An Interview by Rachel Zeng
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Recently, Rachel Zeng, a local blogger and anti-death penalty activist, interviewed me about my book (Singapore Sucks!).
The interview will be posted on her blog in 3 parts.
This is Part 1.
Singa Crew is the man behind the book “Singapore Sucks!”. I managed to catch up with him recently and decided take the opportunity to conduct an interview for my blog. I will publish his replies in three separate parts.
Me: Tell me a little about your background.
Singa Crew: Well, I was only 12 when the warrior priests of Torm adopted me and at the temple, I vowed to become a paladin in service to the God of duty… Oh wait, that’s the background info I did for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Sorry.
But honestly, there isn’t much about me that would interest the public. I am a working-class man. When I am not writing, I earn my keep working at menial jobs where I get to meet my fellow blue-collar workers who, too often, get swept under the carpet in clinical Singapore. I would say my work experience gave me the insight necessary to write Singapore Sucks!
Me: Why did you write this book?
Singa Crew: You know, a writer once described Singapore as “Disneylandwith the death penalty”. But many Singaporeans, like myself, who have to put up with the draconian rules for decades now, we are not feeling the Disney at all. Just the penalties. Therefore, we get very annoyed with the mainstream media – especially the government-owned dailies circulating inSingapore– for their unhealthy fixation on the “Disney” side of Singapore.
There is a limit to how high you can suspend your disbelief. So the time came when I said “enough is enough” and pitched the idea to write Singapore Sucks! to some people I know.
Me: How did the idea come about?
Singa Crew: Like I said, many Singaporeans like myself, we are not experiencing the much vaunted Disney side of Singapore. Most people I know are just working-class people like myself trying to make ends meet on a daily basis. We have our problems. And throughout the long years I have lived inSingapore, I have seen my fellow Singaporeans losing their jobs, their homes and generally suffering (in silence) all kinds of abuse because we do not have human rights laws to safeguard our dignity as human beings.
Now, while this is happening and even as my fellow citizens throw themselves in front of incoming trains at the MRT stations, our government is feeding the public with feel good news about how Singapore is a shopping and food paradise.
So I got it into my head to write and publish a book to showcase the other side, the side that is more real to us than the shopping paradise mirage our government conjured up for the tourists.
Me: What do you hope to achieve with your book?
Singa Crew: If we do not face up to our problems, we can never hope to change anything. This book is like a mirror. I hope that when my fellow Singaporeans read the stories in the book, they will see their everyday problems reflected in them and perhaps they can then gain the perspective and clarity needed to come to terms with those issues. That’s the first step towards resolution.
Personally, I think most of our societal problems are too deep-seated to be resolved without an overhaul of the current political system, but we should at least give it a shot!
Me: Why do you think Singapore Sucks?
Singa Crew: Where do I even start? The multitude of problems plaguing our society are simply too numerous and complex for me to be able to summarize in one short paragraph. Have you heard of the phrase “Uniquely Singapore”? There are a whole series of issues that are unique to the Singapore Psyche. Decades of social engineering initiated by the government saw to that.
Read the book. At the end of it, you may or may not agree with us that Singapore Sucks, but at least you would have gotten the insight necessary to make an informed decision.
Me: How are people responding to your book?
Singa Crew: Well, I have been getting a lot of virtual pats on the back. But there has also been criticisms that I am a “Singapore hater”. And I wish to address that here.
I don’t hate Singapore. To say that I “hate” Singapore implies malice on my part. I bear no malice to Singapore. When I say “Singapore sucks”, I am merely stating a fact. Things are truly not well in our country, and in my opinion, I would be doing my countrymen a disservice if I were to lie through my teeth and say “Oh everything is going splendidly well in Singapore”.
You know, the legit parenting manuals out there also do not encourage lying as an option to show affection. Most of the literature I read on the topic agree that when a child misbehaves, the parent should point out the mistake. They aren’t supposed to say “oh my boy-boy so cute!” when the child has just overturned the candy display stand and ate enough candy to induce a high.
Likewise, I love my country and I see it as my duty to point out the faults inherent in our society when I see them.
(To be continued…)
* Source: http://rachelzeng.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/interview-with-singa-crew-part-1/
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Could there had been a better title for the book?
It's the PAP government that sucks.
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I support no death penalty when there is no terrorism, serial murders, narcotics trafficking, and other heavy crimes.
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Hi Dalforce,
Actually, another title for the book was considered briefly, and discarded.
If you would just read the Foreword chapter, we gave a hint of another possible title for the book. There is another more important reason for picking this title though, and you are not the first person to ask me why I use Singapore Sucks as the title for the book.
Here's a brief reply. I would say Singapore sucks, but Singaporeans don't.
We have to understand the difference between "Singapore", the brand name concocted by the PAP, which links to the image of a nice airport (for tourists) and clean shopping malls (for tourists), and the regular Singaporeans who are suffering even as the government print more and more feel good news about "Singapore" - their Singapore and not ours.
I have interviewed many people as I worked on this book, Dalforce, and when I told them many tourists like Singapore and praise it as a shopping and food paradise, they just looked at me blankly (sometimes angrily) as if they were asking "What does that have to do with me?"
This book is a way for us to define Singapore, our country, on our own terms. Unfortunately, due to the screwed up PAP policies, we really are suffering, so this collection of short stories, doesn't have the feel good factor you get from reading SPH propaganda about the shopping paradise mirage the PAP conjured up for the benefit of paying tourists.
The truth hurts, Dalforce, but it must be told.
Singa Crew
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This is Part 2 of the interview I did with Rachel Zeng.
As an avid reader of works written by James Joyce, I cannot help but see the similarities between Dubliners (1914) and Singapore Sucks!. So I took the opportunity to ask Singa Crew about whether James Joyce has influenced him in any way, since James Joyce also happens to be one of his favourite writers.
Me: This book reminds me of the Dubliners by James Joyce. Is there an influence there?Singa Crew: Well, to be honest, I did not set out to emulate James Joyce and attempt to produce a Dubliners for Singapore. Joyce’s shoes are pretty big for a noob writer like myself to fill!
But you are right. There are parallels between the two. Perhaps James Joyce had a greater influence on me than I thought, and on a subconscious level, I was trying to pay homage to a literary giant. Or perhaps it was just an eerie coincidence that modern Singapore has so much in common with the seedy and depressing Dublin – set between the late 1890s and early 1900s – Joyce described in Dubliners.
Epiphany. Paralysis. Escape.
These are recurring themes in Dubliners that one can find in the stories of Singapore Sucks! as well. There are moments in Dubliners when the Joycean characters would achieve a state of clarity – epiphany – and thus gain important insights about the greater issues in their lives. And most, if not all, of the stories, essays or poems in Singapore Sucks! revolve around Epiphany. The narrators are either reaching their own conclusions about what life in Singapore is really about or their sad plight helps readers reach their own conclusions.
My early readings of Dubliners tended to put me in a melancholy state of mind. These aren’t happy stories, I thought. And indeed, whether through some character flaws or conspiracy of external influences, some of the characters tended to be frozen in a psychological arrest, thus preventing them from achieving positive resolutions in the stories. In Dubliners, Eveline, a tragic protagonist in one of the short stories, was paralysed by fear and thus chose a life of captivity (with her father) over a freer existence with her lover. Similarly, Jason, the terminally alcoholic narrator of one of our short stories, was paralysed by fear and chose safety and stagnation in the fog of intoxication over the dangerous clarity that sobriety provided.
The Dublin James Joyce described wasn’t a happy place, with “gaunt spectral mansions” and suburbs that were “mean, modern and pretentious”. The Joycean characters did not thrive in that Dublin and they yearned to escape its confines. Likewise, the Singapore seen through the eyes of the narrators in Singapore Sucks! is just as depressing, with ominous high-rise buildings that are “left lifeless as crypts” and the light reflecting from the glass panels blinds instead of illuminates. And just like in Dubliners, the desire to escape is expressed in Singapore Sucks!
In the end, I think it doesn’t really matter whether if trying to produce another Dubliners was my original intention or not. Singapore Sucks! happened, and it has its place in the world (1°17′ North, 103°51′ East).
(To be continued… )
* Source: http://rachelzeng.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/an-interview-with-singa-crew-part-2/
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Originally posted by Singa Crew:
Recently, Rachel Zeng, a local blogger and anti-death penalty activist, interviewed me about my book (Singapore Sucks!).
The interview will be posted on her blog in 3 parts.
This is Part 1.
Singa Crew is the man behind the book “Singapore Sucks!”. I managed to catch up with him recently and decided take the opportunity to conduct an interview for my blog. I will publish his replies in three separate parts.
Me: Tell me a little about your background.
Singa Crew: Well, I was only 12 when the warrior priests of Torm adopted me and at the temple, I vowed to become a paladin in service to the God of duty… Oh wait, that’s the background info I did for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Sorry.
But honestly, there isn’t much about me that would interest the public. I am a working-class man. When I am not writing, I earn my keep working at menial jobs where I get to meet my fellow blue-collar workers who, too often, get swept under the carpet in clinical Singapore. I would say my work experience gave me the insight necessary to write Singapore Sucks!
Me: Why did you write this book?
Singa Crew: You know, a writer once described Singapore as “Disneylandwith the death penalty”. But many Singaporeans, like myself, who have to put up with the draconian rules for decades now, we are not feeling the Disney at all. Just the penalties. Therefore, we get very annoyed with the mainstream media – especially the government-owned dailies circulating inSingapore– for their unhealthy fixation on the “Disney” side of Singapore.
There is a limit to how high you can suspend your disbelief. So the time came when I said “enough is enough” and pitched the idea to write Singapore Sucks! to some people I know.
Me: How did the idea come about?
Singa Crew: Like I said, many Singaporeans like myself, we are not experiencing the much vaunted Disney side of Singapore. Most people I know are just working-class people like myself trying to make ends meet on a daily basis. We have our problems. And throughout the long years I have lived inSingapore, I have seen my fellow Singaporeans losing their jobs, their homes and generally suffering (in silence) all kinds of abuse because we do not have human rights laws to safeguard our dignity as human beings.
Now, while this is happening and even as my fellow citizens throw themselves in front of incoming trains at the MRT stations, our government is feeding the public with feel good news about how Singapore is a shopping and food paradise.
So I got it into my head to write and publish a book to showcase the other side, the side that is more real to us than the shopping paradise mirage our government conjured up for the tourists.
Me: What do you hope to achieve with your book?
Singa Crew: If we do not face up to our problems, we can never hope to change anything. This book is like a mirror. I hope that when my fellow Singaporeans read the stories in the book, they will see their everyday problems reflected in them and perhaps they can then gain the perspective and clarity needed to come to terms with those issues. That’s the first step towards resolution.
Personally, I think most of our societal problems are too deep-seated to be resolved without an overhaul of the current political system, but we should at least give it a shot!
Me: Why do you think Singapore Sucks?
Singa Crew: Where do I even start? The multitude of problems plaguing our society are simply too numerous and complex for me to be able to summarize in one short paragraph. Have you heard of the phrase “Uniquely Singapore”? There are a whole series of issues that are unique to the Singapore Psyche. Decades of social engineering initiated by the government saw to that.
Read the book. At the end of it, you may or may not agree with us that Singapore Sucks, but at least you would have gotten the insight necessary to make an informed decision.
Me: How are people responding to your book?
Singa Crew: Well, I have been getting a lot of virtual pats on the back. But there has also been criticisms that I am a “Singapore hater”. And I wish to address that here.
I don’t hate Singapore. To say that I “hate” Singapore implies malice on my part. I bear no malice to Singapore. When I say “Singapore sucks”, I am merely stating a fact. Things are truly not well in our country, and in my opinion, I would be doing my countrymen a disservice if I were to lie through my teeth and say “Oh everything is going splendidly well in Singapore”.
You know, the legit parenting manuals out there also do not encourage lying as an option to show affection. Most of the literature I read on the topic agree that when a child misbehaves, the parent should point out the mistake. They aren’t supposed to say “oh my boy-boy so cute!” when the child has just overturned the candy display stand and ate enough candy to induce a high.
Likewise, I love my country and I see it as my duty to point out the faults inherent in our society when I see them.
(To be continued…)
* Source: http://rachelzeng.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/interview-with-singa-crew-part-1/
You are the man. Saw your posts in TTGer.
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so where can I get this book?
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How much will you earn if I bought this book?
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rachel zeng pretty?
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ah soh u also want...haiz
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Originally posted by angel7030:
ah soh u also want...haiz
lol. show her photo leh
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I pray for her
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Originally posted by angel7030:
looks like that fireice leh anyway they are the same to me
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I hope she is not christian...otherwise..
..my goodness, the Queen is much much prettier..
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I have photo of fireice's lost sister:
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Originally posted by Veggie Bao:
I support no death penalty when there is no terrorism, serial murders, narcotics trafficking, and other heavy crimes.
I agree with you on this. Even if a guy commits murder with malicious intent and all then I think he deserves the death sentence. Justice is balance, afterall.
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This is Part 3 (the last part) of my interview with Rachel Zeng.
I apologise for this late posting. Due to my busy schedule, I have not been online as often as before but here you go, the final part of the interview with Singa Crew!
Me: Rarely does an achievement comes without obstacles, and I understand there were difficulties along the way. Can you elaborate them for my blog?
Singa Crew: Yeah, sure. Right from the get-go, I knew writing a book and getting it published was serious business. Which was why, given my lack of experience, I didn’t set out to do it alone.
I had a partner from Singapore, during the early days of the project. Initially, he was supposed to be an equal partner. That means I expected him to produce a certain amount of original stories for the book. But after the first few meetings, it turned out he was more comfortable with just listening to me talk and looking through the stories I wrote.
My requests for him to produce original works only resulted in some ideas and disjointed sentences clobbered clumsily together. I had to spend time and effort turning those “contributions” into presentable short stories. Besides his minute contributions (ideas and some sentences strung haphazardly together) to two chapters, he gave permission to re-write an old interview he did with a news blog into a short story. That was the extent of his contributions. Not once did he turn in a full-length story for the book.
Still, I would have been perfectly willing to share the profit from the sales of the book with him. He had a reputation as an artist, so I was expecting him to do illustrations for the book and design the cover. But he did not produce any artwork for the book. Instead he recommended a fellow artist to do the work. However even that plan fell through, because for some unknown reason, his artist friend refused to talk to him.
In the end, I had to scout for artists on my own, even though my partner was supposed to know people in the local art community.
Then when it was time to do the layout, my partner couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do it either. So I had to pay someone else to.
But even though he couldn’t produce a single piece of writing or of art, I was still willing to work with him and split the profit, provided he continued to work with me. There were still obstacles to overcome before reaching the end goal of publication. And after that, there’s the marketing campaign to sell the book.
So we reached a crucial juncture of the project. I finished the manuscript and was ready to cross the border. We needed to start meeting publishers. We needed to clobber together a book deal. And my partner, for reasons known only to him, disappeared. I was unable to reach him by phone, even though it was still in service since I could get a ring tone each time I called. I have no idea what sort of mind game he was playing, but it got a result.
Yes. When I couldn’t contact him for a while, I got so worried, thinking perhaps he talked to the wrong people about the book and got himself arrested, that I had a minor heart attack. Chest pains. Numbness in my arm. The usual symptoms.
Anyway, when he finally deigned to reply to me via email or Facebook, he explained that his phone credit ran out. I think I need not explain that it was such an obvious lie to anyone who ever owned a hand phone. Either you get free incoming calls, or if you don’t, the caller gets a recorded message from the phone company.
Well, the book is out now. So I did make it across the border to meet with a publisher. He did act as my guide one last time before he went off the radar again. When the book was distributed to bookstores, I called him (in August) to remind him of his duty to assist in the marketing campaign. He didn’t help then, and he is not helping now.
When word got back to me that he claimed authorship over some chapter in the book and feigned ignorance about the publication of the book, I decided that I had to set the record straight.
Having said all that, however, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to my erstwhile partner. Even though he never did his fair share of the work, he was a good listener, and I know I never got lost with him acting as a travel guide on those two occasions when we visited Malaysia. He was many things, BUT, as far as the book is concerned, he was never a full-fledged contributor.
Source: http://rachelzeng.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/an-interview-with-singa-crew-part-3/