志异 Draft by Drama box July 2014 (english) | Page 34

had, instead, rejected it, bringing
about the marginalisation of our
indigenous Malay minority. Our
indigenous identity somehow
reminded us too much of our
neighbour, Malaysia; it wouldn’t
have fit our neat (and ‘yellowwashed’) narrative of ‘rejecting’
communal politics.
Because of this unease, we want a
history for ourselves so much that
we would accept any established
ideology, foreign or ethnic (and
often ethnicity is another subtler
form of cultural colonialism), as
long as it means that we don’t have
to struggle to forge a new identity
for ourselves (Neo is only one of
many cultural snakeoil dealers
that we enshrine and worship).
We would rather throw ourselves
at something bigger, subsume
ourselves within something already
established, rather than form a
new hybrid community that is truer
to our situation in this country. We
would rather look to the past (our
individual ancestries, heritage, and
traditions) than to the future – the
only thing that is still possible to
change! We cling to our memories
– our nostalgia for past events,
buildings, people – as if the past
can miraculously bring us salvation,
column two – daniel hui

as if the past can remake us anew.
But we forget that seeing through
state-approved ‘history’ doesn’t
change a goddamn thing about the
present, and that, more importantly,
memories also lie.

In an overwhelming
sea of Hollywood
and Hong Kong
films, Neo’s films
seem to stand
out as beacons of
Singaporean-ness
in an otherwise
alienating cultural
sphere. His films
are like Lent – after
being subjected
to (and no doubt
enjoying) a glut of
foreign films that
assert a cultural
superiority over
us, we forego our
comforts to ‘return
to our roots,’
to explore this
precious identity
that makes us feel
Singaporean again.
Yet, somehow, all this leaves us
wanting; rather than placate us,
our inferiority complex agitates
jack neo and the vicious circle