It was a bit sad to read Roy’s confession that he was feeling the stress and strains fighting the CPF battle alone and facing charges in court for defamation and a public nuisance. I must say that it is no mean feat for a young man, and Hui Hui included, to face such pressure at such a tender age. It is like the whole world closing up on them, no jobs and no prospect but with an axe over their heads.
There are not many people, young and old, who could take this kind of heat like JBJ and Chee Soon Juan. And no one is resolute and tough enough to give up a good life like Poh Soo Kai and Chia Thye Poh. These people too went into the political cauldron of fire and survived, becoming bigger men but financial paupers.
Roy Ngerng is starting to go through the same regime, to be melted down in the cauldron of fire, to be turned into pig iron or steel. Could he continue to take the heat? Women are described as made of porcelain and would get harder and stronger in extreme heat. Men will melt like iron. But at the end of it, they would still be iron or strong as steel.
Is it worth it to sacrifice once life for a cause, for the good of a nameless mass who may or may not appreciate what Roy and Hui Hui are doing? It is not only a thankless task. Some would even ridicule them for being silly and nothing better to do. This separates the ordinary from the extraordinary, the men from the boys, from people who lived for an idea or cause and people who just live simply and die in a life of non events.
I can’t tell Roy and Hui Hui what they should or should not do. If the heat is unbearable, they might want to call it a day and take a breather. It is all a matter of a calling, to answer to their hearts, to do what their hearts want them to do, not the reasoning of their heads. Rational thinking would say, why waste time on a losing cause and worse, when the people whom they are standing up for just do not care.
It is your call Roy, and Hui Hui. Yes it is a very lonely journey, a battle against a huge machine with many buttons to press to hurt, to persecute and to humiliate. How many of you out there appreciate what these two young persons are doing and are going through? When they need you most, would you be there to stand by their sides?
The only positive thing is that the end is near. Roy and Hui Hui did not come along for no reasons. Together they have scored three goals, the CPF issue that awoken the sleepy masses, raising the consciousness of the people to act in the crowd funding when he was charged for defamation, and making things looked ugly and silly, the biggest goal, when the machinery came down hard on them but with very little to go on. Many ended up with red faces and many would have to face their desserts for what they had done to Roy and Hui Hui.
Even if Roy and Hui Hui would to call it quits now, these three goals would be the legacy that could be very telling in the next GE.
Chua Chin Leng AKA RedBean
*The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/