As a kid I was naughty as hell! I was always getting into trouble and eventually my despairing parents sent me off to boarding school for some real discipline.

I wanted to be a doctor growing up but later on I realized it wasn't for me. My parents are both doctors so I thought I would follow in their footsteps, but I think in retrospect they are probably glad I didn't!

My memories of childhood are mostly good and my fondest recollections are of breakfasts with the whole family on Sundays. My parents worked very hard so we didn't see them all that often on weekdays; but Sunday breakfasts were always special. We would have our favorite meal of nasi padang and mee siam!

My first real job was as a lawyer. I actually really enjoyed practice!

Creating Wanderlust was about having as many talented people contributing to a project as possible. We wanted something interesting and diverse, so the idea of working with different designers for the different levels came about from this.

You really have to work to your target customer. A Raffles Hotel customer, for example, is looking for something very different from a Wanderlust customer. We are in Little India and we play on that. The hotel is housed in a unique building and with all our projects; the conservation aspect and respecting the history of the building is paramount.

The hotel industry in Singapore is likely to continue growing and by its very nature it’s open to innovation and new trends. This will mean new offerings and new customers. It’s very exciting but I don't know any more than the next person what the next trend will be. It’s all about keeping an open mind and constantly exploring.

Singaporeans will never be our primary target as hotels rely on visitors for the bulk of their business but we do get some Singapore residents who spend the weekend with us. They generally do enjoy staying in hotels and it’s a nice getaway for them.

I never have enough time. Sometimes taking the day off makes me feel guilty because there is so much still to do!

I believe in myself so I’m not really concerned about other people's opinion.

I think just having a happy settled family life is what I want to achieve. I’m definitely not set on world domination or anything like that. I just enjoy spending time doing nothing and hanging out with my wife and family. To me, that is true luxury.

For me, life is about having fun and not taking things too seriously.

I was a good, sweet boy. Quiet and sedate. I’m not now. I have a temper, though I can still be sweet.

I remember childhood loves and crushes and my kindergarten years but nothing too impactful; nothing that really changed my life. My circumcision was memorable.

I grew up in a middle-lower class Malay Muslim family. The environment wasn’t exactly liberal, but I was exposed to music and arts and crafts which allowed me to be expressive and creative.

I wanted to be a nuclear physicist in secondary school.

The education system here didn’t do any justice for me but somehow I managed to bulldoze my way through it.

I got into the Theatre Studies program at Victoria Junior College but it wasn’t because of a love for the arts. I thought it came with the possibility of kissing girls. I didn’t get to though, except outside of theater. What a f**king waste of time!
 

I’d started working in Malay theater in Junior College, and in my National Service days I dabbled in performance arts, so I became more multi-disciplinary and mixed with the visual arts community. In 1997, I left for Chicago to do a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and came back in 2000 when I got my first job. I became the Artistic Director of Teater Ekamatra.

The Substation is the Ekamatra experience multiplied 10 or 20 times; it’s a much greater responsibility.

Managing an arts group or producing a work by another artist is a legitimate art practice in itself.

I never had any delusions that this was going to be an easy ride. I took on this job on my conviction that there are things The Substation needs to provide for and contribute to the community.

What we’re doing is injecting reality into the current process of turning the arts into an industry. It should slow down; it should not be hastened at the expense of artistic development or the health of the community.

The Substation has to be affordable but “affordable” doesn’t mean “cheap.”
 

The Substation must remain porous. The idea that you can have a traditional Indian dancer in the same room as a skinhead; that’s it. The next step is for them to freely interact.

I believe in diversity and the beauty of chaos in diversity; you have to embrace it and acknowledge it.

The most difficult thing today is recognizing potential. We’re so stuck with KPIs, criterion, order and structure, that we fear potential because it isn’t finite. The possibilities of potential are endless.

Mistakes need to be protected because a lot of good art is born out of mistakes, accidents and randomness.

As you get older your peripheral vision gets wider, but your focus gets narrower. You realize you don’t need too many things.

Being 15, I feel more mature than before. You’re in Upper Secondary, you wear long pants and people look up to you like an older brother. It’s time for you to be a good example to your juniors.

I have my freedom even though I’m still a teenager. My mum usually lets me go wherever I want as long as I do really well in my studies. That’s what I have to give back to her.

I’m not really interested in Formula 1 and all that, but it surprises me that these big events can be held in Singapore even though the city may not be perfect for it.

I don’t really recognize the changes in Singapore, but I see new trends and fashion emerging. You can see the difference now. In the past, teenagers would usually go out and chill, but now they play sports and they dance.

I’ve been dancing since I was 10. I do hip hop street dance. I was at a dance competition and there was a group there that was around my age who inspired me. I started learning a few moves and over the years I’ve had some help from other dancers whom I respect.

Five years ago, there were very few teenagers or primary school kids who were interested in dancing, so dance became quite trendy.

When you’re starting in something new, you’ve got to have someone or something to inspire you. That’s when you’ll get interested in that thing.

You can’t really inspire everyone because nobody is perfect. You can’t expect everyone to be inspired. What I know is that when you dance, it’s not about impressing people; it’s about continuing dance for another generation so that the world of dance will not stop here.

I intend to be a dance choreographer. I actually just did a project on that! I learnt that you must have dance experience and you need to get a Masters in dance coaching if you want to do it professionally. If I could choreograph overseas I would really want to go there for the exposure. I can bring things from other countries back to Singapore and help my country to have new styles and flavors in dance.

Teenagers today know more than in the past. It’s not just about the Internet; it’s also about our surroundings. When you go to school, you get to know a lot of different people and their different interests. You tend to want to get to know these interests and see if they suit you too.

When I’m 16… hmmm… I don’t think too much about what I’ll be doing then, but I hope that over the years, not just when I’m 16, I can be a better person and be someone who people look up to. Some teenagers do wrong things nowadays, but I hope I don’t. I don’t want my thinking to be different from how it is now. I’ll get to watch NC16-rated films, too.

I have a lot of mottos in life but mainly it’s “Never get jealous of others.” Everyone has their own specialties, their own strengths and weaknesses. Your strengths should be used to motivate others.

Singapore is different from other countries. Even though we are just a tiny red dot with many different races and religions, we have peace. People see us as one Singapore.