Beyond the television screen : Phua Chu Kang in the historical discourse of the speak good English movement 2000, SARS outbreak and the Singapore-Malaysia water dispute

Abstract

Despite the final television broadcast of the sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (PCK) in 2007, the main character Phua Chu Kang (PCK) starred by Gurmit Singh had recently made his way back to the public with a new rap song to address the COVID-19. This thesis seeks to explore the significant role of the sitcom and PCK in the historical discourse of Singapore history from the late 1900s to the early 2000s. Specifically, I argue that the Singapore government had, in fact, utilized PCK and the sitcom, who are non-official mediums, to project their messages and policies to the Singapore public in this period. Moreover, PCK was the best fit in effectively projecting the government’s notions and initiatives to the public as he represented the discourse of the notion of Singlish and Singaporean identity of the people. These are prominently observed in the historical discourse of three significant Singapore case studies or rather ‘non-television’ boundaries – The Speak Good English Movement 2000, the SARS outbreak and the Singapore-Malaysia water dispute. Historically, these will highly contribute to existing scholarship as one studies the interrelationships between celebrities, the government and the discourse of public communications, language and regional diplomatic issues in Singapore.