Dare I?

Since I can remember, my Mom hushed us if we bitched about the government, like they could be listening, off with your head, shove you in prison, ship you off to an even smaller island and leave you there with a football. Fact is, we don’t have very much freedom, thoughts and words are controlled and perhaps that keeps the harmony. So let me get this straight, I like living in Singapore, it isn’t all roses but it’s home.

 

That being said, no matter how good, stable and powerful authority is, it has to be be questioned every now and then, doesn’t it? There’s no such thing as perfection, everything and everyone has flaws. JB Jeyaretnam was a thorn in PAPs side but necessary. Visionary, hero, pain in the ass, voice, I respected him cos he had the balls to stand up for what he believed in and had the guts to question, he didn’t always do it the right way but as least he tried.

 

I remember a tired, bent, aged JBJ at the City Hall MRT station, selling his book and I stood there for 10 minutes wondering if I had the guts to buy the book…dare I? What if someone jumps out of the bushes and hauls my ass off to jail…early childhood conditioning at its best, I tell ya. Bought the book, shook his hand and smiled, my lil way to support a man who might not have always been right but you just have to respect cos in his own way he loved his country too.

 

RIP.

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