Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Dharmendra Yadav's Interview of David Marshall
Dharmendra Yadav just posted on his blog an interview with David Marshall he did back in 1994.
I suppose it doesn't really say anything new about David Marshall but rather confirms my impression of him as a Don Quixote - lunging at bullies indeed (see the end of Yadav's account)!
I've seen Dharmendra Yadav's letters to the press with his characteristic 'Think Happiness' signoff many times before, but until today, I never knew anything else about him. Now, thanks to his blog profile, I know more.
I suppose it doesn't really say anything new about David Marshall but rather confirms my impression of him as a Don Quixote - lunging at bullies indeed (see the end of Yadav's account)!
I've seen Dharmendra Yadav's letters to the press with his characteristic 'Think Happiness' signoff many times before, but until today, I never knew anything else about him. Now, thanks to his blog profile, I know more.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Another Elangovan Play Banned
A email just came in on the Art Community Yahoo! Group from S Thenmoli, the President of the theatre group, Agni Kootthu (Theatre of Fire). Seems that yet another play of Elangovan's failed to pass censorship.
According to Thenmoli's email and to a Channel NewsAsia article, the Media Development Authority (MDA) issued an RA18 licence for the play, SMEGMA, on Tue 1 Aug. Today (4 Aug), the licence was withdrawn. Thenmoli reported that the second (and official) version of the MDA letter withdrawing the licence said that "After careful consideration, we find that the play undermines the values underpinning Singapore's multi-racial, multi-religious society, and portrays Muslims in a negative light." Thenmoli said that there was an earlier first version of the letter which gave more reasons: that the play might 'negatively impact... bilateral relations' and that "Two playlets featuring Muslim terrorists are also provocative in view of the increased tension in the Middle east."
I went to the Substation website to take a look at the publicity blurb about the play. The first paragraph reads:
According to Thenmoli's email and to a Channel NewsAsia article, the Media Development Authority (MDA) issued an RA18 licence for the play, SMEGMA, on Tue 1 Aug. Today (4 Aug), the licence was withdrawn. Thenmoli reported that the second (and official) version of the MDA letter withdrawing the licence said that "After careful consideration, we find that the play undermines the values underpinning Singapore's multi-racial, multi-religious society, and portrays Muslims in a negative light." Thenmoli said that there was an earlier first version of the letter which gave more reasons: that the play might 'negatively impact... bilateral relations' and that "Two playlets featuring Muslim terrorists are also provocative in view of the increased tension in the Middle east."
I went to the Substation website to take a look at the publicity blurb about the play. The first paragraph reads:
The rest of the publicity is much longer but essentially expands on this first paragraph."Truth Is The Enemy Of The State
SMEGMA interrogates the 'moral, cultural, religious, political, economical legitimacy world' from many different perspectives of the underdogs and their masters. This plastic society's hidden hierarchies are brought to the surface by the experiences of its outsiders; a schizophrenic transsexual, pregnant female suicide bomber, irate non-smokers and defiant smokers."
Finally, what does smegma mean?
First, read the polite definition from the British Compact Oxford English Dictionary.
Then the explictly direct definition from the American Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
