IMDA hits back at arts group’s criticism of move to disallow nude scenes

SINGAPORE — The Info-Communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) has hit back at community group Arts Engage, which had released an open letter on its website on Wednesday (Nov 30) claiming that IMDA’s decision to disallow two performances for next year’s M1 Singapore Fringe Festival “runs counter to the move towards a reasonable, open and fair regimen of arts regulation in Singapore”.

In the letter, Arts Engage — whose members include Singapore arts practitioners from various disciplines, among them the founder and artistic director of The Necessary Stage Alvin Tan, and co-founder and director of the Intercultural Theatre Institute Thirunalan Sasitharan — had called the move an “unmerited and retrograde step”. 

It also called on IMDA to “regulate without resorting to moral policing”, adding: “If anyone thinks Naked Ladies and Undressing Room are not to their taste, they do not have to watch the shows.” 

Responding to queries from TODAY, a spokesman for the IMDA said on Thursday it “strongly disagrees” with Arts Engage. The two performances, Naked Ladies and Undressing Room, include scenes that “clearly exceed” the Arts Entertainment Classification Code (AECC). 

“Naked Ladies includes a scene where the performer inserts her finger into her vagina and then into her mouth. Undressing Room involves the performer and an audience-participant completely undressing and then touching each other,” the IMDA spokesman added. 

“Disallowing these scenes can hardly be considered retrograde moral policing; it is an objective application of existing guidelines.” 

IMDA also rejected Arts Engage’s allegations that the authority had not conducted itself transparently. 

In its open letter, Arts Engage also said that a “rigorous and transparent regulatory process” was preferable to “ensure fairer outcomes without disrupting artistic enterprise and the eroding of the community’s trust”. 

IMDA, however, noted: “We have engaged (with) the applicant every step of the way, and communicated our concerns clearly. It is therefore regrettable that Arts Engage has accused IMDA of being opaque. If the applicant modifies the performances to meet the AECC guidelines, IMDA will license them accordingly.” 

The agency added: “In discharging our regulatory responsibilities, IMDA aims to strike a balance between a performance’s artistic merits, and prevailing social norms. Artistic expression cannot be an end in itself, without due consideration for social mores.”

Online protests had erupted last week following a Facebook post from the Singaporeans Defending Family And Marriage group about the two shows. The group questioned the idea of “inviting an audience to participate in the ‘show’ that includes undressing and exploring each other’s naked body” and for allowing “such decadent sex and LGBT-themed shows to be propagated”.

Following the online protests, the IMDA issued a statement last Friday, saying that it had assessed that the two shows had “exceeded the R18 rating under the AECC”.