The fearsome tag

Many must have remembered the Yellow Ribbon advert of an ex convict talking to a little girl and the fear it sent to the viewers that he was up to something no good. With his tattoo and appearance, the impression was bad, but it turned out that he was the girl’s daddy.

An artistic person performing a cultural dance would often be well appreciated by the audience especially if the dancer was a high profile professional from another field. Wow, the doctor is such a great dancer, or the minister or the CEO of a big corporation being carried on a well decorated sedan chair. There is nothing creepy about that. This is likely to be the reaction in normal circumstances.

The impression will be coloured, tainted, biased, if one wears a tag, especially a tag bordering on insanity. Once a tag is being pinned on a person, anything the targeted person does will be seen through that lens no matter if the case is proven. Any trait or behaviour that fits the looney category could be seen as confirmation that the tag is true.

M Ravi has just been accused of bi polar disorder or unusual behavior. Not proven yet. Now he went to Hong Lim to perform a dance in public. This is immediately seen as weird, that he is really what he was accused of. And the media is picking this point up. Wow, Ravi’s behavior is strange indeed.

Why is this so? Why is it that the commentators were not seeing the good side of Ravi, his other talents, that he could dance a classical Indian dance? And that was what he did.

Now this performance would likely be used by his opponents as evidence to prove their case, that Ravi is really a nut case. The tag is very powerful and destructive. It made the up the mind for many unthinking and innocent onlookers. All it needs is to plant the idea and all actions will be seen through that tinted glass, to confirm or to dismiss it. In this case, the dance performance is likely to be taken negatively against Ravi.

The door of IMH is open and waiting. How is Ravi going to get out of this snare? How many psychiatrists will be called upon to prove that Ravi is indeed of unsound mind? How many would be called to defend him, to prove that he is just another normal person with different talents and temperaments? And not dangerous, and be fit to work as a lawyer in his professional capacity.

Or would Ravi even get a chance to defend himself before the light goes out on him?

Bachelor of Science(Hawking)

If Vivian Balakrishnan has his way, would a new degree course be offered by the universities, Bachelor of Science(Hawking)? Hawking is now so lucrative with so many millionaires in their midst that the profession is getting more respectable, or at least the hawkers are gaining more dignity with their million dollar income. When there is money, there will be people willing to do it.

For the moment, hawkers are seen as those who sweat it out in their cooking stalls selling food in hawker centres or food courts, an upgraded version. In the latter, the hawkers no longer rolled up their sweaty singlets to their chests but put on nice uniforms. Many who are good could end up as chef or owners of upmarket restaurants.

It is a good idea, definitely, to encourage the young to become hawkers. And to make it more respectable, a Bachelor of Science degree, like domestic science, will go a long way. In the not too distant future, parents will be bragging about my son, the hawker, and being driven around in Mercedes Benzes. What is the point of a general arts degree or science degree and ended as a sales representative, an office administrator and earning a lousy salary? Go where the money is. Money smells good, better, when cooked. Now, this is creativity, thinking out of the box.

I rather be a minister politician.

The new million dollar politician mindset

It is your problem and you are to solve it. The govt is there only to facilitate you in finding your own answers. It is not the responsibility of the govt to come up with solutions. It is okay for the govt to create the problems no matter how much you opposed them. The govt is there to do what the govt thing is right and any problem arising…it is the people’s problem and the people have to solve it.

Imagine this is the new mindset of the politicians, after being paid in multi millions annually, do not have to be responsible for providing solutions and even can go on creating more problems.

If this the new mindset of the million dollar politicians. Imagine if this is not a joke but for real? Imagine if a minister actually said that it is not the job of the govt to provide the answers but for the people to come up with the answers?

What about the strategy of creating problems that offered solutions like COE to solve traffic congestion, housing subsidies to solve high property prices, Medishield to solve ever increasing medical cost, more training to help retrenched workers? Or more integration activities to solve new and old citizen tension, or more salary increases to solve corruption problem?

But nothing beats asking the people to provide the answers to all the problems created by dunno who.

The Ravi Incident – Another twist

The story so far, Dr Calvin Fones and lawyer Wong Siew Hong have been perceived as the villains of this case, out to do M Ravi in. Every one in favour of Ravi seems to think so. The psychiatrist is seen to have breached his professional code to disclose Ravi’s medical report to the Law Society without Ravi’s consent. Ravi claimed to have seen him for 10 mins on his stress problem and Fones offered to write him a MC but turned down by Ravi who did not feel the need for it. Still a medical report was submitted to the Law Society.

In Wong’s case, it was his barging into the High Court on two occasions in a single day, without ‘any locus to be there’, that were raising eyebrows. His strange actions could be seen as contempt of court and was duly told off by the judges. While everyone thought he acted in the capacity of the Law Society but with the Society claiming not so, it is now a case of acting on his own, on his own volition. This is hair raising.

Apparently both are not on Ravi’s side. However, Uncle Yap in his latest video tape has clarified that Fones was actually on their side, a friend of Uncle Yap and has been helping the WP and Ravi all the while. This would now cast more questions as to why he wrote the medical report which Ravi did not asked for. This point was clarified in the media in that he was asked by Wong to write the report for him on Monday morning, 16 Jul. Thus he did not write any report until told to do so by Wong.

According to Uncle Yap, Fones was required under some terms as Ravi’s doctor to submit report to the LSS. On this point he is cleared. As to who disclosed the confidential report, it is also clear that Wong brought it to the court. Would this constitute a disclosure or a public disclosure and a breach of confidentially? Or was it K Jeyaratnam as there were some comments that he was the one and retracted it later.

If Fones was on Ravi’s side, I think Ravi did not sue him, then he is being dragged into the shit hole by someone to discredit him. If he is not on Ravi’s side, he is also being dragged into the shit hole just the same. Either or, he is dead meat.

What is puzzling is that Fones, other than the very damaging report that Ravi is unfit to practise as a lawyer, he was attributed to have said that the Mental Health Act may have to be imposed to lock Ravi in IMH. This threat is not a friendly one and if he is on Ravi’s side it was unnecessary for him to mention that. Or did someone put the words in his mouth on this?

Though Ravi did not sue him, he still filed a complaint to the Singapore Medical Association against Fones. This did not necessary mean that Ravi is pulling Fones down. It could the necessary step to initiate a hearing to allow the truth to be aired in an official inquiry. Where does Fones really stand, a neutral professional, or on the side of either party?


Lawyer Wong’s case is clearer I think. And that is why the LSS is also distancing itself from him though LSS agreed with his civic minded act as reported. Both Wong and the LSS are being sued by Ravi.

The truth and apparent truth are still very patchy and more twists and turns are likely to surface and no one can presume who is the devil or real devil at this point in time.

Michael J

I have copied the UOB painting of the year 2012 by Esmond Loh. I think Esmond done a great job.

A portrait of Michael Jackson painted by Koi fish. This is a piece of rar art done with Koi fish forming every stroke of colours in the painting.

When I have done my finishing touch to this photo I was in a state of confusion. It did look like the King of Pop and also the King of Rock. The costume could fit any one of them. My mind kept swinging from KOP to KOR. One moment it looked more like one and the next moment it looked like the other. Quite exasperating.

I sat back to take a long stare at the photo. Then a voice screamed out. 'Look, it's Michael! I am Michael! Look carefully at my nose and my complexion. It is all written on my face.'

I stood up and took a second look. Oh God, it was Michael alright. And Michael it is and Michael it shall be. It reminded me of Thriller.

Remove the plastic and cosmetics, I am still who I am.