The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) recently mandated a Mandarin dub for regular screenings of the film Dear You.
This reminded me of the controversy surrounding the mural of a smoking samsui woman in Chinatown, when the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) initially prioritised anti-smoking guidelines over the mural’s historical context.
In both cases, policies were rigidly applied at the expense of our authentic cultural heritage.
IMDA’s citing of the 1979 Speak Mandarin Campaign to restrict the Teochew screening of Dear You feels not only anachronistic but also out of touch.
The fact that 4,800 tickets for the Teochew screenings of Dear You were snapped up in two hours shows that Singaporeans are starved of authentic connections to their roots.
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