Background
Here is “Roygate”, the Roy Ngerng saga that has been getting increasingly convoluted every step of the way. Roy has been writing on his blog “The Heart Truths” for two years and his topics touch on social equality, government policies (such as education, housing and, especially, the CPF Scheme) and other issues that affect ordinary Singaporeans.
On the CPF, he has repeatedly called for more transparency on how the funds are invested, better interest rates for CPF members, and a halt to the annual increase in the Minimum Sum. Recently (Thursday 15 May) he put up a defamatory post against our Prime Minister, alleging that the PM had misappropriated CPF funds in the same manner as City Harvest Church’s Pastor Kong Hee (who is under trial for Criminal Breach of Trust).
The PM then sent him a lawyer’s letter (Monday 19 May), asking for the post to be taken down, a public apology to be made, and damages to be paid, commensurate with the severity of his offence.
He took down the post that same night and, a couple of days later, published an apology for his allegation of criminal misappropriation.
But he asked that damages be waived, in view of his humble position: his civic-mindedness and his modest healthcare job, making him, by all accounts, a useful law-abiding citizen. He requested an open dialogue with the PM about the CPF, its funds and its policies.
During the week, he announced that he had applied to be an NMP (nominated member of parliament) and posted another article on his blog, where he repeated everything he had said in the post that had been taken down, MINUS the “criminal allegation” part.
That weekend, he also made a video asking Singaporeans to rally together and effect change in the CPF Scheme, saying he might not be able to fight much longer, but he hoped others would pick up the mantle so it was just the beginning and not the end.
As a result, the PM responded the following week (Monday 26 May) that Roy was not genuinely remorseful. Thus he refused to waive the demand for damages, merely extending the deadline for Roy to make his offer. He even threatened to ask for “AGGRAVATED damages” (ie, he now expected a higher offer than he would have otherwise accepted).
He ordered Roy to take down the new post and video, and a few other articles that Roy had written earlier, a year or two ago.
Meanwhile, Roy’s Facebook account, and comments on his blog, went into overdrive and his supporters also took up arms to publicise his activities / protest talks, including one that was coming up in two weeks (7 June) demanding that the government “return our CPF”.
His fellow-activist, Han Hui Hui, trumpeted that his blog had received an unprecedented number of hits since the whole thing started (1 million in less than a week, as opposed to 2 million over the last 2 years) and taunted the PM (saying he had so much money, what more could he want from a blogger).
Well, Roy made his offer of damages on Tuesday, and the amount he proposed was S$5K. The PM’s lawyer dismissed it as “derisory” (laughable) and promptly started legal proceedings.
What exacerbated the situation was that Roy had secretly emailed local and international media organisations, informing them they could find the deleted posts and video on an alternative site or archive.
Furthermore, a rumour was circulated that Roy was seeking political asylum in Denmark, and was therefore playing up his victim status to the hilt.
A campaign started, hoping to make him the next global human rights mascot. He also informed his supporters through Facebook that he would soon begin raising funds for his trial.
Opinion
The big “hooha” surrounding CPF right now, is a shake-up that has been waiting to happen, just like the Little India Riot. And poor Roy, like Sakthivel Kumarvelu (the unfortunate Indian national who was killed by the bus in Little India), became the trigger.
To many people, he is just a crazy troublemaker taking advantage of the growing strength of the Opposition to incite citizens. He has made himself a pain in the ass of the government, a thorn in their side, a small ant biting a huge elephant, causing untold irritation. He has become a hindrance to effective governance.
They think that, if he has genuine grievances, he should use the proper channels to get his message across, eg. join a legitimate Opposition party, instead of being the alibaba –guerilla lone voice in the wilderness. And he should not be so obsessed over inequality, because he sounds like a broken record every time he talks about it.
They say, he will be the next Chee Soon Juan, a classic example of what not to be, a failure and a social pariah brought down to his knees by the government, relegated to the “looney fringe” of politics (according to Anyhow Hantam).
Although I can see where these people are coming from, I disagree with their views. Yes I acknowledge Roy has been foolish, he made some mistakes out of his overwhelming passion and paid a disproportionately high price for it.
However, he is undoubtedly sincere in his desire to change Singapore and help Singaporeans. You can see it in his video: if it was just an act, he deserves an Academy Award. But it wasn’t an act; not even an Academy Award winner could act that well.
The latest rumours about him “upping the ante” in order to get asylum, probably resulted from a face-saving move by Han Hui Hui when she was chided for “goading Roy’s supporters and egging him on” (Anyhow Hantam again). I have met Roy a few times and he has always been consistent in what he says, both in person and on his blog. He COULD have considered fleeing the country in his most heated moments, but at the end of the day, he won’t.
He is admittedly rather extreme, and some of his assertions are, clearly, just him jumping to conclusions where he skipped a few steps of logic, or he zoomedin on a single interpretation of the facts (ie. his OWN interpretation) and conveniently disregarded the rest.
For example, his claim that GIC-Temasek have earned 6.5-16% interest whereas CPF members get 2.5-4% interest, means that the rest of the money has gone into the wrong pockets, is a long stretch. To explain this, some say the low rate is to hedge against poor-performing years, since the CPF returns are guaranteed whereas the GIC-Temasek returns are NOT guaranteed.
However, to increase the interest rate for CPF members is not an unreasonable request. It depends on how conservative / careful / “kiasu” you want to be, and at 2.5-4%? This level of caution is simply unnecessary.
This Roy-CPF fiasco also has to be seen in perspective. It is not just him clamouring for more “transparency and accountability” (which many people say is impossible, for national security reasons), but in context of all the terrible things going on in SIngapore right now, especially the rising cost of living, increasing poverty rate, and growing income divide.
CPF policies, being an integral part of our financial strategy for keeping Singapore sustainable, are tied into all these, so we cannot just take Roygate in isolation, or criticise Roy for speaking up. It is not a simple matter of “Roy, who do you think you are, do you have a Messiah Complex? You are like a raw egg throwing itself against a concrete wall. You will never win!”
We should not see this as a Roy-vs-PM thing; it is about what Singaporeans can and cannot do, in the interest of our fellow citizens. It is about what Singaporeans should and should not know, about where our money is invested, how much it can earn, and how much we get when we retire. Roy is right that we are entitled to this information. If there is any flaw in his approach, it is because he cares TOO much.
I believe Roy will lose the long, drawn-out legal battle that ensues, but he will win the war for people’s hearts and minds, if not in time for next GE, then for the subsequent one after that.
He won’t get the NMP post he has applied for, but if he keeps a low profile for the time being and plays his cards right when the time comes (most importantly, by not letting emotion cloud his judgment), he may stand a chance to be an elected MP on an Opposition ticket (maybe SDP, or the new one, Singaporeans First).
MINDSPUR
*The author blogs at http://mindspur.blog.com