Eh?

My mum wants me to delete the Save Michael See site, because she thinks it will jeopardise my future in Singapore if I go back and look for a job. She brought up the example of TT Durai, recently-resigned CEO of the National Kidney Foundation, and said it could happen to me.

I’ve been rather busy and have not been keeping up with Singapore news, so I had to look this character up. From what I gather, TT Durai had launched a defamation suit (how Singaporean) against Singapore Press Holdings and a journalist, who had allegedly misrepresented the NKF in a story about (wait for it, this is stirring stuff) bathroom fittings at the NKF headquarters. It was then revealed during questioning, that TT Durai earns a really good bonus. The NKF and its boss gets some serious public criticism (their patients don’t seem to be so upset, although the money being spent is not going to their treatment — which says a lot). In order to calm the rage, TT Durai, the entire board of the NKF, and even the patron (Mrs Senior Minister) step down.

That’s what I get from the news.

Maybe I’m being dense, but publishing a web parody on a publicly-available site I’ve promoted off and on (that takes no donations and certainly serves no ads, and the only benefit I get is some personal satisfaction) is in what way similar to expensive perks and bonuses to a non-profit organisation’s senior officials, only now discovered? I understand that my mother has concerns about how my candour may make some organisations uncomfortable (Mum, Inc. mostly) — why would I want to work for anyone who stresses opacity over everything, hasn’t experience taught my nuclear family that cover-ups make things worse — but comparing me with TT Durai is completely apples and durians (I’m apples).

In any case, the site hasn’t really changed since I first published, and it needs a refresh of some sort. It’s now unavailable to the public (without a password) while I think about what changes it needs.

• 21 Jul 2005

• Thinking