Singapore is set up such that it is catering to a type of individual who wants to have a zone of comfort, a zone of convenience, where you make a lot of money, and then you go away and spend that money enjoying yourselves on holidays around the world. So it caters to a group of people. But there are many people who have things to say who have left, because there is little compatibility with what they are experiencing here. Then I ask myself this whole question of the ‘quitters’ and the ‘stayers’ (Writer’s note: this is a reference to a National Day rally address by former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 2002, when he called people who emigrated from Singapore as ‘quitters’ and those who stayed in Singapore as ‘stayers’). Perhaps stayers are the people who stay here who want a certain lifestyle, not a very engaged lifestyle. Because if you want to be engaged, you’d run into borders where you’d be regulated, and you can’t say the things you want to say, so people who want to say things leave. But they are the ones who have quality and desire quality. So what you have left are the stayers who have already quit from engaging with life socio-politically.
"I think a lot of institutions, festivals, and venues here are ghettoising themselves by looking at only Singapore, Southeast Asia and Asia. This makes no sense to me. One cannot consider Asia without looking at America and Europe and other parts of the world. For example, what's happening in Tokyo is as much affected by what is happening with ISIS, and what's happening in Europe or New York with the rise of populism and conservatism worldwide. For me, these parts of the world don't just function as a region. The regions are interconnected; we have to see them in a larger context. Therefore I feel that this kind of perception that we must program Southeast Asian or Asian arts is a very misguided way of thinking - you have stunted visions of Asia if you don't consider Asia or Southeast Asia as part of the world."