Singaporeans rally behind Free Sticker Lady movement
HAVE YOUR SAY: Amidst controversy over Sticker Lady’s arrest, was her arrest heavy-handed or warranted knowing what the consequences were for her actions?
Text: Shah Salimat
Singaporeans have taken to social media to express their sentiments towards the arrest of a 25-year-old woman who is believed to have painted "MY GRANDFATHER ROAD" on several roads in Singapore. The woman, who goes by the moniker of SKL0, is also believed to be behind the various circular stickers pasted around town recently, with captions such as "Press once can already" and "Anyhow paste kena fine".
Between May 17 and 21, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) found the painted words along Robinson Road and Maxwell Road and reported the matter to the police. Officers arrested the suspect at her home in eastern Singapore this Sunday. Items such as paint-stained stencils and caption-printed stickers were seized for investigation.
Hashtags such as #freestickerlady and #freeskl0 trended on Singapore's Twitter trending topics list within minutes of news surfacing of her arrest. Some have denounced the arrest, such as digital strategist Ms Pat Law who tweeted "You sentence #freestickerlady to anything, you sentence our culture to death". Activist Ms Kirsten Han noted that the font used on the circular stickers is Bebas, which means "free" in Malay. Twitter user @hachooneecham said: "It's vandal in your eyes because you don't know how to appreciate art."
In a statement to the media which was also posted on her Facebook page, Nominated Member of Parliament Ms Janice Koh said that street artists "take risks" to spread their message on public property and highlighted international street artist Banksy who has never been caught and continues to hide his true identity. She believes this is a good opportunity to distinguish between "this kind of art and outright vandalism that seeks to deliberately destroy public property for its own sake".
A petition for Sticker Lady's charge to be amended from vandalism to public nuisance has garnered some 6,300 signatures as at press time. In reference to the petition, Ms Koh said: "I think... (the petition's call) is a reasonable middle ground that recognises what is deemed as the anti-social behaviour of mistreating public property, but without the heavy-handedness of imposing a possible jail term. It is almost impossible to talk about developing a culturally vibrant, creative or loveable city, without some tolerance for those slightly messy activities that sometimes challenge the rules."
However, some citizens agree with the arrest. Student Mr Andrew Ho opined: "No matter how expressive or creative we can or want to be... we still have to respect the ethics of marketing and publicity." In a Facebook reply to a friend about the arrest's implications on the nature of art, Keith Chang says: "It's important to use (art) responsibly in a way which benefits everyone, not just to make a point so big it 'enlightens' a group of people but pisses another group off. Not just to say what you have to say, for yourself."
A person who is convicted of vandalism shall be punished with a fine of up to S$2,000, or jailed up to three years and caning.
HAVE YOUR SAY: What are your thoughts on the Free Sticker Lady saga? Sign in below and share your thoughts with us.
This is why Singaporean not creative, want to speak up must watch your movement and word or the minimum is 3 year Jail. we live in a dead expensive city. Where we must act and live like machine or robot
Whether it is creative, artistic, funny or entertaining is subjective and does not make any difference that it was done on public property illegally.
No one has the right to paint or paste on public properties just because he or she wants to.
What was done was not any exercise of freedom but of personal vanity.
"Ms Pat Law tweeted "You sentence #freestickerlady to anything, you sentence our culture to death."
Phooi! That kind of "culture" is not the only kind around.
"@hachooneecham said: "It's vandal in your eyes because you don't know how to appreciate art.""
Phooi! Nobody made you the judge of what is and is not art.
You can call it art if you want but you got no right to insist others do so.
Making a mountain out of a molehill i say. It was done in jest and it was funny. It wasn't even an eyesore(unlike on MRT's) or in very obvious view.
Learn to laugh a little everyone.
if by letting her off lightly. I think it sends a wrong message to everyone, vandalism is ok. As long as it is 'ART'. How do u define the word 'ART'. In time to come everyone will claim their share on all things on our shore belong to 'MY GRANDFATHER ONE'. We are already a SINGLISH country. There isn't need to promote them. All our money has gone down to the drain tea****nd promoting speak 'GOOD AND PROPER ENGLISH' With those so call 'SICKLY 'STICKERS'. It just make you even more sick by looking at them. There is no different to those stickers pasted by 'TAI YEE LONG'.
I just hope that she will not be set as an example and deterant. She should be fine and warned of her future conduct. Jail of any length will be too harsh. She probably did it out of expression and depending on how one sees it, many will enjoy the bit of laughter (which we all need!!!). Of course, others will call it vandalism.
I prefer to see the positive side of it and would encourage like-minded people with good ideas to find the "legal" way (dont ask me what is the legal way!) to express their actions and thoughts. But please stay responsible and senstive to ethnic, color, and our social backgrounds. These are never to be compromise for the freedom to express!
As an artist, infact for any artist, she needs an audience. She has chosen well for her audience: Singaporean, but poorly for the venue. If she has printed some of her messages on a T-shirt she could have make a small fortune.
Anyway, if our authorities judges her harshly it only shows how rigid, unappreciative of the humour we as human have. Human is the only species which can laugh. As in any anti-social behavior, the best punishment is social community work. Can our authorities do that and show us they are human?
This whole episode just demonstrates, once again, the gender-biased, discriminatory double standards of Singaporean laws. Plenty of women are found guilty of much more serious crimes than graffiti or vandalism yet are exempt from the inhumane and barbaric floggings that would be 'mandatory' had they been male. This is a contravention of Singapore's own constitution which supposedly espouses gender equality. How is it that a young man can be sentenced to 5 years jail and six cane strokes but his equally guilty female accomplice is spared jail altogether and gets only 2 years’ probation? What of all those female drug couriers, illegal immigrants and visa over-stayers? There is one law for women and an entirely different more brutal an inhumane one for men. I am not advocating that this woman should be caned for her crime but that 'everyone', regardless of gender should be treated 'equally' in the eyes of the law. This is blatantly not the case as things stand. Penalties are unjust and unconstitutional. True justice is 'blind' and punishes the crime not the gender of those who commit it.