ISLAND EMBRACES ITS OWN

Jack Neo doesn't come barging in the room firing off Hokkien-Mandarin-Singlish jokes _ like his multi-dialect characters often do. In his solemn-coloured jacket he could pass off as a Southeast Asian industrialist, yet the chubby man becomes chatty, bouncy, with an air of comic nervousness, when he starts talking. In Bangkok last month to screen his movies at a special event, Singapore's most successful commercial film director is out to prove, without meaning to in the first place, that Singaporeans do have a sense of humour.

''A lot of people think we don't,'' he said, chuckling. ''Of course we do, how can we not? And it's a unique sense of humour indeed.''

If he's correct, that uniqueness has much to do with Singaporeans' ability to laugh at themselves. The movies that Neo has made in the past 10 years are largely fuelled by comic representations of life in that island-state known for its strict, parental governing style. His characters often come across, on the surface, as confirming the unfair stereotypes of Singaporeans as money-mad, success-oriented and selfish, though the movies portray those qualities as human weaknesses rather than national traits. Meanwhile, Neo's hilarious mocking of his government's absurd rules _ from traffic regulations to national educational policies _ have come to function as sharp, tailored criticism thrown at his own country.

The breakthrough came when Neo made Money No Enough (1997), a story of three men whose greed and foolhardiness land them in a series of troubles. It was made with a paltry budget, with poor-quality equipment, and with Mr Neo, who also stars as one of the leads, knowing how to write funny situations but not all the technical aspects of moviemaking.

It didn't matter; Money No Enough opened quietly, then went on to become a national phenomenon, and after five months in the cinema it had claimed a Singaporean audience of nearly one million _ this, in a country with a population of four million. Today, it still holds the record for the all-time biggest earner for a local film.

Its success also opened up a new phase: Neo showed that it's possible for Singapore to have a commercially viable film industry. Before Money No Enough, there had been a few artists who made independent and arthouse titles _ Eric Khoo a prominent figure among them _ but Neo's sensational hit proved that it's possible for Singaporean movies to become cultural products that capture the minds of the masses.

''I had no idea why it was such a big hit,'' said Neo. ''Before I made the film, I hosted a comedy show on TV, and it was a good training ground for me, because I had to do everything from coming up with the story, writing the gags, and starring. The show was able to beat drama shows in terms of audience ratings, which was unusual in Singapore, and it made me confident that I knew the kind of humour Singaporeans wanted to see.

''To me, Singaporeans are a group of people who want to see real things _ things that happen in their daily lives. They can relate to that; even the title Money No Enough is enough to involve the people. Of course I exaggerate the situation in my scripts, but not so much. I keep things real because reality creates the most effective drama. Then I try to make it heartwarming. Actually people told me that my films are advertised as comedy when in fact they're quite sad.''

Sad, again, because it's true. Neo's 2002 film I Not Stupid _ notice how he flaunts that sometimes irritating, sometimes amusing Singlish in his titles as well as in his movies _ was a hit not only in Singapore but in Hong Kong and Taiwan, too. The film, billed as a family comedy, threw a direct jibe at Singapore's educational system that stigmatises ''slow-learners'' by treating them like outcasts and creating the environment in which the whole school looks down on them. The story also involves parents who selfishly force their children to study hard, because exam results are a badge of honour for middle-class Singaporean parents.

The film was a hit (as was the sequel, I Not Stupid Too). The then-Prime Minister of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, even spoke about the film at the National Day Rally, citing how it reflected the uncomfortable truths in Singapore's not-so-perfect educational structure. It's hard to say how much the film actually influenced the politicians to review the system, but in the past few years the government has indeed adjusted the school classification system to make it less ''cruel'' for children who're not doing academically well, according to director Neo.

''I never had an audience who got angry at me because they thought my movie made fun of them,'' he says. ''I made Singaporeans laugh at themselves, yes, but I don't criticise them or mock them. I just see things from my perspective and use humour to tell the story. Of course when the joke doesn't involve you, you laugh. When it does, you find it more difficult to laugh. But still, it's reality that I present on screen. Actually I have many viewers who came over to thank me for showing them what they hadn't realised before, especially after I Not Stupid.

''And I don't think my movies work to confirm the stereotypes about Singaporean people,'' Neo adds. ''You watch Hong Kong movies and they're all mafia. You watch Thai movies and you see ghosts everywhere. It doesn't mean all Hong Kong people are mafia or there are ghosts everywhere in Thailand! I don't think the way I create my characters is a confirmation that Singaporeans are like that. People shouldn't be judged from the movies.''

Yet in a positive way, Neo's films display a kind of culture-specificity the same way that, say, Thai comedy movies somehow represent the laid-back, easy-come-easy-go character of the nation. Many dialogue-driven gags in Neo's films may not work as effectively in non-Chinese-speaking territories, and his mockery of Singaporean rules and regulations may not be understood at the same level by non-Singaporeans.

Neo, however, doesn't entirely agree. When he makes fun of his government, he argues, even people outside of Singapore can enjoy that because they also want to laugh at their own governments. His favourite theme of family and how family members treat each other, too, is a topic that has deep resonance across Asian countries. In fact Neo is in the process of remaking Money No Enough in China, since the original film was popular there, as if its title alone had become a bankable irony for any country with overheated capitalism.

That remake, of course, will be in Mandarin. In most of Neo's movies, the characters babble a tonic mix of Chinese dialects and Singlish _ a strong cultural specificity that gives Neo's film a vivid Singaporean feel.

''Again, I want to show the real things on screen, in this case the way people speak in Singapore,'' he says. ''Officially, the government wants people to speak pure Mandarin or pure English, and not a dialect, not Hokkien.

''This is because they believe that if you speak many languages, you cannot be good at any of them and your power of the language _ of English _ will diminish. I don't say they're wrong. But that's not a good reason for you to kill the dialects.

''Singapore was a colony of the British, so we started speaking English a very long time ago, and along the way we developed our own style. For China and other countries, they have

[relatively] just started speaking English, so they can learn the real English. To me, Singlish is unique. Some people think it's a shame, but not me. Do you hear the Japanese speak English? It's not perfect, but who cares? I think you can impress people by the things that you do, not if you speak perfect English.''

After a decade and over a dozen films written or directed by Neo, he remains the frontman in the Singaporean film industry _ meaning the industry of popular commercial films. Almost every year a new film of his has been booked for the calendar's most lucrative release day during Chinese New Year. And even though he's never been known for his technical finesse, it's the stories and the attitude of his works that keeps him afloat as a prominent figure. In 2005, he received the Cultural Medallion, the government's highest honour granted to artists.

Yet despite the growing support from the Singaporean government enjoyed by the arts sector _ the Singapore Film Commission has been very active in boosting the profile of homegrown movies, while the Singapore Art Festival has matured into the most respectable event in the region _ the ''Singaporean film industry'' remains in a developing state. Each year only 10 or so local movies are granted a cinematic release (Thailand averages 40). The country has a host of talents _ Neo as a popular director, Eric Khoo as the pioneer of the indie cinema, with younger directors like Roystan Tan and Shermon Ong making a wave at film festivals.

''During the Lee Kuan Yu years, the government didn't believe in media,'' said Neo. ''During the building of the nation, maybe we didn't have time for the media and the arts. We thought about food problems, housing problems; the entertainment industry wasn't something to take seriously. Actually the government back then saw the media as the problem.

''That changed with the Goh Chok Tong government. They saw that the media wasn't just newspapers and TV, but movies and other stuff. One movie can create so many jobs in the country.

''The government is more friendly [to the artists]; it's not like they're 'up there' and we're 'down here', like it used to be. They want to make things closer between government and people. I'm not sure what the result would be, but at least it's a good sign.''

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