Abstract
This chapter will describe our three cases and focus on their presentation as social entities (i.e., what their characteristics are rather than what their agency is). This chapter, then, is an empirical preparation for the constructivist and transformative conceptual analysis in the chapters that follow this.
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- 1.
Transcript E/4/1.
- 2.
According to her, the name “Sister Prema” was given to her by a Hindu guru, who acknowledged her service to needy people and gave her the name Prema, which means “love” in Sanskrit. She also prefers to be addressed as “Sister,” because it is coherent with her belief that all human beings are brothers and sisters.
- 3.
This quotation is taken from Prema’s interview by the Oral History Department in 1995, which is kept by the National Archives in the form of reels. We will mention in each such quotation the exact location among the 11 reels of interview. In this case it is “4/464.” This stands for reel number 4, and 464 stands for the location on the reel.
- 4.
National Archives interview (1995). 4/470.
- 5.
National Archives interview (1995). 9/431.
- 6.
The Straits Times, 20 May 1993.
- 7.
“These may include cases like ‘samsui’ women (who never married and worked as domestic helpers) who, after their retirement, have to fend for themselves, or families that do not qualify for formal assistance, like young widows with children, or families where the father is ‘an irresponsible odd jobber’” (ST 20/5/93).
- 8.
Reported in The Straits Times, 20 May 1993.
- 9.
See Khng Eu Meng (1995).
- 10.
In this promotion, she demonstrated complicated Yoga postures that she practices and also summarized her perspective on life.
- 11.
(Together with two other woman nominees.) The opening notes on her were “Carer of the aged and sick, nature lover, yogic mystic—and 100 years young. Rachelle Lau is humbled by the selfless, silver-haired ascetic the press calls Mother Teresa.” (April/2000:178).
- 12.
We will elaborate on the leaders’ agency in social transformations in Chap. 8.
- 13.
Transcript E/5/7.
- 14.
Transcript E/12/6.
- 15.
Transcript E/18/3,4.
- 16.
Transcript E/4/2.
- 17.
Oral Archives (1995), 5/250.
- 18.
Transcript E/4/1.
- 19.
Transcript E/10/6.
- 20.
Lee Kuan Yew was the first Prime Minister of Singapore as an independent country. He is considered the “founding father” of Singapore, and still widely regarded with great awe and a sense of reverence.
- 21.
Transcript E/6/4.
- 22.
The Straits Times, 20 May 1993.
- 23.
A Buddy Satua is a Hindu term for the reincarnation of a good spirit. This comment comes from transcript E/13/2.
- 24.
Transcript E/2/2.
- 25.
Transcript E/10/6.
- 26.
Oral Archives (1995). 18/50.
- 27.
Buddhist Library, 22 Sep 1991.
- 28.
She even shared with the audience the tale of how she reached an arrangement with the police that the fish that they would confiscate for illegal fishing would be donated to the “Home for the Aged and Sick,” as a noncommercial organization that feeds poor, sick elderly patients. She said that with such an arrangement she could return the confiscated fish back to the woman, “legally” (Buddhist Library, 12 Sep 1991).
- 29.
Buddhist Library, 22 Sep 1991.
- 30.
“Be” magazine 11/97.
- 31.
Oral Archives (1995). 14/320.
- 32.
Ibid., 14/335.
- 33.
Ibid., 14/344.
- 34.
Ibid., 5/180.
- 35.
Ibid., 5/203.
- 36.
(1995:18/90–100)
- 37.
Ibid., 18/30–40.
- 38.
See Walter Runciman (1978, p. 232).
- 39.
See Hans Gerth and Wright Mills (1947, p. 250).
- 40.
Khng (1995) op. cit., p. 52.
- 41.
Reported in Singapore’s The New Paper, 30 Mar 1994.
- 42.
Oral Archives (1995). 17/430–460.
- 43.
The Straits Times, 20 Nov 1997.
- 44.
Buddhist Library, 22 Nov 1991.
- 45.
Transcript E/4/3.
- 46.
The last two references in this paragraph come from transcript E/4/4.
- 47.
Transcript A/4/10.
- 48.
His birthplace was Xianguo Village, in Wuyi County.
- 49.
Transcript K/1/2.
- 50.
The first half of the 1950s was characterized by a general unrest linked both to the anticolonialist reactions (particularly demonstrated by high school students) and communist ideologies (particularly active among union workers).
- 51.
This undated commentary on the school comes from Han Lao Da—a Chinese-speaking theater practitioner who was awarded Singapore’s Cultural Medallion (Drama).
- 52.
The interview (transcript B/2/1–2) says: “It was a very daring thing to do. If you talk about Singapore history, you know that period, even up to later on for the next two or three decades, you know that you’ve got to be very careful of what you talk, what you say. And when you do a debate in Singapore, on television, can you imagine? Even though it was not a live show, but still, it is television, and it’s viewpoints, isn’t it? When you want to debate it means that you are presenting different kinds of viewpoints, and when you talk about viewpoints during those periods (maybe even now) You’ve got to be very careful, isn’t it? But it was daring, it was very daring to have produced or presented that kind of a program (…) And the topics were very sensitive, very sensitive. I mean, you must remember it’s Singapore, and it is not easy for anybody to talk freely, and when you debate you’ve got to attack, and when you attack you got to use all kinds of arguments. How are you going to control? It’s difficult to control.”
- 53.
The Straits Times, 11 May 1994.
- 54.
This reference is from the Substation’s fund-raising brochure, 1989: 1.
- 55.
Ibid.
- 56.
Ibid.
- 57.
Ibid.
- 58.
The Straits Times, 14 Nov 1989.
- 59.
Kuo (1990, p. 7).
- 60.
Transcript A/7/6.
- 61.
In Kuo (1990).
- 62.
Transcript A/6/6, 10, 13.
- 63.
In Kuo (1990, Introduction).
- 64.
Transcript B/15/10, 12.
- 65.
Transcript K/2/15.
- 66.
See Kuo (1993, p. 26).
- 67.
See Kuo (1994, p. 1).
- 68.
Ibid., p. 2.
- 69.
The Business Times, 27–28 Feb 1993, and in Kuo (1997a, p. 2).
- 70.
Kuo (1994) op. cit., p. 1.
- 71.
Ibid., p. 1.
- 72.
He says: “In our long struggle for material survival we had become handicapped people, sensitive only to material things.” This quote comes from The Straits Times, 18 Sep 1993.
- 73.
Kuo (1997b, p. 141).
- 74.
Ibid., p. 132.
- 75.
The Business Times, 27–28 Feb 1993.
- 76.
Kuo (1997a) op. cit., p. 1.
- 77.
The Business Times, 27–28 Feb 1993.
- 78.
The Straits Times, 18 Sep 1993.
- 79.
Kuo (1993) op. cit., p. 20.
- 80.
The Business Times. 27–28 Feb 1993.
- 81.
Kuo (1997a) op. cit., p. 8.
- 82.
The Straits Times, 22 Nov 1990.
- 83.
Transcript A/7/10.
- 84.
He is referring to the Substation’s location in Hill Street.
- 85.
Transcript A/7/10.
- 86.
Kuo argues that this inclination is combined with their orientation to treat all matters, even intangible ones, with an economic, rationalized method. He says that “It has been repeatedly declared that culture and the arts will not be planned and engineered. But the instincts of national planning have become a habit, as declarations such as the Vision of 1999 show, a date when Singapore is ‘scheduled’ to become a cultured and refined society” (1997a, p. 4).
- 87.
Kuo (1997b) op. cit., p. 139.
- 88.
Kuo (1997a) op. cit., p. 5.
- 89.
He says: “Creative energies have been held back for too long because it’s the big government that controls the entire national life. Officials seem to believe that unless you spend big money, you cannot develop—this isn’t true” (1997b, p. 138). Kuo believes that if officials would simply learn “how to relax”—people will participate actively and expand spaces for themselves with less need to spend big amounts of money for this purpose.
- 90.
Kuo has said that “While Government and media reports of arts scene often trace successes to government programs, schemes, events, sponsorships and other facilitation like the festivals. It is imperative to understand that the source energy of the arts has always come from the people. And always will” (1997a, p. 7).
- 91.
The two preceding quotes are from Kuo (1997b) op. cit., p. 139.
- 92.
Kuo (1997a) op. cit., p. 4.
- 93.
Ibid.
- 94.
The quotations in this and the next paragraph are from Kuo (1997a) op. cit., p. 5.
- 95.
Kuo (1997a) op. cit., p. 3.
- 96.
Kuo (1997b) op. cit., p. 131.
- 97.
Quoted in The Business Times, 27–28 Feb 1993.
- 98.
Kuo (1994) op. cit., p. 2.
- 99.
Kuo (1997a) op. cit., p. 3.
- 100.
Kuo (1997b) op. cit., p. 132.
- 101.
The Business Times, 27–28 Feb 1993.
- 102.
Kuo (1997b) op. cit., p. 132.
- 103.
The Straits Times, 22 Nov 1990.
- 104.
Transcript A/1/5.
- 105.
Kuo (1993) op. cit., pp. 27–28.
- 106.
Kuo (1997a) op. cit., p. 5.
- 107.
He says that art is an ongoing process of reflection and internalization. “Even as far as heritage is concerned, tradition can only be regenerated, it cannot be passed on per se. Traditions can always stay in the museum but the museum is no guarantee of genuine cultural absorption. We can only internalize tradition in a recreative, regenerating process. So how can we talk about tradition without promoting the creative arts?” (Substation, 16 Sep 1994).
- 108.
Kuo (1993) op. cit., pp. 26–27.
- 109.
We were told that even among the Substation’s Board of Directors (who were all very supportive of Kuo’s ideas), it was difficult to get full support for this idea.
- 110.
The Straits Times, 11 May 1994.
- 111.
From the Substation’s conference program, 17–18 Sep 1994.
- 112.
From the Substation’s event program, Feb 1997.
- 113.
Raw Theatre 4, Substation. Nov 1995.
- 114.
Substation program, Jan 91.
- 115.
Taken from “New criteria III,” Substation 1995, p. 4.
- 116.
The references in this paragraph are from The Straits Times, 11 May 1994.
- 117.
The Sunday Times, 22 Jun 1997.
- 118.
See Powell (1997, p. 18).
- 119.
The famous talk was given at one of the meetings of the Rotary Club and immediately attracted vast publicity and controversy.
- 120.
The Housing Development Board is the authority responsible for the planning, development, construction, and supervision of public housing in Singapore.
- 121.
Tay Kheng Soon (1975).
- 122.
Powell (1997) op. cit., 23.
- 123.
Transcript D/2/9.
- 124.
He did not explicitly explain his retirement but people assumed that he had been “finally broken down.” Tay indirectly implies this by saying: “ninety per cent of our projects are never built. They are all attempts to get commissions to feed the office. Therefore we spend a lot of time doing speculative work and that’s where the energy goes. It’s something which at this stage of life, I don’t want anymore. I don’t enjoy anymore—in Singapore anyway.” (Business Times, 22 Jan 1997).
- 125.
Transcript D/11/10.
- 126.
Transcript D/8/12.
- 127.
Transcript D/11/9.
- 128.
Powell (1997) op. cit., p. 24.
- 129.
Transcript D/2/10.
- 130.
The Business Times, 22 Jan 1997.
- 131.
Transcript D/8/7.
- 132.
Quoting Edward D’Silva, former president of the Singapore Institute of Architects, in The Sunday Times (Singapore), 22 June 1997.
- 133.
Transcript D/15/7.
- 134.
This was a nominator’s reason for nominating Tay Kheng Soon for the SIA gold medal lifetime contribution to architecture, 27 Feb 1998.
- 135.
The quotations in this and the following paragraph come from The Sunday Times. 22 Jun 1997.
- 136.
People mention this as the reason why he was less able to translate some of his ideas into concrete built forms.
- 137.
Transcript D/13/6.
- 138.
The Business Times, 22 Jan 1997.
- 139.
Transcript D/8/5–7.
- 140.
Powell, op. cit., p. 18.
- 141.
Transcript T/4/6.
- 142.
The Straits Times, 16 Dec 1993.
- 143.
See, for example, his letter to The Straits Times, “Let’s be civic without the need for technocratic rules,” 25 Jul 1998.
- 144.
The Straits Times, 18 Jan 1998.
- 145.
The Sunday Times, 29 Apr 1989.
- 146.
A journalist says that even if Tay’s writing “may seem, at first glance, to be a mish-mash of green, New Age-ist, pro-Asian agendas, it cannot be dismissed on the ground of sounding intellectually trendy because such dismissal disregards the fact that Tay has been on about architecture, identity and climate for several decades now” (The Business Times, 22 Jan 1997).
- 147.
His vision of Singapore as a tropical city is based on the combined utilization of information, technology, and the qualities of the tropics (that is, the sun, rain, wind, and lush vegetation) to produce an efficient living environment in a positive and imaginative way, and one that is conducive to a good lifestyle.
- 148.
A Malay term for a village type of settlement. It carries a connotation of home and roots and belonging.
- 149.
The Straits Times, 18 Jan 1998.
- 150.
The Straits Times, 8 May 1989.
- 151.
He also says that he takes climate seriously because: “The scientist, the artist, the historian and intellectual parts of me find the geographical facts of place a very interesting theme in which form-making, building, designing, and thinking come together” (The Business Times, 22 Jan 1997).
- 152.
The Business Times, 22 Nov 1997.
- 153.
The Straits Times, 8 Aug 1990.
- 154.
Tay prefers to call the Western architecture—“North” architecture because this is a geographic, climatic reference rather than a political one.
- 155.
/1998. Also in Powell (1997) op. cit., p. 40.
- 156.
The Straits Times, 21 Jun 1997.
- 157.
The Straits Times, 18 Jan 1998.
- 158.
Ibid.
- 159.
Powell (1997) op. cit., p. 41.
- 160.
While Chua says that for those who are familiar with the architecture of Southeast Asia, as exemplified in the Malay house, Tay’s architectural vocabulary “is highly reminiscent of what has been in practice in the vernacular architecture of this region,” but Tay does not advocate “simplistic pastiche appropriations of the vernacular in new urban environments” because to him, such approach “will produce hoary hybrid buildings, and indigestible quotations of the vernacular that insult rather than celebrate the local” (The Straits Times, 18 Jan 1998).
- 161.
The Straits Times, 15 Apr 1984.
- 162.
The Sunday Times, 29 Apr 1984.
- 163.
The Straits Times, 8 May 1989.
- 164.
The Straits Times, 2 Mar 1996.
- 165.
The references in this paragraph come from The Sunday Times, 29 Apr 1984.
- 166.
Powell (1997) op. cit., p. 14.
- 167.
The Sunday Times, 15 Apr 1984.
- 168.
The Straits Times, 30 Jul 1994.
- 169.
See Tay (1990).
- 170.
Concomitantly, Tay laments that planning procedures are based on certain norms which have never been challenged or tested, nor any alternatives investigated. Such a situation is a circular process because “the norms produce the master plan, the master plan generates rules, the rules produce the buildings (and consequently, the buildings themselves) which confirm the norms. No progress will ever be made until there is an experimental building program, which is free from existing regulations, to find new things” (The Straits Times, 24 Jun 1992).
- 171.
The Straits Times, 4 Jul 1990.
- 172.
Tay thinks that such critical view should be asserted in all realms of life and not only architecture. He includes all social and cultural assumptions as well, saying for example: “Until and unless we begin our own critical review of our cultural heritage, and not fawn over the past, we will find it hard to overcome the negative aspects of inherited cultural presuppositions. Chinese Singaporeans should not allow their sense of cultural obligation to Chineseness prevent them from critically examining their heritage” (The Straits Times, 13 Feb 1991).
- 173.
Ibid.
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Hava, D., Kwok-bun, C. (2012). The Charismatic Enigma: Three Extraordinary Singaporeans. In: Charismatic Leadership in Singapore. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1451-3_7
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