True Singapore Ghost Stories

It’s no secret that I’m a firm believer in literature/the arts being able to shape society and create a collective identity/forge a collective bond.

It’s also no secret that I’m a big fan of horror literature, and even more so of Singaporean (Singapore pride!) horror literature.

As a kid growing up, my friends and I would share and swap our copies of different volumes of True Singapore Ghost Stories, written by Russell Lee. All of us—multicultural, multi-religiosity, multilingual us— shared (and still do) a common language, common understanding, common identity through this collective exchange of Singaporean ghost stories.

It’s more than just low-brow horror—it’s a genre that provides a common ground for a melting pot that is Singaporean society. It’s a means to share oral literature between cultures. It’s a means to share individual thoughts about the other side and then form a collective identity from a common understanding.

But Alfian Sa’at says it all here in his Facebook post on the subject:
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Falfiansaat%2Fposts%2F10154164954387371&width=500

What are your thoughts on this? 🙂

Till the next time!