SINGAPORE — A local musician took to Instagram to highlight how ministers allegedly came late for a show and distracted the audience while another artist was performing on stage.
The post by Singapore jazz musician Daniel Alex Chua was posted as a disappearing message on Instagram but was screenshot by a netizen and shared on Twitter.
The original post reads as follows:
Context: ministers came late for show, stood up to shake hands, take photos,
chatter, distract audiences who actually wanted to watch and do watever Cetf formalities, not showing respect to our sg artist @bleuebyrd performance at all
Pls give every artist, local or not, the respect and love they deserve, at a time
where local music’s potential is at its highest to grow and be appreciated, it is
essential.
Who were the ministers that the musician was referring to?
Well, we are not really sure exactly who, but the screenshot shows a person who resembles Ms Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State for National Development.
And true enough, Ms Sim herself made a post of her attending the event, with photos of her wearing the same clothing as the person featured in the post.
The event in which Ms Sim showed up was the launch of the symbolic 1-hour Switch Off last Saturday (25 Mar) and at Esplanade, where the Earth Hour Festival at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay took place from 24-26 March. The WWF Singapore’s write-up would also suggest Ms Sim was the only guest of honour for the event.
She wrote, “Happy to have joined everyone at @esplanadesingapore last evening to count down to the @wwfsg Earth Hour Switch Off event, in which over 1,000 establishments all over Singapore – including the Orchard Road shopping belt – dimmed their lights in support of the environment.”
Twitter user expressed disappointment for PAP ministers failing to show respect to artist, again
The Twitter user who shared the post, went further to criticise that the minister represents traditional values, which include respect.
“you can argue maybe its a small thing but to me, to many of us, it isn’t.”
The Twitter user suggested that the minister should have sat behind so as not to obstruct the view. Alternatively, they could have met somewhere else where it wouldn’t disrupt the art.
“I’m sure I’m missing some context but I cannot not see this as a disrespect to the artist.”
The tweet further noted that Singaporean Ministers already have a bad reputation when it comes to the music scene, ever since incidents with Watain concert incident and Blu Jazz Cafe saga.
And what the minister failed to gain people’s trust, “In fact, it’s doing the opposite. It just seems like they don’t know how to be sensitive to us.”
“ok la the watain and blu jazz they got explain ah but this one how to explain? i really cannot wrap my head around this? basic human decency?”
chibai ah seriously pic.twitter.com/bvq3GDsBnu
— the air is my head 🐄🦵 (@hakiim_m_m_m) March 28, 2023
Even Singapore’s veteran blogger Lee Kin Mun, better known as mrbrown, had expressed his view on the alleged incident:
https://twitter.com/mrbrown/status/1640606043972726784
Netizens brought up the issue of punctuality among ministers
In response to the tweet, some netizens also raised the issue of punctuality among government officials at public events.
One person shared a personal experience of a minister arriving at one of their company’s shows and causing a delay of 15 minutes past the scheduled start time, “while they and their retinue drank Champagne and took selfies in the lobby.”
Another netizen chimed in sarcastically, saying “Big shot mah. Their time is more important than ours. All big shots are like that.”
While another netizen defended the ministers’ punctuality issues, saying they often have very tight schedules and cannot always meet exact timings.
Watain concert incident and Blu Jazz Cafe saga
For those who may not be familiar, in March 2019, the concert of Swedish metal band Watain was cancelled at the eleventh hour following negative feedback given by many Christians after its initial approval.
At that time, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said the concert was cancelled out of interest for public order, and religious and social harmony.
He added that the band had a history of being offensive towards Christians and Jews, supportive of violence, have made various offensive statements, and that they’ve encouraged the burning of churches and terrorist acts committed in the name of the band.
Although Mr Shanmugam acknowledged that some Singaporeans disagree with the ban of the concert, but he said, “It is not about whether the Government should tell you what music you can or cannot listen to. You can listen to a Watain concert through Spotify, for example, at least as of now.”
Some members of the public questioned why the Government decided to cancel the concert just over feedback given by a minority group in Singapore. They even wondered if Singapore is a Christian country as it accepted the concerns raised by just one minority group.
Meanwhile, Blu Jaz Cafe is a live music venue located at 11 Bali Lane, Kampong Glam in Singapore. It opened its doors in 2006 and was known for its open mic nights.
