TR EMERITUS

This white-haired elderly gentleman caught my attention at Hong Lim Park on the 50th anniversary observance of Operation Coldstore in 2015. Fiery oration in Mandarin, without a script. That was my first impression of Mr Lee Tee Tong, the elected Member of Parliament for Bukit Timah in 1963. He was the candidate from Barisan Sosialis, winning with over 50% of the votes in a 3-corner fight against the PAP and United People's Party candidates. But this Mr Lee never got to even smell the leather of the parliamentary chamber in what is now known as the Arts House. That same year, under the pretext of containing the communist danger, Mr Lee Tee Tong was incarcerated under the Internal Security Act and detained without trial for a total of 18 years and at the prime of his life! Mr Lee was a significant union leader in his early career, effective and commanding with his fearless oratory. Mr Lee Tee Tong passed away in the early hours of 18 December 2023 at Tan Tock Seng Hospital after a long illness. At his wake held at the void deck of Block 157 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, his widow Huang Liang Qin told a reporter: "Lee Tee Tong has never given up on his political beliefs all these years." Mr Lee Tee Tong will be cremated on Friday, 22 Dec at 11.45am at Mandai Crematorium Hall 1. Mr Lee Tee Tong will live on in the hearts of those who fought the neo-colonialists alongside him and for the betterment of the lives of his fellow men. Rest in peace, Mr Lee.   Chan Wai Han * Posted on Function 8 Facebook.  Read More →

I recently went to a few business network gatherings (BNI) and I found the community of 30 to 90 on fire. At least, that was the first impression. They all came for a specific purpose: business connection. They shared unabashedly. Each taking a few minutes to intro their area of specialty. At one point, members take turn to share their referrals and conversion rate in monetary terms. There is breakfast being served too, which comes with a small fee. And there is also a membership cost for entry. It’s good for one year, and they would remind you publicly to sign up when the time draws nigh. These weekly meetings are structured and systematic, most times, the members are highly enthusiastic. Upon signing up, they would set up chatgroups, and use it as a live and active platform to send out messages of successful sales, business activities, and festive invites. Their participation seems genuine. The friendship rather organic, that is, if you click, you click. I expect not everyone clicked, or come with the same enthusiasm, or participation level. But, they do connect beyond business interests. They organised social meetings and talkingcock sessions as well. I write this in parallel to the article below. It’s about social gatherings too. But it is of a religious kind, of a particular faith. Camilla Cavendish wrote that “there is overwhelming evidence that religious faith bolsters mental health.” “In Britain, the Institute for Impact of Faith in Life finds that those with declared religious affiliations (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist) report significantly higher psychological well-being than atheists: 70 per cent to 49 per cent. They are also more optimistic about the future, in similar ratio.” In a few US surveys, these religious groups are “more likely to say they are very satisfied with their lives, than are those who earn over US$100,000 a year.” Lastly, “one study of depression among older Europeans found that joining a church, synagogue or mosque was more effective in improving their mental health than participating in volunteering, sport or political clubs, despite the fact that these activities also provide a sense of purpose and a chance to meet other people.” There you have it. It seems like religious gathering is, on statistical surveys, more beneficial as a whole than any other gatherings, whether for business connections, sports or political agendas. Maybe the attraction is the awe and wonder factor. And it helps that religion has a long history, with what Camilla calls, “the restorative power of ritual.” Rituals may be man-made, but they are of symbolic persuasions rooted deep in religious significance. They are mixed with parables, myths, metanarratives, and a utopia to escape from, all of which elevates us from our current economic grind. Based on faith, hope and love, these intangible benchmarks go beyond worldly metric of money, praises of men, and accolades, although the two are not mutually exclusive. That is why religion well organised can be a very profitable business too. Further, it exceptionalises us, making us feel exuberantly loved, and singled-out by a divine human-like embodiment existing beyond this world. For religions that do not subscribe to such divine personality, the draw is still a form of singling-out, an exclusivity bestowed that appeals to their sense of awe and wonder. It’s akin to them embarking on a journey to seek out the ultimate answer to life’s most vexing questions. And that purpose is similarly beyond this world as they pursue and embrace self-enlightenment, along the way. Lesson? Just one. Well, the battle for truths has become a long-standing gladiatorial sport. There is even an unmistakable trail of blood and gore to show. We are still fighting over it, and making it personal, passing down the baton to our children, and they to theirs. Lots of money, gold, properties, and pride are involved, and we have built institutions and laws around it for self-preservation and extension. That story is ongoing. And I will leave that for another day. The point is that we are social animals. And religion or otherwise, we will gather as families, groups, communities or political parties. The big picture is more complicated, and I believe, beyond the scope of surveys. For some of us, hell is other people, and we avoid such gatherings at all cost. We carefully select our circle of friends. Some avoid family like plagues. For most of us, heaven is other people and we find solace, strength and inspiration congregating together. It’s trite to say, no man or woman is an island, but sometimes we need islands to recenter and recharge, before we row out to the archipelago of islands around us, to mingle and fellowship. That is the universal law of the evolution of us. Not everyone subscribes to the tale of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, but this truth still remains: it is not good for us to be alone, and we need a helper, an encourager, a well-wisher, a friend, a fellow sojourner, a mentor, a partner, and the list goes on, to make us complete, or close to complete.   Micheal Han      Read More →

I was at an all-day seminar oragnised by the International Fraud Group (IFG), yesterday. There were various discussions related to the issue of combating fraud and the one discussion that caught my attention was a discussion on whether countries should change their legislation to reward whistleblowers. As with most things, the biggest and most interesting cases of rewarding whistleblowers comes from the USA, where the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) paid a whistleblower a sum of US$279 million in May 2023. [LINK] The main thrust of the SEC’s argument was that it made the payout because it wants to encourage whistleblowing. Whilst this was an amazing story, an American lawyer on the panel rightly pointed out that the system was not perfect. Let’s face it, the topic of paying people for doing anything other than a nine-to-six job is something that many people struggle with. Call it the mentality of “I work so many hours a day for x number of dollars and so and so just makes one report and gets so much more.” Whistleblowing is a particularly tricky topic in that it is more often than not an act that requires you to go against an organization or individual who has power over you. In school boy terms, you’re literally being a “grass” or a “snake,” to the hand that feeds and more often than not, to the “team” that you’ve grown up with. There is, in a lot of human societies thrive on concepts of “loyalty” to authority. That, as an Estonian member of the audience, pointed out, can be tricky, when you come from a society where people are terrified of “telling-on” people or oragnisations to the government. Post-Soviet societies are particularly terrified of this because they are trying to get out of a culture where people were terrified into “telling-on” their neighbours. A German speaking member of the panel made the point that the term “whistleblowing” in German is “informant” which has negative connotations. Let’s face it, whistleblowing is not something that comes naturally and there are justified concerns that people may become “whistleblowers’ to get “revenge” on employers and that evidence provided by “whistleblowers” may be tainted if there’s a “reward” motive. I get these points. Well intentioned systems can be abused. The welfare system in many Western countries is an example. The intention to ensure people don’t starve when they’re out of a job is a noble intention. However, the system has in plenty of cases “disincentivized” work. Rewarding whistleblowing can lead to abuse. So, the question is, why should you encourage people to be “disloyal.” However, the case of not wanting to “reward” people for being “disloyal” has one fatal flaw, which is, it works on the assumption that people in authority are by default the good guys. One of the panelists in yesterday’s discussion is Ms. Ruth Dearnley, who is the CEO of STOP THE TRAFFIK Group, a charity dedicated to combating human trafficking. Her argument was simple – without whistleblowing she wouldn’t be able to do what she does. In Ms. Dearnly’s is in the business of helping victims of crime and relieving a menace. To put it simply, those of us who happen to be working professionals living in a place where there is a “rule of law,” sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that everyone is like us. We go to work, which we may not necessarily like, does provide us with a reasonable livelihood. If you’re in a profession like law, accountancy or medicine, there is no need to “tell-on” your boss unless its an extreme “life-threatening” case. Members of any given profession have to comply with rules governing the profession as well as the laws of the land. So, whistleblowing only comes into our daily lives in extreme circumstances. – “Why rock the boat unless its life threatening?” However, the sad truth is that the majority of the world’s population is not working professional and living in a country where there is rule of law. The fact remains, that in the majority of world, being an “honest” and “law abiding” person is the fastest way to die and easy to be tempted and tricked by anyone offering you better prospects. Go into any given red-light district, and you’ll find a young girl who thought she was going to work in a factory but was forced to get “f***ed” to keep other people rich. Ms. Dearnly had examples of boys who could use a computer and dreamed of working for a big IT company only to find themselves crammed into a cell, forced to run “love-scams.” Let’s face it, these are stories that most of us know exists but they are usually things that don’t even enter our conscience. Yet, these cases exist. The world actually has people who are forced into situations where they are effectively prisoners of the “bad” people who profit from harming other people. I believe that right thinking people will want the “bad guys” brought down and every right-thinking person will want “victims” to be rescued so that they can get on with life. However, you are not going to get that scenario unless people who are victims come forward. Now, if it is challenging to get someone like me to come forward to do the “right-thing,” let us imagine what it is like to get someone who gets beaten up or tortured at the whims of their proverbial bosses. Sure, I may have my disagreements with my boss but I am NEVER in danger of losing my life or having harm done to my family as a result of those disagreements. At the most, I quit or get fired and work in a different industry but I don’t have a reason to move from where I am. That’s not the case for people who are victims of trafficking, whether they are in sex work or forced labour. How do you get these people to help you out. Yes, the SEC case is sensational. However, when you discuss the issue of whistleblowing, you are not asking people to try out for the lottery. You are asking them to stop the bad guys. Unfortunately, bad guys have a way of doing bad things to people whom they perceive may be a problem. You need to tell people that you will stop bad things from happening to them if they do the right thing. They need to be able to “feel secure” if they do the right thing, whether that is to ensure basic protection both financially and physically. No system is perfect. Abuses can happen. However, if you were to weigh up the cost and reward of incentivizing whistleblowing, its clear that society would be far better off if people felt secure enough to do the right thing.   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.      Read More →