My name is Furqan. I am in my late 30s. That's where we're going to be at. I wear many hats. I'm an educator, I'm an image maker. I am a fashion director and presenter.
My cultural background constitutes many different races within the Nusantara. My IC states, Javanese, both my parents were born here, but my grandparents were from Indonesia. On one end, I think my granddad on the paternal side was from Karimun. And the other side, I think my grandma was from somewhere in West Sumatra, on my mom's side, they are from Yogja and Semarang. On one end, I think my granddad on the paternal side was from Karimun. And the other side, I think my grandma was from somewhere in West Sumatra, on my mom's side, they are from Yogya and Semarang.
I definitely see myself as Singaporean. I was born here. I grew up here. My cultural influences. Even though we were very western-centric, I remember growing up watching channel eight dramas in Chinese. I can still remember songs from channel eight dramas, that used to show at like, 3pm or something. (09:33) My relationship with my Singaporean identity is definitely a very strong one, but at the same time, it has been tenuous. There have been many times where I just wanted to pack my bags and just leave and I had the privilege and the opportunity to do this. I got the O1 visa, way back in early 2000. So I moved to New York and just restarted my life.In being able to move miles away and start my life completely was an eye opening experience. It also showed me how, being in Singapore for a large part of my life, is like being in a bubble and in terms of the identity of being a Singaporean. When you're in Singapore, you feel “I'm Singaporean” But when you're overseas, and when you're living abroad, it becomes stronger. In a sense, I felt a bit more patriotic. I feel that I'm representing it.
Now the shirt I'm wearing, so I started going back, started rediscovering where I came from, or at least where my grandma was from, which was Yogyakarta. And just being a part of a being in Semarang and being in Yogja and just discovering the beautiful Batiks there. This shirt is actually from Yogja and has got different symbolisms different ways that it's made, and how batik itself is different from in perhaps every part of Indonesia.
It represents different things. So there's the one from Yogja and it kind of I feel that this whole look that I put together is a representation of who I am because it is a mix of both my identity as being a Singaporean Malay slash Javanese and being who I am in my identity as a fashion person.
Most definitely a large portion of my live abroad. It was an eye opening experience for me. There are many instances where I feel more Singaporean then when I was in Singapore. This one time as I was walking down New York’s sixth line when I overheard two people speaking Malay. I turned around and saw that they weren’t Malay or Indonesian, they were Malay-Singaporean. We quickly became friends and we often went to this place just to get sambal terasi, it was hilarious and it also make me realized just how much living away from where you are born could influence your sense of belonging.
I feel that people like to pigeonhole because it is a way for them to categorise and make sense of the world. And whereas for me, my point of view here is just I just see people as people, I don't care, whatever you are,if you're walking around with three legs or whatever, if you're not hurting anyone, I just see you as the person you are. And that's, that's my point of view.
