{"id":5503,"date":"2019-12-09T23:24:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T15:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tembusu.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/?p=5503"},"modified":"2025-09-25T12:40:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T04:40:54","slug":"individuals-explored-a-conversation-with-suchen-christine-lim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/2019\/12\/individuals-explored-a-conversation-with-suchen-christine-lim\/","title":{"rendered":"Individuals Explored: A Conversation with Suchen Christine Lim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Suchen Christine Lim is a writer who is a recipient of the S.E.A. Write Award and many other accolades. In particular, she is also the recipient of the first Singapore Literature Prize. Born in Malaysia, she arrived in Singapore at the age of 14. Hanniel Lim interviews the writer for Tembusu\u2019s Inaugural Dinner for Academic Year 2019\/2020.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How\ndid you end up in Singapore?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was from Malaysia. I arrived in\nSingapore as a teenager\u2014a long time ago, just before Singapore became\nindependent, in the 1960\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nare currently having the Bicentennial this year. What do you feel about\nSingapore\u2019s journey?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we have made really wonderful progress. When I first arrived, Singapore was grey and rat-infested. When you ate chao fan or char kway teow in Chinatown, you might see a rat peeping over your neighbour\u2019s plate. [both laugh]<\/em> We accepted it without making a hoo-ha or calling the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I remember feeling very\nmiserable because Singapore was so flat compared to Malaysia. There were no\nhills. And now, not so much greenery. But if I had stayed on in Malaysia, I\ndon\u2019t think I would have had a chance to enter university, because of their policies\nconcerning the different ethnic groups in Malaysia. So coming to Singapore gave\nme a chance to pursue an education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently,\nwe have rising concerns about inequality in Singapore. Do you think that\nSingapore has opportunities for everyone today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not quite sure. There are things in\nthe system that might make it quite difficult for a poor person without the\nsocial capital, without the parents, without the money. Although there are many\nbursaries and subsidies to apply for, if you can\u2019t read regulations properly, it\nmight be very difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nthink what you have brought up is spot on. In fact, I am currently on a lot of\nfinancial aid in NUS, and there is a lot of bureaucracy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you <\/em>applying?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes,\nand I have to apply every year. And it can get very difficult. For example,\nsometimes my brother is unemployed, and if his unemployment coincides with the\napplication period, I would have to declare all the household bills for the\nentire year. So it can get really scary.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which means that even though you are\na university student, you find it difficult. You\u2019ll have to make sure you\ncollect all the bills, listings, and whatever, so that you have evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you see what I mean by systemic\ndifficulties built by bureaucrats who have not experienced the same needs. No\nmatter how good their intentions, sometimes it cannot meet the needs, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m glad you have the experience\u2014not that I\u2019m glad<\/em> [both laugh],<\/em> but relieved<\/em> that you can confirm the experience; it is not just out of a writer\u2019s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I ask, are you born in\nSingapore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes\nI am.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You say your brother is sometimes\nunemployed\u2014is he the sole breadwinner?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well,\nmy mother passed away a few years ago. So we do have some savings that are left\nbehind. We try to make the most of it. However, my father is already of age, unable\nto do much work. I do work on the side. I think my brother is having a really\ndifficult time; he goes for therapy. I wouldn\u2019t say he is a breadwinner, but we\ntry to work things out.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish you well. Indeed, things can\nbe worked out. I suppose the difficulties a person might face is that you can\nhave someone with the same talent in a richer family so they don\u2019t have to\nstruggle with buying the books or thinking of the next term\u2019s fees. Whereas someone\non bursaries has to think of these issues like budgeting despite receiving aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nremember being really stressed out about money in National Service. I would not\nstay out and would usually eat in camp in order to save money.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I give you some hope and advice?\nEspecially as an older person who has experienced difficulties. If we go\nthrough it, it makes us stronger. It makes us more sympathetic. Don\u2019t let it\nharden you. It can make us sceptical and cynical about things. There is a\nChinese saying that heaven will give you the things that you can bear and makes\nyou strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking\nof hardships making people cynical, I am considering the issue of inequality\nand hardship in a converse way. Do you think this generation, as much as it\ncares about inequality, is also becoming envious and unforgiving?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you mean the younger generation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes,\nmy generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, people who grew up with less\nwould not expect the world or other people to provide for them. They would\nprovide for themselves. We have to be independent. But at the same time, I\nwouldn\u2019t tar a whole generation. I mean there are people like you, you know, who\ngives me faith in the next generation. And the people who write and those who\nstruggle to help set up charities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True,\nat the same time, my generation is getting more involved with humanitarian\nwork.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll talk in terms of subject:\nsociology, history, science, etc. You look at objects and people and society as\na general whole, as a mass. Whereas if we read a novel, if we read literature, we\nlook at the individuals. No matter how insignificant that individual might be\nin the eyes of society, the novelist can give him significance. He plays the\nhero, he\u2019s the centre-stage, or he\u2019s an anti-hero, and we see into the human\nheart, and not just talk about \u201cthis generation\u201d, or \u201cthese people in society\u201d\u2014not\nin generalizations. So we need to see people as individuals and every\nindividual is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking\nof the power of literature, what do you think of the decline of the humanities,\nespecially in the pre-university level.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s the next generation\u2019s\nloss. It might be the short-sightedness of some parents or some educators when\nthey do not encourage the study of the humanities. I think the reading of\nlonger forms\u2014I was just talking to somebody about it\u2014we tend to read short\ntexts now because of social media. Facebook is that one-screen page. Beyond\nthat, you can\u2019t get their attention. And they go for photographs, and those\nicons\u2014what do you call that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emojis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, emojis [both laugh]<\/em> to express feelings. Which is sad! It becomes robotic! A robot can do emojis very well. The only things that make us human and help us retain our humanity is the ability to think deeply from many angles and to be able to express this in a coherent\u2014to put it this way\u2014”essay\u201d. We\u2019re the only species who can write an essay, or story, or novel, or any long text. And the robots are only able to write very short text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do\nyou find that this makes the current polarization in politics worse? I find\nthat on both sides today, that people seem to be talking over each other and\nare unable to relate to each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[laughter]<\/em> Are you talking about Trump and\nAmerica and China?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nin Singapore too! For example, over the issue of inequality we were talking\nabout, I am caught in a tension between being thankful for the opportunities\nfor being Singaporean while also acknowledging the issues of inequality. But\nsometimes it can be difficult to find people who can embrace the tension.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nwe\u2019re short on time. To close off, what advice would you give to young people\ntoday? When we are worried about inequality, what do you think are some\nprinciples that could guide us? When are we pursuing equality too far? What is\nthe line between concern and envy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the person does not have wants\nwhat the other person has, and he goes out to steal or cheat, that would not be\nfair. And if the person who has and wants more, more, and more\u2014like \u201cAmerica\nFirst\u201d\u2014then it creates a lot of problems for others and it is unjust, and\ngreedy. So I look at Trump\u2019s policy of America First, and you see how many\nproblems he has created. The world is less safe because of what he has done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My advice to students would be: You\nhave to choose. There is a moral cost in our choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank\nyou so much for your time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish you all the best. Are you the\neditor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes,\nI am the editor.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you write one day. It won\u2019t have to be novels, it could be non-fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve\nwritten some poems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need people who can write good\narticles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

This article is part of a series of interviews of Singapore’s cultural icons who were guests for Tembusu’s Inaugural Dinner for Academic Year 2019\/2020. See the other interviews here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Header and feature images by Malcolm Fu.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the interviewer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanniel Lim is a Year 2 NUS student. Somehow, he still hasn\u2019t declared his major.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hanniel Lim interviews the S.E.A Write Award recipient and inaugural winner of the Singapore Literature Prize for Tembusu\u2019s Inaugural Dinner for Academic Year 2019\/2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":5544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","publication_type-interview","theme-arts","theme-media","theme-society","scope-singapore","flavour-informative","flavour-inspiring"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5503"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5621,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5503\/revisions\/5621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tembusu3.nus.edu.sg\/treehouse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}