An eulogy for a great man.
written: 12:36 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2008

Before I talk about myself, Baoyue delivered the bad news this morning, simply: "Omg. JBJ is gone."

It was the first thing I read, and I was only half-awake. My alarm rang and I picked up my phone to switch it off. I noticed a new message and I glanced at it, and it was short enough to display in its entirety in my shortcuts menu.

Saying it's sad doesn't even fully describe it. It's not just sad; it's tragic. And I couldn't help but keep thinking how the media here won't be giving JBJ the tribute that he deserves. CNA's typo-ridden, ungrammatical report on his passing, as expected, made no mention of the Privy Council judgment that was in his favour. Worse still, I don't know how many of the younger generation actually knows who he is. My brother's "Who's JBJ?" when my parents talked about it over dinner pretty much said it all.

What JBJ embodied is the kind of heart, the kind of spirit and determination, that lawyers in this country should have, but don't. I won't bother pointing fingers away from myself because I'll come right out and say that I'll never, ever sacrifice my life and my career for a cause that probably won't ever come to anything the way JBJ did, nevermind that I agree with it and think that it should be championed. JBJ was selfless the way the overwhelming majority of us can never, ever be, and he provided hope for the selfish that someday, change can occur in this country. But we stood idly by and left him alone to fight; we vested all our hopes in him thinking that he could do it on his own. Worse, we felt assured in doing nothing because he was doing something. As long as someone was doing it, we were so glad that it didn't have to be us.

Of all the political figures to come out of this country, JBJ is the only one that I ever admired and respected. His passing is a great loss to this country. I wonder how many Singaporeans know that. I wonder how many care. His passing and contributions to this (undeserving) country will be under-reported in the mainstream media, just like his efforts at bringing about change in the country. But it's not about the tributes, is it? It's not about the eulogies, the last-minute, too-late compliments; it's about the fact that he was ever here, the impact he made, and the hope that someone else would pick up where he left off.

It just wouldn't be me. Would it?

I read this article and sent an email to 938's General Enquiries (because there was no 'feedback' email address):

This is in relation to your article on JBJ's passing.

I'd like to pose a question: How do you expect your readers to make sense of poorly edited articles? For instance, this is just gibberish:

"I remember mostly Mr Jeyaretnam standing out here in Raffles Place selling his Hammer he used to scream that and I remember his earlier days in Parliament he used to go one on one with then PM Lee Kuan Yew those were heated passionate debates and they're very interesting"

I understand that it's a quote taken from a member of the public. But what kind of respectable media outlet lets a quote like that go public without editing it for punctuation and grammar? Do you not have people on your pay roll to do simple proof-reading? Here, let me do it for
you:

"I remember mostly Mr Jeyaretnam standing out here in Raffles Place, selling his "Hammer". I remember his earlier days in Parliament - he used to go one on one with then PM Lee Kuan Yew. Those were heated, passionate debates, and they were very interesting."

That literally took me less than 30 seconds, and trust me, it wasn't difficult at all. I continue to be appalled by the poor quality of journalism that plagues this country and your badly written, badly edited article did nothing to dispel that. I suggest you invest in a competent proof-reader; such blatant mistakes are an embarrassment.

On another note, I can't believe you would publish this comment: "I don't know enough about his own background but hopefully his party can take the opportunity to reconsider how best to serve the Singaporean people."

Seriously? In an article that talks about his passing? Yes, JBJ wasn't PAP, but he did so much more for this country than the average person realises. How can you possibly publish such an ignorant comment in an article about his passing? The utter disrespect you show for the great
man is absolutely disgusting.

Then again, I didn't expect anything less from the local media.

938, CNA, Singapore's "media" - a huge fucking joke. There is absolutely no excuses for running an article with such blatant and horrendous grammatical errors. I don't understand at all a thing that goes through the heads of people that 1) write such fucking offensive shit; and 2) let it go public without correcting the flagrant errors.

SERIOUSLY. It pisses me off so much. And I won't even comment on the other comment; I just...can't. I can't.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010