Wanted: An NMP For the Arts

Today ran this story on 22 April 2009:

Wanted: An NMP for the arts
By Mayo Martin

THEIR socio-political commentaries can be found in their films, plays
and literary works. Now, the arts community hopes to have a voice on a
new stage: The chamber of Parliament.

For the first time, the community is searching ground-up for
candidates to the post of Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) .

To create a buzz among their peers, a group of artists set up on
Monday an online community group, ArtsNMP, on Yahoogroups to stimulate
discussion and debate.

The move followed an initial meeting last Thursday of some 100 arts
practitioners from various disciplines, where several names were
suggested.

Potential candidates included stage veterans Beatrice Chia, Eleanor
Wong and Janice Koh. Today understands that theatre director Loretta
Chen and musician Jeremy Monteiro also expressed interest.

The freewheeling meeting, held at White House @ Emily Hill, was
organised by Theatre Training and Research Programme director T
Sasitharan, along with peers such as playwright Tan Tarn How, The
Substation artistic director Audrey Wong, The Necessary Stage’s Alvin
Tan and Haresh Sharma, TheatreWorks’ Ong Keng Sen and Tay Tong, and
Post Museum owner and Artists Village member Woon Tien Wei.

Also present at the event was current NMP Siew Kum Hong, who gave his
opinion and advice on the matter.

Given that the NMP scheme has been around for two decades, what
prompted the landmark event?

Mr Sasitharan told Today: “There’s been, for a long time, a sentiment
among artists and the arts community that there’s a need for
representation of some of the primary concerns of artists at the
highest level in society.

“It’s quite clear the community is extremely diverse (but) it doesn’t
belie the fact that there are significant concerns that sometimes
affect large numbers ... We feel a voice in Parliament would have
these issues and concerns aired at the right forum.”

He cited censorship, funding for the arts and “transparency and
accountability in cultural policies” as some examples on the minds of
practitioners.

The names bandied about so far suggests “there are a number of names
capable of standing up and representing this motley group in
Parliament”, he believes.

Last week’s meeting also surfaced names such as W!ld Rice’s Ivan Heng
and filmmakers Tan Pin Pin and Sun Koh, who all declined, along with
the organisers.

Through the online discussion group, the hope is that more would step
forward and express their keenness to be put forward as a candidate,
said an arts practitioner who declined to be named, adding that they
do not expect the person to champion only an arts agenda if selected.

While the group is willing to endorse individuals, it is not insisting
that candidates must get its backing, stressed Mr Sasitharan. “We want
to engage these people and let this people know that is a group of
peers who are supportive.”

Media, arts and sports organisations constitute one of the six
functional groups invited to nominate candidates for the NMP post. The
incumbent representative from this group is Ms Jessie Phua, president
of the Singapore Bowling Federation.

The deadline for NMP nominations is May 11.