Yeo: The Poetry

Robert Yeo is best known for his poetry, so I've decided to save the best for last. He became interested in poetry as early as secondary school and has published 5 volumes of poetry, been included in anthologies and collaborations, and has many poems still unpublished. His poetry explores similar themes to his other work, namely the importance of identity, experience, and travel. He writes poetry about the singaporean experience and his feelings on being a part of that experience. I've picked out a few of my favorites to talk about and discuss here; they range from the personal to the international. I think that they show an astute awareness of the surrounding world and an attempt to fit everything together

First, I would like to talk about his poem "Turn of the Decade 1969-70." It once again draws on his experience in London and the more general experience that was the turbulent decade of the 60's. I see it as an attempt to reconcile the excitement and passion of that world with his return to Singapore and his becoming older.

“We now in Singapore can have luxuries:

Golden mile or shoe, Khersonese silk, Marco Polo...

But not the ideological type. Not in the seventies.

In this decade of ours must be the politics

Of consolidation. In the sixties, remember,

The decade that spawned slogans and believed in them,

There was a marriage and there was a divorce.”

(In part)

He portrays Singapore as being a society much more restricted than that of London. Ideological liberties are particularly called out as being much more suppressed. He seems to view the material luxuries he mentions as ephemeral distractions from the important things that mark a true and successful government and country (freedom of expression and culture). As for the last line discussing a marriage and divorce, I think it refers to the personal changes the students of the 60's have gone through. Previously in the poem he mentions friends who once valued their freedom being tied down by marriage and serious jobs. They were once married to their romantic ideals and slogans but were forced to divorce them when reality set in.

Yeo covers a similar theme in his poem "Garden City." He emphasizes the importance of cultural development over simple economic and real estate development.

“But a garden city? Well, I expect more

Than just a hygienic place, more than

Just the ordered tapestry of streets,

Tree-lined or linked by parks or squares.

But such imagination must extend

To pursuits where plays may be freely performed

Not banned by some policeman taught to think

That art must have a criminal code.”
(In Part)


Here he makes a point against the sterility of a city and society as an oppression against expression and a hinderance against freedom. The reference to the policeman is taken from his personal experiences with government sensors concerning the staging of plays. He believed them to pick out and choose problems according to standards that are ultimately blind to reading the meaning of a work as a whole.

His poem "Saigon 2" follows a more broad perspective about what he saw and felt during the Vietnam War. It expresses his viewpoint that United States involvement was ultimately a hinderance to anything constructive being able to develop in the region. It further suggests that Western powers have no place in Southeast Asian affairs.

“Democracy is a wind-blown seed and the land

Is now too soiled for any sprig to grow

But the hardiest; and Napalm does not help”

(In Part)

These lines mean that democracy is something that must occur naturally; something people must choose. The efforts of the US are actually counterproductive to their goals as the violence and turmoil (napalm does not help). This poem displays Yeo's broader views about the region and life he has grown up in and how it has become important to him.

My favorite poem, "Leaving Home Mother", successfully combines many of Yeo's themes and shows a deep love for Singapore even if he does not always agree with it. The poem focuses on the need to travel to broaden one's perspective and on the other end a need for a home and identity. Poems like this speak especially clear to me on exchange here in Singapore because I can relate to Yeo's thoughts and experiences.

“And Singapore

I’m leaving you, too,

You’ll soon know why.

There’s a lot to be said

For going abroad, if you come home

Come home a Singaporean.

It does not matter if you’ve had

A rather varied history of domicile...

However, I’m prepared

Like any filial first son

Of responsible, stern parents

To defer my going away, Singapore,

For a week or two

If you just indicate

You are going to miss me”

(In Part)

I find it very effective how he uses metaphor to compare Singapore to a parent. I think this is a reference to the strict rules and subdued political expressions that he does not agree on. Like a parent, we may feel rebellious against the rules that they set but we truly do still love them. The last line quoted to me is very powerful, showing that he will always have a sense of belonging and will always show himself as a filial son to his country

Yeo: Snippets of Reviews and Interview

“For me, Robert Yeo’s Contribution to local poetry will always be more than the sum of his poems.

Like Ee Tiang Hong, who is perhaps more polished, Yeo has given to poetry a rich, prosaic definition- one that says a good poem must, more than anything else, communicate and tell.

I can best justify such a grand attribution on very personal grounds. Yeo’s poems, which I found (and still find) refreshingly down-to-earth, changed my attitude towards poetry- and by extension, literature- when I was in secondary school”

-Chua Chong Jin, Straits Times 6 December 1989

“The play and the dialogue is strong and forceful. Scene three stands out most in the play when in a face to face confrontation, there is heated dialogue between Fernandez and Chye over ideologies, PAP, and parliamentary democracy. Though very much political, the theme is underplayed and overshadowed by other themes. The careful blend is artistic and lends itself to non commitment”

-Jagjit Nagpal, Straits Times 16 November 1980

“Robert Yeo’s volumes of poetry are not so much collections of artefacts as chronicles of a life. His poems are personal poems, reflections on observed reality. They chronicle the developments of an individual consciousness while at the same time they chronicle the development of Singapore. The parallelism of the poet and the city is unforced but recurrent.”

-Michael Wilding

Q: Would you regard yourself as a controversial writer?

A: “Controversial” is a relative word. One could be controversial because a reviewer objected to my depiction of women, as was the case with Holden Heng in 1989, and I rebutted and there was a series of exchanges. Or one is controversial for addressing themes the government was not ready to see addressed, such as opposition politics in the case of my play One Year Back Home in 1980. So yes, in these two examples, I am controversial. I see the term “controversial” as being more meaningful if it means that the writer probes new areas of expression which extends the boundaries and adds what can be said about them. In the case of Gopal Baratham, Singapore politics in A candle or the sun or sex in Sayang. (Mind you there’s a lot more than sex in Sayang.) Just as there is more to Changi than overt scenes of political interrogation in prison.

(Ban Kah Choon Talks to Robert Yeo- 2000)

Yeo: The Singapore Trilogy (Part 2 & 3)

Along with, Are You there Singapore?, Yeo’s One Year Back Home and Changi are known in ensemble as the Singapore Trilogy. The latter two dramas follow the same characters after their return to Singapore and deal with different themes than Are You there Singapore? Political themes are very heavy in these dramas including questioning the duty to one’s country and duty to one’s friends. Different takes on nationalism also play a major role in the plot as well as a lurking unrequited love story.

Yeo originally had problems staging One Year Back Home because of the inclusion of dialogue debating opposition platforms with those of the PAP. This led to his major run in with government censors who he felt were unqualified to make judgements on literature based solely on stiff bureaucratic standards that ignore the work’s meaning. Changi, though written later, was pretty critical of the government at the time and the Internal Security Act in particular.

But onto the themes-

Politics in Early Singapore:

Politics is so heavy in these dramas that I can imagine watching this being staged and believe that I’m at a debate. Honestly, I can not imagine a few of these scenes being captivating for an audience unless everyone is really into politics (and I mean REALLY). This part of the drama focuses around two characters who are running for the same MP seat. Chye is running as the PAP candidate and Fernandez, a minor character in the first play, now becomes a central character running as an opposition candidate. Their debate focuses on class representation and struggle, the need for an opposition in parliament, and the usefulness of symbols and values. It takes place in the context of Singapore’s chit fund scandal which teaches me some history at the same time. Singapore’s political system is very interesting to me, so it was useful to read Yeo’s take on it as he examines two different viewpoints. The opposition viewpoint is presented as one which emphasizes the need for lively debate and dissension within politics for a healthy government, and the PAP becoming deaf to the needs of smaller groups and steamrolling them in the name of culture. The PAP take is shown to argue that Singapore as a still developing country needs strong leadership instead of debate for state influenced economic growth to work. The example used is that while other Asian countries are overly cautious with letting in foreign investment and companies, the PAP has made the opposite choice rightly and has grown the economy successfully as a result.

Duties, Values, and Integrity:

While reading Changi, I couldn’t help but notice the similarity with Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Both involve main characters who hold onto their values and integrity over their life and freedom. This play sees Fernandez in Changi prison being held as a suspected communist. This is another example of Yeo writing what he knows and mirrors the plight of his friend who suffered the same fate. Fernandez holds out against the television confession and starts a hunger strike to protest the conditions, ultimately imagining himself as a possible Nelson Mandela type. What ultimately convinces him to agree to the terms is a sense of duty to his parents and friends to not leave them to worry. Duty then becomes another theme, whether it’s to one’s family or country.

I found the characterization to be very strong with Fernandez. Underneath his political plot, there was a love subtext involving him being in love with Hua and her not returning this love. I thought that this pain added to and was an important part of his political fire and recklessness.

My Thoughts:

All in all I thought the two plays provided me with an interesting glimpse into the political and cultural landscape of 70's Singapore. It was a very turbulent decade in the world and was effectively managed and portrayed by the two plays. What was especially interesting was the criticism of imprisonments without trial and possible human rights abuses at the time.

Yeo: Are You There Singapore?

Writers write best about what they know. I suppose one could view this play as semi-biographical as the plot centers around Singaporean students studying abroad in 1960's London just like Yeo himself did. It deals with common themes Yeo goes back to including personal identity and self discovery.

The Singaporean Identity:

Throughout the play the characters struggle to reconcile western life and values with those they grew up with. Dialogue explores the concept of protesting. It is pointed out to be strange that in London students are protesting a war on the other side of the world involving two nations that are not their own. Why then do Singaporeans who have an arguably larger stake and interest in the war and regional stability not protest and remain mostly silent?

The characters discuss Singapore politics and events in many scenes and speculate that their increased interest has arisen from the fact that they are now removed in London and are looking back on their home and identity through a different lens. That's my interpretation of the title at least.

Self Discovery/ Experimentation:

Another important theme of the drama is that of experimentation. Of the main characters, Richard is the one who embraces the more permissive society found in London and takes every opportunity to try new things and discover the what the outside world has to offer. A character on the opposite side of the spectrum, Sally, is reluctant to let herself go and forget her values ultimately sustaining them throughout the play. The more dynamic characters are siblings Chye and Hua who are hesitant but do go out and try new things, leading to the major plot points and drama of the story. 

Whether or not Yeo is trying to advocate being adventurous or conservative is ambiguous. The adventurous Richard is portrayed as having great and important experiences for self-growth. Conservative Sally is shown at one point to be unsure if what she is doing is too reserved but ultimately accepts herself as adhering to who she is and what she believes. Chye follows less of a clear path but seems to be more in line with Sally, being absent from many of the more scandalous scenes. Hua is the central and most dynamic character, letting herself get somewhat lost in the culture and having a trampling at a demonstration and unwanted pregnancy to show for it. Dealing with the pregnancy (whether to abort or not) is the catalyst that brings the entire cast together to analyze their true values regardless of the society they find themselves in. I think in this sense the characterization is very effective in establishing each player not only as a type or simple product of society but deep down as their own person. The pregnancy solution thus is driven by who the people are and not what is allowed in a freer London or unacceptable in a more conservative Singapore.

Legacy:

The play drew a lot of acclaim and attention at the time for reproducing realistic singapore dialect and conversation that was not common in drama at the time. It was one of the plays that helped reinvigorate local dramas and showcased a lot of themes and ideas that Singaporeans could relate to, contributing to its success.

Fun Fact: 

Yeo met his wife during the first staging of the play. Isn't that romantic?

Robert Yeo's Routes

As I mentioned in my first post, I picked this up as a companion for my Spring break travels. Why not read about one man's travels while doing a bit of my own? Plus, he made a pretty good pitch for it in his lecture.

Now, before I discuss it, let me first clear something up. In class, Yeo mentioned how the title has a double meaning in that "routes" and "roots" both sound the same and are both major themes of his memoir. He also mentioned that this would be lost on American readers who apparently pronounce "routes" with an "ow" sound. As an American, let me just say that neither I nor anyone I've ever talked to says it like that and I'm not sure why people think we do (it isn't the first time I'd heard someone think so).

So anyway, the book:
I'll discuss both the "roots" and "routes" that I found as present in the memoir.

Roots:

Part of this was very dry, but most of this was very interesting. For example, the pages he focuses on his family tree held my attention like a bucket without a bottom. But the chapters on his childhood in Singapore was very interesting to me. I could compare it both with the different culture I experienced growing up and the different era I experienced. While some things were different, it is always a comfort to me to know that halfway around the world half a century ago, school kids were pretty similar. In terms of Yeo's family life, I thought the chapters provided me with a good snapshot of Singaporean family dynamics and working with a bilingual household and immigrant parents. Another of the chapters entitled, "Chinese cannot speak Chinese" details and encounter he had with the lady who served food at his school. She made a comment about the Chinese (and other ethnic groups by extension) losing their culture to a more western oriented Singapore. This sort of sets the stage for Yeo to become passionate about a Southeast Asian and Singaporean identity.

The other piece of the roots discussed is Yeo's involvement in the development of the Singapore English literature scene. He recounts compilations made with other Singaporean pioneer writers such as Goh Poh Seng who we have become familiar with. Yeo discusses his work with the emerging universities of Singapore and lower education systems. It is really the story of post independence Singapore's literary and intellectual scene, a view I would not have gotten from a book focused more on history.

Routes:

This is mostly about Yeo's travels first to Europe and then around Southeast Asia. He spends a while talking about two years he spent studying in London which helped to broaden his perspective to be more worldwide. This certainly caught my attention because, while my studies may not be nearly as serious, here I am in Singapore having a similar experience myself.

He also talks about his time as a reporter in Thailand and his experiences with the effects of the Vietnam War in the region. A lot of his poetry was inspired by the cities he visited and the people he met and this further increased his sense and need to discover what his identity meant to him.

Throw in a few sections dealing with women and lost loves and You have yourself a memoir.


I was very impressed by all the connections he was able to make and the passions he was able to pursue. And of course I was inspired by all the stories of traveling and hope to find similar passions in my own life.

Robert Yeo: A Profile

When author, Robert Yeo, came in to talk to our class he quickly caught my attention. He has so far lived through the entirety of Singapore's history as an independent state as well as some pivotal events in Southeast Asia's history. His poem "Out of Changi" that we read proved that his work reflected a personal passion and interest for the times he experienced, and his lecture showed that he wasn't afraid to be a little political.
Having never been to Asia before, and knowing very little about Singapore's history, I figured that Yeo's work would be a good place for me to start. So I picked up his memoir to read over Spring break and ended up engrossed in his view of what it means to be Singaporean.

The Man:

-Born 1940 in Singapore

-Has worked as a teacher, reporter, and lecturer

-Travels through Europe and Asia

-Received Singapore public Service Medal in 1991

His Works:

Poetry Collections:

Coming Home Baby (1971)

And Napalm Does Not Help (1977)

A Part of Three (1989)

Leaving Home, Mother (1999)

Drama:

Singapore Trilogy

Are You There, Singapore? (1974)

One Year Back Home (1980)

Changi (1996)

Second Chance (1988)

The Eye of History (1991)

Other:

The Adventures of Holden Heng (Novel, 1986)
Routes (Memoir, 2011)