10 September 2005

Separation of Church and State

I'm surprised at myself. Usually August is the month where I go slightly batty with all the stupid propaganda patriotic displays by the island's citizens, civil servants, and leaders. Imagine, if you will, Singapore flags flying everywhere - not because citizens hang them up themselves, but the town council and "grassroots leaders" feel they have to show that their housing project is celebrating National Day. And then the town councils forget to take down the flags even when September has come.

At times, it gets a little ridiculous. I take the train to work every morning on the East-West line, and somewhere between Commonwealth and Queenstown is a multistorey carpark draped in flags ALL OVER. Singapore: Where even carparks must show their patriotism.

And then, there is the sublime.



This image fascinates me in its simplicity. There's a subject, an object, and a verb: Sheng Hong Temple salutes Singapore. Yet the visuals trump the text, add an indeterminacy to the message, reverses the relation, and finally melds the subject and object into one cacophonious whole.

Sheng Hong Temple. Salutes. Singapore.

But in the picture, who is doing the saluting? We have a boy scout, a soldier, police officer, SCDF officer, and various uniformed people, of different races. They can only be read as a representation of Singapore. To be precise, a fascist fetish of Singapore.

Yet if Singapore is saluting, who are they saluting? In the infinite distance, in perpetual deferment, the hidden object. There is only Singapore and Sheng Hong Temple. Singapore then salutes Sheng Hong Temple. The Singapore lion crest salutes the Merlion.

Yet the text says "Sheng Hong Temple salutes..." It insists the persons performing the action are Sheng Hong Temple. Who are doing the saluting? Through careful semiotic slippage, Sheng Hong Temple has become Singapore...

The very fact that this banner exists and is displayed in a prominent place (outside Pandan Primary School at Jurong East), also signifies that Singapore's grassroots leaders and the various layers of bureaucracy in the town councils approved of this poster. Sheng Hong Temple, it appears, has the ear of Singapore and the sanction to impose its image in the holiest of Singapore's secular calendar.

Separation of church and state in Singapore: nonexistent.

7 comments:

lzyData said...

Hi, I have some comments about your post, but it's a bit long to put here.

http://www.djourne.net/singaporeink/index.php/archives/2005/09/10/good-bye-lenin-and-national-day-displays/

akikonomu said...

Is there anything wrong with wordpress? I entered my reply (twice) and they didn't show up =D

it reminds you of Soviet art or Maoist art
You mean "socialist realism". Now, it would be a FUN project to remake all our national posters into that style, just for kicks, yes?

it may not be just unhappiness with the PAP that is causing this heightened cynicism about displaying the flag

Mmmm. The problem with a one-party state is the instruments of the state are the instruments of the party as well. Take for example the notion of the "grassroots organisation", the "People's (Action Party) Association", the "community centre", "citizens' consultative committee", the NTUC, and the PAP kindergartens. All directly or covertly owned/infiltrated by the PAP, all openly operating for the interests of the PAP.

Ergo: the conflation of the party and the state is not just in people's minds; it is concretised into the building blocks of reality. Mr GMS puts the blame on the wrong people for making the connection, imo...

lzyData said...

Sorry about that, somehow it got caught in the filters.

rench00 said...

i live there!!! and yes... i have noticed that...

but you have to admit, the temples hold considerable power amongst the grassroots. i.e. if the temple one day not happy the PAP, then it's bye bye incumbent, in comes opposition.

so it's some curious little game of politiking... i support you if you support me. that's why MPs go for so many temple/mosque functions. churches... not so much... and why, in return, the temples, mosques, etc have overt displays of patriotism.

and yes... ALL the grassroots organisations are, in one way or another linked to the PAP. but there are some MPs who does indeed give more space to the community to develop independently of the direction of the political masters. while it might not be much, i think that it is an indication of the beginnings of a truly vibrant civil society.

akikonomu said...

We have a potential discussion then, due to a divergents in opinion!

lzydata says (on singaporeink) that the temple is being innocent of the message, or of playing the semiotic game, when rench00 points out that temples in that particular district were instrumental in a near upset opposition victory in the ward.

Now, if rench00 is right, then I suspect the intention of the banner is almost as I have described...

rench00 said...

oh no... i don't mean in this particular temple in this particular ward. but it has happened before, only another temple in another ward. and some old man had to personally step in to resolve the issue then.

Anonymous said...

I don't see any problem with the sign placed by the temple. It is simply that the temple committee wished to congratulate the nation on it's 40th birthday. It doesn't really matter whether they use the term 'salute' delibrately or whether it is just a case of sloppy translation...