should be a good opportunity

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for me right?

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I made my house,

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that was,

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that I was co-habitating

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with my then girlfriend,

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as un-Malay as possible

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cause I didn't want any keropok

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to come in.

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So this was not difficult

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given that there was no

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bismillah or Arabic scripture

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on my front door

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and I also had a painting

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of two naked women

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staring at each other's naked bodies

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with the caption:

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"chaos in the cosmos"

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so I thought that was enough

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as a protection.

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So I was so confident that

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the Nenek Keropok would skip

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my un-Malay house

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until one day,

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I was home alone writing my thesis

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and someone knocked on the door

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and said "keropok,

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...keropok"

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So my first instinct was

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to move far away

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from the door as possible.

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And the second, the inevitable question:

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"How she know I Malay sia?"

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[Laughter]

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So my reaction was best explained

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by Michael Bell,

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that "our sense of rightful possession

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of place depends in part

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upon our sense of the ghost

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that possess it,

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and the connections of different people

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to these ghosts.

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Ghosts make claims about

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the territories of social life.

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Ghosts are political.

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Thus, the possession

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of a place by a ghost

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is not an immaterial phenomenon".

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So this is why I took the Ponianak

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very seriously,

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because it represents something

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that makes people feel haunted

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by a presence in contemporary Singapore.

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So my belief is this:

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the Pontianak is political.

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So I spent,

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um, and this picture over here

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the Pontianak Awareness Programme,

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that was found, I think,

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in Singapore General -

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no, Changi Hosp -

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no, Changi Hospital.

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Yup.

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The old Changi Hospital.

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So I spent a year between 2008

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and 2009 listening to

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Malay people calling into the local radio

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segment called "Misteri Jam Dua Belas"

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otherwise known as "Midnight Mystery".

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It's still going on,

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so you can tune into [pause]

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89.7, I think, to listen to that radio talk show

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but you got to understand Malay.

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So I also went on ghost hunts,

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spoke to Malays who claimed that they

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could see ghosts

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or have experience being haunted

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or possessed.

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I analysed over 60 narratives.

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I found that Pontianak hauntings

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revealed every day social tensions

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of living in a multiracial,

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and highly competitive society.

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They mirror our every day realities

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and ironies of social policies.

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What does it mean for the Pontianak

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to be alive in Singapore?

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So according to the narratives

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I gathered, the Pontianak

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roams around the corridors,

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carparks, void decks,

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and staircases of public housing flats.

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The standardised nature of public housing

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makes it pertinent for her to make

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her mark on places.

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The very notion of citing:

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"I saw a Pontianak there",

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differentiates that space from others.

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The Pontianak is also selective

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of the houses she chooses to haunt.

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She possesses the stock of knowledge

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to enter houses Malays owned

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and to avoid those that are not.

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She's aware of racial quotas

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with regards to re-sale flats

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previously demarcated as Malay enclaves.

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The ghost of a Malay flat

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is passed onto the next Malay owner,

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while the Pontianak already existing

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in flats of Chinese or Indian occupants

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lay dormant,

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symbolising the lingering

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residue of previous Malay occupants

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and an anticipative desire for potential ones

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to make her presence known.

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I was told a few times that

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"Hantu melayu tak kacau orang Cina"

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"Malay ghosts do not disturb Chinese people"

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and vice-versa.

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Whatever the Chinese are afraid of

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it does not affect the Malays.

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Thank god, right?

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Since there are 75% of you.

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[Laughter]

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Lai Ah Eng, in studying meanings

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of multi-ethnicity in the public housing

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of Singapore,

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demonstrates this effect

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by highlighting how the highly standardised

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design of public housing

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provokes residents to

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personalise their homes.

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So given this persuasive circumstances

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of multi-ethnic living in Singapore,

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most residents would find it necessary

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to establish territories of self

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through identity markers.

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So due to this intrusiveness

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of state policies,

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private spaces becomes the most

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controllable part of residents'

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living environment.

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So for the Malays who are at the

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margins of Singapore's foray

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into this brave new world,

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the Pontianak sightings represent

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forms of strategic control

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over their environment.

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As well as I would argue,

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the creative strategy to

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reframe the limitations of the environment.

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So another example that I found

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in my studies is that

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not all kampongs are nostalgised equally.

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We often hear the state leaders say:

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"Bring back the kampong spirit",

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you know, you see that in

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Joseph Schooling right

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everybody rallies to basically

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throne a champion

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but what does this nostalgia

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for the kampong mean?

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And most importantly,

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whose kampong are we referring to?

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So, the Pontianak is the embodiment

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of the rurality.

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It is an expressive energy of the

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Malay kampong collective

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and whose continued presence in urban Singapore

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highlights the existence of a memory of place.

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So this durability is a concern to the state

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for whom the supposed existence

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of a tightly-knit minority Malay community

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often bears negative connotations

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and consequences.

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In 1979, Abdullah Tarmugi

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issued a statement that the Malays

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brought with them most of their

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neighbourly attitudes from the kampong

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when moving to the HDB flats.

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Almost 30 years later, in June 2005,

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the Straits Times ran the headline:

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"Kampong Spirit Alive in Estates"

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to highlight the findings of the

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HDB Sample Household Survey 2005.

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The findings showed that Singapore Chinese

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were the least neighbourly

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and had the weakest sense of belonging

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and community involvement

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
than other ethnic groups such as

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Malays and Indians.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
In a survey conducted in the previous year

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
by The Straits Times,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Malays were also found to be

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the most neighbourly

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
compared to other ethnic groups.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
However, in July 2005,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Minister Mentor, the late Lee Kuan Yew,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
professed how racial integration in neighbourhoods

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
has not been completely successful

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because the rate of intermingling

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and acceptance is faster

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
among certain groups than in others.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He singled out the Malay community

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
as an example of such a failure.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And he says, I quote,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
"They've centered around the mosque

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
more than other social centres we got.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Not quite what we've hoped for."

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
You see, I leave in Selegie and right

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
above where I live is the RC,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Resident Community area,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and every Thursday they invite people

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to come and gather and just have

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a ball of time,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and I wonder, you know,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
do I -

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
what does it feel like to participate

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in such spaces?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Why are there only Chinese people

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in such spaces?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Well, it's not really hard

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to, um, to kind of deduce

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because every time,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and each time I visit the RC,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
you only hear Chinese karaoke songs

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
being played.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And I don't think any Malay or Indian person

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
would want to waste their precious time

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
belting out to tunes that they

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are not really familiar with.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So that is why mosques became a successful

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
magnet to attract certain groups

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of Malays in Singapore.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So Lee's statement reveals the

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
discursive formation of the

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
kampong spirit,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
you know, as a space of Malayness

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that was to be regarded

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
as less than complete

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
space of successful assimilation

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
into a multicultural society.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So, let you bring the kampong spirit.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
If it's Chineseness,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that's what we welcome

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
but if it's anything else,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
any minority representation

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
becomes suspicious.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
On September 2007, at Mendaki's

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
25th anniversary dinner,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Lee Hsien Loong recalled that the government

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and the Malay community leaders

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
were not sure whether the Malay community

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
could really cope with meritocracy

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and compete with other Singaporeans.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Okay, in Singapore,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the stories that get remembered

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are the ones that are constantly repeated.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Repetition begets its own reality.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
On that dinner, PM Lee's narrative of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the Malays was no different than any other

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
state narratives of the Malay community.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It begins with the long arduous task

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for the Malays to get here,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because we are from "there" right?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Um, the significant progress

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that they have made in education,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
increasing social mobility,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and then boom,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
dysfunctional families,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
unmarried pregnancies,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
broken families, proverty,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
et cetera.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
But not to worry:

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Malays should keep working hard

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because the government is confident

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that Malays can make it

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the Singapore way.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So, in Singapore,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
stress has been justified as a necessity

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for the people to stay on the competitive

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
edge in order for the nation

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to survive in a brave new world.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Yet, this acknowledgement

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of stress onto various groups

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in Singapore are not equally regarded.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The government's politicisation

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of stress makes it difficult

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for certain groups of Singaporeans

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to articulate how stressful they are

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
without being labelled as "incapable"

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or undeserving of assistance,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or relief.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
For under privileged minorities,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
stress is personalised as individual failure

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or lack of resilience

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
while stress for the privileged

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is validated as productive

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and a badge of diligence.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It is worthwhile to note that the bulk

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of the narratives that describe encounters

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
with the Pontianak

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
also profess the sentiments such as

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
"I was possessed

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because I might have been tired from work"

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or, "I had to stay in school until late"

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or "come back from work late"

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
interestingly, in some of the narratives,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
contributors also describe

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
feeling feverish and ill

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
after encountering the Pontianak.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Such symptoms of illness warrants

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a day off from school or work

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to cope with the trauma

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of their frightening encounters.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This latent imagery of being exhausted

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
from school or work,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
coupled with this haunting experience

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of the Pontianak,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of being possessed

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
may describe the anxieties of being

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in a stressful environment,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a common experience among Singaporeans.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Moreover, from my research,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the visibility of the Pontianak

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in areas of high Malay numerical

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
sorry,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
high Malay numerical populated areas

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
corresponding with medial

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to low income housing areas

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
demonstrates cultural anxieties to survive

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in a competitive capitalist economy.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
In this manner, the Pontianak

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
may exist as a vehicle for the Malay

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
individual to express his or her anxieties

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in a common space,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
but private and secret enough,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and intimate enough,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that it escapes the scrutiny of the state.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Because any news of Malays

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
publicly complaining of Singapore's

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
highly stressed environment

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
may almost certainly invite

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
criticisms from the state

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or even local Malay agencies

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that the Malays possess some form of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
cultural deficit.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We are easily contented lot,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or lazy as compared to the other races.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This culture of haunting reminds us

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that the distinction between

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
conformity and resistance

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in relation to the dominant Singapore story

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of multi-racialism is hardly clear-cut.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
On one hand,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
stories that I hear reveals how pervaisve

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the CMIO model is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and on the other, it reveals the ways in which

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
people reappropriate the limiting

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
structures that they are embedded in.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It reminds us that most of the times,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
strategies to trouble mainstream narratives

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are not always for or against power.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
On the contrary, as activists,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the important lesson here

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is that every day stories capture

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
new nuances in which people

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
find meaning in working

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in and on dominant ideologies.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Maybe sometimes it is best

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that stories begin out of nowhere

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because not all characters

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
share the same beginning.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Searching for people's history

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
thus requires a return to a contested beginning.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Not of how the same story is told,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
but rather, the point of which

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
another interpretation,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
memory,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
experience,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
history,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
was about to be forgotten,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and that we rescue it.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This is our intervention as Singaporeans.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
To remember who we are

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in the stories that we tell

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and where and how a story is told.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Is it from a prison?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Or from a palace?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
That is the key to harnessing power.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
To fuck with it

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
so that everyone can have a piece of it.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Thank you so much.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[Applause]