Offbeat Newsletter

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OFFBEAT FEBRUARY ISSUE “Camouflage” by Maryanto, Gillman Barracks, Singapore

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OFFBEATFEBRUARY ISSUE

“Camouflage” by Maryanto, Gillman Barracks, Singapore

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CONTENT

1 COVER PAGE

4 NEWS

8 FEATURES

14 OPINION

20 TEAM OF EDITORS

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“Tear Drop” by Philip Hemnell, Gillman Barracks,

Singapore

DRIVE was the must-go Art Festival during the Singapore Art Week (17

to 25 January 2015).

After a period of four months, DRIVE, a public Art Festival at Gilman Barracks, came to a suc-cessful end on Sunday, 25 Janu-ary 2015.

Coincidentally, it overlapped with the Singapore Art Week; a jam-

packed week filled with various art fairs, tours and talks around the city.

The public art festival showcased art-works, which ranges from wall murals, to sculptures, and even multimedia installa-tions, from both local and international art-ists.

According to the Executive Director of DRIVE, Audrey Yeo, the whole process of choosing the artworks began in September 2014.

“Around the period of the 2014 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, we had put out a call to the artists and members of the public to submit the proposals of their works.”

She added on, “The artists are picked based on their concept and their ability to

execute a public artwork that is original and relevant to the theme of DRIVE, which is young and ambitious.”

One of the artists’ chosen to exhibit his work at DRIVE was Indonesian artist Maryanto.

His recent outdoor work “Cam-ouflage”, had received many

praises and positive feedback from visitors.

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Above: Open Call Poster for Drive @ Gillman Barracks

@ Gillman Barracks Ends Successfully After Four Months

Maryanto explained, “The idea of my art-work was to camouflage the mural on the building to the nature (tree) behind it.”

“It’s not only about painting the picture on the wall, because that would be the same as displaying a painting in the gal-lery.”

He added on, “You have to collaborate with whatever circumstances there is. In my case, it’s the tree.”

The public art festival had attract-ed many visitors- from Singapore and abroad.Singaporean Mr. Goh, who had chanced upon this public art festival by accident, thinks that the whole outdoor concept was interesting.

Said Mr. Goh, “Since there are different types of artworks, it is able to cater to different types of taste.”

Operations specialist Richard White

said, “The whole outdoor thing is good! Art isn’t constricted only to a gallery space or museum, it can be seen every-where in different things, as shown at DRIVE!”

The open call for DRIVE had attracted and encouraged potential artists to step out of their shells.

Said Ms. Yeo, “First round projects from artists such as Marcin Dudeck and Mar-yanto were the ones that encouraged the public and gave them the imagination to start their own works.”“There was even a secondary school stu-dent who had submitted his proposal to us.”

The art scene in Singapore impressed Australian journalist, Michael Fitzger-ald, who was part of the media tour at Gilman Barracks for the Singapore Art Week.

Said Mr. Fitzgerald, “The art culture here in Singapore is very strong and well-funded. It’s the potential centre for visual arts in South East Asia.”

Ms. Yeo ends it off, “For sure, you can ex-pect for more of such similar art events like DRIVE in the future. Do look forward to them!”

To find out more about upcoming art exhibitions at Gilman Barracks, do visit their website at http://www.gillmanbar-racks.com/.

Written by Siti Syaimah

DRIVE

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Peddlers manning their stallsWritten by Siti Nur Faisha

OUT WITH THE OLD,IN WITH

THE NEW

Back then, it was well-known for its infa-mous name, “Thieves Market”. As the name suggested, peddlers would sell stolen goods. However, in this present-day, the items sold are legitimate.

While the flea market does not require any rent or entrance fee, most of the peddlers do this with means to support themselves.

Ah Kiat, who has been hawking for more than 10 years, said, “We hope that the gov-ernment will open a new place for us to continue, if not, we cannot do anything. We are not asking the government for help, we just hope that the flea market can continue here.”

With the construction of Sungei Road MRT Station already underway, the flea market will soon disappear and so will the liveli-hoods of the old folks.

The Sungei Road flea market located be-tween Jalan Besar Road and Rochor Canal Road will be closing down soon by the Na-tional Environment Agency (NEA), to make way for the development of the new Sungei Road MRT Station in 2017.

From the looks of it, the flea market is ceased to exist as news of relocation is still inauspicious. The NEA has reportedly re-jected any plans to relocate the flea market.

Hong Da, one of the peddlers said, “If there is no relocation for us, this flea market will close down permanently. We cannot do any-thing about this situation because it’s all up to the Government.”

The Sungei Road flea market has been around for more than eight decades ever since its heyday. Peddlers would set up their stalls with their items placed on a spread of plastic mats or on make-shift tables.

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Different types of items sold at the flea market

While industrialization and growing is im-portant, is there any way for Singapore to sustain its old heritage?

The peddlers remain hopeful for any news of a possible relocation.

Despite the existence of shopping malls and many other modern flea markets like the one in *SCAPE, Sungei Road flea market has its charms that attracts its unique visi-tors every day.

The flea market appeals to collectors, an-tique-lovers and bargain hunters. However, locals and tourists can also be seen stroll-ing along the busy roads of the flea market.

Interesting items that were being sold there are – old DLSR cameras, comic books, gramophones, cuckoo clocks, old typewrit-ers, vintage televisions, glass wares and more.

“It’s much more entertaining than a shop-ping mall,” said Christine, a local teach-er who visits the Sungei Road flea market every weekend.

It is also rare to spot teenagers at the flea market in contrary of the items sold there - old, vintage and second-hand. Furthermore, it is hard to find those who appreciates the old.

Mardhiany, a student, commented, “I like the nostalgic feel. Especially the fact that someone has lived in those things.”

Many agreed that the Sungei Road flea mar-ket is unique and archaic. Like the famous quote by Coco Chanel, “In order to be irre-placeable, one must always be different.”

Being different is what made Sungei Road flea market significant.

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Above: The front entrance to the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Legacy keeps growing at Botanic Gardens

Peaceful. Green. Serene. These are the words used by visitors to describe the 160-year-old Singapore Botanic Gardens, which is located at the south of Sunny Singapore, at 1 Cluny Road.

The well-known tourist attraction, which officially began operations in 1859, wel-comes visitors from every corner of the Earth with its beautiful scenery and di-verse nature.

Formerly a 32-hectares plantation site has now bloomed and expanded into a 74-hectares recreational and educational research garden.

That isn’t the only thing that has grown; over the years, there has been a great in-crease in the number of visitors to the

garden.

Said National University of Singapore (NUS) Student Tan Luoyi, “I think the reason for the increase in visits is due to the opening of different sections. For ex-ample, the (Jacob Ballas) children’s gar-den.”

She continued, “I think it’s great that they’re doing so. It helps to add on to the variety and diversity of the garden!”

The only Botanic Garden in the world to operate from five to midnight daily in a year, it boasts many facilities and ameni-ties such as the National Orchid Garden, Evolution Garden, Botany Centre and Children’s Garden.

While the National Orchid Garden, the largest orchid display in the world, show-cases about 60,000 plants & orchids, the Evolution Garden shows the develop-ment of plant life throughout the years on Earth.

Project Director Colin Tye, who was on a business trip here, confesses that it was his first visit to the garden.

“I went to do a search on the internet and this was the top go-to place in Singa-pore.”

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Story by Siti Syaimah

Above: Ju Ming’s Taichi sculpturesHe added on, “It’s much bigger and more diverse than what I have expected. Com-paring to the photos I have seen online, I can see why people enjoy their visit here.”

With a rich history of almost 160 years, Singapore Botanic Gardens has played a significant role in the nation’s history.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, it was a popular place for family gatherings, school performances and weddings.

In present day, there is not much differ-ence from the past, as one will still be able to spot families and friends sitting by the lakes and at the shelters.

Singaporean Kenny Lau, who visits the garden twice a year, was playing a game of Frisbee with his family.

He said, “I like the open space and nice scenery of this garden. But most impor-tantly, I like that I’m able to spend time out in the nature with my family!”

Learn more about the history of Singa-pore Botanic Gardens at the heritage tour, which will be held on 28 February 2015, from 9AM onwards at the Green Pavilion, Botany Centre.

Highlights of the tour include the band-stand, sculptures in the gardens, herit-age trees and many more!To find out more, you can visit them at https://www.sbg.org.sg.

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A “Happy” DivorceStory by: Brandon Chia

Above: Courtney Cox & Brian Van Holt portraying a happily divorced couple on popular television comedy, Cougar Town.

that his parents had their own reasons for the divorce, which he had no part of.

“It was their sole decision. I knew it had nothing to do with me so I went on with my life going to school in the morn-ing and coming home in the afternoon watching Spongebob on the television,” Said Stephen with a laugh.

Stephen knows that many children would have been heavily upset or angry towards

“I do not think I could have made a differ-ence on their decision, because I was so young at that time,” said 17-year-old Ste-phen Lim, a student at Nanyang Polytech-nic.

Stephen was only 10-years-old when his parents decided to get a divorce. He had already preempted his parents’ divorce due to many conflicts between them in the past years.

“They argued over everything, from the smallest to the biggest matter. Also, my father had owed money to loan sharks,” Said Stephen.

Stephen regards these happenings to be the cause of the divorce as it had placed a lot of pressure on his mother who was al-ready under a lot of stress due to work.

Unlike most children from a divorce fam-ily, Stephen felt unaffected. He continued living his life just the same as every other 10-year-old. Stephen had chose not to let the divorce affect him negatively as he felt

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vorce and now.

Even though Stephen does not see his father as often, he spends as much time as he can with him and treasures every moment together. He knows that despite the divorce, his parents have always loved him just the same.

“So our relationship is the same. The di-vorce was not a measurement of how much they cared for me and it did not changed how much they actually loved me,” said Stephen.

Stephen hardly ever thinks about the divorce but time-to-time he wonders whether his life would have turned out differently had his parents stayed togeth-er.

Even so, Stephen had never blamed his parents for their divorce and feels that it was more beneficial than it was harmful. Both his parents are happier now and that is all that matters to him.

“I feel that since it happened, it hap-pened. No point harping over it, so just pick up the pieces and move on. Besides, knowing that they are happy makes me happy,” said Stephen with a grin.

a divorce but he was not. He believed that those feelings could be better channeled into something more productive and be enjoyable at the same time.

“You can either choose to be sad and angry for a very long time or you could choose to invest your time and energy into whatever you like to do and be hap-py,” Stephen exclaimed.

The relationship between Stephen and his parents had not changed either. Stephen, who currently lives with his mother, has always been closer to her before the di-

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Tan Jian Jie taking photographs at a Red Cross Event

Have you ever seen or heard of someone who takes time out from their busy schedule just to help other people, or to do something meaningful that benefits someone else and not themselves?

Even if you have, still keep on reading - you might just be in-spired. And if you haven’t, this is your chance to read of some-one like that - maybe it’ll change the way you look at some things.

Many times, we wonder what our purpose is, and not many of us are able to answer that question. But of course, there are still people who have.

Tan Jian Jie, 19, is currently studying Engineering Informatics in his 1st year at Nan-yang Polytechnic. He has a busy schedule, spending most of his time studying for his modules, working on his school projects, and, in addition, being active in Nanyang Polytechnic’s Photography Club.

Despite spending so much of his time in school as well as at home with his family, the former Yio Chu Kang Secondary School student also returns to his previous Co-Cur-ricular-Activity (CCA) to volunteer, every week, in the Singapore Red Cross Youth So-ciety.

Jian Jie joined the Red Cross when he was 13 and remained with the Society throughout his schooling, until he graduated from Yio Chu Kang Secondary School. Even after graduation, he wanted to continue helping people and guiding his juniors

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TIME ENOUGH TO VOLUNTEERStory by Scott Chong

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in the Red Cross.

“My CCA teacher asked me to continue joining as a volunteer when I graduated, and since I had already planned to do so, I agreed,” he said.

You might be thinking - why? Why does he still take the time to volunteer despite all of his other activities? His reply is, “Be-cause I feel that it will make an impact to the future generation, and it gives me a sense of satisfaction.”

Jian Jie goes back to his Secondary School every week to teach his juniors various things. These include Foot Drills, Disaster Management, Outdoor Activities and First Aid. “ I also help to plan and ex-ecute events for my Secondary School’s Red Cross cohort and also for the Red Cross HQ. One of the events I help to plan

and execute is the combined training for the different secondary school Red Cross cohorts, which include multiple exercis-es.”

His passion for volunteerism is definitely admirable. When asked how much longer he plans to continue volunteering, he re-plied, “ Maybe till I start working. Or until I feel that I’m no longer needed. I just feel that I need to contribute and give back whatever they gave me.”

I am sure that there are a great deal more people out there who are also making a contribution to building a better future. One thing that we can be sure of is that Jian Jie has definitely found his purpose - to help other people.

What is your purpose?

Students at a Red Cross Event

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Dog in cage at SPCA

Story by: Brandon Chia

With the rise in the numbers of pets being purchased and adopted in recent years, there is no doubt that the num-ber of pet abandonment cases rose as well. According to Mr. Ricky Yeo, Pres-ident of Action for Singapore Dogs, the number of abandoned dogs alone in-creases by 20 to 30 percent annually.

An abundance of prospective pet owners are willing to pay for many kinds of animals be it rescues, pedigree breeds, champion breeds and exotic pets without proper consideration or

having the knowledge on how to care for them.

An example of this would be the eu-thanizing of a puppy by an expatriate in 2013. Alison McElwee, the owner, had put down the puppy for multiple reasons even though the rescuer of the puppy, Ada Ong, had made it clear that it had to be returned to her if she no longer wanted to care for the dog.“We are seeing a trend where, because of rising affluence in Singapore, people are buying or adopting pets without due consideration about the lifetime commitment it involves,” said Louis Ng, the executive director of the Animal Concerns and Research Education So-ciety (ACRES) after hearing about the unjust euthanizing.Ms. Betty Tan, the President of The House Society of Singapore, further supports the rising affluence as a cause of pet abandonment saying, “(it is) a sad reality that many people living in a modern society like Singapore’s are less tolerant of stray animals, or treat their pets as a disposable item that can be tossed out when the novelty wears off.”

However, the rising affluence is just one of the many probable reasons, such as time constraints and over-breeding of pets, that could be causing the pet abandonment trend. This is due to the lack of documented evidence to show any real cause of this problem.

Negative Affluence

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Dog in cage at SPCA

Currently, there are about twice as many animal welfare groups in Singa-pore as compared to the past five to six years such as the Society for the Pre-vention of Cruelty to Animals and the Cat Welfare Society.

These organizations are either willing to take in unwanted pets, provided that they have the space for them, where they may put them up for adoption or offer many alternative solutions when it comes to finding the animal a better home.

Organizations such as the SPCA will first evaluate the abandoned pets to

see if they meet the adoption criteria. Unfortunately, if they do not meet the criteria or if the animal is considered as not re-homeable, the animals will be euthanized.

Pet abandonment has become a big problem over the years and the rising affluence is just one of the many factors that causes it to happen. Whatever the reason, pet owners should be taking responsibilty for their pets and seek ap-propriate measures to find them a bet-ter home instead of releasing these ani-mals into the wild or dumping them at a shelter where they await their fate.

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THE KALEIDOSCOPE

OF

CREATIVITYCreative people have many different ways of demonstrating and displaying their creativity. For example, Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a famous Dutch artist who was a painter; Georg-es Seurat (1859-1891) was a famous French post-Impressionist artist who used Conté Crayons for his draw-ings. Donato di Nicco-lò di Betto Bardi, also known as “Donatello” (1386-1466) was a fa-mous Italian sculptor. They were all famous for their creative art-works. However, all of them used very differ-ent methods - from paint and brush to crayons, to chisel and mallet.

In time, people got bored of painting on canvases, drawing on paper and sculpting marble stone, or perhaps

they were not skillful enough to use these techniques. Who

knows? Despite this, there was the urge to be creative. So, instead of canvas, paper and marble, we tried

creating art on walls, pavements and buildings. One of the most widely recognized “new” art forms was Graffiti.

This created something new and, in a way, valuable. Which, has by some, become a definition of Creativity.

Looking back throughout histo-ry, when people showed initiative and became cre-ative, it would not be difficult to be-lieve they may have been both outraged and surprised in equal measure…think of a feather being used to apply ink on a surface.

Those who were outraged probably thought that the guy was not using the object for its intended purpose. Those who were surprised probably thought that there was potential for this weird method of using a feather and ink-absorbing

People looking at a painting in a musuem

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surface to grow. Today, that weird form is called art.

Today - Art includes valuable paint-ings and artworks that are being auc-tioned for millions of dollars in muse-ums and art galleries around the world.

And lets be honest, have you ever stopped to take a close look at Graffiti to truly appreciate it? Well - I have, as have a great many others.

Of course there are people who are surprised when they see Graffiti, or maybe, outraged, by the fact that peo-ple are “ Vandalizing” property.

One of the things that never cease to amaze me is when I see this art high up on walls or in places that seem impossible to reach, and yet they have man-aged to create such an amazing piece of work in such a surpris-ing place.

I see this as the evolution of art.

Well, perhaps it is true, that be-cause we have our own proper-ties, so does the government, and this is considered vandalism. At the same time, another important consideration is whether or not these artists have gained permis-sion to begin with.

I believe that it is worth taking a fresh look at some of these alternative expressions of art - think of the 3D art

that you see on pavements and inspir-ing murals that you see on neglected and run-down buildings…

So, in conclusion, Creativity doesn’t re-quire chaos.

Chaos exists as a result of the outrage expressed by people who aren’t open to change.

Consequently - The Sticker Lady de-serves support.

Woman taking picture of graffitiWritten by Scott Chong

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Royston Tan brings yet another emotional film to locals. He used some familiar faces in the movie but he also introduced a wide array of actors to the audiences as well.

Royston Tan set the movie back-ground as the Getai, Getai is a usually boisterous live stage per-formance held during the Ghost Festival commonly held in Singa-pore and Malaysia, in contrast to the generally solemn mood of the festival. Taking inspiration from this, he focused on the Chinese 7th Month which is the Ghost Festival.

It is very similar when compared with another movie called “881” by Royston Tan too. No doubt that this movie also revolves around the Ge-tai like 881, but 12 Lotus made 881 look like a walk in the park, having its emotions come more strongly across, being a darker film than the previous one.

Since it is revolves around Ge-tai, it basically like a musical but in a Chinese way. There were a lot of Hokkien songs in the movie although it is sung to a relatively upbeat tune. The song “12 Lotus” became the backbone in which the story unfolded upon. With that said, many songs featured

Movie Review: 12 LotusDirector: Royston TanMain Cast: Mindee Ong, Liu Ling Ling and Qi Yuwu

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GETAI ONSCREEN

OPINION

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Written by Karen Kong

are non-repetitive and performed con-sistently throughout the entire film keep-ing true to the theme of Getai.

The costumes that were used in “12 Lo-tus” were less glitzy this time compared with “881” but gaudy nevertheless. Paired with the performances, it real-ly brought this film to life by adding the same upbeat atmosphere of actual Getai.

The cast also had a part to play with this, as they were able to express their feel-ings and the meaning of the songs that they performed. There were newer faces from the Getai scene that were also given supporting roles, and a cinematic plat-form to showcase what they can do to a new audience.

Royston Tan’s decision to cast the three main actors, which he had previously

cast together before, proved to be a wise one as it was a huge success. Un-doubtedly, Liu Ling Ling’s fan base and profile grew bigger in Royston Tan earli-

er movie.

Here she got to chal-lenge her-self with a more dra-matic role in “12 Lotus”, which can get heavy on an emo-tional level, which is a

total opposite to her previous roles. Not to say that Mindee Ong was vital, given its spilt structure with a tragic pivot. And of course for Qi Yuwu, he coupled it with song, dance, action and enough scenes to emote and show his acting chops.

The script was well written with a twist somewhere along the lines in the film. 12 Lotus, although similar to his previous work, portrays more than just Getai as it has a deeper plot. However, you will need to catch the movie yourself to get a grasp of this.

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SCOTT CHONG

KAREN KONG

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TEAM OF EDITORS

SITI SYAIMAH

SITI NUR FAISHA

BRANDON CHIA