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LIGHTENING UP: Jack Neo, wearing the PAP white uniform, during a stand-up comedy in 2005. He believes the authorities have become more tolerant of criticism. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF JACK NEO
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FILM-MAKER Jack Neo remembers a time in the 1970s when characters could not be portrayed on TV wearing sunglasses.
Strange, but true.
'They said it was rude,' remembers the 47-year-old.
And just who said that?
'Well, very often, we heard it was 'from upstairs'. But it was an upstairs we could never see!' he says.
These unwritten rules left artists like him with little room to exercise creative licence, he adds.
The obsession with rules - even those that seem ridiculous - and the opacity of edicts that supposedly come from on high, have relaxed somewhat in the past decades, he admits.
Still, there was enough fodder for his 10th and latest movie, Just Follow Law, which was released on DVD last week.
The movie, starring Gurmit Singh and Fann Wong, took digs at the reputed inflexibility and political manoeuvring of civil servants.
It made $2.8 million at the box office when released in February, a clear sign that Singaporeans still love his trademark working-class humour and jabs at the elites of the establishment.
But it is, as Mr Neo would say, 'no enough'.
He wants more leeway from the Government on some laws, especially like those on the use of Chinese dialects in films and on TV.
After his debut feature Money No Enough - a movie in which most of the dialogue was in Hokkien - a new rule was passed limiting the use of dialects in local productions to 50 per cent.
This, he says, is 'pointless and unnecessary'.
'The restriction on dialects in the media is no longer meaningful. The greatest threat to Mandarin is no longer the dialects. It is English. Does that mean we ban English? That's impossible, right?' he says with a laugh.
'There are scenes that I know sound more natural and realistic in dialect. But I have to shoot them in Mandarin because of the quota. It's a real problem.
'This is how people speak. This is what our society is like. My making a movie in dialect is not going to change the linguistic pattern of an entire country, is it?'
He would like to see dialects re-entering the TV programmes too.
'Maybe we can allocate a number of hours for such programmes to be broadcast on television, say after 10pm or a couple of hours in the afternoon. I don't think this will have any adverse effect, or discourage people from speaking Mandarin,' he says.
'And it will certainly appeal to older folk. They already have so little fun in their lives. What's so difficult about granting them those two hours of entertainment?'
But while he believes that some rules can and should be broken, the father of four is far from being an anarchist.
'If everyone doesn't follow the rules, the country will be turned upside down,' he says.
But obedience to rules and laws does not equate to silence and subservience, he adds.
The people should be allowed to voice their opinions and even use comedy to tackle politics.
'Humour allows you to get your message out more effectively to the masses...And people will think, 'Hey, the Government can joke with you, that's not bad',' he says, disagreeing with a view held by some in Government that using comedy or satire will undermine the image of officials and institutions here.
But, to be fair, he believes the authorities have become more tolerant of criticism in recent years: 'Before, it was very tiring to have a dialogue with the Government, because they always had to win. Our leaders today are a bit more open to criticism.'
Does that mean he will push the boundaries even further in lampooning the establishment?
Perhaps. The film-maker thinks he is sometimes not 'hiong' (aggressive) enough.
But he believes that any satire must be meaningful - making viewers think, rather than leaving them cynical.
'For every joke, I struggle, I research, and I think it through a lot. Every joke must be able to touch the people. But I don't want the joke to harm the country either. I choose topics which can sting. But the people must also understand why these things hurt and why they are necessary.'
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