The PAP government faced a serious housing shortage when it assumed office in June 1959 because of the failure of the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) to solve the housing problem. The Housing and Development Board (HDB) was established by the PAP government in February 1960 to tackle the housing shortage. Explain why the HDB has succeeded in providing public housing for 84% of the population today when its predecessor, the SIT, had failed to do so. What have you learnt about public administration in Singapore from the HDB’s experience in public housing?
Introduction:
This essay will be organised in two parts; the first being a study of the HDB and their activities, which will then be compared to those of the SIT. The second part will focus on public administration in Singapore and its requirements, with relation to the HDB’s ‘experience’ in providing large-scale public housing.
Public administration in Singapore consists of three main components; the Singapore Civil Service, Statutory Boards and Government-Linked Companies. It must be noted here that the latter two organisations are not part of the structure of the Singapore Civil Service. Statutory boards are task specific and are set up under the supervision of a department of the civil service to tackle certain problems. Statutory boards were set up to complement the Civil Service and provide efficient service while sidestepping the constraints faced by the civil service, yet maintaining accountability.
In this essay, we will be examining one of Singapore most successful statutory boards, the Housing and Development board (HDB), which operates under the offices of the Ministry of National Development. We will also be comparing the HDB to its predecessor, the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), a statutory board set up during the period of British colonial rule in Singapore.
The SIT:
The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) was set up in 1927 by the British colonial government in an attempt to arrest the growing congestion in many parts of Singapore. The main problem areas were in the city centre and Chinatown, spreading rapidly to the East Coast and thus clogging up Geylang road that linked the city to the East Coast. The main aims of the SIT were to reduce congestion, improve and upgrade the existing infrastructure of the country, and especially to widen roads - which were originally built for human and animal traffic, to allow motorcars to pass through .
In 1932 the SIT was given permission to build houses for squatters and other people with no proper housing. The SIT was handed this task as it was seen to have experience in this area due to the fact that it had been previously building houses. The main difficulties faced by the SIT were in relation to a lack of resources to build the houses as well as a lack of legislation that allowed them to carry out these plans, other factors like demographic and political changes also gave the HDB the opportunities it needed to succeed in the face of general disbelief in Singapore’s future. The SIT had been set up as a town planning authority ‘to provide for the improvement of the town and island of Singapore’ ; and was not granted the legal powers of a public housing authority although it was expected to fulfil the role. It was originally meant to provide housing only for those dislocated from their current homes due to SIT improvement schemes. However, due to the growing need for houses, between 1932 and 1941, the SIT was forced to start building some tenement-style housing for those who could not afford private housing; first in Lorong Limau and then Tiong Bahru.
To first cover internal factors leading to the failure of the SIT; the organisation was doing far more than it was meant to do and had to do so without adequate resources. Providing public housing was a top concern for the citizens but not for the colonial government who were more concerned with trade matters. In fact, the main aim for which the SIT was set up – to widen roads, proves how little the colonial government concerned itself with grassroots’ matters, widening roads and improving infrastructure would serve to improve communication links and quicken trade and ultimately improve their profits.
This thirst for profits extended to the structure of the SIT and other government bodies as well. The senior officials would collude with the junior officials (who were often local and fluent in the indigenous tongues) to accept bribes from local contractors and award contracts on that basis. Corruption within the SIT was rife; and this combined with the other internal factors mentioned above made the SIT the resounding failure that it turned out to be. The SIT was staffed by largely expatriates who were often not professionals in the field of public administration, housing or architecture; being employed solely due to their willingness to work in ‘the colonies’. Most of these officers had not been in Singapore for long and were thus unaware of the local situations and unable to adapt; thus being of little use to the needs of the grassroots.
Government expenditure on the SIT was minimal as it was a small concern for the colonial government. The economy of Singapore also contributed to the lacks faced by the SIT; Singapore’s economy was based on entrepôt trade and had significant shortages in terms of skilled labour and capital. As such, with no materials to build, and no one to do the building, the SIT faced major problems getting started on their projects.
External factors also added to their failure, these included the Singaporean demographics, population and politics during that time period. These external factors were beyond the control of the SIT, however, they were badly managed by the SIT, and we will see later, exploited by the HDB for its own success.
Singapore is a very small city-state and this allows for greater governmental control over the administration, and also few communication problems, thus allowing rapid government responsiveness. However, all of these three advantages of Singapore were not utilised by the SIT who were disorganised and rampant with corruption. The climate of Singapore and its natural immunity to natural disasters allows for the building of high-rise flats, but this factor was also ignored by the SIT who built flats up to only four or five stories high. However, the colonial government was not sincere in providing public housing in Singapore and thus cared naught for the structure of the SIT; the costs of building high-rise buildings were also high and thus not a feasible project for the SIT.
In addition to the list of problems faced by the SIT, the rapidly growing population also served to completely unbalance the SIT who seemed to be sinking rapidly. The many squatter settlements that had sprung up all over the island also posed a problem to the SIT as they refused to be evicted and re-housed. The lack of legislative powers to evict them rendered the SIT ineffective. Internally, the SIT already faced problems, these were further aggravated by the external problems they faced; in fact, the SIT was thrown off by the sheer magnitude of the job that had been thrust upon them.
The HDB:
The HDB was far better equipped than the SIT in that the new government had a significant vested interest in ensuring the success of the HDB and its plans. It was set up to avoid the mistakes made by the SIT and was to be awarded “considerably more funds, more legal powers and, above all more drive than its predecessor” . In 32.5 years, the SIT built only 23,264 units; in the 20 years immediately after its creation, the HDB built 372,000 units.
The SIT succeeded where the SIT failed for a number of reasons, these can again be categorised as internal and external reasons, but one common thread running through them was the determination of the new installed PAP party to live up to its election promise of providing adequate public housing for the citizens of Singapore. The PAP put its full political weight behind the HDB knowing that public housing was a volatile issue close to the hearts (and votes) of the people. It implemented a variety of laws that gave the HDB very significant legal leeway. The Land Acquisition Act of 1966 eradicated one of the major problems faced by the SIT. The HDB could now take over any plot of land for “for any residential, commercial or industrial purposes” .
The government’s policy of family planning which was implemented by the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board also helped boost the HDB’s amazing success rates by decreasing somewhat the annual rates of population growth and thus alleviating the HDB’s workload.
However, other than the legal rights given to the HDB by the PAP, internal factors also helped the HDB to succeed and raise it to the world-class level it stands at today.
Most importantly, the HDB was set up as the de-jure public housing authority in Singapore, unlike the SIT which had become the de-facto housing authority. The reason behind the creation of the HDB was the creation of ‘low-cost public housing for Singaporeans’ . The external factors did not change much during the handover of the public housing mandate from the SIT to the HDB. In terms of internal factors, the HDB used a great deal of innovation in setting about achieving the aims it had set for itself.
The HDB exploited Singapore’s natural advantages to a significant extent. It set about building high-rise flats, realising that the Singaporean topography favoured such forms of housing. Economically the HDB benefited from Singapore changing from an almost purely entrepôt economy to an entrepôt and manufacturing based economy. This allowed the government to allocate more funds to the HDB, nearly four times the amount spent by the SIT in 12 years was allocated to the HDB for a 15 month period. A most significant reason for the success of the HDB can thus be said to be the provision of adequate funding. This is however not to say that the HDB spent its budget liberally, in its first five year building program, the HDB exceeded its building aims by 3,399 units but spent SGD 2 million less than it had budgeted. This can go to show the commitment of the HDB to serving Singapore well.
The HDB also was pretty self-serving in itself. It’s building efforts contributed very largely to the building boom in the late 1960s and created between 15 to 20 thousand jobs from the 1960s to early 1970s. The provision of adequate funding meant that the HDB did not have to face the problems of the SIT with relation to a lack of capital and building and construction capacity. However, the HDB faced problems in that there was a shortage of skilled labour, building materials, and the increasing inflation meant that costs of building were increasing. The ingenuity with which the HDB overcame these problems proves that the HDB was going to be a huge success and it was. It employed foreign architects and also set up a training scheme in tandem with the Government Ministry it came under to train more qualified architects. Other than this scheme, there were also programs set up to train primary school leavers in the mechanics of the construction industry. Finally, the HDB made attempts to mechanize many of the processes required in building to overcome the shortage of labour and speed up construction. It also began to operate its own granite quarries, piling plants and brick manufacturing factory. These new initiatives ensured that the costs of building were significantly reduced and also somewhat less vulnerable to inflation and other external economic factors. Lastly, the HDB also maintained reserves of some essential building materials to overcome any possible shortages in the future.
Thus, it is apparent that the government loans that were open and offered to the HDB as well as its own initiatives were significant contributing factors to its success.
The changing population of Singapore was also a contributing factor to the success of the HDB. Not only was the population growing at an amazing rate, the sex ratio was also more balanced, this factor and the increase in proportion of Chinese and Malays, together show that Singapore was changing from a city-state where the majority of the population were transient workers to one where the population was settling down. It is precisely due to the ‘settling down’ of the population that the HDB managed to find people willing to first rent, and then buy the units they were building. These people were making an investment in the nation they were beginning to see as home. This is a major point in terms of Singapore’s nation building and how they HDB can serve to unite the majority of the nation. In 1960 a mere 23% lived in public housing, in just ten years it rose to 50% and today, the number stands around 84%. These 84% of people can be said to share common experiences and living standards, thus creating a standard in an otherwise heterogeneous nation.
In terms of the internal factors of the HDB which led to its success, the organisation of the SIT and HDB were significantly different. The HDB carried out recruitment with the aid of the Public Service Commission which fills the offices of the Singapore Civil Service. The system of recruitment is based purely on merit and it is clear from the study done by Jon Quah that the officers of the HDB were not just better trained than those of the SIT, they were far more familiar with the local context and its needs. The morale of the officers in the HDB was also significantly higher than that of the SIT officers, as demonstrated by the reduction in complaints registered against HDB officials , and the reduction in terms of corrupt behaviour among them . Lastly, the internal structure of the HDB was dynamic as opposed to the paternalistic structure of the SIT. This obviously acted as a motivation to its relatively young officials who felt happier working in such a dynamic environment.
Lessons learnt from the HDB on Public Administration in Singapore:
The HDB’s experience has made significant contributions to the study as well as the active practice of public administration in Singapore. Most significantly, I would say that the HDB has set a benchmark not only for statutory boards to follow, but also for all other government bodies.
It has demonstrated in action, the importance of statutory boards, especially in the Singaporean context. In a one-party dominant state, which is immensely multi-racial, it is easy to blame nepotism and other biases for all problems. However, the meritocracy practiced by the HDB in the recruitment of members and in the completely impartial allocation of flats, makes it apparent that the corrupt practices often used by the SIT officials is a thing of the past. The SIT experience has set out the fatal mistakes for any board in Singapore, the mistakes to avoid. The HDB did so successfully. It also demonstrated that the splitting up of work between one or more statutory boards is much more efficient than loading one board with numerous different duties. The SIT had too many things on its plate, this and the lacks in terms of funding and support it suffered from ended up in its dissolution. The HDB concentrated on public housing and in fact some of its duties (urban renewal) were passed on to the Urban Redevelopment Authority in 1974 to allow the HDB greater work specialisation. Even when the HDB was given an extra goal in 1966, that of land reclamation, the coffers of the HDB were increased, as were its other resources. In fact, the success of the HDB has justified statutory boards in themselves. Many sceptics have commented that statutory boards are just an extension of the Civil Service, however the resounding success of the HDB has not just silenced them but stood as a world example in sharing the work of nation building and not loading it all on the Civil Service.
The essentiality of government support in terms of funding, legislation and sheer moral support is also an important lesson learnt from the HDB experience. The SIT failed as drastically as it did largely due to the lack of political support it had from the British government. It is clear from the HDB experience that only when the government and the important government bodies share the same priorities that these aims will be actualised. It is for the benefit of the government to support these bodies as the realisation of campaign and election promises serves the best interests of the party in that it not only legitimises them as a party but also as a ruling government. It was essential for the PAP to maintain their election promise of 1959 and they pushed for adequate public housing, which then became a never-ending process of improvement. This is the main reason for the success of the HDB and Singapore’s public administration, they are never satisfied, and there is always a new level to reach. This is one of the reasons for the PAP government being in power for most of Singapore’s lifespan, post colonial-government.
Other than these factors, the removal of corruption from government systems not just increases the legitimacy of the government but also allows policies to be carried out efficiently and improves rapidly the state of the nation.
Conclusion:
As Such, we can see that the HDB succeeded where the SIT failed for a number of reasons, both internal and external. Strong governmental support is essential for any statutory board and plays the most significant role in the success or failure of the organisation. The internal factors such as recruitment processes and morale also boost the success rate of the organisation.
Singapore has learnt a number of lessons with regards to Public Administration from the HDB experience; these include the importance of government support, the need to cut graft and have impartial systems and the need to only load upon government bodies as much work as they can handle given their resources. If all these lessons are implemented, Singaporean organisations will surpass any expectations and legitimise their setting-up in the first place.
Bibliography:
Hasan, Riaz. Families in flats : a study of low income families in public housing
Singapore: Singapore University Press , c1977.
Housing and Development Board. First decade in public housing, 1960-69.
Singapore: Housing & Development Board, 1970.
Practice of people's participation : seven Asian experiences in housing the poor.
Bangkok : Human Settlements Division, Asian Institute of Technology, 1980.
Quah, Jon S.T. “Statutory Boards.” In Quah, Chan and Seah (eds.), Government and Politics in Singapore, Chapter 6
Quah, Jon S.T. “Public Housing.” In Quah, Chan and Seah (eds.), Government and Politics in Singapore, Chapter 10
Quah, Jon S. T. (Jon Siew Tien), Singapore's experience in public housing: some lessons for other new states. Singapore : Dept. of Political Science, University of Singapore, 1975
Siew, William. Public housing and community development : the Singapore experience. Singapore : MIMAR, 1983.
Urban Planning in Singapore from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. Updated on 6th August, 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_planning_in_Singapore (accessed on 31/8/05)
Monday, October 10, 2005
Scenography and the Theatre: Analyse the contributions of the set designer in regard to a number of specific local productions to monitor the current
Introduction:
Since the post Independence days of Singapore English language theatre, set design has taken a considerable evolution. The set designer’s contribution to the set has become increasingly crucial to the play, a stark contrast to plays staged in the past such as Robert Yeo’s Are You There Singapore trilogy or Goh Poh Seng’s Elder Brother, where the set seemed merely functional to providing a reference to the location and setting. Today’s set designs are more complex and dynamic, and are so crucial to the play, that they are almost becoming an art in itself. Today’s set designs appear to be catalytic in determining whether or not the play is a success or failure.
A set design’s success is measured usually by its aesthetics as essential to establish an overall visual appeal. But most importantly, it may be significant in adding yet another layer into the play’s meaning.
Facades
The Physicists – Luna-id
Luna-id’s recent set of The Physicists by designer Sebastian Zeng showcases in the first act, a claustrophobic hall of an asylum for the mad. As the play progress we are drawn into the mysterious murder story. This mystery at first seems like another “whodunit”, but with the set walls being so close to the downstage, we feel as if a more insidious, somewhat scheming truth lies behind the walls, hidden under the facade of a predictable murder story. The Scratcher’s sudden silent movement to the centre stage after a long period of being in the corner of stage, almost forgotten, is intense. But more essentially, he pushes down the vertical walls of the set, symbolically gesturing an ending of one part of the story, to reveal another. And the set crashes, thundering onto the stage floor, with perfectly timed lighting, to reveal for a split second, the sinister prison, a deeper level into which the story beyond the interlude, would soon unfold. More than just indicating the location of the sanatorium interiors, the set takes an actantial role and functions as the “move” in the formalistic concepts of dramatic plot construction.
Set designs, once just playing a supporting role in theatre productions, with the bulk of the action coming from acting itself has evolved significantly over time. With the increasing use of factors such as multimedia and other technological advances, the set has increased in the value it adds to the play.
In Act One of The Physicists, we realise while the peculiar design of the set walls on one hand, served as symmetrical multiple doors into the inner sanctums of the asylum, on the other hand with its collapse, in Act two they innovatively transform into perfectly symmetrical prison cells for the patients: Mobius, Newton and Einstein. The lack of space in Act I had been kept as reserved for greater dynamic movements as the story increases in complexity after the interlude, and to accommodate the marching in of the asylum guards; giant titan monstrosities for uniformed women. Suddenly we see the supposed ‘assailants’ themselves becoming the victims of the madness of the prison asylum. The set not only topples the façade, it also topples our original identification of the characters, by means of inverting the identities of the ‘victim’ and the ‘victimiser’. The set design on The Physicists clearly set new standards for scenographers to follow, and it is an indication of a maturing Singapore’s theatre scene.
Dangerous Liaisons - Toy Factory
To continue with the theme of multimedia use in set design, the next example is Toy Factory’s recent production of Dangerous Liaisons. Dangerous Liaisons is adapted by Christopher Hampton from a novel by Choderlos de Laclos – Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The novel was originally written in the form of letters but later transformed into a dramatic plot by Christopher Hampton as well. Dangerous Liaisons can be categorized under comedy of manner, whereby the play itself portrays and satirizes the facades that exist in the society and thus also poking fun at the standards set in society. The setting of Christopher Hampton’s play reflects a society where reputable aristocrats are associated with high social, moral and also economic standards. Such simplistic and rigid standards thus imply that status quo of society can be easily breached. Thus, the main protagonists of the play – Merteuil and Valmont are aristocrats who seemingly fulfill the criteria set by society. However, as libertines, (a person who is unrestrained by conventions and morality) both are thus supposed to be in absolute self-control at all times which allow them to play a gallant, insidious game, however without breaching the conditions of society and also to appear acceptable by society. Thus this game of scandalous behaviours and affairs is made rationalized as normal and acceptable as society-at-large is also doing so. Thus the idea of how successful one is as a libertine depends heavily on how well one can conceal, and also the degree of value and respect that society places on one as a respectable individual. Hence to summarise the underlying themes, it should be noted that facades and deceptions are hence more serious and sharp, which emphasizes on the highbrow and witty quality of the play.
In relation to Toy Factory’s production of Dangerous Liaisons, an attempt will be made to analyse how and what aspects of the play, the set design highlights or inadvertently disregards.
The opening of the play with a white, translucent screen with 3 garden swings behind it, hints slightly that there is a façade. The use of the mobile garden swings and metal slides paints a playground scenario. Contrary to the playground in Roman Tham and the three bears – Everything but the Brain, the use of colours in Dangerous Liaisons for the set is less colourful which still portrays the image of a playground, but for adults. In Dangerous Liaisons, the set design actually draws attention to an interesting point that, the white translucent screen is used to separate the audience who are supposed to be implicated in this play, representing the society. And behind this seemingly thin and easily broken façade, lies the playing grounds for the libertines. The opening thus sets up the atmosphere that what is seen on stage may not be what it actually is at surface level.
It is highly similar to The Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Immaculate Misconception, which also ingeniously used giant blinds that worked like scrims, in allowing for the screening of the e-mail conversations between the lovers Tam and Turner. The blinds here, is essential in two levels: first, to accentuate the romantic long distance relationship between the Tam and Turner. Secondly, in providing the audience a chance to witness the actual procedures of the mechanical reproduction in which Tam performs in her lab. In being able to see the images of the sperm being inserted into the ovary, the animations and other images, Immaculate Misconception’s set design now becomes a medium for which the play is able to extend itself into a deeper level in story telling.
This play provides a very interesting comparison to The Physicists, which also utilizes an image of a façade; whereby the brilliant set design manages to convince and bring across the fact that the front office is a façade to cover the sinister claustrophobic sanatorium when the wall collapses later in the play. The collapse of the wall creates a symbolic suggestion that probably the safety net of society can be easily broken. And as it breaks, ‘the collapse’ revealing the truth that have been hidden safely from the eyes of the audiences, who are the society at large, that the supposed ‘assailants’ are in fact the victims. Such a sudden change in identities thus causes the audiences to interrogate the standards and conventions set by society, in the play as well as their perceptions of our modern-day society. As the set design of The Physicists successfully brings out the underlying themes and also allows audiences to engage and interrogate, the set of Dangerous Liaisons on the other hand fails to create such an impact. The collapse of the wall in The Physicists worked by itself as an act to successfully create the lasting impact on the idea of the façade, whereas the set of Dangerous Liaisons required the actors/actresses to support and fully realize its potential, which unfortunately did not achieve its desired effect, thus undermining the effect of the excellent idea behind the set design.
Other than the façade, Dangerous Liaisons also has other fascinating factors in its commendable set design, which as mentioned earlier is let down by the lack of effective acting. The use of the metal slides, where the actors/characters enter, may imply that one may enter this game but not be able to get out of it, creating the sense that everyone has no choice but to be implicated, including the audience. The garden swing operates only when a person applies force to it; or 2 persons sitting opposite each other apply alternating force. On a deeper level, it can be illustrated as the swing represents the game, whereby it requires 2 to kick-start the game, and thus setting the pace of the game. And in the first few scenes of Toy Factory’s play, it becomes established that the 2 main players or masterminds of the game is Merteuil and Valmont. And the use of the swing allows Merteuil (acted by veteran actress Tan Kheng Hua) to climb atop of it on several occasions, though with difficulty technically, to show and assert her overall dominance. The mobility of the swings and slides may hint how the game progresses or changes but generally, as an audience, one can’t really see any significance except that it is to facilitate scene changes.
In Roman Tham and the three bears – Everything but the Brain, though the set is less mobile with spatial constraints, i.e. the ladder and the swing, it still allows very fluid movements of the actors/actresses.On the overall of the few plays discussed, it reveals that spatial configurations and organizations have become increasingly flexible. I.e. Ma:Moment, avant-garde practices.
In Dangerous Liaisons, the use of roller blades for messengers, together with phallic (penis-shaped) torches appear to be extremely out of place and hilarious (based on audiences responses) And also, the use of the fake poodle, the attempted subtle advertising for Moët & Chandon when Emilie makes her entrance, the use of the seashell-like bed, added on to the comedic effect rather than to underline the main themes of the play proper. As based on Hampton’s play, the duplicity, the facades of the society is only established in the opening scene of Toy Factory’s production, which without further emphasis as the play progresses would be gradually left out of sight. The unaccounted use of roller blades and phallic torches have counteracted on what was discussed and established previously, which have inadvertently reduced the degree of seriousness that should be taken into account.
The set design, excluding unaccounted use of certain props, overall attempted to hold the play as a playground for the respectable aristocrats, and to show how one plays the game. However, the acting of several actors/actresses did not fully bring out the idea of the façades, the deceptive nature of this playground. Instead of showing how the characters can conceal, deceive and play the game (against the setting of a playground) of upholding a respectable and moral reputation yet live a scandalous life under the conditions of society, what was brought out was that the characters were literally having fun. Meaning to suggest, the stage picture showed no signs of any underlying game, everything was upfront, no hypocrisy, no deception. Overall it is a matter of subjectivity, but the acting overall did not bring out the once established idea of façade of the play, nor did it attempt to further emphasize and bring out the main themes. In short, it failed to complement the set design which by itself is an interesting concept that allows space (i.e. the acting) to realize its potential of holding and emphasizing the main themes.
The play was staged at the Victoria Theatre using the proscenium arch. The use of the proscenium arch, especially when the opening scene implicates the audiences as the society at large, works very well with the set design to imply that the society (the audiences) is watching the characters/actors, waiting for the characters/actors to breach the conditions of society. Which apparently, as mentioned above, there was nothing to be breached since everything was upfront.
Technologically, the set used for Toy Factory’s Dangerous Liaisons was kept simple and mobile. There is minimum use of the multimedia, probably to account for the fact that the play was set before the French revolution. And also, as discussed, the set design required the actors/actresses to realize its full potential, rather than to work on its own to fully bring out the main themes. Set designs indeed play essential roles, either by its own as in The Physicists, or it is dependent on other theatrical aspects to determine the extent of the production’s success.
Technology: Multimedia (esp. Video)
Ma:moment - Theatreworks’, Ang Tau Mui – Wild Rice,
The advent of technology is a distinct trend in Singapore’s English language theatre scene. An increasing number of productions have seen the need to incorporate visual complements of video and multimedia into their productions. The set designs today are made to accommodate the use of these new media. Theatreworks’ Ma:moment uses a large and encompassing muslin scrim to facilitate the repeated screenings of scenes from a black and white Chinese film, 'Mother's Grief', in which Bai Yan (described in the programme as "the Greta Garbo of Hong Kong cinema") experiences anguish and finally dies for the sake of her daughter. One medium, we are invited to see, can comment on another – here the film is used to great effect to show the changes in Mei Ling's feelings about life and motherhood.
In 2002, Wild Rice’s production of Ang Tau Mui sees a large flat panel functioning as part of the set, used to screen images of Hong Kong movie queen Lin Dai. These images work to show the obsession of Ang Tau Mui towards her idol. Casey Lim's videography provides a well-integrated backdrop to the action, particularly in a scene where Ang Tau Mui dances with a backwall projection of Lin Dai.
In Between Chinas – Action Theatre
In In Between Chinas stage setting is minimalistic with only a few wooden blocks. Simplicity of the set may have been designed so as not to distract the audiences from the screen behind. On the screen in the background mentioned, there is a collage of images including that of King George “Old Georgie”, scenery of the park and Roman Tham. This use of multimedia has been identified as a trend that has been going on for the past few recent years. Use of images on screens has presumably been for the purpose of explaining and presenting to the audience certain elements which are not only integral to the plot of the play, but more often than not, also carry some sort of message pertaining to a certain issue or underlying theme of the production, which the playwright or director wants to bring out.
The use of lights is relatively simple, where it starts out dark and progressively turns brighter. There is use of both diagetic and non-diagetic sounds. When the old man is practicing Taiji, soft ambient music plays. A young American born Chinese then enters and the music stops. Later, a Roman Tham song is played by the old man on a radio.
Sandakan Threnody - Theatreworks
Sandakan Threnody is a powerful cross-cultural multi-media collaboration, which features aspects of dance, action, text and video. Focusing on feelings of tragedy during the Second World War, the play succeeds in terms of capturing mood and atmosphere largely due to the minimalist set which serves the theme of production striking effectiveness. The minimalistic set, designed by Justin Hill, comprises largely of a dark “monolithic stage left ” which acts as a screen on which footages of war are shown. The most interesting component of Hill’s set however, is the large metal plate hanging from the ceiling, slanting toward the monolith. This plate reflects images from both the video footage as well as stage action and manages to very efficiently capture the coldness of war and its oppressive nature. Deep upstage, there is a sole table and chair, behind which a performer sat for large parts of the play, reading out news updates. The flat tone of voice she used coupled with the gooseneck lamp on the table worked together to create a gloomy atmosphere. The generally very dark stage and lack of excessive props was exactly what was required to remove the audience from their comfortable surroundings and thrust them into the atmosphere of war and the gloom and misery that comes along with it.
Through most of Sandakan Threnody, there is always some video clip being screened. From seldom seen war clips to clips of soldiers marching on and on and even photographs of soldiers who perished in the war, the set seems to go beyond the physical set itself, to encompass the scene of the war and in a way, bring that into the theatre.
The incorporation of video screening and multimedia has also now dramatically fused differences between the theatre and the cinema. Once, this distinction used to be clear and well defined in that cinema was always hermetically sealed in terms of the relationship between the audience and the actors, whereas theatre was able to let both entities engage themselves together directly. This is virtually unprecedented in Singapore’s theatre history, and technology now gives the play a broader and highly dynamic ability to express itself.
However, there are disadvantages as well to this evolution of set design in the current theatre scene. One can say that in Sandakan Threnody, the focus is on the on-screen action more than the dance sequences. With the video clips and the narration taking over most of the attention of the audience.
Creating an alternative world:
Lovers’ Words – Fun Stage
The Fun Stage’s production of Lovers’ Words revolved around a world in which homosexuality is the norm, and heterosexuals are forced to meet for furtive encounters in seedy nightclubs, while the gay world pours scorn upon them as deviants and subjects them, when caught, to extensive psychological re-conditioning to get them off the straight and narrow path.
Lovers’ Words uses a set consisting of nets covering the entire theatre, including the audience seating area. In this play, once the audience enters the theatre, the set begins to play a major role in setting the scene. Immediately, the audience feels a certain degree of restraint because he is blocked in because of the nets. The audience feeling trapped within the play causes them to inevitably become part of the play. At the end of the play, the audience will feel that they are going through the same societal influences as the actors and they are no observers. The set plays a major part to bring forward this message to the audience by making them inextricably a part of the play.
The set is also aesthetically driven to represent a futuristic or non-existence society, which is very apt for the content of the play since the entire world is homosexual in the play's context. The set more than fulfils its role in forging this created world, creating its own version of reality and drawing the audience into it.
Ma:moment – Theatreworks
The stage configuration of Ma: moment is ‘Thrust’. The stage is split into three individual platforms and arranged such that each audience side gets their own “portion” of the stage. Each of the three portions of the stage is backed by a screen. When the actors play to one particular side, they are more often than not, distant to the two other sides. Their forms can only be seen vaguely and with the low levels of lighting, the audience can only tell what is going on by listening to the dialogue.
The use of lighting in the production can be grouped into four main threads: Red lights, low level orangey lights (resembling the levels of light given off by a naked light bulb), light coming from multimedia screen.(During the screening of the Hong Kong melodrama) and total darkness.
The perimeters of the stage are completely surrounded by translucent white material. The actors can still be seen clearly close up, but effectively, their forms are hazy and obscured The feeling of distance and ethereal otherworldliness is thus projected. Long, rectangular pieces of thin white material(possibly cotton) are hung from above the stage and are spaced uniformly throughout the areas within the stage. The pieces of material sway in the breeze and when actors drift around the pieces of cloth, there is again, a dream like, ethereal quality which suggests a state of fantasy and dreams. It is also symbolic of the afterlife which is a significant contribution to the plot, as the main character, Precious Pig, dies and returns as a Hungry Ghost.
Each portion of the stage is backed by a screen on which scenes from a Hong Kong melodrama (“Mother’s Grief”) would be projected. The scenes in the film are used as a plot device. However, the abstractness of the entire production seems to hint that there are deeper underlying meanings to the use of the film. It could be that the scenes from the film are just the fantasies of the main character. After all, films are not real. People watch films to immerse themselves in it and live out their dreams and fantasies. The use of the film, then, is a representation of the character’s desires and dreams to be a mother.
For the most part, there are no miscellaneous sounds provided by the sound crew. Most of the sound effects are produced by the actors themselves. For instance, during the scene when Precious Pig tells the Char Siew boy to offer her more Char Siew during the Hungry Ghost Festivals after her death, another actor runs around throwing Hell bank notes in the air while incessantly mimicking the high pitched sound of a bell, reminiscent of the bells at Chinese funeral rites. At the end of the play, the actors walk off stage in a slow procession to an old Chinese song famous in the 60s.
Props are kept to a minimum. There is a dressing table full of cosmetics and an accounts book on one portion of the stage, representing the period of time in Precious Pig’s life when she had been a Mamasan. Then, there is also a funeral alter with candles and Hell bank notes, representing the afterlife. Hell bank notes scattered all over the place. One particular interesting prop is a piece of yellow cloth which is either wrapped around Precious Pig like a decorative scarf, used as a sign of an offering of love and protection to her daughter, a sign of the connective aspects of sexual intercourse and ultimately, balled up and stuffed under the actor’s shirt to mimic pregnancy – which is in itself another detail that contributes very strongly to the overall theme of the production. What is most interesting about the use of the cloth to mimic pregnancy, is that the role of the Precious Pig, returned from the dead as a Hungry Ghost, is momentarily taken on by a slim, male actor with ghoulish makeup. The waif-like physique of the male actor further emphasizes the aspect of starvation of Precious Pig as a hungry ghost; Precious Pig is “pregnant”. It shows that her starvation is not so much of a want for food as it is a longing for a child. This is ironic, since physically, Precious Pig looks as if she is carrying life in her womb, but this is a phantom pregnancy, as death is a state in which life is absent. The physical manifestation of the signs of pregnancy, both in death and in the form of a male actor, contributes to the idea of the starvation of the maternal instinct.
Overall, the set design contributes in many ways to the play, but there is another important aspect that gives the play a whole new level of depth. The character, Precious Pig, had lived all her life in Chinatown and had even been a Mamasan in one of the many brothels in olden day Chinatown. The production was presented at Sago street, where the infamous Death houses were in the olden days. "…these are where the sick go ostensibly for treatment but where chances of recovery are almost nil. "
Sago Street was also where funeral cloths, paper models of houses and Hell bank notes were sold. The play had its run during the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival and the song that was played at the end of the play has now been “stereotyped” as a sort of theme song for female ghosts. This setting within a setting has no doubt, been designed to play on the cultural knowledge of the audience who, at the very least, would have some awareness of the history of Chinatown, and who would certainly be aware of the Hungry Ghost festival during which the play is being shown. This setting within a setting adds a new dimension of self-reflexivity and background knowledge that will make this play a very much more interesting experience if the audience is able to appreciate these elements.
Everything but the Brain - Action Theatre
Everything but the Brain is set in a playground/children’s playroom fashion with ladders, a structure made out of brightly coloured bricks, reminiscent of the main structure in playgrounds. Everything is brightly coloured. The set appears to put emphasis on Elaine’s childhood memories, and it is as though, although she is now 36 years old, her memories still revolve around her past. This is further portrayed with the 3 bears chorus, who cannot be seen by the other characters, except Elaine herself and the audience. Throughout the play, Elaine and the 3 bears addresses the audiences, which gives the audience a sense of connectivity, and thus drawing us into her childhood days and also understanding her occasional child-like qualities. Thus, the audiences will understand and see the set as appropriate and it underlines the whole notion about Elaine who has been reliving her past, and also how she fights against time as her father is dying.
Fairly natural lighting used throughout most of the play, except occasional changes to emphasize on either Elaine’s emotions or thoughts. However, there was a scene when Elaine was flirting with the doctor and the passion was played out in a surreal sexual situation with red lighting. The use of this red lighting only once in the entire play could possibly be an allusion to Elaine’s only romance in 20 over years that she has stayed single. Flashbacks are indicated by a sudden slight muting of the lights.
Here, we have identified another trend in using sounds. There seems to be an increasing fondness for having the actors themselves produce sound effects. In this case, even the non-diagetic music seems to be produced by the actors themselves. Note that in the death scene in which Elaine’s father is led away by the Death figure, Brendan Fernandez sings, “I might have had a wicked childhood….” The use of the gong by the bears is intrusive and shocking. And when they do the countdown and announce how many minutes are left till Elaine’s father’s death, it provides a sense of urgency and even though the audience are informed from the very start that Elaine’s father will die, it is still disturbing to have the gong punctuate and mark the countdown. Although the use of the gong and the consistent countdown to the death of Elaine’s father as well as end of the play may be intrusive and shocking, it serves to remind the audience that although we are drawn into her narration and life story, we are nonetheless watching a play. It serves to rouse the audience from our state of passivity and instead to be aware and to interrogate.
The use of costumes is naturalistic other than for the 3 bears, who wears the same clown costumes and have their noses blacked and whiskers drawn on. This is not just for pure humour but also to distinguish them from the other characters. In other words, to show that the three bears exist only in Elaine’s world and her childhood in particular.
One Flea Spare – Luna-id
In another Luna-id production, One Flea Spare, a tale set in 17th century England, in the midst of a plague that gradually thwarts social stratification and class. At once upon the audience entering the theatre, they are immediately drawn into the play’s trapped atmosphere, where brave members of the audiences are made to sit elevated and surrounding the main stage space, extending the nature of entrapment within the story - a situation in which the Snelgraves experiences as a result of the extension of their quarantine period and home exile. The set is plain in space but vastly in a muted brown; a colour with the idea to evoke gloom and dullness. The shaped corpses hung on the stage ceiling wrapped in bags of burlap, are creepy and looms over a prevalent sense of death, decay, and decadence. Decomposition is suggestive by means of the hung bodies to cause unease with the audience, who were almost forcibly made to share with the play’s overarching plague epidemic. This establishes the mise-on-scene and it articulates the situation for the play in which the characters find themselves in a cramped situation surrounded by death from all sides; and they try to keep them at bay by scrubbing the floor and walls with vinegar. The set in One Flea Spare is therefore particularly effective in providing the atmospheric elements to the overall appeal of the play.
Fireface – Toy Factory
Another play whose set is exemplary in enhancing the play’s atmosphere is Toy Factory’s Fireface. Central to the set design is a black tree that looks as if it has been singed to the core, whose roots are in fact ingeniously disguised electrical cables. The set has been referred to by theatre critics as “the obverse of the archetypal tree of life, and therefore another reminder of antithetical forces jockeying for precedence, this gothic stump bears sinuous veins of orange light glow eerily like molten lava during the climatic transitions.” The tree appears to extend the play’s theatrical pacing, particularly by means of employing the precise lighting choreography of Lim Yu Beng, with synchronised cues in such a close array; they serve to signify a point of tension or contention, and enable the play to keep its dramatic actions at an optimal pitch.
Conclusion:
It is largely through plays like Lovers’ Words and Everything but the Brain that we can say that despite the influx of multimedia and videos being featured in current theatre productions, it is not a case where such features are mandatory and concern the success or failure of the play. Set design should be seen as a combination of theatrical aspects rather than concentrating only on what is on stage. Lighting, sounds, costumes, props, actors and other semiotic signs and systems should also be taken into consideration when we talk about a set design. The major functions of lighting for example, have also shifted from purely functional, as a source of illumination, to expressing various moods and indicating time and space. Analysis of various plays has provided insights of how semiotic signs or systems either work in hand with the set design or inadvertently fail the performance. They give additional layers of signs; change the hierarchy of these extraneous signs that varies the purpose and impact that the set design may have upon the play as well as the audiences. It would also mean that the importance of the set design as well as how well it is able to portray its purposes, its relation to the play and possibly the audiences ultimately acts as a catalyst to aid in the success or failure of the play.
As consistently reiterated in this discussion, the importance and purpose of the set design has progressed from merely operating on the functional level by means of providing locale to also higher levels such as actantial, sociometric, atmospheric and symbolic which adds on allegorical meanings to the play. As the set designs become increasing inter-woven with the dramatic text and performance text, they participate as one of the key aspects to determine the extent of success of the play/s.
From the discussion of the selected plays, a general trend is noticed in the Singapore English Language theatre. Plays have taken a significant move away from conservative use of the set – i.e. mainly functionalistic, naturalistic and the fixed use of spatial organization to more innovative, artistic, abstract and Brechtian. Audiences are required to question and critically analyse the mise-en-scene and other theatrical aspects as compared to being passively “spoon-fed” with information. It should not be said that set designs have entirely moved away from the conservative. Rather, there is presently more flexibility and versatility to allow the set to fully realise the potential of the play and participate in the determination of the success of the play. Viewing the trend in a less theoretical perspective, set designs have increasingly incorporated the use of technology to emphasize and support the themes of the plays. Set designs have taken a gradual but significant step away from a limited purpose to a more global and worldly incorporation and confluence of disciplines and ideas.
Since the post Independence days of Singapore English language theatre, set design has taken a considerable evolution. The set designer’s contribution to the set has become increasingly crucial to the play, a stark contrast to plays staged in the past such as Robert Yeo’s Are You There Singapore trilogy or Goh Poh Seng’s Elder Brother, where the set seemed merely functional to providing a reference to the location and setting. Today’s set designs are more complex and dynamic, and are so crucial to the play, that they are almost becoming an art in itself. Today’s set designs appear to be catalytic in determining whether or not the play is a success or failure.
A set design’s success is measured usually by its aesthetics as essential to establish an overall visual appeal. But most importantly, it may be significant in adding yet another layer into the play’s meaning.
Facades
The Physicists – Luna-id
Luna-id’s recent set of The Physicists by designer Sebastian Zeng showcases in the first act, a claustrophobic hall of an asylum for the mad. As the play progress we are drawn into the mysterious murder story. This mystery at first seems like another “whodunit”, but with the set walls being so close to the downstage, we feel as if a more insidious, somewhat scheming truth lies behind the walls, hidden under the facade of a predictable murder story. The Scratcher’s sudden silent movement to the centre stage after a long period of being in the corner of stage, almost forgotten, is intense. But more essentially, he pushes down the vertical walls of the set, symbolically gesturing an ending of one part of the story, to reveal another. And the set crashes, thundering onto the stage floor, with perfectly timed lighting, to reveal for a split second, the sinister prison, a deeper level into which the story beyond the interlude, would soon unfold. More than just indicating the location of the sanatorium interiors, the set takes an actantial role and functions as the “move” in the formalistic concepts of dramatic plot construction.
Set designs, once just playing a supporting role in theatre productions, with the bulk of the action coming from acting itself has evolved significantly over time. With the increasing use of factors such as multimedia and other technological advances, the set has increased in the value it adds to the play.
In Act One of The Physicists, we realise while the peculiar design of the set walls on one hand, served as symmetrical multiple doors into the inner sanctums of the asylum, on the other hand with its collapse, in Act two they innovatively transform into perfectly symmetrical prison cells for the patients: Mobius, Newton and Einstein. The lack of space in Act I had been kept as reserved for greater dynamic movements as the story increases in complexity after the interlude, and to accommodate the marching in of the asylum guards; giant titan monstrosities for uniformed women. Suddenly we see the supposed ‘assailants’ themselves becoming the victims of the madness of the prison asylum. The set not only topples the façade, it also topples our original identification of the characters, by means of inverting the identities of the ‘victim’ and the ‘victimiser’. The set design on The Physicists clearly set new standards for scenographers to follow, and it is an indication of a maturing Singapore’s theatre scene.
Dangerous Liaisons - Toy Factory
To continue with the theme of multimedia use in set design, the next example is Toy Factory’s recent production of Dangerous Liaisons. Dangerous Liaisons is adapted by Christopher Hampton from a novel by Choderlos de Laclos – Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The novel was originally written in the form of letters but later transformed into a dramatic plot by Christopher Hampton as well. Dangerous Liaisons can be categorized under comedy of manner, whereby the play itself portrays and satirizes the facades that exist in the society and thus also poking fun at the standards set in society. The setting of Christopher Hampton’s play reflects a society where reputable aristocrats are associated with high social, moral and also economic standards. Such simplistic and rigid standards thus imply that status quo of society can be easily breached. Thus, the main protagonists of the play – Merteuil and Valmont are aristocrats who seemingly fulfill the criteria set by society. However, as libertines, (a person who is unrestrained by conventions and morality) both are thus supposed to be in absolute self-control at all times which allow them to play a gallant, insidious game, however without breaching the conditions of society and also to appear acceptable by society. Thus this game of scandalous behaviours and affairs is made rationalized as normal and acceptable as society-at-large is also doing so. Thus the idea of how successful one is as a libertine depends heavily on how well one can conceal, and also the degree of value and respect that society places on one as a respectable individual. Hence to summarise the underlying themes, it should be noted that facades and deceptions are hence more serious and sharp, which emphasizes on the highbrow and witty quality of the play.
In relation to Toy Factory’s production of Dangerous Liaisons, an attempt will be made to analyse how and what aspects of the play, the set design highlights or inadvertently disregards.
The opening of the play with a white, translucent screen with 3 garden swings behind it, hints slightly that there is a façade. The use of the mobile garden swings and metal slides paints a playground scenario. Contrary to the playground in Roman Tham and the three bears – Everything but the Brain, the use of colours in Dangerous Liaisons for the set is less colourful which still portrays the image of a playground, but for adults. In Dangerous Liaisons, the set design actually draws attention to an interesting point that, the white translucent screen is used to separate the audience who are supposed to be implicated in this play, representing the society. And behind this seemingly thin and easily broken façade, lies the playing grounds for the libertines. The opening thus sets up the atmosphere that what is seen on stage may not be what it actually is at surface level.
It is highly similar to The Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Immaculate Misconception, which also ingeniously used giant blinds that worked like scrims, in allowing for the screening of the e-mail conversations between the lovers Tam and Turner. The blinds here, is essential in two levels: first, to accentuate the romantic long distance relationship between the Tam and Turner. Secondly, in providing the audience a chance to witness the actual procedures of the mechanical reproduction in which Tam performs in her lab. In being able to see the images of the sperm being inserted into the ovary, the animations and other images, Immaculate Misconception’s set design now becomes a medium for which the play is able to extend itself into a deeper level in story telling.
This play provides a very interesting comparison to The Physicists, which also utilizes an image of a façade; whereby the brilliant set design manages to convince and bring across the fact that the front office is a façade to cover the sinister claustrophobic sanatorium when the wall collapses later in the play. The collapse of the wall creates a symbolic suggestion that probably the safety net of society can be easily broken. And as it breaks, ‘the collapse’ revealing the truth that have been hidden safely from the eyes of the audiences, who are the society at large, that the supposed ‘assailants’ are in fact the victims. Such a sudden change in identities thus causes the audiences to interrogate the standards and conventions set by society, in the play as well as their perceptions of our modern-day society. As the set design of The Physicists successfully brings out the underlying themes and also allows audiences to engage and interrogate, the set of Dangerous Liaisons on the other hand fails to create such an impact. The collapse of the wall in The Physicists worked by itself as an act to successfully create the lasting impact on the idea of the façade, whereas the set of Dangerous Liaisons required the actors/actresses to support and fully realize its potential, which unfortunately did not achieve its desired effect, thus undermining the effect of the excellent idea behind the set design.
Other than the façade, Dangerous Liaisons also has other fascinating factors in its commendable set design, which as mentioned earlier is let down by the lack of effective acting. The use of the metal slides, where the actors/characters enter, may imply that one may enter this game but not be able to get out of it, creating the sense that everyone has no choice but to be implicated, including the audience. The garden swing operates only when a person applies force to it; or 2 persons sitting opposite each other apply alternating force. On a deeper level, it can be illustrated as the swing represents the game, whereby it requires 2 to kick-start the game, and thus setting the pace of the game. And in the first few scenes of Toy Factory’s play, it becomes established that the 2 main players or masterminds of the game is Merteuil and Valmont. And the use of the swing allows Merteuil (acted by veteran actress Tan Kheng Hua) to climb atop of it on several occasions, though with difficulty technically, to show and assert her overall dominance. The mobility of the swings and slides may hint how the game progresses or changes but generally, as an audience, one can’t really see any significance except that it is to facilitate scene changes.
In Roman Tham and the three bears – Everything but the Brain, though the set is less mobile with spatial constraints, i.e. the ladder and the swing, it still allows very fluid movements of the actors/actresses.On the overall of the few plays discussed, it reveals that spatial configurations and organizations have become increasingly flexible. I.e. Ma:Moment, avant-garde practices.
In Dangerous Liaisons, the use of roller blades for messengers, together with phallic (penis-shaped) torches appear to be extremely out of place and hilarious (based on audiences responses) And also, the use of the fake poodle, the attempted subtle advertising for Moët & Chandon when Emilie makes her entrance, the use of the seashell-like bed, added on to the comedic effect rather than to underline the main themes of the play proper. As based on Hampton’s play, the duplicity, the facades of the society is only established in the opening scene of Toy Factory’s production, which without further emphasis as the play progresses would be gradually left out of sight. The unaccounted use of roller blades and phallic torches have counteracted on what was discussed and established previously, which have inadvertently reduced the degree of seriousness that should be taken into account.
The set design, excluding unaccounted use of certain props, overall attempted to hold the play as a playground for the respectable aristocrats, and to show how one plays the game. However, the acting of several actors/actresses did not fully bring out the idea of the façades, the deceptive nature of this playground. Instead of showing how the characters can conceal, deceive and play the game (against the setting of a playground) of upholding a respectable and moral reputation yet live a scandalous life under the conditions of society, what was brought out was that the characters were literally having fun. Meaning to suggest, the stage picture showed no signs of any underlying game, everything was upfront, no hypocrisy, no deception. Overall it is a matter of subjectivity, but the acting overall did not bring out the once established idea of façade of the play, nor did it attempt to further emphasize and bring out the main themes. In short, it failed to complement the set design which by itself is an interesting concept that allows space (i.e. the acting) to realize its potential of holding and emphasizing the main themes.
The play was staged at the Victoria Theatre using the proscenium arch. The use of the proscenium arch, especially when the opening scene implicates the audiences as the society at large, works very well with the set design to imply that the society (the audiences) is watching the characters/actors, waiting for the characters/actors to breach the conditions of society. Which apparently, as mentioned above, there was nothing to be breached since everything was upfront.
Technologically, the set used for Toy Factory’s Dangerous Liaisons was kept simple and mobile. There is minimum use of the multimedia, probably to account for the fact that the play was set before the French revolution. And also, as discussed, the set design required the actors/actresses to realize its full potential, rather than to work on its own to fully bring out the main themes. Set designs indeed play essential roles, either by its own as in The Physicists, or it is dependent on other theatrical aspects to determine the extent of the production’s success.
Technology: Multimedia (esp. Video)
Ma:moment - Theatreworks’, Ang Tau Mui – Wild Rice,
The advent of technology is a distinct trend in Singapore’s English language theatre scene. An increasing number of productions have seen the need to incorporate visual complements of video and multimedia into their productions. The set designs today are made to accommodate the use of these new media. Theatreworks’ Ma:moment uses a large and encompassing muslin scrim to facilitate the repeated screenings of scenes from a black and white Chinese film, 'Mother's Grief', in which Bai Yan (described in the programme as "the Greta Garbo of Hong Kong cinema") experiences anguish and finally dies for the sake of her daughter. One medium, we are invited to see, can comment on another – here the film is used to great effect to show the changes in Mei Ling's feelings about life and motherhood.
In 2002, Wild Rice’s production of Ang Tau Mui sees a large flat panel functioning as part of the set, used to screen images of Hong Kong movie queen Lin Dai. These images work to show the obsession of Ang Tau Mui towards her idol. Casey Lim's videography provides a well-integrated backdrop to the action, particularly in a scene where Ang Tau Mui dances with a backwall projection of Lin Dai.
In Between Chinas – Action Theatre
In In Between Chinas stage setting is minimalistic with only a few wooden blocks. Simplicity of the set may have been designed so as not to distract the audiences from the screen behind. On the screen in the background mentioned, there is a collage of images including that of King George “Old Georgie”, scenery of the park and Roman Tham. This use of multimedia has been identified as a trend that has been going on for the past few recent years. Use of images on screens has presumably been for the purpose of explaining and presenting to the audience certain elements which are not only integral to the plot of the play, but more often than not, also carry some sort of message pertaining to a certain issue or underlying theme of the production, which the playwright or director wants to bring out.
The use of lights is relatively simple, where it starts out dark and progressively turns brighter. There is use of both diagetic and non-diagetic sounds. When the old man is practicing Taiji, soft ambient music plays. A young American born Chinese then enters and the music stops. Later, a Roman Tham song is played by the old man on a radio.
Sandakan Threnody - Theatreworks
Sandakan Threnody is a powerful cross-cultural multi-media collaboration, which features aspects of dance, action, text and video. Focusing on feelings of tragedy during the Second World War, the play succeeds in terms of capturing mood and atmosphere largely due to the minimalist set which serves the theme of production striking effectiveness. The minimalistic set, designed by Justin Hill, comprises largely of a dark “monolithic stage left ” which acts as a screen on which footages of war are shown. The most interesting component of Hill’s set however, is the large metal plate hanging from the ceiling, slanting toward the monolith. This plate reflects images from both the video footage as well as stage action and manages to very efficiently capture the coldness of war and its oppressive nature. Deep upstage, there is a sole table and chair, behind which a performer sat for large parts of the play, reading out news updates. The flat tone of voice she used coupled with the gooseneck lamp on the table worked together to create a gloomy atmosphere. The generally very dark stage and lack of excessive props was exactly what was required to remove the audience from their comfortable surroundings and thrust them into the atmosphere of war and the gloom and misery that comes along with it.
Through most of Sandakan Threnody, there is always some video clip being screened. From seldom seen war clips to clips of soldiers marching on and on and even photographs of soldiers who perished in the war, the set seems to go beyond the physical set itself, to encompass the scene of the war and in a way, bring that into the theatre.
The incorporation of video screening and multimedia has also now dramatically fused differences between the theatre and the cinema. Once, this distinction used to be clear and well defined in that cinema was always hermetically sealed in terms of the relationship between the audience and the actors, whereas theatre was able to let both entities engage themselves together directly. This is virtually unprecedented in Singapore’s theatre history, and technology now gives the play a broader and highly dynamic ability to express itself.
However, there are disadvantages as well to this evolution of set design in the current theatre scene. One can say that in Sandakan Threnody, the focus is on the on-screen action more than the dance sequences. With the video clips and the narration taking over most of the attention of the audience.
Creating an alternative world:
Lovers’ Words – Fun Stage
The Fun Stage’s production of Lovers’ Words revolved around a world in which homosexuality is the norm, and heterosexuals are forced to meet for furtive encounters in seedy nightclubs, while the gay world pours scorn upon them as deviants and subjects them, when caught, to extensive psychological re-conditioning to get them off the straight and narrow path.
Lovers’ Words uses a set consisting of nets covering the entire theatre, including the audience seating area. In this play, once the audience enters the theatre, the set begins to play a major role in setting the scene. Immediately, the audience feels a certain degree of restraint because he is blocked in because of the nets. The audience feeling trapped within the play causes them to inevitably become part of the play. At the end of the play, the audience will feel that they are going through the same societal influences as the actors and they are no observers. The set plays a major part to bring forward this message to the audience by making them inextricably a part of the play.
The set is also aesthetically driven to represent a futuristic or non-existence society, which is very apt for the content of the play since the entire world is homosexual in the play's context. The set more than fulfils its role in forging this created world, creating its own version of reality and drawing the audience into it.
Ma:moment – Theatreworks
The stage configuration of Ma: moment is ‘Thrust’. The stage is split into three individual platforms and arranged such that each audience side gets their own “portion” of the stage. Each of the three portions of the stage is backed by a screen. When the actors play to one particular side, they are more often than not, distant to the two other sides. Their forms can only be seen vaguely and with the low levels of lighting, the audience can only tell what is going on by listening to the dialogue.
The use of lighting in the production can be grouped into four main threads: Red lights, low level orangey lights (resembling the levels of light given off by a naked light bulb), light coming from multimedia screen.(During the screening of the Hong Kong melodrama) and total darkness.
The perimeters of the stage are completely surrounded by translucent white material. The actors can still be seen clearly close up, but effectively, their forms are hazy and obscured The feeling of distance and ethereal otherworldliness is thus projected. Long, rectangular pieces of thin white material(possibly cotton) are hung from above the stage and are spaced uniformly throughout the areas within the stage. The pieces of material sway in the breeze and when actors drift around the pieces of cloth, there is again, a dream like, ethereal quality which suggests a state of fantasy and dreams. It is also symbolic of the afterlife which is a significant contribution to the plot, as the main character, Precious Pig, dies and returns as a Hungry Ghost.
Each portion of the stage is backed by a screen on which scenes from a Hong Kong melodrama (“Mother’s Grief”) would be projected. The scenes in the film are used as a plot device. However, the abstractness of the entire production seems to hint that there are deeper underlying meanings to the use of the film. It could be that the scenes from the film are just the fantasies of the main character. After all, films are not real. People watch films to immerse themselves in it and live out their dreams and fantasies. The use of the film, then, is a representation of the character’s desires and dreams to be a mother.
For the most part, there are no miscellaneous sounds provided by the sound crew. Most of the sound effects are produced by the actors themselves. For instance, during the scene when Precious Pig tells the Char Siew boy to offer her more Char Siew during the Hungry Ghost Festivals after her death, another actor runs around throwing Hell bank notes in the air while incessantly mimicking the high pitched sound of a bell, reminiscent of the bells at Chinese funeral rites. At the end of the play, the actors walk off stage in a slow procession to an old Chinese song famous in the 60s.
Props are kept to a minimum. There is a dressing table full of cosmetics and an accounts book on one portion of the stage, representing the period of time in Precious Pig’s life when she had been a Mamasan. Then, there is also a funeral alter with candles and Hell bank notes, representing the afterlife. Hell bank notes scattered all over the place. One particular interesting prop is a piece of yellow cloth which is either wrapped around Precious Pig like a decorative scarf, used as a sign of an offering of love and protection to her daughter, a sign of the connective aspects of sexual intercourse and ultimately, balled up and stuffed under the actor’s shirt to mimic pregnancy – which is in itself another detail that contributes very strongly to the overall theme of the production. What is most interesting about the use of the cloth to mimic pregnancy, is that the role of the Precious Pig, returned from the dead as a Hungry Ghost, is momentarily taken on by a slim, male actor with ghoulish makeup. The waif-like physique of the male actor further emphasizes the aspect of starvation of Precious Pig as a hungry ghost; Precious Pig is “pregnant”. It shows that her starvation is not so much of a want for food as it is a longing for a child. This is ironic, since physically, Precious Pig looks as if she is carrying life in her womb, but this is a phantom pregnancy, as death is a state in which life is absent. The physical manifestation of the signs of pregnancy, both in death and in the form of a male actor, contributes to the idea of the starvation of the maternal instinct.
Overall, the set design contributes in many ways to the play, but there is another important aspect that gives the play a whole new level of depth. The character, Precious Pig, had lived all her life in Chinatown and had even been a Mamasan in one of the many brothels in olden day Chinatown. The production was presented at Sago street, where the infamous Death houses were in the olden days. "…these are where the sick go ostensibly for treatment but where chances of recovery are almost nil. "
Sago Street was also where funeral cloths, paper models of houses and Hell bank notes were sold. The play had its run during the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival and the song that was played at the end of the play has now been “stereotyped” as a sort of theme song for female ghosts. This setting within a setting has no doubt, been designed to play on the cultural knowledge of the audience who, at the very least, would have some awareness of the history of Chinatown, and who would certainly be aware of the Hungry Ghost festival during which the play is being shown. This setting within a setting adds a new dimension of self-reflexivity and background knowledge that will make this play a very much more interesting experience if the audience is able to appreciate these elements.
Everything but the Brain - Action Theatre
Everything but the Brain is set in a playground/children’s playroom fashion with ladders, a structure made out of brightly coloured bricks, reminiscent of the main structure in playgrounds. Everything is brightly coloured. The set appears to put emphasis on Elaine’s childhood memories, and it is as though, although she is now 36 years old, her memories still revolve around her past. This is further portrayed with the 3 bears chorus, who cannot be seen by the other characters, except Elaine herself and the audience. Throughout the play, Elaine and the 3 bears addresses the audiences, which gives the audience a sense of connectivity, and thus drawing us into her childhood days and also understanding her occasional child-like qualities. Thus, the audiences will understand and see the set as appropriate and it underlines the whole notion about Elaine who has been reliving her past, and also how she fights against time as her father is dying.
Fairly natural lighting used throughout most of the play, except occasional changes to emphasize on either Elaine’s emotions or thoughts. However, there was a scene when Elaine was flirting with the doctor and the passion was played out in a surreal sexual situation with red lighting. The use of this red lighting only once in the entire play could possibly be an allusion to Elaine’s only romance in 20 over years that she has stayed single. Flashbacks are indicated by a sudden slight muting of the lights.
Here, we have identified another trend in using sounds. There seems to be an increasing fondness for having the actors themselves produce sound effects. In this case, even the non-diagetic music seems to be produced by the actors themselves. Note that in the death scene in which Elaine’s father is led away by the Death figure, Brendan Fernandez sings, “I might have had a wicked childhood….” The use of the gong by the bears is intrusive and shocking. And when they do the countdown and announce how many minutes are left till Elaine’s father’s death, it provides a sense of urgency and even though the audience are informed from the very start that Elaine’s father will die, it is still disturbing to have the gong punctuate and mark the countdown. Although the use of the gong and the consistent countdown to the death of Elaine’s father as well as end of the play may be intrusive and shocking, it serves to remind the audience that although we are drawn into her narration and life story, we are nonetheless watching a play. It serves to rouse the audience from our state of passivity and instead to be aware and to interrogate.
The use of costumes is naturalistic other than for the 3 bears, who wears the same clown costumes and have their noses blacked and whiskers drawn on. This is not just for pure humour but also to distinguish them from the other characters. In other words, to show that the three bears exist only in Elaine’s world and her childhood in particular.
One Flea Spare – Luna-id
In another Luna-id production, One Flea Spare, a tale set in 17th century England, in the midst of a plague that gradually thwarts social stratification and class. At once upon the audience entering the theatre, they are immediately drawn into the play’s trapped atmosphere, where brave members of the audiences are made to sit elevated and surrounding the main stage space, extending the nature of entrapment within the story - a situation in which the Snelgraves experiences as a result of the extension of their quarantine period and home exile. The set is plain in space but vastly in a muted brown; a colour with the idea to evoke gloom and dullness. The shaped corpses hung on the stage ceiling wrapped in bags of burlap, are creepy and looms over a prevalent sense of death, decay, and decadence. Decomposition is suggestive by means of the hung bodies to cause unease with the audience, who were almost forcibly made to share with the play’s overarching plague epidemic. This establishes the mise-on-scene and it articulates the situation for the play in which the characters find themselves in a cramped situation surrounded by death from all sides; and they try to keep them at bay by scrubbing the floor and walls with vinegar. The set in One Flea Spare is therefore particularly effective in providing the atmospheric elements to the overall appeal of the play.
Fireface – Toy Factory
Another play whose set is exemplary in enhancing the play’s atmosphere is Toy Factory’s Fireface. Central to the set design is a black tree that looks as if it has been singed to the core, whose roots are in fact ingeniously disguised electrical cables. The set has been referred to by theatre critics as “the obverse of the archetypal tree of life, and therefore another reminder of antithetical forces jockeying for precedence, this gothic stump bears sinuous veins of orange light glow eerily like molten lava during the climatic transitions.” The tree appears to extend the play’s theatrical pacing, particularly by means of employing the precise lighting choreography of Lim Yu Beng, with synchronised cues in such a close array; they serve to signify a point of tension or contention, and enable the play to keep its dramatic actions at an optimal pitch.
Conclusion:
It is largely through plays like Lovers’ Words and Everything but the Brain that we can say that despite the influx of multimedia and videos being featured in current theatre productions, it is not a case where such features are mandatory and concern the success or failure of the play. Set design should be seen as a combination of theatrical aspects rather than concentrating only on what is on stage. Lighting, sounds, costumes, props, actors and other semiotic signs and systems should also be taken into consideration when we talk about a set design. The major functions of lighting for example, have also shifted from purely functional, as a source of illumination, to expressing various moods and indicating time and space. Analysis of various plays has provided insights of how semiotic signs or systems either work in hand with the set design or inadvertently fail the performance. They give additional layers of signs; change the hierarchy of these extraneous signs that varies the purpose and impact that the set design may have upon the play as well as the audiences. It would also mean that the importance of the set design as well as how well it is able to portray its purposes, its relation to the play and possibly the audiences ultimately acts as a catalyst to aid in the success or failure of the play.
As consistently reiterated in this discussion, the importance and purpose of the set design has progressed from merely operating on the functional level by means of providing locale to also higher levels such as actantial, sociometric, atmospheric and symbolic which adds on allegorical meanings to the play. As the set designs become increasing inter-woven with the dramatic text and performance text, they participate as one of the key aspects to determine the extent of success of the play/s.
From the discussion of the selected plays, a general trend is noticed in the Singapore English Language theatre. Plays have taken a significant move away from conservative use of the set – i.e. mainly functionalistic, naturalistic and the fixed use of spatial organization to more innovative, artistic, abstract and Brechtian. Audiences are required to question and critically analyse the mise-en-scene and other theatrical aspects as compared to being passively “spoon-fed” with information. It should not be said that set designs have entirely moved away from the conservative. Rather, there is presently more flexibility and versatility to allow the set to fully realise the potential of the play and participate in the determination of the success of the play. Viewing the trend in a less theoretical perspective, set designs have increasingly incorporated the use of technology to emphasize and support the themes of the plays. Set designs have taken a gradual but significant step away from a limited purpose to a more global and worldly incorporation and confluence of disciplines and ideas.
WAS JINNAH’S TRANSFORMATION FUELED BY PERSONAL MOTIVES OR AN AIM FOR A GREATER GOOD?
INTRODUCTION AND STAND:
Richard Attenborough’s Academy Award winning film, “Gandhi” that was “shot through a romantic Raj haze, ensured that millions of people came away with the impression that Jinnah created Pakistan because he was jealous of Gandhi and a villain at heart” .
Mohamed Ali Jinnah, a man who believes that he and his typewriter created Pakistan . A man of extremes, who detested being stereotyped as a ‘Mohammedan’, he created a ‘Muslim homeland’, which he declared a secular state.
The greatest mystery surrounding Jinnah however are the reasons fuelling his sudden transformation from the austere westernised gentleman he was when he began his political career to the Sherwani-decked Muslim politician who declared Pakistan independent. This essay will examine the ‘faults’ of Jinnah, the lack of a successor, autocratic rule and other factors which seem to suggest his self interest and juxtapose these factors with his denial of the prime ministership of an independent India as well as his aim to eventually establish a Pakistan with a modern, democratic constitution as opposed to the continuation of autocratic rule he started with. Although we can never know the real motivations of Jinnah, we can hypothesize, as does this essay, that Jinnah was motivated by his self-interests as opposed to the magnanimous politician of the people that some make him out to be.
DID HE ALWAYS ACT IN PAKISTAN’S BEST INTERESTS?
Jinnah ruled early Pakistan in an autocratic fashion and had groomed no clear successor, the knowledge that he knew of his impending death, paints him as a man who was too self-obsessed to prepare for a Pakistan after his death. Yet pragmatism comes into play here and one has to recognize that at that stage in Pakistan’s life, autocracy and a ‘supreme leader’ were absolutely essential to counter the many problems she was beset with, economically, politically and socially
SUCCESSION:
Benazir Bhutto once commented that Pakistan’s problems could be attributed to the Quaid-E-Azam
"Because Jinnah's death a year after Independence left the entire concept of Pakistan and Jinnah's dream unfinished. It left the nation leaderless and the constitution was made an orphan. The nation had never really recovered from that loss" .
According to her, the man who created Pakistan could also be said to be responsible for its ‘sorry state’ today due to his lack of foresight.
Jinnah knew from June 1946 that he was suffering from fatal tuberculosis and could be taken sick and die anytime. Yet, in his typical obstinate manner, Jinnah continued as always and refused to take measures to prepare for Pakistan’s survival after him. At no point did Jinnah appoint a successor or even hint to his “second-in-command” – Liaqat Ali Khan that his death was impending; such that measures could have been put into place to arrange for a smooth transition of power and to prevent a loss of ideals or principles which were the backbone of the new nation.
On the side of pragmatism, it must be admitted, “people seldom speak with one voice. In time of trouble there is a need to rally around a forceful and confident leader. ” Jinnah knew what he had to do once the gauntlet for Pakistan had been thrown down, come what may, to maintain the name of the Muslim League he had to follow through on the Lahore resolution, especially after the Cabinet Mission plan flopped. As such, he chose to be the rallying point for Pakistan. Perhaps he believed that if power was shared, the masses that vested their trust in him would be split too, and the unity he had worked so hard to achieve would be lost. Jinnah believed strongly in the dictum of ‘ignorance being bliss’ and in some situations he chose to ‘remain ignorant so that knowledge might not inhibit him from the course he wished to pursue’ . He did not wish news of his illness to prevent any party from doing what they would have done in any other case.
Furthermore, he believed in his ‘brethren’ following this dictum as well. Of the masses whose blood was spilled to attain the dream of Pakistan, most of them knew not where it was going to be, or what the essence of Pakistan was. Jinnah delivered his speeches in English and as depicted in the documentary “Partition of Blood”, we see that although the masses did not understand English and the meaning of Jinnah’s words, they nonetheless agreed with him and believed he was right and acting in their best interests .
AUTOCRACY:
When the time came, Jinnah opted to become the Governor General of Pakistan instead of Prime Minister because, under the Constitution, Governor General could give instructions to the Prime Minister, “in Pakistan, I will be Governor-General and the Prime Minister will do what I tell him to do”. In doing so, he cared little that he greatly insulted Lord Mountbatten who had been offered the Governor-Generalship of India and coveted that of Pakistan as well.
After becoming Governor General, Jinnah not only appointed the Prime Minister but also chose and appointed all the members of the Cabinet. He was the President of Muslim League, and did not relinquish party presidency even after becoming the Governor General. Thus, Jinnah accumulated all state power in him; as the leader of the party, head of the administration and the State - a virtual dictator. He even assumed authority to take care of the government's Kashmir and Frontier Departments. As a Governor General, he could influence the Legislative Assembly to endorse these additional powers. He even presided over Cabinet meetings, a move unprecedented in any parliamentary democracy, which is what Jinnah claimed Pakistan was. He often, without the knowledge of the Prime Minister, instructed the Provincial Governors, Ministers and Departmental Secretaries; resulting in increasing tension between Prime Minister Liaqat Khan and him. The tensions escalated to a stage where Liaqat Ali Khan resigned from his post, although Jinnah refused to accept the resignation, further increasing the tension level. Parliamentary norms were not applicable to Jinnah. In fact, the way Jinnah ran the administration, though briefly, established a precedent in Pakistan to concentrate all power and key positions in a single person; the tendency that later gave birth to military autocracy in Pakistan .
However, it must again in the name of pragmatism be admitted that given the unstable political climate of Pakistan at that time and his administrative, diplomatic and political abilities, Jinnah was undoubtedly the best candidate for all the above-mentioned positions. A fact that he knew and exploited, if only for the larger good; given his frail health, the responsibilities he took on must have been very taxing, nonetheless, it seems that Jinnah was driven by a superhuman strength and took it all in his stride.
SELF-INTEREST:
Jinnah was in every conceivable manner a contradiction. In the words of Collins and Lapierre:
“A more improbable leader of India’s Moslem masses could hardly be imagined. He drank, ate pork, religiously shaved his beard every morning and just as religiously avoided the mosque each Friday. God and the Koran had no place in Jinnah’s vision of the world”
Yet, it is impossible to deny that the founding father of Pakistan was a religious man; he was just ahead of his time. Jinnah’s practice of Islam has a contemporary ring to it, in western terms, “a modern Moses” The reasons for his rapid conversion from a constitutional, whiskey-swigging man to Quaid–E–Azam of the Moslems, can be explained in many ways, including the changing of the old guard following the death of politicians such as Gokhale and Dadabhai Naoroji who identified with Jinnah’s concepts of a united India achieved through constitutionalist methods. Gandhi and Nehru both contributed to this change and ironically to the idea of Pakistan gaining full steam. Gandhi, by becoming increasingly religiousin his politics with cow-protection acts and anti constitutionalist with his mass politics, which in Jinnah’s opinion caused ‘mass hysteria’. Nehru, by proving to India’s Muslims after the 1937 elections that he could not cater to the needs and wants of the Muslim community.
However, other, more personal factors were also at play here. The Islamic concept of 40 being the age where a man begins to take responsibility for his actions was strong in causing changes to Jinnah’s personality and politics. When Jinnah left India and politics and went to England to practice law after the death of his wife, he was already 59, perhaps it was at this belated stage that he realised that since Hindu-Muslim unity seemed an impossibility, the next best thing would be to create a separate Muslim homeland and by engineering it, he would gain favour in the eyes of God.
Of course, non-religious factors, like Nehru spurning him and his much-lauded 14 points as “preposterous” and advising Congress to “ignore Mr. Jinnah” also could have played a very major role in Jinnah wanting to assert himself and the power of the Muslims in general; making sure he could not be ignored.
FLIPSIDE: ALL FOR THE PEOPLE
“I have done my job, when the field marshal leads his army into victory, it is for the civil authority to take over” is what he said upon the declaration of Pakistan. Jinnah saw himself as a military leader leading his troops to victory, their prize being Pakistan. The mere title of Akbar S. Ahmed’s “Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin” is very telling. In his book Akbar compares Jinnah to Saladin , both of them uniting the Muslim masses and leading them to a common goal, while exhorting peace and minimum violence.
If indeed self-aggrandizement was most significant motivation Jinnah faced, then Gandhi’s offer to make him the first prime minister of an independent India would have been a dream come true, a Muslim leader at the head of an independent India, it would have been the greatest coup for Jinnah . However, Jinnah rejected the offer for the sake of his people.
It would appear from his speeches that Jinnah did indeed care about the largely subaltern masses he was leading. He has been known to mention at various junctures his concern for minorities and has gone so far as to declare the protection of Hindus in Pakistan ‘a sacred undertaking’ on the part of Pakistanis. He repeatedly mentions in his speeches credos like “universal brotherhood” , to “eschew violence of thought, word and action” and “subordinate personal interest to the welfare of others” .
CONCLUSION:
This essay aimed to examine the reasons behind the transformation of Jinnah from intensely secular, to quite the other extreme, and whether these reasons were largely personal or grassroots-centered.
It is easy to paint Jinnah as a man chasing after self-aggrandizement if one does not look at the lack of alternatives he was faced with at that time. To set up the incorruptible government he hoped to, he had to take on the majority of the responsibilities. His conversion that is often discussed was less of a personal choice than that of a politician who had to adapt to serve the needs of his people. He not only rejected the prestigious prime ministership of India but also knighthood under the British Empire and even Islamic Maulana-ship; preferring to remain ‘plain Mr. Jinnah’ .
It is often said that Jinnah came back from England a changed man, but even upon his return he tried to persevere for Hindu-Muslim unity, it was not until the elections of 1937 when Nehru and Gandhi tried to ignore the Muslims from politics altogether that Jinnah realized the plight the Muslims he was leading were facing and felt the need to do something .
On the other hand, it is equally simple to classify Jinnah as a man who worked for his people to the point where he completely neglected the state of his own health and “gave his life for Pakistan”.
The truth lies somewhere in between the two extremes. Jinnah was indeed a man who was worldly enough to enjoy and even crave the limelight and pomp that being a successful politician brought. However, he was driven by the liberal ideas he had picked up during his time in the West and from his daily consumption of newspapers from around the world. These were the very ideas that influenced him so deeply that they infused him with an almost superhuman strength, allowing him to survive him last 3 years on little more than willpower.
The perfect politician does not exist. At some point, power corrupts, with this notion in mind, we can analyse M. A. Jinnah as a man who was driven by the beautiful ideals of protecting the people who implicitly trusted him and for whom he wanted to set up a democratic, liberal society. However, he could not live in a fool’s paradise and had to, at times, make decisions and policies that went against his democratic beliefs. He demanded from his sister Fatima, whom she thought would take charge of all Pakistan’s problems when she asked him to rest for the sake of his health. Jinnah saw himself as the only hope for Pakistan, and in this way can be said to be self-obsessed, however this obsession sprung from his determination to deliver to his people the best he possibly could.
Bibliography:
1. Ahmed, Akbar S, “Jinnah and the Making of Pakistan”, History Today, Sept. 1994
2. Ahmed, Akbar S, “Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity : The Search for Saladin” New York : Routledge, 1997
3. Allana, G, “Quaid-E-Azam Jinnah” Lahore: Ferozons Ltd, 1967
4. Beg, Aziz, “Jinnah and His Times : A Biography” Islamabad: Babur & Amer Publications, 1986
5. Burke, S.M (ed), Jinnah, speeches and statements 1947-1948, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2001
6. Burke, S. M., “Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. : His Personality & His Politics” Karachi: Oxford University Press
7. Collins, Larry & Lapierre, Dominique, “Freedom at Midnight: London : HarperCollins, 1997
8. Enver, E. H, “The Modern Moses - A brief biography of M.A.Jinnah” Karachi Jinnah Memorial Institute, 1990.
9. Hasan, Mushirul, “The Partition Omnibus” New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002
10. Inder Singh, Anita, “The Origins of The Partition of India, 1936 – 1947” Delhi; New York: Oxford University Press, 1987
11. Jalal, Ayesha, :The sole spokesman : Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the demand for Pakistan” Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1985
12. Khan, Hamid, “Constitutional and political history of Pakistan” Karachi : Oxford University Press, 2001.
13. Khurshid, K.H, “Memories of Jinnah” Karachi; New York: Oxford University Press, 1990
14. Malik, Muhammad Aslam, “The Making of The Pakistan Resolution” Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2001
15. Moon, Penderel, Divide and quit London : Chatto & Windus, 1961
16. Moore, R.J, “Jinnah and The Pakistan Demand”, Modern Asian Studies, 17,4, 1983
17. Naim, C.M [et al.], “ Iqbal, Jinnah and Pakistan: the vision and reality” Lahore: Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985.
18. Pirzada, Syed Sharifuddin, “Gandhi and Quaid-E-Azam Jinnah” Karachi: East and West Publishing Company, 1983
19. Robinson, Francis, “The Muslims and Partition”, History Today, Sept. 1997
20. Saiyid, Matlubul Hasan, “Mohammad Ali Jinnah: A Political Study” Lahore: Sh. M. Ashraf, 1963
21. Sayeed, Khalid B., “Pakistan, the Formative Phase” Karachi: Pakistan Publishing House, 1960
22. Seervai, H. M, “Partition of India: Legend and Reality” Bombay, N. M. Tripathi, 1989
23. Talbot, Ian A, “Jinnah and the Making of Pakistan”, History Today, May 1982
24. Wolpert, Stanley A, “Jinnah of Pakistan”, New York : Oxford University Press, 1984
Internet Resources:
1. Farzana Versey, “Mohammed Ali Jinnah Haazir Ho”, September 10, 2004, http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00004061&channel=gulberg&start=0&end=9&chapter=1&page=1
(Accessed on 12th March, 2005)
2. M B Naqvi : The News, Karachi, Pakistan, December 11, 2002 – “Why Jinnah's Pakistan Ended”
http://www.usenet.com/newsgroups/soc.culture.bangladesh/msg02747.html
(Accessed on 12th March, 2005)
3. Mubarak Ali, “Jinnah: Making a myth”, October 2000 http://sacw.insaf.net/i_aii/MakingJinnah_a_myth.html
(Accessed on 15th March, 2005)
4. Dr. Rashad Khalifa, “Authorized English translation of the Quran, The crucial age of 40”
http://www.submission.org/suras/app32.html
(Accessed on 15th March, 2005)
Film Resources:
1. Partition of India [videorecording]: legacy of blood. Cafe Productions; producer, Sophia Swire; director, Christopher Mitchell. Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities, c1997.
Richard Attenborough’s Academy Award winning film, “Gandhi” that was “shot through a romantic Raj haze, ensured that millions of people came away with the impression that Jinnah created Pakistan because he was jealous of Gandhi and a villain at heart” .
Mohamed Ali Jinnah, a man who believes that he and his typewriter created Pakistan . A man of extremes, who detested being stereotyped as a ‘Mohammedan’, he created a ‘Muslim homeland’, which he declared a secular state.
The greatest mystery surrounding Jinnah however are the reasons fuelling his sudden transformation from the austere westernised gentleman he was when he began his political career to the Sherwani-decked Muslim politician who declared Pakistan independent. This essay will examine the ‘faults’ of Jinnah, the lack of a successor, autocratic rule and other factors which seem to suggest his self interest and juxtapose these factors with his denial of the prime ministership of an independent India as well as his aim to eventually establish a Pakistan with a modern, democratic constitution as opposed to the continuation of autocratic rule he started with. Although we can never know the real motivations of Jinnah, we can hypothesize, as does this essay, that Jinnah was motivated by his self-interests as opposed to the magnanimous politician of the people that some make him out to be.
DID HE ALWAYS ACT IN PAKISTAN’S BEST INTERESTS?
Jinnah ruled early Pakistan in an autocratic fashion and had groomed no clear successor, the knowledge that he knew of his impending death, paints him as a man who was too self-obsessed to prepare for a Pakistan after his death. Yet pragmatism comes into play here and one has to recognize that at that stage in Pakistan’s life, autocracy and a ‘supreme leader’ were absolutely essential to counter the many problems she was beset with, economically, politically and socially
SUCCESSION:
Benazir Bhutto once commented that Pakistan’s problems could be attributed to the Quaid-E-Azam
"Because Jinnah's death a year after Independence left the entire concept of Pakistan and Jinnah's dream unfinished. It left the nation leaderless and the constitution was made an orphan. The nation had never really recovered from that loss" .
According to her, the man who created Pakistan could also be said to be responsible for its ‘sorry state’ today due to his lack of foresight.
Jinnah knew from June 1946 that he was suffering from fatal tuberculosis and could be taken sick and die anytime. Yet, in his typical obstinate manner, Jinnah continued as always and refused to take measures to prepare for Pakistan’s survival after him. At no point did Jinnah appoint a successor or even hint to his “second-in-command” – Liaqat Ali Khan that his death was impending; such that measures could have been put into place to arrange for a smooth transition of power and to prevent a loss of ideals or principles which were the backbone of the new nation.
On the side of pragmatism, it must be admitted, “people seldom speak with one voice. In time of trouble there is a need to rally around a forceful and confident leader. ” Jinnah knew what he had to do once the gauntlet for Pakistan had been thrown down, come what may, to maintain the name of the Muslim League he had to follow through on the Lahore resolution, especially after the Cabinet Mission plan flopped. As such, he chose to be the rallying point for Pakistan. Perhaps he believed that if power was shared, the masses that vested their trust in him would be split too, and the unity he had worked so hard to achieve would be lost. Jinnah believed strongly in the dictum of ‘ignorance being bliss’ and in some situations he chose to ‘remain ignorant so that knowledge might not inhibit him from the course he wished to pursue’ . He did not wish news of his illness to prevent any party from doing what they would have done in any other case.
Furthermore, he believed in his ‘brethren’ following this dictum as well. Of the masses whose blood was spilled to attain the dream of Pakistan, most of them knew not where it was going to be, or what the essence of Pakistan was. Jinnah delivered his speeches in English and as depicted in the documentary “Partition of Blood”, we see that although the masses did not understand English and the meaning of Jinnah’s words, they nonetheless agreed with him and believed he was right and acting in their best interests .
AUTOCRACY:
When the time came, Jinnah opted to become the Governor General of Pakistan instead of Prime Minister because, under the Constitution, Governor General could give instructions to the Prime Minister, “in Pakistan, I will be Governor-General and the Prime Minister will do what I tell him to do”. In doing so, he cared little that he greatly insulted Lord Mountbatten who had been offered the Governor-Generalship of India and coveted that of Pakistan as well.
After becoming Governor General, Jinnah not only appointed the Prime Minister but also chose and appointed all the members of the Cabinet. He was the President of Muslim League, and did not relinquish party presidency even after becoming the Governor General. Thus, Jinnah accumulated all state power in him; as the leader of the party, head of the administration and the State - a virtual dictator. He even assumed authority to take care of the government's Kashmir and Frontier Departments. As a Governor General, he could influence the Legislative Assembly to endorse these additional powers. He even presided over Cabinet meetings, a move unprecedented in any parliamentary democracy, which is what Jinnah claimed Pakistan was. He often, without the knowledge of the Prime Minister, instructed the Provincial Governors, Ministers and Departmental Secretaries; resulting in increasing tension between Prime Minister Liaqat Khan and him. The tensions escalated to a stage where Liaqat Ali Khan resigned from his post, although Jinnah refused to accept the resignation, further increasing the tension level. Parliamentary norms were not applicable to Jinnah. In fact, the way Jinnah ran the administration, though briefly, established a precedent in Pakistan to concentrate all power and key positions in a single person; the tendency that later gave birth to military autocracy in Pakistan .
However, it must again in the name of pragmatism be admitted that given the unstable political climate of Pakistan at that time and his administrative, diplomatic and political abilities, Jinnah was undoubtedly the best candidate for all the above-mentioned positions. A fact that he knew and exploited, if only for the larger good; given his frail health, the responsibilities he took on must have been very taxing, nonetheless, it seems that Jinnah was driven by a superhuman strength and took it all in his stride.
SELF-INTEREST:
Jinnah was in every conceivable manner a contradiction. In the words of Collins and Lapierre:
“A more improbable leader of India’s Moslem masses could hardly be imagined. He drank, ate pork, religiously shaved his beard every morning and just as religiously avoided the mosque each Friday. God and the Koran had no place in Jinnah’s vision of the world”
Yet, it is impossible to deny that the founding father of Pakistan was a religious man; he was just ahead of his time. Jinnah’s practice of Islam has a contemporary ring to it, in western terms, “a modern Moses” The reasons for his rapid conversion from a constitutional, whiskey-swigging man to Quaid–E–Azam of the Moslems, can be explained in many ways, including the changing of the old guard following the death of politicians such as Gokhale and Dadabhai Naoroji who identified with Jinnah’s concepts of a united India achieved through constitutionalist methods. Gandhi and Nehru both contributed to this change and ironically to the idea of Pakistan gaining full steam. Gandhi, by becoming increasingly religiousin his politics with cow-protection acts and anti constitutionalist with his mass politics, which in Jinnah’s opinion caused ‘mass hysteria’. Nehru, by proving to India’s Muslims after the 1937 elections that he could not cater to the needs and wants of the Muslim community.
However, other, more personal factors were also at play here. The Islamic concept of 40 being the age where a man begins to take responsibility for his actions was strong in causing changes to Jinnah’s personality and politics. When Jinnah left India and politics and went to England to practice law after the death of his wife, he was already 59, perhaps it was at this belated stage that he realised that since Hindu-Muslim unity seemed an impossibility, the next best thing would be to create a separate Muslim homeland and by engineering it, he would gain favour in the eyes of God.
Of course, non-religious factors, like Nehru spurning him and his much-lauded 14 points as “preposterous” and advising Congress to “ignore Mr. Jinnah” also could have played a very major role in Jinnah wanting to assert himself and the power of the Muslims in general; making sure he could not be ignored.
FLIPSIDE: ALL FOR THE PEOPLE
“I have done my job, when the field marshal leads his army into victory, it is for the civil authority to take over” is what he said upon the declaration of Pakistan. Jinnah saw himself as a military leader leading his troops to victory, their prize being Pakistan. The mere title of Akbar S. Ahmed’s “Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin” is very telling. In his book Akbar compares Jinnah to Saladin , both of them uniting the Muslim masses and leading them to a common goal, while exhorting peace and minimum violence.
If indeed self-aggrandizement was most significant motivation Jinnah faced, then Gandhi’s offer to make him the first prime minister of an independent India would have been a dream come true, a Muslim leader at the head of an independent India, it would have been the greatest coup for Jinnah . However, Jinnah rejected the offer for the sake of his people.
It would appear from his speeches that Jinnah did indeed care about the largely subaltern masses he was leading. He has been known to mention at various junctures his concern for minorities and has gone so far as to declare the protection of Hindus in Pakistan ‘a sacred undertaking’ on the part of Pakistanis. He repeatedly mentions in his speeches credos like “universal brotherhood” , to “eschew violence of thought, word and action” and “subordinate personal interest to the welfare of others” .
CONCLUSION:
This essay aimed to examine the reasons behind the transformation of Jinnah from intensely secular, to quite the other extreme, and whether these reasons were largely personal or grassroots-centered.
It is easy to paint Jinnah as a man chasing after self-aggrandizement if one does not look at the lack of alternatives he was faced with at that time. To set up the incorruptible government he hoped to, he had to take on the majority of the responsibilities. His conversion that is often discussed was less of a personal choice than that of a politician who had to adapt to serve the needs of his people. He not only rejected the prestigious prime ministership of India but also knighthood under the British Empire and even Islamic Maulana-ship; preferring to remain ‘plain Mr. Jinnah’ .
It is often said that Jinnah came back from England a changed man, but even upon his return he tried to persevere for Hindu-Muslim unity, it was not until the elections of 1937 when Nehru and Gandhi tried to ignore the Muslims from politics altogether that Jinnah realized the plight the Muslims he was leading were facing and felt the need to do something .
On the other hand, it is equally simple to classify Jinnah as a man who worked for his people to the point where he completely neglected the state of his own health and “gave his life for Pakistan”.
The truth lies somewhere in between the two extremes. Jinnah was indeed a man who was worldly enough to enjoy and even crave the limelight and pomp that being a successful politician brought. However, he was driven by the liberal ideas he had picked up during his time in the West and from his daily consumption of newspapers from around the world. These were the very ideas that influenced him so deeply that they infused him with an almost superhuman strength, allowing him to survive him last 3 years on little more than willpower.
The perfect politician does not exist. At some point, power corrupts, with this notion in mind, we can analyse M. A. Jinnah as a man who was driven by the beautiful ideals of protecting the people who implicitly trusted him and for whom he wanted to set up a democratic, liberal society. However, he could not live in a fool’s paradise and had to, at times, make decisions and policies that went against his democratic beliefs. He demanded from his sister Fatima, whom she thought would take charge of all Pakistan’s problems when she asked him to rest for the sake of his health. Jinnah saw himself as the only hope for Pakistan, and in this way can be said to be self-obsessed, however this obsession sprung from his determination to deliver to his people the best he possibly could.
Bibliography:
1. Ahmed, Akbar S, “Jinnah and the Making of Pakistan”, History Today, Sept. 1994
2. Ahmed, Akbar S, “Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity : The Search for Saladin” New York : Routledge, 1997
3. Allana, G, “Quaid-E-Azam Jinnah” Lahore: Ferozons Ltd, 1967
4. Beg, Aziz, “Jinnah and His Times : A Biography” Islamabad: Babur & Amer Publications, 1986
5. Burke, S.M (ed), Jinnah, speeches and statements 1947-1948, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2001
6. Burke, S. M., “Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. : His Personality & His Politics” Karachi: Oxford University Press
7. Collins, Larry & Lapierre, Dominique, “Freedom at Midnight: London : HarperCollins, 1997
8. Enver, E. H, “The Modern Moses - A brief biography of M.A.Jinnah” Karachi Jinnah Memorial Institute, 1990.
9. Hasan, Mushirul, “The Partition Omnibus” New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002
10. Inder Singh, Anita, “The Origins of The Partition of India, 1936 – 1947” Delhi; New York: Oxford University Press, 1987
11. Jalal, Ayesha, :The sole spokesman : Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the demand for Pakistan” Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1985
12. Khan, Hamid, “Constitutional and political history of Pakistan” Karachi : Oxford University Press, 2001.
13. Khurshid, K.H, “Memories of Jinnah” Karachi; New York: Oxford University Press, 1990
14. Malik, Muhammad Aslam, “The Making of The Pakistan Resolution” Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2001
15. Moon, Penderel, Divide and quit London : Chatto & Windus, 1961
16. Moore, R.J, “Jinnah and The Pakistan Demand”, Modern Asian Studies, 17,4, 1983
17. Naim, C.M [et al.], “ Iqbal, Jinnah and Pakistan: the vision and reality” Lahore: Vanguard Books Ltd, 1985.
18. Pirzada, Syed Sharifuddin, “Gandhi and Quaid-E-Azam Jinnah” Karachi: East and West Publishing Company, 1983
19. Robinson, Francis, “The Muslims and Partition”, History Today, Sept. 1997
20. Saiyid, Matlubul Hasan, “Mohammad Ali Jinnah: A Political Study” Lahore: Sh. M. Ashraf, 1963
21. Sayeed, Khalid B., “Pakistan, the Formative Phase” Karachi: Pakistan Publishing House, 1960
22. Seervai, H. M, “Partition of India: Legend and Reality” Bombay, N. M. Tripathi, 1989
23. Talbot, Ian A, “Jinnah and the Making of Pakistan”, History Today, May 1982
24. Wolpert, Stanley A, “Jinnah of Pakistan”, New York : Oxford University Press, 1984
Internet Resources:
1. Farzana Versey, “Mohammed Ali Jinnah Haazir Ho”, September 10, 2004, http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00004061&channel=gulberg&start=0&end=9&chapter=1&page=1
(Accessed on 12th March, 2005)
2. M B Naqvi : The News, Karachi, Pakistan, December 11, 2002 – “Why Jinnah's Pakistan Ended”
http://www.usenet.com/newsgroups/soc.culture.bangladesh/msg02747.html
(Accessed on 12th March, 2005)
3. Mubarak Ali, “Jinnah: Making a myth”, October 2000 http://sacw.insaf.net/i_aii/MakingJinnah_a_myth.html
(Accessed on 15th March, 2005)
4. Dr. Rashad Khalifa, “Authorized English translation of the Quran, The crucial age of 40”
http://www.submission.org/suras/app32.html
(Accessed on 15th March, 2005)
Film Resources:
1. Partition of India [videorecording]: legacy of blood. Cafe Productions; producer, Sophia Swire; director, Christopher Mitchell. Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities, c1997.
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