Transcript of Speech, as delivered in Town Hall on 10 April 2023

Hi everyone, as everyone would know, my name is Noorlinah Mohamed. I have been approached to do this for the longest time since 2009, as part of Audrey’s first foray, and at that point in time it was very new. At that point in time,  I was going away to do my PHD. At that point, I supported the process from the UK. 

And after Audrey, I was very close to Janice’s process. It has been 14 years.  I was part of a lot of the ground work, sometimes meeting over midnight to craft essays and speeches that would eventually be delivered. I was supporting Janice in the area of arts education. 

I’ve always been very involved in the process. I believe in the process,  I believe that it is very important that it comes from the ground, comes from us as a group of people within the community, no matter how diverse we are. 

No matter who we select, this person will have to negotiate with that, how to represent everyone in the community. Can this person who represents you champion all the causes there are? Of course they can't. But how can they be strategic about voicing these concerns? 

And that is why there is this arts NMP committee, with the histories of so many other people who worked in the background to support the earlier NMPs - Audrey, Heng Leun, Janice. They know how challenging and how fundamentally how being heard in parliament can be a battle. But yet they do not flinch in getting this up and rolling again. 

This is yet another time that I've been approached. I think, my standing and putting my name into this hat and saying yes, I will do it - I don't even know whether I would be able to do it just as well as the rest of them did, but I am saying I will do it because I believe in the process.  And there was this vacant spot where there was nobody speaking for us in Parliament. Not just standing and being heard in Parliament, but also behind the scenes. A lot of work goes into these conversations with the ministers. And I have followed some of these conversations, which are not recorded or seen, and they take hours. And this is the legwork that goes out there. 

So when they said, do we need this representation and do we have one? So far no one has put their name out there. So let me kick things off, by being the first name out there. And let this be an opening to inspire other people to say yes, I can do this and put  their name forward.

For those who do not know me, because we do work in siloed ways, I am a theatre artist and arts educator, and I’ve been doing this since 1988. I’ve always been more of a groundsup round up movement kind of person.

Because when I came back after my Masters in New York, a group of us actors set up the Singapore Actors Association. Then a year later, Singapore Drama Educators Association, which still runs today. And working as volunteers in these two associations, make me remember - like what Audrey said - you do need these professional bodies, before you get to be heard. I was a president of SDEA for 4 years. We were invited to WSQ meetings because we have a professional body. I remember how they invited us to talk, or to be given a call to say ‘tell us a bit more about yourself and arts education.’ And doors started to open because there is some form of representation.

After those experiences, I did my PHD, then after I came back, arts research became something that I’m now much more involved in.

Later in 2014 and 2017, a milestone in my arts development was to work in SIFA alongside Director Ong Keng Sen. I ran O.P.E.N and that gave me knowledge of what it means to run organisations but also speaking to a wider variety of people not just in theatre, but the opportunity to work alongside multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary cultural workers. We still work in silos in Singapore, but there are moments like this Town hall meeting, as well as little pockets of associations… and these are so important, because these are bridges. 

If I get to be selected, I am a bridger. I fundamentally think that something that I’m not bad at, is bridging. I get a chance to speak to a variety of people and I’m open to these different experiences. 

And that is why during the pandemic converting to digital was something I deep-dived in. This is another area that I do think I can deep dive into for the next 2.5 years.

What are some of my issues that I’d like to speak up on? What has changed in the arts community? Most importantly, what has not changed? 

I’ve been in this industry - our sustainability, our livelihood hasn't got better. There are some pockets of increment but with inflation it gets really busy. What does it really mean to work in the arts? What does it mean to be employed in the arts? A lot of us are freelancers. While much focus has been on the gig economy, what about our freelancers and the support system there is for them? 

The people. Because what has really changed are a lot of infrastructures, with bigger stages, and bigger buildings,  but our people - we develop them ourselves. We support one another. There’s a lot of charity with our generosity and time, and efforts and skills. BUt how then can we have families? How can we support ourselves? That's one area that I’m interested in. 

Another area that I am interested in, will always be education. Not just arts education, but education in general. What does it mean to be educated in Singaporean? What does it mean to be in school? Do we have gender studies in school? So that we can have conversations that are not taboo, but really be free to speak up about certain things. 

I would like to shout out to an artist friend, Jimmy Ong. One day I was in a car with him, when I was 25 and I was doing the school circuit. He asked me:  how often do you talk about LGBTQ+ issues - although at that time the term was about gay issues? Do you use it? Do you speak about it? Do you ever think and speak about it with your students no matter how old they are? How do you broach those issues in class? And that left me stumped because I had never thought about it or how I would do it. But that left a very strong impression. But after that conversation, I thought a lot about how to address it in my classes, and strategies to incorporate it into my lessons.  

Because he said, the more we talk about it, the less problematic that word may be. 

And that is what representation is. To be seen, to be heard. To talk about it. To knock at that door. To scrap at the wall, strategically, calmly, I hope I will be able to do that cordially. To speak cogently. To speak out there about voices that do not have a seat at the table. To notice and be obvious that changes have not happened since 1993, which is when our arts council was formed. 

I do not have grandiose ideas that I will be the best candidate. This is something I am aware of.  But I believe that representation is important. And for that alone, is why I offered my name. To represent, and to work at representing. 

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