Roy’s Garden of Gethsemane

<pic credit: Straits Times>

The Garden of Gethsemane was where Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified. He asked that the burden be lifted from Him, the cup of suffering taken away. Still He said, “Not My will but Yours”, and died the next day.

Yesterday’s post on Roy Ngerng’s blog “The Heart Truths” has him admitting that he is tired and about to give up the battle he has fought since May ’14 (half a year ago). A lot has happened since then, and he has changed too. I think a part of him has died.

His guileless naivete; his bright-eyed bushy-tailed idealism, are gone forever, leaving him with a permanent bitter cynical smirk, down-turned lips that used to smile so easily and radiantly.

But first, some updates.

After Roy was sued in May, PM applied for a Summary Judgment but Roy resisted it because he wanted to see PM in court.

A full-blown trial would have forced closer examination into the issue of “(mis)appropriation of CPF funds via GIC & Temasek” allowing Roy the Dialogue about CPF he had always wanted, where uncomfortable facts might have surfaced and been tackled head-on.

After a closed hearing at the High Court on 18 September, the judge decided to “reserve judgment”. Then on 7 November, the verdict was delivered in a Summary Judgment: Guilty of defamation.

Meanwhile, Roy had continued speaking at Hong Lim Park monthly, as part of the #Return Our CPF Protests.

On 27 September their event clashed with a YMCA family day attended by Minister Teo Ser Luck, and Roy was accused of “heckling” children simply because he marched towards the stage in front of which Mr Teo was sitting.

As a result, Roy was roundly condemned, by everyone from Mr Brown (Singapore’s Blogfather) to MPs (from both the PAP and the Opposition), as well as a large proportion of Singaporeans.

Two weeks later, 16 of the protesters were summoned to report to the police for questioning with regards to “unlawful assembly”.

Some were let off with warnings. Along with protest organiser Han Hui Hui, Roy was charged for “public nuisance” and “illegal demonstration”.

They went to court on 27 October, with their lawyer M Ravi and 4 of their supporters who were also slapped with the “public nuisance” charge. But they did not plead guilty.

So the verdict and sentence (if any) for the 27 September protest are still pending. Also pending are the damages Roy has to pay for the defamation suit which he has lost.

And now we come to his mental & emotional state.

Here’s a familiar litany of persecution even the toughest would find impossible to endure with equanimity: he has lost his job; he will be made a bankrupt soon; he will be barred from contesting in elections; any Opposition party inviting him to stand under their banner is taking a big risk; people are currently averse to him and wary of his shenanigans.

He has become the face of the Looney Fringe, and he knows it.

It’s not hard to see why Roy wants to give up if he needs to continue struggling alone. It would take superhuman strength to stand up to multiple onslaughts from so many directions, leaving him with numerous gashes and wounds: slow death, by a thousand cuts.

His government, his fellow citizens and some of his supporters (who distanced themselves when he began acting crazy & crazier) have all turned their backs on him.

Even his Inner Circle seems to be dragging him down, instead of lifting him up.

It is not surprising really. His closest allies, Han Hui Hui and Leong Sze Hian, are equally powerless when pitted against the ruling party, with might on its side, and every possible advantage imaginable.

What has kept the trio going so far, I think, is the addictive high they experience when they speak in front of the large crowds at Hong Lim Park.

We have all seen how enthusiastic the audience can be at Opposition rallies close to election time; how easy it is to get caught up in the fervour of the moment.

But, as Roy is now learning, this does not necessarily translate into votes (or in his case, monetary support).

Singaporeans, who initially gave their money freely (enabling him to collect S$112K in about a week), started to withhold their donations when they found that the money was going into a Black Hole of legal fees, impending fines, and still unknown (but certainly astronomical) damages, without an end in sight.