{"id":34419,"date":"2015-03-01T17:49:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T09:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=34419"},"modified":"2021-05-10T19:01:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T11:01:23","slug":"meet-the-minister-lim-kay-siu-plays-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/meet-the-minister-lim-kay-siu-plays-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Minister: Lim Kay Siu Plays Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Public Enemy<\/em>, Lim Kay Siu plays politician Peter Chee, who resolves to keep order when his brother threatens to tell the world about the toxic water supply in Singapore. Kay Siu chats with us about getting under the skin of a character who holds opinions that are very different from his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about your character, Peter Chee.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I play the Minister, Mr. Peter Chee \u2013 he’s the brother of Thomas Chee, the scientist. He\u2019s very high up in the ministry, and he\u2019s a typical authority figure in many ways. He thinks that he and the authorities are doing well for the country. He doesn\u2019t want any troublemakers, and he wants to maintain the status quo. That\u2019s where he\u2019s coming from all the time. He has the whole country in his mind \u2013 he thinks big, on a big scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you characterise Peter\u2019s relationship with his brother, Thomas \u2013 the Public Enemy<\/em> of the play\u2019s title?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Peter Chee is the older brother by five or six years. He’s the typical elder brother. He’s more responsible. He thinks his younger brother has a wonderful imagination, but also believes Thomas can get his head buried in science and is very na\u00efve. He feels Thomas is a bit of a loose cannon and needs to be controlled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To what extent do you identify with your character?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I personally have problems with authority and authority figures. I\u2019m very mistrustful of people in power. I don\u2019t particularly like people who wield power because, even from young, I\u2019ve realised that it does something to them. It corrupts, and gives them a sense of entitlement \u2013 it makes them think they know better than others. That\u2019s a human fallibility. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I believe that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you go about playing your character, then, when his views are so diametrically opposed to your own?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a real turnaround for me. But I grew up with people who think and feel the way Peter does. I come from an upper middle-class background, with people who agreed with authority figures. My father himself was a great admirer of Lee Kuan Yew, although he felt, late in his life, that \u2013 despite his brilliance and good intentions for Singapore \u2013 Lee Kuan Yew had gone the wrong way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can remember how my father was, and imagine what he was thinking. That helps me try and understand Peter’s mindset. It’s a mindset of fear \u2013 that things can just disappear overnight, and so we have to keep order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How relevant have you found Public Enemy<\/em> to be in modern-day Singapore?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Now, in Singapore and to me, the play is very real. Because it questions the whole basis of what democracy is. Are the majority right? Should we just do what the majority thinks? And if we do what the majority thinks, are they right in the end? The majority can turn into a lynch mob \u2013 as in the case of xenophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The play presents a chilling look at politics and politicking too.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely. The authorities are now aware that there\u2019s a lot of dissatisfaction about how they wield power and make decisions without consultation. That\u2019s what this play is about too. When someone makes calls for the truth to be told, for everyone to be informed, the authorities often just say, \u2018Leave it to us, otherwise we\u2019ll spend all our time squabbling and we\u2019ll get nothing done.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also have a problem with how the people in power make the decision that certain costs are worth it. These are costs to human beings, but they tend to look at people as statistics because of the big picture. For the sake of expedience, people are deemed a necessary cost. These politicians forget the most important thing: they\u2019re there to serve [and protect] the humanity of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you had to walk in Thomas Chee’s shoes, what would you do?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I am<\/em> Thomas Chee in many ways! I get very angry at a lot of injustices. I can be rather na\u00efve about that. I\u2019m very emotional and, sometimes, my emotions get the better of me and I lose calmness and logic. I even did biochemistry as a degree, so I know how your head can get buried in all the science. If I were Thomas Chee, I suppose I would do what he did. To me, Singapore needs more people like Thomas who will stand up for the rights of humanity, rather than champion wealth and prosperity and thereby cause all sorts of inequality. I don’t believe in that at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Public Enemy, Lim Kay Siu plays politician Peter Chee, who resolves to keep order when his brother threatens to tell the world about the toxic water supply in Singapore. Kay Siu chats with us about getting under the skin of a character who holds opinions that are very different from his own. Tell us about …<\/p>\n

Meet the Minister: Lim Kay Siu Plays Politics<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":34420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[339,371,397],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}