What do you think?
Rate this book
From Stage to Print
Model Citizens
A man stabs an MP at a Meet-the-People Session. But this is not their story. It is the story of the man’s girlfriend, an Indonesian maid who wants to get married and become a Singaporean citizen. It is the story of the MP’s wife, who tries to cope with her husband’s injury and the media spotlight. It is the story of the maid’s employer, who is also struggling with her own tragedy. These three women may mean nothing to each other, but they need one another to survive. The maid, the employer and the MP’s wife. Are they all model citizens? Written by veteran Singaporean playwright Haresh Sharma, Model Citizens won Best Director (Alvin Tan) and Best Actress (Siti Khalijah Zainal) at the 2011 The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards.
“Model Citizens is simultaneously epic and intimate. It’s rich and complex, hitting you both at the level of gut and intellect.” —Mayo Martin, TODAY
“As a piece of theatre, Model Citizens has both power and veracity. It pulsates with a seething, palpable rhythm of resistance.” —The Flying Inkpot
“A penetrating look at the price of citizenship and the fragility of trust.” —Clarissa Oon, The Straits Times
“Model Citizens is simultaneously epic and intimate. It’s rich and complex, hitting you both at the level of gut and intellect.” —Mayo Martin, TODAY
“As a piece of theatre, Model Citizens has both power and veracity. It pulsates with a seething, palpable rhythm of resistance.” —The Flying Inkpot
“A penetrating look at the price of citizenship and the fragility of trust.” —Clarissa Oon, The Straits Times
96 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2012
1 person is currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Haresh Sharma
18 books16 followersHaresh is Resident Playwright of The Necessary Stage and co-Artistic Director of the annual M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. To date, he has written more than 100 plays. His play, Off Centre, was selected by the Ministry of Education as a Literature text for N and O Levels, and republished by The Necessary Stage in 2006. In 2008, Ethos Books published Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature, Vol. 6, written by Prof David Birch and edited by A/P Kirpal Singh, which presented an extensive investigation of Haresh's work over the past 20 years. A collection of Haresh’s plays have been translated into Mandarin and published by Global Publishing with the title '哈里斯·沙玛剧作选'.
Haresh was awarded Best Original Script for Fundamentally Happy, Good People and Gemuk Girls during the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Life! Theatre Awards respectively. In 2010, the abovementioned plays have also been published by The Necessary Stage in the collection entitled Trilogy. Most recently in 2011, 2 collections of short plays by Haresh entitled Shorts 1 and Shorts 2 have been published as well. Haresh was also the first non-American to be awarded the prestigious Goldberg Master Playwright by New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2011.
Haresh was awarded Best Original Script for Fundamentally Happy, Good People and Gemuk Girls during the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Life! Theatre Awards respectively. In 2010, the abovementioned plays have also been published by The Necessary Stage in the collection entitled Trilogy. Most recently in 2011, 2 collections of short plays by Haresh entitled Shorts 1 and Shorts 2 have been published as well. Haresh was also the first non-American to be awarded the prestigious Goldberg Master Playwright by New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2011.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 14, 2022
3.5? idk ratings are not very representative of nuance in reading and diff aspects of writing anyway
very thought provoking; certainly very political, though also in some ways a lot of attempt at evoking the personal and creating empathy for the characters.
think i need to read this again, and slower, to fully grasp the themes. the premise feels absurd, but the particular characters used and their views was rather illuminating. at parts, characters feel like caricatures (mrs chua's long, almost hyperbolic expression of certain political views contrasted to her seeming empathy later are quite jarring, though that might be the intended effect) but there was also attempt to create empathy for the chatacters - whether it was mrs wong and her son, or mrs chua's frustration in her marriage, or melly's own dreams of family.
some ideas i thought were interesting: singapore founded by immigrants and yet hostile to immigrants; the tension between the kind of immigrant (chinese majority immigrant v migrant workers); ideas of power-political play and political-public (and rich-poor) divide were very interesting, but not entirely fleshed out - more of a thought provoker than a concrete answer/alternative perspective. also interesting was the exploration of singapore's move to close down the chinese speaking schools as well as accompanying policies then, and the effect that created. and the idea of meet the people sessions, and questioning the efficacy or even intent of them ("MP, do what? Say yes to everything the government want. Say no to everything the people ask. Meet the People. Every week Meet the People. F--- the people.").
as a screenplay it's a bit confusing with all the different languages and disorienting with where the characters are in relation to one another on the stage. overall, though the emotional effect wasn't that strong for me it, its exploration of various ideas and political comentary (albeit not particularly complete) was quite fascinating.
"This country has not been built on compassion. It has been built on power."
---
deviating from this play i'm thinking of the other singaporean playwright i read recently - faith ng - and the different approaches their plays take (more individual human based v more political, the different kinds of "political"). more specifically her play "wo(men)" which also examines three women, but in a family context - here the characters are from different contexts, introducing more of the "public/private" dichotomies, the direct discussion of politics and policy. but also the way that empathy is brought to the characters, the women without men (and the tensions of those relationships), the tensions and reconciliation, people who are tied by blood and those who are not. wld say that faith ng's plays had gave me more emotional damage though haha.
very thought provoking; certainly very political, though also in some ways a lot of attempt at evoking the personal and creating empathy for the characters.
think i need to read this again, and slower, to fully grasp the themes. the premise feels absurd, but the particular characters used and their views was rather illuminating. at parts, characters feel like caricatures (mrs chua's long, almost hyperbolic expression of certain political views contrasted to her seeming empathy later are quite jarring, though that might be the intended effect) but there was also attempt to create empathy for the chatacters - whether it was mrs wong and her son, or mrs chua's frustration in her marriage, or melly's own dreams of family.
some ideas i thought were interesting: singapore founded by immigrants and yet hostile to immigrants; the tension between the kind of immigrant (chinese majority immigrant v migrant workers); ideas of power-political play and political-public (and rich-poor) divide were very interesting, but not entirely fleshed out - more of a thought provoker than a concrete answer/alternative perspective. also interesting was the exploration of singapore's move to close down the chinese speaking schools as well as accompanying policies then, and the effect that created. and the idea of meet the people sessions, and questioning the efficacy or even intent of them ("MP, do what? Say yes to everything the government want. Say no to everything the people ask. Meet the People. Every week Meet the People. F--- the people.").
as a screenplay it's a bit confusing with all the different languages and disorienting with where the characters are in relation to one another on the stage. overall, though the emotional effect wasn't that strong for me it, its exploration of various ideas and political comentary (albeit not particularly complete) was quite fascinating.
"This country has not been built on compassion. It has been built on power."
---
deviating from this play i'm thinking of the other singaporean playwright i read recently - faith ng - and the different approaches their plays take (more individual human based v more political, the different kinds of "political"). more specifically her play "wo(men)" which also examines three women, but in a family context - here the characters are from different contexts, introducing more of the "public/private" dichotomies, the direct discussion of politics and policy. but also the way that empathy is brought to the characters, the women without men (and the tensions of those relationships), the tensions and reconciliation, people who are tied by blood and those who are not. wld say that faith ng's plays had gave me more emotional damage though haha.
July 23, 2017
The interaction of the three women, positioned at different levels of Singaporean society, hold up a mirror to our own lives, and ask us to reflect, what exactly constitutes a model citizen? Is it sufficient to look good on the outside, never mind the inside, as one of the characters advises another? The twists are a bit hard to follow in the textual format (when did the son commit suicide??), and the internet chat exchanges are wildly out of place.
Yet this was thought-provoking, and I am grateful.
___
Multiculturalism is a limited instrument in that it is merely a recognition of different cultures. On the other hand, interculturalism, which refers to the interaction of different cultures (sensibilities, beliefs or perspectives), encourages openness and the interplay of different cultural presences in an environment where relationships are governed by mutual respect, deep appreciation and even admiration.
My life was perfect. Then you changed the rules. You wanted me to speak English. You wanted me to stop having any more children. I wanted more. But I had to follow your rules. I listened, obeyed and submitted. And you just change them. You just change the rules. Who wouldn't want to hurt you?
Yet this was thought-provoking, and I am grateful.
___
Multiculturalism is a limited instrument in that it is merely a recognition of different cultures. On the other hand, interculturalism, which refers to the interaction of different cultures (sensibilities, beliefs or perspectives), encourages openness and the interplay of different cultural presences in an environment where relationships are governed by mutual respect, deep appreciation and even admiration.
My life was perfect. Then you changed the rules. You wanted me to speak English. You wanted me to stop having any more children. I wanted more. But I had to follow your rules. I listened, obeyed and submitted. And you just change them. You just change the rules. Who wouldn't want to hurt you?
May 29, 2013
Model Citizens is both uproarious (think Melly and her other life), intensely sad (Wendy and Tony) and hopeful (Mrs Chua's validation of Melly at the end. Pretty much all that you need in a play. I felt it needed to go deeper, though, and perhaps the chinese ed storyline could be more nuanced and less of Mrs Chua's obsession to 'return to the motherland.'
December 4, 2015
The interplay between the characters through the use of different languages and their interactions created a good sense of tension and layering. Unfortunately the lack of depth and range to the individual characters made them more caricature-like than believably authentic.
June 14, 2020
I read this before but it's not on my "read books" list, strange. Anyway, reread it.
A guy stabs an MP. The MP's wife (Mrs Chua) is shocked, but we see her There's also a bit where she talks about the sacrifices she's made - and how out-of-place she feels as someone who is Chinese-educated. I really liked that: nowadays, the Chinese/English-educated divide has been "won" by the English-educated in Singapore.
We also meet Melly, who is Wendy's maid. Melly spends most of the plot pleading with Mrs Chua for leniency for her boyfriend (who stabbed the MP), but towards the end, we see her autonomy: I quite appreciated the sense of how calculating she was.
Wendy is grieving her son, Tony, who .
I liked that the play was able to sketch out the lives of each woman, and give each of them a sense of character arc / plotline.
3.5/5 stars
A guy stabs an MP. The MP's wife (Mrs Chua) is shocked, but we see her There's also a bit where she talks about the sacrifices she's made - and how out-of-place she feels as someone who is Chinese-educated. I really liked that: nowadays, the Chinese/English-educated divide has been "won" by the English-educated in Singapore.
We also meet Melly, who is Wendy's maid. Melly spends most of the plot pleading with Mrs Chua for leniency for her boyfriend (who stabbed the MP), but towards the end, we see her autonomy: I quite appreciated the sense of how calculating she was.
Wendy is grieving her son, Tony, who .
I liked that the play was able to sketch out the lives of each woman, and give each of them a sense of character arc / plotline.
3.5/5 stars
June 28, 2017
Curiosity level: Engaging and Realistic!
Model Citizens is a Singaporean play on the unlikely meeting of three women: a minister's wife, a maid, and her employer.
The maid's boyfriend stabs the minister during a "Meet the People" session when the minister had laughed at him for being a pathetic cleaner, refusing to even listen to him.
The maid's employer comes to the rescue by meeting the minister's wife to try to persuade her to be lenient on the maid's boyfriend. But as it turns out, this polished family of power has lots of problems, too.
Who is a model citizen? Someone who abides blindly by the rules? One who accepts one's fate without questioning? Is there room for dreams? Are they cookie-cutter ones? The three women cause us to think!
Like the minister and his wife, the ones in power hold the keys of justice and fairness... to put or to release people from jail.
But what happens if the ones in power don't want to use those keys? What if they choose to abuse that power? Will we be model citizens still?
Model Citizens is a Singaporean play on the unlikely meeting of three women: a minister's wife, a maid, and her employer.
The maid's boyfriend stabs the minister during a "Meet the People" session when the minister had laughed at him for being a pathetic cleaner, refusing to even listen to him.
The maid's employer comes to the rescue by meeting the minister's wife to try to persuade her to be lenient on the maid's boyfriend. But as it turns out, this polished family of power has lots of problems, too.
Who is a model citizen? Someone who abides blindly by the rules? One who accepts one's fate without questioning? Is there room for dreams? Are they cookie-cutter ones? The three women cause us to think!
Like the minister and his wife, the ones in power hold the keys of justice and fairness... to put or to release people from jail.
But what happens if the ones in power don't want to use those keys? What if they choose to abuse that power? Will we be model citizens still?
August 5, 2020
Are they model citizens? I will likely be thinking about this book for awhile as there is much to unpack; it tries to tackle so many themes at once I feel like I barely have time to sit with any for long.
Also it's somewhat annoying that there's always a character pushed to the edge in these Singaporean plays. Would have appreciated a trigger warning.
I love the way the characters layer over each other.
Ultimately I think we all try to be the best person we can be, and there will be setbacks, but setbacks don't mean you are worthless. But setbacks don't give you the liberty to be a dick either. And maybe we also need to remind ourselves that there isn't just one straight road to salvation, that there are many options and all of them are valid.
Dictating that there's only a single narrow road to success benefits no one.
Also it's somewhat annoying that there's always a character pushed to the edge in these Singaporean plays. Would have appreciated a trigger warning.
I love the way the characters layer over each other.
Ultimately I think we all try to be the best person we can be, and there will be setbacks, but setbacks don't mean you are worthless. But setbacks don't give you the liberty to be a dick either. And maybe we also need to remind ourselves that there isn't just one straight road to salvation, that there are many options and all of them are valid.
Dictating that there's only a single narrow road to success benefits no one.
December 5, 2024
the power dynamics between the three women are clearly demonstrated, representative of our community and the relationship we have with migrant workers. i would love to see the play fleshed out a bit more but it is a strong and powerful script that conveys class issues as well as the power struggle that comes with it.
August 4, 2020
Would have preferred if the play was a bit longer to flesh out the characters a bit more. Overall still a good read.
April 20, 2025
I liked how language and class constantly provoked the power dynamics in this play. I have mixed feelings about the many moments that take place in a ‘different time and space’.
December 31, 2025
(3.5) Sad and thought-provoking, but could have been approfondito/fleshed out more.
TW: suicide, unsupervised abortion
TW: suicide, unsupervised abortion
October 9, 2024
a re-read after so many years and some portions still ring true
‘Model Citizens’ presents tired and jaded women who try to do the right and empathetic things in the face of relentless bureaucracy. It’s futile, of course, because who cares what they think? They’re good people most of the time but all are hiding behind some kind of mask, which cracks in time to reveal their true, sordid selves.
‘Model Citizens’ presents tired and jaded women who try to do the right and empathetic things in the face of relentless bureaucracy. It’s futile, of course, because who cares what they think? They’re good people most of the time but all are hiding behind some kind of mask, which cracks in time to reveal their true, sordid selves.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews