Something Is Wrong With William

"Something has gone wrong with us Singaporeans." Why would the general secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) William Wan (‘Where has all our empathy gone?’, Shitty Times, Friday 24 Jan) write something like that?

There was once a William Wan (WW) who preached from the pulpit, spouting stories from the bible like the Book of Numbers tale when God was angry with his people for commingling with the Moabite foreigners - specifically "played the harlot with the daughters of Moab" (Numbers 25:1, RSV). Phinehas, son of a priest, followed Zimri the Israeli and his Midianite wife home, and pierced a spear through both of them. God then said, "Phinehas the son of Eleazor, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel." This verse has been oft quoted by the Ku Klux Klan to justify their xenophobic attitudes and practices.

No effigies please, we're Singaporeans

Singaporeans would never go that far to avenge an insult. At worst they could subcontract the sticky task to the Ah Longs, to superglue the door locks of the racist's condominium or spray paint his precious Porsche, as Michael Fay would do.

Why would this William side with a foreign trash who taught his precocious 5-year-old to mock an ethnic group with the offensive buck-teeth and slope-eyes gesture? The offspring of copulating with a Miss Singapore? Talk about Singaporeans being screwed! And the greatest crime of this wuss of a wealth manager has to be depriving us of a rare COE. The car population is limited to 0.3 per cent growth, while the immigrant population is allowed to gallop at double digits. Way before the advent of the Year of the Horse.

Even a Shanmuganm called his apology a sham, "But some feel that the manner of his apology showed a lack of sincerity. And I think there is some basis for thinking that." That's a lawyer talking.

One clue for betting on the wrong horse - the patron of SKM is Lee Hsien Loong and its adviser is Lawrence Wong, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, both avowed admirers of all things foreign. Casinos, F-1 races, Swiss Bank Accounts, you name it.

When William wrote, "in a civilised society, one need not gloat at the fallen," he was this close to plagiarising Tommy Koh: "In advanced democracies, when an election is over, the vanquished will have the grace to congratulate the victor and the victor will have the magnanimity to forgive his opponent for all the unkind things that the opponent has said." Except that the barbs here were targeted at the father who raised the son who worships foreigners. With quips like "their (foreign workers) crime rates are, in fact, lower than Singaporeans in general.”

For all the high falutin talk about empathy, SKM's Wan should take serious look at why, after a Singaporean student was already issued a notice of offence for charging her phone at an unlocked MRT station power socket, the LTA should follow with legal action to haul her up in court. Something is seriously wrong with William.