Ms. Lim Mee Lian

Mee Lian joined the Ministry of Culture right after graduating from Nanyang University. As she came from a Chinese school background, she had to adapt to using English at work.

“My job interview was in English. We also had to pass Malay Standard One back then. After a two-year probation, I was sent for a six-month English language training course,” says Mee Lian. “But I took it all in my stride as it was considered a prestige to be in the civil service. And to me, it was a huge honour to work in the City Hall building that impressed me so much in my youth.”
 

A good dose of culture
Untrained in music, art or literature, Mee Lian learned about music – which was her main portfolio – on the job. She attributes much of her on-the-job training to the advisory committees she supported.

“The committee members were very patient and taught me many things, like the types of music and classical music terms.,” she recalls.

“That’s how I managed to organise several music events, such as the Music for Everyone series, the inaugural National Music Competition, Festival of Choirs, International Jazz Festival, ASEAN Youth Music Workshop and ASEAN Youth Symphony Band. We also held free performances of Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnic dances and band performances by groups such as the hugely popular Royal New Zealand Infantry.”
 

A hands-on experience
With the focus on forging a strong national identity, the Ministry organised many national events. These included the National Day Rally Cultural Shows, and free National Day Cultural Performances at the Victoria Theatre. The National Flower, Vanda Miss Joaquin, was launched with much fanfare in 1981 during a National Flower Week that included activities such as a logo design competition.

Much planning and coordination went into these activities, with the Ministry staff taking on the different aspects of event management and marketing.

“A lot of our work was done in-house then, not outsourced,” Mee Lian explains. “For example, the Ministry had photography, translation, design and transport services that we had to request officially from the officers-in-charge to support our activities. Even the design and layout for the tickets and publicity materials for our events were done by our designers who would give us black-and-white Final Artworks for printing. We would then get our materials printed in Chinatown, and jump into the Ministry Land Rover to distribute leaflets or sell tickets in schools.”
 

Behind the scenes
She recalls working long hours frequently with no overtime pay as most events were held after office hours.

Mee Lian says, “I was in charge of the artistes for the cultural shows at the National Day Rallies held at the National Theatre. My colleagues would arrange for fans near the stage as there was no air-conditioning back then. I remember they used to get really stressed trying to ensure that the hardcopy scripts ued by our Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew for his speech would not fly because of the fans!”

The mother of two and grandmother of three hopes to share her pride and passion in her work with the visitors of today.

“I am very happy to have been one of the pioneers to promote music, arts, and national events. We were all so enthusiastic about bringing arts and culture to the public. I think we did good work.”