It Is The Song Of Angry Men

Vandalism is a serious offence in Singapore. The fact that it happened was social commentary that some thresh hold of pain of the common man must have been breached. In a rare and bold public display of outrage in 2005, someone - or some people - sprayed paint on the outer walls of the NKF headquarters at Kim Keat Road in the early hours of the morning. On one part of the outer front wall were the words 'NKF=liar' written in English, and 'big liar' in Chinese - all spray-painted in bold. The word 'liar' was also written in bold on every alternate pillar. The culprits also vandalised the side of the building with the words 'Save Singapore' and 'Liar'.

Revelations about the abuses at the National Kidney Foundation include medication for kidney patients which were routinely sold for a tidy profit. Their "subsidy" turned out to the difference between what was billed and what was charged in the open market. The needy patients were denied the bulk discount prices enjoyed by NKF. Sounds familiar?

Fast forward to 2011, Ms Tan Bee Lan, election agent for Foreign Minister George Yeo, reported that vandals have defaced or removed posters and banners put up by the People's Action Party (PAP) team contesting in Aljunied GRC. The mischief was first discovered on Labour Day when banners and posters put up along roads and campaign vehicles had either gone missing or were smeared with paint. She said 30 posters had disappeared and 29 were vandalised. She added that, while there were isolated cases in previous hustings, this was the first time in the five elections she has helped Yeo that the problem has been widespread, a bellwether of what is to come for the Minister and his GRC team.

While investigating the problem, her team also noticed some Workers' Party (WP) posters in Aljunied GRC did not have Elections Department stickers or had the wrong stickers. Ms Tan said they had lodged a police report and filed a complaint with the Elections Department. Complaining to the Elections Department we understand, but must the police be involved? Maybe she's following the example of Lui Tuck Yew, "so that this episode would be placed on record". Seems like she 's more determined to fix the opposition rather than hunt down the culprits who messed with her posters. For her sake, her supporters had better not be playing mischief with the stickers. That would be embarrassing.