SINGAPORE: A Singapore artist’s gift of 700 kilograms of rice to disadvantaged students from his alma mater is being praised online, amid the controversy involving another alumni group’s gift of bronze statues of colonial figures that have been erected at Fort Canning Park.
Noted artist Ben Puah, a prominent figure in Singapore’s art scene since 1997 and a President’s Young Talent awardee in 2001, has his works housed in notable collections including the Singapore Art Museum and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment Singapore. His art has been exhibited globally, from the USA and Brazil to Japan and Australia.
On Friday (31 May), Mr Puah revealed that he donated 700kg of rice to students from disadvantaged homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Puah shared candidly that he was going through a hard time at that point but he wanted to do something to give back to his alma mater, Tanglin Secondary School.
He wrote, “We need to know there are members of our society already living marginalised and precarious lives who are suffering and they are likely to suffer the most. With the loss of income, some families have no money to buy groceries. It doesn’t matter how much or what you give. Every single little thing helps in difficult time. It really does.”
Mr Puah’s act has drawn praise across social media and messaging platforms, with some observers drawing favourable comparisons to a recent and controversial gift from the Singapore chapter of the alumni of the University of East Anglia (UEA).
The alumni group commissioned and donated bronze statues titled ‘Scholars In Conversation: Sir Stamford Raffles & Dr Nathaniel Wallich’, unveiled at Fort Canning Park on May 21. The statues, costing as much as a “cheap Porsche,” were intended to commemorate UEA’s 60th anniversary and Singapore’s first botanic garden’s bicentenary.
However, the bronze statues have sparked significant criticism.
Singapore poet Gwee Li Sui, who called the monument “so malu” on Facebook, told The Straits Times: “While around the world, colonial statues are coming down, here, they are going up. It suggests a serious failure to reframe – or at least re-evaluate – received history 200 years later and a related insensitivity to both local history and global feelings about colonialism.”
He added, “Neutral history is lazy history. Colonialism is not neutral.”
The Singlish doyen asked on Facebook: “Think the norm is, if you wish to thank your alma mater, donate a sum of monay to it directly or give a commissioned artwork for display on its campus. How did it get so wrong?”
Noted British author Neil Humphreys called Sir Stamford Raffles “pompous” and “elitist,” as he weighed in on the controversy. He questioned, in a Facebook post: “There are so many other figures in Singapore’s history – both local and international – who are worthy of statues, if that’s your thing, but maybe we could ease off with the foppish, entitled imperialists?”
Raising concerns about the glorification of elite classes, he asked: “Why, again, must we keep glorifying the upper classes and their built-in privileges? For so many, It’s still a rigged game, in their favour, just as it was for Raffles. Why must we keep celebrating these people? I think they got enough.”
The Museum Ghost Instagram account, meanwhile, wrote in a post: “Why do you still love your ex-overlords? The feeling wasn’t mutual. Ever. Get the hint?”
Indicating that the gift could be a “missed opportunity,” Singapore musician Shah Salleh pointed out: “I wonder if the whole premise of putting a(nother) statue in our public parks is a missed opportunity for us to rediscover our own botanical heritage.
“What would have been lovely is for us to celebrate local Singapore Born individuals like Ashkhen Hovakimian (her better known Anglicanized nomemclature being Agnes Joaqium), whose horticultural passion led to the creation of our national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim.”
Mr Shah added, “We have our fair share of local heros, scholars, and pioneers. Perhaps It’s time for us orientate our monuments away from the west, and let these social markers point our way home.”
Despite the backlash, Dr Tan Kee Wee, whose family estate donated the bronzes, remains unfazed. Dr Tan, an economist who did his doctorate at UAE under a scholarship, told ST: “Colonialism in many other countries was quite bad, but in Singapore, it was okay. I’m not sure that the Malay kings did anything for us, whereas Raffles’ town planning still has its impact to this day.”
TISG/