Semua Kita - all of us

In this episode we hear how Bryan, increasingly becoming one of the public faces of Oogachaga, felt the need to be more visible in order to better represent the organization. We hear about the event, organized by Clarence Singham, which precipitated his coming out to the press. Bryan was also a regular in the army at the time, and he describes the experience he had revealing his sexuality there, k...

As we heard in a previous episode, Bryan Choong was one of the plaintiffs in the constitutional challenge to Section 377A, the law which criminalized homosexuality in Singapore. In fact, he is probably better known for his role in the development of Oogachaga, the counselling service and one of Singapore's oldest registered queer organizations. In this episode of Semua Kita, we speak to him for an...

In this episode of Semua Kita we continue our conversation with Roy as he pivoted away from being on the committee of Pink Dot, to mounting a constitutional challenge to Section 377A. We explore why he felt that there was a good chance of success. Now that Section 377A has been repealed, what does Roy think about the future of queer freedoms in Singapore? Other subscription, listening and followin...

In this episode of Semua Kita we continue our conversation with Roy as he talks about how he went from being only peripherally involved with Singapore's growing queer community, to taking a central place as one of its most visible activists and a founder of Pink Dot, Singapore's annual LGBTQ event. Pink Dot was successful from the start, but faced ongoing criticism of complicity with governmental...

Many people know Roy as the recorder of Singapore's modern LGBTQ history, in this episode of Semua Kita he discusses what his motivations are, how he was influenced by activism taking place in other Asian countries and what helped keep his commitment to history going. But Roy was much more than an observer, he was also a participant in Singapore's gay social spaces. When law enforcement became mor...

In the last episode of Semua Kita, we heard how, in the early 80s, access to information about being gay in Singapore was limited. The Hite Report was important in introducing the idea of homosexuality to a curious audience. But her studies were based in the United States. How relevant was this to Roy, and of what significance was it? Hong Lim Park then became a place where Roy could explore these...

In this episode of Semua Kita we speak to Roy Tan, a towering figure who is intimately associated with Singaporean gay history, whether as its unofficial chronologist, a founder of Pink Dot, or a litigant in the legal challenges to the decriminalization of Section 377A. But what was it like being a teenager in Singapore in the 1970s when it felt like you were the only gay on the island? Roy tells...

In this episode of Semua Kita, our last with Alex, he reflects on decades of gay liberation in Singapore, and why our experience is so unique in Southeast Asia. But first, Alex remembers a brief foray into running a sauna in Singapore… Other subscription, listening and following options here: ⁠https://bit.ly/m/semuakita #queer #LGBTQ #oralhistory #singapore

In this episode of Semua Kita, Alex talks about Nation, a circuit party which started in Singapore in 2000, and its eventual closure, an event which was momentous in many ways, not the least of which was because it birthed two Singaporean queer rights organizations which are active today: IndigNation and Pink Dot. Alex also reflects that activism can and should take many dispersed forms. Other sub...

With the disbanding of PLU and the Sunday Fora, LGBTQ Singaporeans found other places to meet. In the 90s a novel space opened up on line with the increasing availability of internet relay chat (IRC). Alex explains some of the surprises he encountered, including discovering more about the anonymous people hosting community chatgroups. For those who wanted to meet face to face, opportunities existe...

In the last episode Alex told us about the establishment of PLU and its public meetings at the Substation. In this episode we hear about how its growth meant that it could no longer remain an underground organization. What were the next steps and how did setbacks clarify the direction of the growing movement? "Semua Kita - all of us" is a podcast featuring oral histories of the LGBTQ community in...

In this episode we speak to Alex Au, widely acknowledged as the godfather of the gay liberation movement in Singapore. Here he tells us about what gay life was like in the late 80s and early 90s, and how a police raid on a gay disco led to the formation of one of Singapore's seminal LGBTQ organizations, People Like Us, more commonly referred to as PLU. "Semua Kita - all of us" is a podcast featuri...

Semua Kita - "all of us" - is a podcast featuring oral histories of the LGBTQ community in Singapore, from the 1980s until decriminalization in 2022. If you're interested in stories of queer activism in the Lion City, then you are in the right place. Learn about the time before the repeal of Section 377A, of the social groups that existed before Pink Dot, and of the in-person and on-line spaces wh...