TR EMERITUS

I’ve just told a young man whom I’ve been working with to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. On the whole, he’s been a decent enough worker who has done what’s been asked of him. However, the only time he seems to come alive is when he talks about being a pilot. He’s learnt the various call signs and radio signals involved in the process. Yet, somehow, he’s never made it close to flying school. So, when I look at him, I get frightened for him. He’s going to be a good boy who does as he’s told and take the safe route, which in the Singapore context means getting a good degree and working in a safe and predictable office job, which in itself is not wrong, but when I look at him and he admits to me that dealing with files is simply not his thing. While some parts of the investigation work in forensic accounting excites him, its clear that he doesn’t have it in him to be a lawyer or a financier. I’ve told him that getting a decent degree is nonnegotiable in the modern world. He cannot neglect his studies. I’ve also told him to keep with the job that he has with us, as he builds his finances, as flight school is not cheap. However, he needs to give his heart and soul into trying to get into an airline that will give him the chance that he needs to prove himself. Have also stressed to him that SIA isn’t the only airline on the planet and he should knock on every door available to him until he gets behind a cockpit. He's trusted me and called me a “father-figure,” which is something that I cannot in all good conscience take lightly. I guess I am officially a “terrible-parent-figure” by telling him to chase his dreams. However, what’s the alternative? To push him into something that he has no heart to do? Sure, there’s a good chance that he may not achieve his dream – but he needs to give it his best shot. Think of it, way too many of us end up becoming old and bitter people because of all the things we loved and dreamed about but never gave it a shot because it was the risky option. Seriously, at the end of the day, what’s going to matter. In the end, Steve Jobs said it best – “There’s no point being the richest man in the cemetery.” Since, all of us are going to end up in the same place, we should make the journey the best possible one. So, as an older person, I believe I need to encourage young kids to follow their dreams. Sure, an element of practicality needs to be involved. After all, we all need to earn a living. However, there’s no point in being a slave to your living if it kills you to do it. Best to pursue the dream and even if you don’t “make it,” there are ways of modifying that dream. Heck, I grew up in the advertising industry, which is staffed by people who would have loved to be in creative arts (movies) but found alternative ways of making a living doing what they loved. Thanks, to AI, the presence of machines in the work place is only going to grow. There is no way you can be more of a machine than the machines, so all of us need to play to our strengths and bring the passion to our jobs in the way that only being human can.   Tang Li *Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able to 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 →

Recently, it never rains but it pours for the pap and I ask if they deserve continued support and sympathy from Singaporeans? I will not mince my words. I am not a blind, unthinking or uninformed Singaporean. To me, whether we reminisce about the good old pap days or whether we like it or not, the best pap days are over. The latest bad news to hit the pap is the resignations of both pap Speaker of Parliament, Tan Chuan Jin (TCJ) and a member of Tampines GRC, Cheng Li Hui (CLH). Lee Hsien Loong told a press conference yesterday that he was alerted to the illicit tryst between TCJ and CLH as early as 2020, I repeat in 2020, ie, 3 years ago and the last he spoke with them was in February this year. Now, the obvious question on our citizens' mind must be why did he as head of the government allows such illicit tryst between them to fester and fester for 3 long years that must inevitably result in bigger disrepute, shame, damage and an erosion of confidence to our Parliament, our parliamentarians and by extension, the government? Is it not another clear and convincing sign of his weak leadership that resulted in another big coffin nail being hammered into the pap coffin? I am sure that older Singaporeans who grew up with the old guard generation and the late MM in particular must agree that if it were them who were in-charge, such unacceptable and shameful behaviours would never have been tolerated and dragged on over the years. Like the saying goes, when the tiger is not in the jungle, the monkeys come out to play. I might add that when the tiger is sick or weak, the monkeys will also come out to play their monkey business. Next, Cheng Li Hui. I don't know her but reading about her resignation, I have a poor opinion of that woman, a former pap mp. I ask which decent and morally upright woman would want to get involved with a married man, much less one with 2 young children? In our local lingo, to knowingly become a home wrecker. I can and I am willing to forgive any person who has committed extra marital affairs but having the clear headedness, strength and the discipline to resolutely extract oneself in a timely fashion because we are, after all, human beings with all human weaknesses but in her case, it was a conscious and deliberate adventure that span over the years. Pap's good name built up over the decades is in tatter and I would not be surprised if more monkeys come out to play. Think.   Simon Lim      Read More →

Let he that is without sin among you, cast the first stone. Well, I actually have a few in my pocket. I am saving the biggest stone for last. So stay tune. But here is my first pebble. TCJ has tendered his resignation. It happened just yesterday. Yet, the reason is a layered one. You have to dig deeper to uncover it. The first release of the news left everyone stumped as to why the resignation came in a pair. Moments later, we were told that it’s not so much about his unparliamentary remark caught by the hot mic when he called Jamus a populist. He had in fact gained popularity himsef for the wrong reason this time. And you may even construe this slip of tongue as more of a pent-up vent of a man already struggling with his own demons by then. PM Lee called for the urgent press conference yesterday to shed more light on the pair; even though more heat (or questions) were generated than light. Our commander-in-chief said that the “more serious matter” is TCJ‘s “inappropriate relationship” with a fellow PAP MP Ms Cheng Li Hui. That rocked our Monday inertia away, and I think I just released my second stone. Anyway, stoned or otherwise, that‘s quite a revelation. It was completely under the parliamentary radar. None of us were any wiser, except those who knew and had kept it to themselves. It appeared to be a well-kept secret stored in a tight-lipped cabinet. Alas, as a digression, you can’t help but get the impression that the speaker’s chair is a hot seat, and not just its mic. The last speaker of the house who stepped down was Michael Palmer. He too walked that same slippery slope. But his stepping down was considered as “swift and resolute”, unlike this parliamentary pair. And here comes my biggest stone…PM Lee admitted that he found out about the affair sometime after the last GE 2020. He then counselled them in February this year. He also gave the impression that he had been counselling them throughout the three year, like a concerned father would. He said TCJ promised him in Feb this year that he would break it up. That’s about three years later. But what happened in the interim then? Well, he didn’t. I guess it was another promise broken. And in July, when the bough finally broke, which fortuitously coincided with his mic-gate, I suppose PM Lee told him enough is enough, pls hand over your resignation letter. In fact, TCJ wanted to resign in Feb, but his boss told him to give him more time to settle his constituency in the east. PM Lee said that when he found out in the last GE 2020, he didn’t even know when they had started the affair. Imagine that. This can only mean that the speaker of the house had been handling the affairs of parliament as well as his own under one whitewashed roof, and clandestinely carried out under the watchful eye of the one whose party dominated the house. I guess when the levee breaks, you have to be prepared for the rush of the tide. Our counsellor-in-chief is indeed in an unenviable position. He has his hands full just when the GE is about one or two years away. And he might be entering the electoral ring this time with one eye blocked by the investigation of his transport minister and one hand tied by the forbidden affair he had paternally kept out of sight; probably hoping it’d be kept out of mind too. So I return to what Jesus said to the crowd clamouring to stone the woman caught in adultery. The crowd left after some time, and he turned to the woman and told her to sin no more. It was swift and resolute. It was redemption through abounding grace. But this is different. The crowd here was speechless after the unravelling. Mind you, they were not the one who uncovered it with the aim of putting Jesus in a spot. I presumed PM Lee had been counselling them for the longest time, and even after a promise had been made in Feb, the affair soldiered on. Alas, I can’t imagine the agony their families have to go thru. TCJ himself has one son and one daughter. Of course, I pray for healing and reconciliation in this very trying and long journey. TCJ said he wished for privacy to heal with family. Yet, you can’t help but feel they had given themselves a lot of self-indulgences over the years to finally come to that crossroad. No doubt I wish him well, especially his family, but I believe that that first step remains just a step, with an obvious gap. For a betrayal of this nature demands more from us to piece the shattered trust and heart back together again, one micro-piece at a time. It will take resolve, consistency and patience to make it stick. Climbing back up from the slippery slope defies not just gravity, but our unpredictable appetites. Some may even say that if a general can’t resist temptation, what’s more foot soldiers? Well, we should not be so naive to think that titles or positions matter. What counts in the end is how we allow power to shape us. That defines us, for good or bad. You have heard of the seven deadly sins. There is in fact an eighth, and that is when we allow power to shape the opportunity so that we fall into our own unhinged appetites. And anything short of that, no matter how convicted we feel, well, you may need to cast a stone or two just to wake us up from our dreamy stupor.   Michael Han   * The author blogs on Facebook.          Read More →