Some also said a complaint lobbed to the URA — about the hardworking heritage lady in the mural looking like a prostitute — was prudish. I do wonder about the authenticity of the mural; her hands holding the offending cigarette were very well manicured for one who supposedly toiled day in, day out, carrying heavy bricks under the hot sun to build the foundations of modern Singapore.
Last week, controversy arose in Chinatown, near where I live, over a mural painted by an American artist on a shophouse wall. The samsui woman depicted was young, slender and — horror of horrors — elegantly puffing on a cigarette. This prompted the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to raise an objection, citing long-established rules against public displays glamorising smoking.
Cries of “reconsider” and “censorship” then exploded online. The public outcry was understandable. A high-handed government agency is again using anachronistic laws to snuff out creativity, innovation, artistic expression and, God forbid, the cigarette of a poor samsui woman merely taking a respite from the laborious work she was doing.
