During my time in Singapore for the 1st and 3rd Mango Performances at the Singapore Biennale, I made 5 contributions from the floor of various public discussions. The 4th of these interventions, made at the Biennale Symposium, was reported in the culture section of Japan Times as a part of an article on the Biennale. It was an analytical piece and I was happy to be reported within it. I feel, however, that the intent and nuance of my contribution has been simplified in order present the reaction to my intervention as an exemplar of the administrative culture that pervades and hampers the Singapore arts scene. While the author has made a viable critique, from his perspective, I was left feeling that my own position needed some elaboration. I wrote a letter of clarification to the Japan Times and, most kindly, the editor has published it.
Last Stand for Lelu
A powerful media artifact expressing the position of the defenders of Lelu island. In combination with the legal applications in the Federal Court, this determined occupation of Lelu island may be having consequences for the progress of the proposed LNG project. There is now speculation that Petronas owned Pacific NorthWest LNG is seriously considering Ridley Island as an alternative site for its export terminal. The original proposal meant that liquefied natural gas from the plant on the island would be piped to marine docking berths near the ecologically and culturally sensitive Flora Bank, via a suspension bridge. Now, while it appears that the plant will remain on Lelu, it seems the births of the export terminal may be moved to nearby to the newly available Ridley Island.
https://www.biv.com/article/2016/12/petronas-said-be-considering-alterative-site-lng-p/
Hudud 3: Knowledge
And He has subjected to you as from Him all that is in the heavens and on earth: behold in that are Signs indeed for those who reflect.
Surah Al-Jathiyah [45:13] – Al-Qur’an al-Kareem (Yusuf Ali)
My concern with the developments around the Hudud debate is not so much with the bill itself but with the idea of locus standi to speak on the matter. It is a matter of deep concern to me that some of my fellows hold that a non-muslim Malaysian has no place to comment and to suggest because the bill does not affect them directly. To the non-muslims who speak up I want to say, temper your utterences as this does not indeed concern us directly and the very sacred heart of another community is at stake. I for one, do understand the indignance and the offence taken by muslims, given that some of the insensitive, misguided and even misleading expressions against Hudud. My own approach to commentary on this matter is reticent, oblique and I pray, respectful. Still, I feel that I am obliged to say to my Muslim fellows that it is not in keeping with my understanding of the traditional Islamic approach to knowledge to stifle inquiry and reflection. Regardless of whence the signs emerge and whither their orientation, they must surely be seen as sources of knowledge, as ‘Signs for those who reflect’.
Hudud 2: Tradition
I am not against of a return to first principles and traditional systems in contemporary society per se but I worry about the integrity, justice and rationality of such scenarios as they re-emerge, not just in Malaysia but throughout the world today. Indeed, my concern is that many of those who do advocate for tradition do so under a deep misunderstanding about its nature. I posit here that a living tradition, of any order, is a dynamic set of fundamentals that has, in the past, been flexible enough to enable it to survive into the present. Any continuing tradition has, by definition, endured the ravages of history by being sensitive and responsive to the conditions of the moment. Indeed, it seems to me that there is a narrowness in the views of both the advocates and the detractors of the Malaysian Hudud bill that suggest that they might missing the true potential and import of contemporary Shari’ah. Indeed, I ask Malaysians to heed Kareem Elbayar call to the West, which is to support the reclamation for Muslims the “tradition of intellectual production, open debate, and inquiry, and to renew the continuous development of the law which once characterized the religion of Islam, and which can and must characterize Islam in a modern world.”
Hudud 1: Social Contract
As a Malaysian who is a Hindu and an Indian, my identity is defined by lack – I am non-Muslim, bukan Islam and a non-Malay, bukan Melayu. This is fine by me. Women have long had to deal with this kind of ontology within patriarchy and so have all manner of subalterns visa-vis the waning Western or metropolitan hegemony. Indeed, I accept the special position of the Malays and Islam as defined in our constitution and I support the majority of the redistributive policies as well as of the policies that have lead to the privileging of Islam in our ‘social contract’. Most significantly, I have great regard for Islam both as the abiding faith of my fellows, as well as, as a light in my search to find my own. This brings me to the sensitive question on my mind, that of the of the Hudud bill presently making its way through parliament. I shall develop my concerns in the following posts titled Hudud.
LNG Bluff 4: BC NDP
The NDP is the provincial opposition and they purportedly represent both labour and the values of the left, which seem, in today’s BC, less congruous then they might sound. When the Feds approved the Lelu island project in September 2016, NDP MP Nathan Cullen, said that the approval broke the Federal Liberal promise of respect and proper consultation with First Nations and that the decision threatens the wild salmon economy and the climate. It must be noted however that John Horgan, the Leader of the the party, no less, has already apologised to the leader of the BC Building Trade unions for a previous statement against the project made without union consultation. He has, in fact, already stated that the NDP could change their position based on the green house gas numbers … It seems to be a strategy of wait and see or bait and switch even!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pacific-northwest-lng-project-1.3780758
3rd Mango Performance
The 3rd and last mango performance took place on the 20th of January 2017. I cut and cubed a mango, offered it to Lords Murugan and Ganesha while reciting a prayer to Murugan metonymically addressed via his Vel (spear) –
வீர வேல்
தாரை வேல்
விண்ணோர் சிறைமீட்ட தீர வேல்
செவ் வேல்
திருக்கை வேல்
வாரி குளித்த வேல்
கொற்ரவேல்
சூர் மார்பும் குண்றும் துளைத்த வேல்
ஒன்றே துணை
veera vel
thaarai vel
vinnohr siraimeetta theera vel
sev vel
thirukkai vel
vaari kullittha vel
kottravel
soor marpum kunrum thullaittha vel
onreh thunai
HEROIC VEL
RADIANT VEL
VALIANT VEL THAT SET FREE IMPRISONED CELESTIAL BEINGS
VIRTUOUS VEL
VEL OF THE SACRED HAND
VEL THAT PLUNGED THE OCEANS DEEP
REGAL VEL
VEL THAT PIERCED SURAN’S BREAST AND HILL
THE SOLE REFUGE
The mango was then offered to our Thalaivar (VALHA!!) before being given to the audience to taste.
LNG Bluff 3: PETRONAS
The LNG market seems to be down for the long duration and any further PETRONAS investment in the LELU island project will not pay dividends for a long time. Also, reports that Malaysia is in financial difficulties, amongst a wide range of troubles, seem to be evidenced the government’s recent introduction of the GST and by the unpopular gas subsidy cuts. PETRONAS which is a crown corporation, has historically been Malaysia’s largest source of revenue covering, according to Reuters, as much as 45 percent of the government’s budget. In spite of the subsidy cuts and tax increases Reuters also reports that the 2017 budget deficit is expected to be 40.3 billion ringgit or 3 percent of GDP. Is PETRONAS really looking to pursue the Lelu island project, given the resistance and the court challenges and the expected uncertainty, delays and costs? Or are they merely looking serious while, as has been rumored, they search for a a buyer for their majority holdings. There is also collateral benefit in this positive stance, even if they decide negatively, as their associates, the provincial Liberals, are running up to elections in May.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-petronas-idUSBRE86105420120702
http://www.reuters.com/article/malaysia-budget-highlights-idUSL4N1CQ3EY
Legal Challenges
Members of the Gwininitxw, the Luutkudziiwus, Gitwilgyoots, the Gitanyow hereditary chiefs and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust have between them made 4 legal applications in Federal Court against the federal Liberal cabinet’s decision to approve the Lelu island LNG project led by Malaysia’s state-owned PETRONAS. These court challenges will surely weigh as much as LNG demand uncertainties in Petronas’ final decision about their intended investment which is rumored to be due in the next few months.
http://www.reuters.com/article/malaysia-budget-highlights-idUSL4N1CQ3EY
SAM Cowboy
The second Mango performance took place on 2nd December 2016. It was delivered by my ‘accomplice’ John Tung’ who is one of the Singapore Biennale 2016 curators, assistant curator at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and a cowboy in his own time too! John spoke of the Singapore Cowboy world and then went on to tell a tale that had been in his remembrance for 14 years. When he was a boy he went on a family outing to have Indian rojak at the Tekka Centre in Little India. The Tekka Centre is a microcosm of Singapore, where the different ethnic communities of the island gather and engage seamlessly. Close to the food court are the fruit and grocery stalls of the market and the young John Tung casually observed an Indian foreign worker purchasing his modest weekly supplies. When he had finished, he stopped at the a fruit stall and picked up a marvelous Indian mango – an Alphonso!!! He asked its price and was told it was SGD 4.50. He smiled to himself, put it back down and walked away. As an allegory, this account is a poignant expression of the unnoticed social history of Singapore and of the human condition at the heart of globalization! As an experience held in memory and shared in narration, it is for John, as he says in the course of his performance, an instance of the mango transcending myth and entering onto lived experience. Thanks John.
The Koboi Project 
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