Friday, 3^rd December 2004 | 2:26 PM
Singapore Idol

A tad late to be talking about this, but we had the finals of Singapore Idol on Wednesday night, and Taufik won. Yay! Now, I can't claim to be a fan of the show, considering I haven't been watching the show at all beyond the crappy audition eps of the beginning, and the final one night ago (no thanks to my wonderful work situation this past couple of months). I'm a tad embarrassed to say that I voted for Taufik, only because I felt he was better than Sylvester and thus should win. He's a better performer, and more versatile compared to Sylvester and were the World Idol competition still be on I think Taufik should represent Singapore. From the beginning I'd been rooting for Jessea actually, but she got voted out way early.

I know a lot of people are sceptical about this show and have been rubbishing the show and stuff like that. Saying things like "it's not comparable to American Idol" and stuff like that. And I find it a tad annoying. Here's a chance, flawed or not (but hey, nothing's perfect after all), for Singaporeans to try their luck at stardom and gain stardom beyond our tiny shores. For those who grab it and succeed, we should be proud of them. For those who didn't succeed, at least they tried. We always whine about how the Americans have this TV show or that TV show, but when we have a chance at doing something similar, we try to detract at the winner's success.

For those detractors, I say - You suck. Taufik may not be Pavarotti or anything like that, but has the talent and potential to be a well-loved entertainer. And Singapore Idol has given him the opportunity to showcase that talent and help him go further. I'm sure at least thousands of Singaporeans thought so as well. So maybe we're lame people (and largely hormonal teenaged girls, it seems) with no lives and decided to spend a few dollars to vote for him. So what? The two or three dollars I spent wouldn't break me. It helped make a young man's dream come true. And let's face it, if those hormonal teenaged girls hadn't had the Singapore Idol contestants to focus their attentions on, worthy or not, there's always other foreign celebrities - F4 or some other boyband.

Now, speaking of race. I hate to bring this up, but blame Dick Lee who mentioned it during the final and BMG who offered Sylvester a contract anyway because they felt he should have a crack in the Chinese market. Since those people brought up the issue of race and language, I must add in to say that I'm proud that Taufik, a Malay boy, won the Idol competition. To paraphrase the words of Kumar, as I once heard them on a TV interview, how often do you see Malay or Indian faces on Channel 5? I hate going down the route of adopting the "victimised" mindset that some people I know have just because we're minorities here, but as unpolitically correct it sounds - what Kumar said was true. It's been slowly changing now since a few years ago (I suspect since they discovered that Phua Chu Kang had appeal in Malaysia, and since they found Aaron Aziz), but it's largely true. Yes, perhaps the market size is the main determinant in this, but Mediacorp celebrates its Channel 8 stars like they're something big - even the starlets whose names, come on, be frank, make you go - WHO? Channel 8 celebrities are treated like celebrities, with their proper minders and all. Quite a number of Suria's actors and actresses, and let's face it, I'm sure Vasantham's as well, hold day-jobs while their acting jobs act as a sideline. I don't think they're worse actors than those "starlets of the moment" that Mediacorp tries to shove in front of our faces. I'm most proud that the fact that Taufik succeeded meant that we are able to choose our idols regardless of race, religion or language, and English can unify us as a nation. In fact I've had lunchtime conversations with our warehouse guys, who can't speak much English, on who we all think should win/be eliminated during the Singapore Idol competition. And it's something I appreciate. Because otherwise Mediacorp, the nation's largest (and now sole, again) broadcaster seems to think because only the Chinese-speaking artistes can draw the most audience potentially, they would rather spend effort and money marketing and pushing them only.

Taufik's win is just the beginning of his journey. But his chance at this is something rare, and something that many would envy. But if he grabs this chance and is able to make the most of it, then all of Singapore can have something to be proud of.

And hey, at least foreigners might stop thinking that Singapore is in China.

- last entry / next entry -

recent entries:

Monday, 27^th February 2006 - My house of cards finally comes down

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2006 - Books and fitness

Thursday, 23^rd February 2006 - Still fat and sleepless

Monday, 13^th February 2006 - Fat sleepless me

Sunday, 5^th February 2006 - It's more than just cartoons