Dear Straits Times,
Thank you for lying to us all these years. My respect for you, amazingly, has sank to new lows I’ve never thought possible. It’s just like stock markets today. When you thought that the indexes couldn’t go any lower, it sank even more.
I am utterly disgusted by your complete lack of journalistic integrity and professionalism. Where are the ethics that
Dr Allan Ooi, R.I.P
your reporters have supposedly learnt in school, and that are supposed to be upheld? The ST is read by many young people in schools across Singapore, forced by schools nonetheless. I shudder to think about the amount of filth stuffed into their minds, day in day out, masquerading as solid veritable information. I squirm to think of the attacks the mainstream media makes on the credibility of the new media, aided by homophobic and self-righteous hypocrite Ministers, when the mainstream media themselves are un-credible, unprofessional and essentially nothing more than a puppet. At least the new media does not profess to be the authority on all matters. Nevertheless, I am utterly angered and pissed with the smear campaign the Straits Times has engaged in, in light of Dr Allan Ooi’s suicide. Shame on you, ST, for attacking dead people, making insinuations and baseless attacks on a person’s character, while covering up the real facts.
I have with me the full suicide letter of the late Dr Allan Ooi. ST possessed this letter as early as the 5 March, and instead of publishing it, chose to pin the suicide on World of Warcraft and gambling, and in the process, casting aspersions on the character of Dr Allan Ooi, who obviously couldn’t defend himself. What they have not bet on, is that the friends of the late Dr have leaked this letter out, because the ST failed to uphold basic journalistic integrity of not engaging in baseless accusations, AND chose to attack Dr Ooi. Perhaps such a tactic might work in the dark ages. In the new information age, unfortunately for ST, it doesn’t.
Click on the above link to see the full PDF file. Below are some quotes that clearly pinned his troubles squarely on the SAF.(credits to wayangparty)
It is clear for all to see he is facing tremendous difficulties at work, and is having trouble with the administration. For those who actually went through the SAF’s unique experience of molding “boys into soldiers”. I am sure these people know how is it like to meet and deal with downright stupid and inefficient bureaucrats and unprofessional soldiers who ask the most inane requests of their subordinates and are incredibly not flexible when it comes to solving problems. From the despair in the full letter, one can sense that he is indeed trapped in a prison, in which to him, the keys are thrown away until many years later.I can only feel sorry, and through the letter, have a glimpse of the immense despair he was under that eventually forced him to take his own life.
Many people think that being a Medical Officer in the SAF is easy. What they do not see is the countless paperwork, be it in HQ Medical Corps or be it in the Medical Centres, where cover-ups are routine and covering ass is the name of the game. Many times,I’ve personally seen doctors in the medical centres having to take instructions from top commanders or higher-rank officers instead of being able to practise their craft without interference, be it from downgrades to medical excuses and medical certificates. Bureaucratic fights are run of the mill, and incompetency with a deadly concoction of inefficiency is rampant. Last year, directly under their watch, 4 servicemen died of health related problems in peacetime. Do we follow the mainstream media and exonerate SAF and its Medical Corps from responsibility? I don’t think so.The Medical Corps creed is Seek, Save, Serve. When they cannot even understand their own scholar to save his life, do we really expect them to understand the troops?
SAF has remained silent so far. and no, publishing obituaries in the ST from the Chief of Airforce, Chief Airforce MO, Chief of Medical Corps all does not count. It does not help in any way. It does not provide any relief to the family neither does it explain anything. What they should have done is to be frank, and taken some form of responsibility. After all, this doctor was under the employment of the SAF and suffered under the SAF as evident from the letter. Now what? Didn’t happen in your premise so not your fault? The suicide letter not solid proof enough of your liability?
But let’s get back to the other issue here, which is the disgusting behaviour of the ST. The ST actually had this letter forwarded to them on the 5 March by a friend of Dr Ooi, yet they chose to publish an article that linked the recent high profile suicides of Dr Ooi and David Widjaja to computer games, thereby attempting to exonerate the real parties(SAF) from blame. It is a massive cover-up. There is no two ways about it, neither is there any other form of justification. They even had the guts to publish an article that “analysed” why computer games contributed to violence, using statistics concocted from “renowned” experts.
And how do we know that the SPH had the letter? Simple. And before I get to explaining that, SPH’s Sin Ming Daily attempted to even lie about this. The sheer gall of the reporters in SPH. Sin Ming, in their haste to pin the blame on something other than SAF, published personal details of the letter that was not previously revealed online. This is the clearest proof that they had the letter way before hand. Oops, dumbasses. caught lying eh?
Does ST has to sink so low to concoct outright lies to mislead the readers, so as to protect and exonerate the wrong-doers, at the expense of a dead man? If you thought that such a claim is outlandish, given ST’s “reputable” and “award-winning” characteristics,you are wrong. Apparently, its still within their capabilities. Not a single time was MINDEF and SAF mentioned, except that he AWOLed. Emphasis was even made on the AWOL, so as to portray him a bad soldier. Detailed steps taken by MINDEF to trace him were never published. How did he manage to get to Australia? Surely the Customs have records? If MINDEF is so capable as to trace and squash dissent online, you mean they cannot trace a AWOL soldier? This is not Mas Selemat, the king of escapes, we are talking about.
Finally, Sin Ming chose to blank out the entire paragraph on his terrible work experience in the SAF that led him to commit such an act. If they didn’t purport that the article they published contained the full letter, it was still okay. However, they did, which means they are continuing to lie and cover up.
I await ST’s article tomorrow to see if they have the bloody guts to publish the real full unedited letter, that pinned the blame squarely on the SAF.
I await ST’s apology for misleading readers and defaming a dead person, although I know it will have to snow in Singapore before that happens.
I await SAF’s full explanation on this matter, although I know that will never happen. I personally hope the family takes legal actions against the SAF and we can see how these clowns attempt to run away from the responsibility, even when it’s clear that the responsibility is on them, as fingered by the dead man. Maybe they wish to argue that Mr Ooi was in Australia, and not in SAF camps at that time of death, so they are not liable?
Pathetic ST for covering up for the SAF. Shameless ST for defaming a dead man. Disgusting ST for misleading readers. Irresponsible SAF for failing to look after their own people, ONCE AGAIN.
I read that in such bad economic climate, SPH is cutting its staff’s pay.
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is cutting the pay of its 3,000 staff by between 2% and 10% from next month.
The pay cuts, together with a reduction in profit-related bonuses, would result in an estimated 20% reduction in the wage bill for SPH’s core businesses.
SPH said the move is the latest cost-cutting measure in response to the sharp deterioration in business conditions.
I think your reporters deserve it fully. Let’s all boycott the ST and force it out of business. If a newspaper cannot respect its own readers and its own self, along with the journalistic code of conduct, it does not deserve to survive. ST is not going to get a single cent from me ever, and I shall spread the word out about how low ST and SPH is.Even my dog is boycotting ST for its poo papers. I am going to give it free news-dailies instead for its poo.
Yours sincerely,
Fuck-you
All readers, please spread the word out amongst your friends. If they can lie and cover up about such incidents, how many cover-ups do you NOT know of?
70 Comments
March 16, 2009 at 9:39 pm
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March 16, 2009 at 6:03 pm
F the ST.
1. Obvious ruling party bias – WE LOST LESS THAN THE MSCI!!!!!!! That means we R GOOD!
2. Stupid insinuations – GAMING CAUSES DEATH AND MURDER!!!!!!!
3. Stupid TCM articles : “Eczema is Caused By Liver having too much Fire and Kidneys having too much Wind!!!” LOLOLOLOL
4. Stupid investing articles: “I got lots of money, so i anyhow invest. By the way i drive 2 mercedes, 1 ferrari and 3 BMWs.!”
March 16, 2009 at 10:41 pm
5. ST very good, win prizes etc etc etc.
6. FORUM letters that praise the ST and Lee Wei Ling, the super hypocrite.
March 16, 2009 at 1:27 am
are the reporters to blame for this?
if you worked in SPH before, you would have understood that they were facing the same problem, “cover-ups are routine and covering ass is the name of the game,” that’s what the reporters had to do as well.
so whose fault is it ultimately?
March 16, 2009 at 2:30 am
sure, we don’t blame the reporters for writing. they were all doing their jobs. that’s always a convenient excuse, no? hitler guards were doing their jobs. goebbels was just doing his job. everyone’s just doing their job after all. but what are they really doing?
and no,their ricebowl is not a sufficient excuse in my opinion. unless their morals and ethics are worth 3k a month?or more i wouldn’t know. and i really can’t care less. i don’t see any justification for their writing. any reporters willing to argue it out here about the rightness of what they are doing, please feel free to write it out here. i am perfectly willing to take up the argument, and definitely interested to hear how the reporters themselves see what they are doing.
March 15, 2009 at 9:09 pm
do not glamorise suicide….
his loved ones do not deserve to inherit his troubles/problems.
March 15, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Hi, please do not misunderstand the purpose of the post. it is not to glamourise suicide, neither am i ever attempting to. what I am trying to say is that it takes courage to commit suicide, and that people who see it as a weakling do not really understand what it is like to experience such feelings. I must stress again that I will never encourage anyone to commit suicide. for anyone facing any problems(don’t we all), and feel that they cannot cope, seeking help is the thing to do! good Samaritans of Singapore, friends, psychiatrists, family, etc. please do seek help, and not walk down the same route.
March 15, 2009 at 3:15 pm
it takes courage to end your life, but is that courage respectable???
His a doctor, he took an oath to save lifes, value life. But he took his own life in the end……..
I feel it takes even more courage to face ur difficulties, rather than juz give up on life.
Thats an easy way out……….for weaklings
March 15, 2009 at 11:48 pm
yes, it takes courage to face your difficulties too. just a different kind of courage. please do not label him as a weakling or less of a man. nobody is him, and only he understands himself. who are we to judge anyway? what we should judge is what forced him to take such a path, not why he chose to take such a path.
April 9, 2009 at 8:35 am
You have no right to judge any man unless you had walked at least twice in his shoe.
April 14, 2009 at 11:21 pm
yups, that’s right.
July 10, 2009 at 11:41 am
I happen to come to this late, but unlike most of you, this man was a family friend. And he had always been pampered.
“I feel it takes even more courage to face ur difficulties, rather than juz give up on life.” … this may be written badly but it actually is quite correct. I think you misunderstand the letter. If you don’t know his background, of how he always got his way, and then never thought through his actions properly, then you’d realise that this is far more complex than you thought.
And I don’t work for ST. I think they write badly. But no, they have not compromised their integrity on this. So you’re barking up the wrong tree.
March 15, 2009 at 2:15 pm
suicide = courage? come on. if everyone in singapore who was disgruntled about their job committed suicide, we wouldn’t have a workforce.
what about his loved ones who have to deal with his death? both the emotional burden and the time/ financial burden of winding down a person’s life? what about his friends, what about the people who thought he cared for them? by this email, he is saying – sorry, guys – you are not worth the effort. none of you, nor anything else is worth living for.
what about his patients? what about society? one less doctor out of the tiny quota every year that singapore can count on. what about (yes, i’m saying this) the SAF? investing a six-figure sum in his education, not counting his pay. at the stage that he was in his life, he’s not near earning the huge bucks that specialists draw in, so don’t jump to the easy conclusion that the organisation is exploiting him for a minimum wage.
is this guy in massive debt? is he being chased by loan sharks? is his girlfriend pregnant? is his mother dying of cancer? has he lost his job? outside there are millions of singaporeans suffering in this crisis and one rich entitled lucky doctor decides to take his life because he signed a contract that he doesn’t want to honor.
even filipino maids just run away. scholars break their bond. regulars go into mood and just wait to be fired. this guy gave up and has the cheek to blame it on the other thousands of other people in the same organisation who go through the same or worse.
as a caveat to all of the above: i do not know this fellow personally , nor have i done much research into his life. for all i know he may be a hero to many. i do not judge his character.
BUT if you wish to judge him and the organisation by that final email he sent – if that is the document you are putting trust in solely and purely – i feel it is a document of cowardice.
and yes, i agree ST should have published it. if it did, i would write as much as i have said above into forum.
March 15, 2009 at 11:57 pm
dear asta, he was more than disgruntled about his job. he couldn’t do the things he was trained for, and i can assure you of this. he took an oath to save lives, but look at how SAF utilised him? also, people who are disgruntled about their job can leave. can he quit so easily? i believe that’s the main crux of the issue here.
i don’t think he meant it that way. i will not speculate however, on what he really meant, although i’ve my own thoughts. what i definitely feel is that he didn’t feel his life was worth living anymore(obvious). that’s all i can say. nowhere did i state in my post, or anyone for that matter, that money played any role in his decision.
as for those problems you quoted, like i explained in my other replies, it does not make any sense to compare problems. what is difficult for you might be considered easy for others. i sense some tinge of jealousy here, when you keep hinting on doctor/salary/scholar/money and how privileged he is, and trying to say that he shouldn’t have done so because he is so privileged.what you know is only the public side of it. i’m pretty sure you do not know his private side, so i urge you to not compare his problems. there is no basis nor any need for comparison.
you’ve already judged his character. all of us who commented here have already judged his character, although we’ve no right to really. life’s about judgments anyway.
i will judge the organisation based on what he wrote, because i personally can understand what he said and empathise with him. i will not like to go into any more details in this.
finally you got to the main bulk of my post.ST firstly, should never have speculated and character assassinated him, in the efforts to exonerate the SAF. Secondly, i stress again truthfulness is the most necessary characteristic of any newspaper. They are supposed to reveal the truth. ST, not surprising, have been failing consistently.
March 16, 2009 at 1:38 am
i really dont understand what you are saying. if you are not willing to judge the individual then how come you are willing to judge the organisation??
“he couldn’t do the things he was trained for, and i can assure you of this. he took an oath to save lives, but look at how SAF utilised him?” that is a really childish mentality. who gets the chance to do exactly the thing he is trained to do? whatever line of work you do, you have to adapt to the situation. so if he can’t save lives then he must take his own? what is the logic?? he signed a contract to serve the SAF, but look at how he used them! take their money, take their training, flush it down the drain.
addition of 2 year bond was because he did a masters degree at the SAF’s expense. this is a standard policy for all government boards. and regardless of bond duration, you are allowed to leave if you are just willing to pay back what you took from the organisation. moneyfaced? yes. unfair? no. if you treat your moral obligation to an organisation as a business transaction, the organisation is fully obliged to claim back its investments in you.
finally, you seem to keep claiming that we cannot judge him. i beg to differ. if you want to commit suicide in a very public manner, and leave a note, you are putting yourself out there to be judged, and you are personally revoking all right to argue for yourself. if you have the courage to live, you can still fight back against people’s talk, no matter how much it may hurt. i see no reason to honor cowardice or to blame 50,000 other people for the cowardice of 1. if given a choice i will always judge 1 person rather than 50,000 others.
March 16, 2009 at 2:22 am
and why can’t i judge an organisation then? there are differences between individual and organisation, ain’t there?
your right. maybe that’s why we have lawyers not arguing in court, and we have doctors in politics? eh? adapt to the situation easy to say eh? say you train for 6 years to be a doctor, and now you do admin, something that was definitely not promised by the SAF initially during the bond signing. what would you feel, especially when you cannot get out now? take their training? sorry SAF does not conduct medicine courses.
yes, of course. pay back eh? i think you don’t understand SAF that well after all. =) please don’t assume you can just pay back the money, pat your backside and walk away. i fully assure you this isn’t the case for local study award(medicine). and i repeat, his family is definitely more than rich enough to buy out his bond. so perhaps you wish to look somewhere else.
i think the note wasn’t meant to be public. it’s because of ST shameless cover-up and character assassination that led to this note leaking out. by the way, do you honestly think he cares about arguing for himself? perhaps you think he cares, because you are seeing from the view of the living. i don’t know about him though. what, i however care about, when i took this issue up was that the ST engaged in their baseless attacks, and this is something i cannot condone from a newspaper, especially on a dead person. just because the dead person might/might not care does not mean ST can engage in such shameful acts. i reiterate that i am not honouring his act of suicide, neither do i see it as an act of cowardice. i see it as an act of courage, just not that kind of courage that is generally accepted. we will never agree on this, so let’s agree to disagree.
i didn’t judge 50,000 people. neither do i care to, so i see no basis for your comparison.
March 16, 2009 at 2:51 am
“say you train for 6 years to be a doctor, and now you do admin, something that was definitely not promised by the SAF initially during the bond signing. what would you feel, especially when you cannot get out now? take their training? sorry SAF does not conduct medicine courses. ”
unfortunately, most people don’t bother to read the contract these days… and SAF doesn’t conduct medicine courses, it pays for medicine courses. is ‘doing admin’ a good enough reason to commit suicide? i see a lot of NSFs pass through NS every year and i don’t see that many clerk suicides leh..
actually – i do know of LSA(medicine) who have paid up and left. not to mention LSA, ATA, SMS, SAFOS… as long as you serve your minimum term, and pay the amount you can leave. i think you are really very confused. there is no such thing as cannot leave – SAF regular staffing is hemorrhaging like anything these days simply because it’s so easy to leave.
i thought your whole point was that ST prevented the note from leaking out?? then how come now it’s ST make the note leak out?? more and more convoluted. if you choose to inflict death upon yourself, you revoke all claim to life, and thus to dignity. courage or cowardice is no longer your dai ji. it remains to those who live to deal with the problems of your passing.
technically, you judged the entire staff of the SAF, and also the entire staff of SPH. there is no such thing as a monolithic ‘organisation’ that you can blame. organisation is made up of people. when you call to boycott ST, the people suffering are the hardworking reporters who earn the least pay, are first to be fired, and are the ones whose point of view are suppressed by editors. that’s what i mean by judging 50,000 people instead of 1.
whose fault it is that he is dead can only be ascribed to one person. HIM.
March 16, 2009 at 3:13 pm
“unfortunately, most people don’t bother to read the contract these days… and SAF doesn’t conduct medicine courses, it pays for medicine courses. is ‘doing admin’ a good enough reason to commit suicide? i see a lot of NSFs pass through NS every year and i don’t see that many clerk suicides leh..”
flawed analogy. you speak like an illogical demagogue. doing admin is NOT a good reason to commit suicide, but feeling upset, distraught and thinks life is pointless because you are bonded and shackled to a JOB THAT YOU DETEST is more reason to die. maybe your job doesn’t matter much to you. but i would suppose to someone who has received medical training, it WILL BE FAIR to assume he WANTS TO HEAL PEOPLE, not go through silly pointless bureaucratic politicking and office struggles in army.
“actually – i do know of LSA(medicine) who have paid up and left. not to mention LSA, ATA, SMS, SAFOS… as long as you serve your minimum term, and pay the amount you can leave. i think you are really very confused. there is no such thing as cannot leave – SAF regular staffing is hemorrhaging like anything these days simply because it’s so easy to leave.”
of course you can leave. you can leave after paying a huge sum of money (which his parents OFFERED to bail him out and shouldn’t be a problem). So why did he still kill himself? I point you to his last words where he said “12 years potentially becoming 15 to 16 years”.
so what? should he pay for breakage of bond for 16 years, when technically it should only be 12? ooohhh, just because the fine print in the contract says SAF is free to lengthen your liability? i don’t think so. there are plenty of job contracts that say you can be freely dismissed BUT we know there’s legal recourse if you are dismissed without reason. in this case, IS THERE LEGAL RECOURSE??? or maybe the whole point of having a newspaper in the country is to examine this. but oh sadly, we lack this avenue of even examining whether there is legal recourse of this poor sod because there’s an orchestrated media blackout!
“i thought your whole point was that ST prevented the note from leaking out?? then how come now it’s ST make the note leak out?? more and more convoluted. ”
bullshit. ST made no mention about this note BEFORE wayang party published it. they pretended they din’t receive it – pretended he was depressed, pretended it was a break up with his gf pushing him to these.
pretense pretense pretense.
and later on, even as ST PRETENDED that their knowledge comes from wayangparty, they let slip that they already possessed the letter BEFORE wp published it – in the form of publishing the contents of the ENTIRE letter when wp only published the first half.
so huh? ST din’t have the letter before that? i don’t think so. i think they are just too scared to publish the letter, in case people get interested in the hiring policies of your dear SAF.
pls get your facts right before you launch into baseless tirades.
“if you choose to inflict death upon yourself, you revoke all claim to life, and thus to dignity. courage or cowardice is no longer your dai ji. it remains to those who live to deal with the problems of your passing.” +”whose fault it is that he is dead can only be ascribed to one person. HIM.”
yah, i’m sure people who choose to kill themselves after they feel brutalized, powerless to retaliate, think that life is pointless, receive this same comment from you – “cowardice”, “no dignity”. and who are you to judge them anyway? you don’t feel the despair he does. maybe that’s why you can’t imagine his grief. you don’t qualify as a commentator. i only hope you become more open minded.
“when you call to boycott ST, the people suffering are the hardworking reporters who earn the least pay, are first to be fired, and are the ones whose point of view are suppressed by editors. that’s what i mean by judging 50,000 people instead of 1.”
if a journalistic entity cannot even uphold its basic duty to society ie REPORT THE TRUTH TO THE BEST OF ITS KNOWLEDGE, i think we should really boycott it. not to advance some obscure political agenda, but for sake of saving money (you might want to donate it to charity). the same way if you screw up your basic duties at work (e.g. you are a cleaner but failed the consistently clean up the room), YOU WILL BE FIRED.
lastly, pls make your arguments a bit more reasoned. i’ve read the entire thread and i respond only to your comments because they are ludicrously stretched and so logically challenged. *roll eyes*
March 16, 2009 at 10:32 pm
hi ian, thanks for arguing on my behalf. i hesitated in replying because i couldn’t really understand what’s he saying and the sheer illogicality of his arguments. the argument about needing to bother about the reporters’ jobs is especially funny. lol.
to me, from what i see the comments made by him, all i see is this person who is intensely macho-i-am-very-strong guy who, put it simply, lacks empathy. but nevertheless, he has contributed to a very lively debate here indeed.
cheers. =)
March 17, 2009 at 5:00 pm
haha, yah i agree. if he were a GP student, i’d fail him.
March 17, 2009 at 11:20 pm
=) may i ask what course are you studying in? you are taking psychology, according to your blog, but there isn’t psychology right? so that means its some kinda module.. =)
March 18, 2009 at 1:01 am
im doing business (marketing) and social sciences (pol science) in smu.
what about you? =)
March 16, 2009 at 3:31 pm
So you mean if we were to boycott something, we have to think of the hardworking reporters whose job are on stake?
So when you have something that tastes like crap at a hawker centre, you don’t boycott it but instead you think about the uncle that is working hard behind the stall? Or think about the boy who is bring the food to your table?
March 16, 2009 at 10:44 pm
that’s what he’s saying. maybe he’s protecting his job(reporter)? =) indirectly asking you to think for him, and painting a picture of victimised reporters to gain your sympathy.
you can also think of the poor nigerians when you receive emails from nigeria. =)
March 16, 2009 at 10:36 pm
asta, ian has replied, and said mostly what i wanted to say.
asta, i cannot reveal anymore than i know, but i will challenge you to pull out names of those regular MOs who managed to buy out their SAF bonds. i’m extremely interested to know about your mysterious people who actually managed to pay up and leave.
i didn’t say ST prevented the note from leaking out. I SAID ST DELIBERATELY OMITTED THE NOTE IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE SAF. please, you can’t be serious about ST being so “caring and concerned about the reputation of dr allan ooi” to prevent the note from “leaking out”. if you are serious, please read what ST wrote about the entire shit. by the way, ST has maintained silence on this so far. zilch. even when the full note is online for all to see. go figure why. so please, read again before you start accusing me of being more and more convoluted.
=)
July 10, 2009 at 11:43 am
And Asta said it rightly. The best part is that it’s really true (JS Mill) that out of the morass of opinions, the truth will emerge. The boy (he wasn’t really a man) didn’t grow up of his pampered reality. My uncles used to talk badly of him. I can’t believe that people sort of hold him up as a poster boy. In fact, he wasn’t even a lesser mortal.
March 15, 2009 at 11:25 am
i will go along with the call to boycott ST. no point buying “cheap” news to boost circulation numbers and impress advertisers. no buying of ST any more!!
March 15, 2009 at 11:58 pm
its for your own good too. you save on newspapers costs, and frankly, you will not miss much. do urge your friends to make the wise choice.
March 15, 2009 at 12:57 am
The oh-so-masculine blah blah people that probably think the doctor was a lame-wristed nampy pampy must realise this: Dr. Ooi mentioned in his letter that “age is not an excuse” when it came to signing the contract (at 18). He was fully aware of his bond. What angered him and eventually drove him to take his life was that the bond was lengthened and lengthened again and again, without his consent. It seems that you need only sign once, to enable them to “renew” your bond, to steal a few more years away from your life.
March 16, 2009 at 12:11 am
thanks for getting the crux of the issue. =) of course there are always detractors that will continue saying that a bond is a bond blah blah. we can always show inflexibility and get what we want because a bond is a bond after all, or we can demonstrate flexibility and understanding, accept losses and review working cultures etc and improve.
March 14, 2009 at 4:53 pm
ay. the sg media is seriously NOT screwed up, damn ACCURATE and HONEST. besides this reporting, you should go & see how they reported on the NTU “stabbing” incident. I feel grossly unfair for the deceased. The media has jumped to conclusions and there were so many questions regarding the whole incident. If you could blog about it and draw more attention to the case, it would do more just for the deceased Indonesian guy. Anw, your posts are interesting haha.
March 14, 2009 at 7:34 pm
ah, sarcasm. i’ve seen the ST reports too. they really redefine the word “reports”.
there are already many posts about that, why add to them, especially when i’ve nothing new to add? there’s nothing i can do any more for the deceased guy.
March 14, 2009 at 11:51 am
[...] The Passing of Dr Allan Ooi – Wayang Party: Dr Allan Ooi’s farewell letter and last words before his death: Questions for SAF to answer – Wayang Party Club: Sin Ming forced to publish Dr Allan Ooi’s farewell letter with a different SPIN to distract attention from the real reason behind his suicide – Kaffein-nated: What you read is not what you read – Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: Shameless ST sinks to all-time low [...]
March 13, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I am disappointed by the quality of thinking in this forum.
Yes, a life is wasted. But it is an individual’s decision ultimately. And I believe the decision in not in the best interest of his family/love ones.
No point cry father cry mother… blame organisation blame society. It just shows the world that Singaporeans are sheltered and has no fortitude to rise up to face challenges. While the system may/should try to accommodate the individual (in an ideal world), but (in the real world) the onus is ultimately up to the individual to adapt & survive the life knocks.
I feel very very sad for the family.
March 14, 2009 at 2:53 am
hi helix, i notice you replied the same thing in wayangparty’s article. are you alright? why do you go around copying and pasting replies to help the organisation that was fingered by Dr Allan Ooi for the troubles and misdeeds?
its easier to label a dead person as lacking in fortitude, lacking in courage and sheltered, isn’t it? without really understanding the person? and best of all, the person cannot retort to save his name? let me reiterate. it takes tremendous courage to take one’s own life. the person has to be facing deep despair and abyss on all sides, to even take the plunge. from the letters, one can only imagine the despair he felt back then. i will not profess to know alot about him, because i don’t. all i do know is that he has taken his life, and we shouldn’t be pointing fingers at him just because he did something many of us fear to do. instead, we should look at why he did what he did, and he already explained why. and the despicable media is shameless enough to conjure lies to defame a dead man, while protecting the real culprits.
March 14, 2009 at 4:55 am
my quick response….
- what’s wrong w cut & paste?!… the assessment on the quality still applies to both sites… hence the comments are consistent.
- also, my views are based on facts, hence pls stick to the facts… (& it don’t work to sugar coat things just becos individual was good-looking);
person signed contract… & AWOLed. be a man to adhere to the rules of life & face the consequences.
get real – there are no perfect organisatons…. and organisations are upheld by rules. if individual like him (who seemed >intellectual than average) cannot survive & follow simple rules, what abt countless others whom are struggling with daily/mundane (albeit less newsy) challenges.
- lastly … yr statement that taking one’s life being courageous is simply dangerous…. what’s yr favourite animal – lemmings?!?!?!
March 14, 2009 at 7:16 am
To Helix,
Just because a person had signed a contract should not mean there is no way out? Did you read his letter – it’s like a prison, did he not say? Whatever it is, a person’s life is MORE important than whatever contracts or processes.
Contracts and process admin can change. For the employing company, they can always recruit another person, albeit the ardous process of getting a suitable candidate. But the family of Dr Ooi, no matter how long they wait, will never get their son back.
Do you even humanely come close to understand this point?
Once a life is snuffed out, there is no backtracking. It doesn’t matter anymore that he or she ought to face the consequences of the contract, or should have done this or not. It’s all moot.
Do you even comprehend what I’m saying? Do you know what you have really written? I’m not advocating that contracts are weak and the employing company must suffer losses whenever it is drafting out a contract.
However a contract is both ways and benefits both parties. It seems like Dr Ooi no longer sees the benefits of the contract. So change it because it’s not working for him. Afterall, it’s just a paper, right? If my Finance Minister can say losing billions are just paper losses, I’m sure SAF can think of ways how the contract can be changed to suited to his needs.
People grow, people’s thinking change, people may regret what they had done, and in this case Dr Ooi had regretted signing on. For you to think that he deserves it is putting law above life.
No offense, dude. But I think the PAP will truly like to recruit you. Your thought process is so much akin like them.
Be prepared for a tea party invite soon.
Kaffein
March 14, 2009 at 7:16 pm
thanks kaffein for rebutting. =) you must have spent some time on such a long reply, and your blood pressure must have rose quite a bit.
March 15, 2009 at 9:04 am
the key point must be to educate people that suicide does not solve anything. to put it plainly, the family & loved ones are biggest losers, due to an individual’s decision.
~~~However a contract is both ways and benefits both parties. It seems like Dr Ooi no longer sees the benefits of the contract. So change it because it’s not working for him. Afterall, it’s just a paper, right?~~~
you have correctly said that contract was drafted to benefit both parties, hence both agreed to it. Yr 2nd & 3rd sentence sounds like too frivolous – that one can back out of contract easily just becos of regret?!? remember that contracts work beyond govt entities, in corporations, societies & families. hence, it is a long shot & too convenient to blame the organization.
March 16, 2009 at 12:09 am
hi gunner agreed.
i think you are missing the point. i am quite sure money is not an issue, but that’s just my two cents. what i am sure is that he must’ve tried to get out, only to meet with Goliath problems, and very likely he also failed in getting out. contracts are just pieces of paper. they are obligations. all obligations, however, must be fair. how can you say that its too frivolous to back out once the contract is signed, but not so when the contract is extended without the agreement of both parties?
let me put another question to you. let’s say you have this scholar that you signed and you paid for his expensive fees. now he wishes to back out, and is willing to pay to break the bond. do you keep to your thou-shall-not-break-your-promise stance, show incredible inflexibility, refuse and have a super unhappy personnel on your hand, or do you accept the payment, review your HR policies and structure of your organisation? SAF wanted their man didn’t they? they have him. dead.
March 14, 2009 at 7:30 pm
i see. very well then.
er since when did i try to side with allan because he is erm good looking? i happen to be STRAIGHT. i can fully assure you that his good looks didn’t play a role in my analysis, neither am i interested in necrophilia. i am the one sticking to facts, do you consider the ST sticking to facts, and blaming computer games such as WoW, and gambling then?
i see. i fully concur with your statement that he signed a control and he AWOL. however, i take great offence at your insinuations that he was less of a man because he didn’t adhere by the rules in life and didn’t face the consequences. contrary to your beliefs, suicide does not represent any weakness of the mind, neither does any form of psychiatric illness. suicide is a consequence of psychiatric problems, such as depression, AND depression is not any weakness of the mind. do you consider a man suffering from cancer less of a man, because he suffered from cancer? if not, why should you consider a man less of a man, because he suffered from depression?
of course, there are no perfect organisations. however, i would like to see your tune if you are forced to extend a contract that you didn’t want to, and face doing work that is totally mundane and mindless, not to mention with little relevance to your training. that’s if you are not part of the armed forces already, but i digress. the fact is that SAF is being fingered for his troubles, and questions must be asked of an organisation that managed to forced one of their people to his death. He has already pointed out in his suicide letter that he knows of other colleagues who are suffering. How does SAF intend to address such grievances? or do we just sweep it under the carpet, like you suggested, put the damn blame on him for being “weak” and “never follow rules” and move on? everyone has their own challenges, i don’t like to compare challenges just as to point out someone is weaker. to a handicapped person, just being to walk without aids could be the same challenge as a CEO struggling to turn his sinking ship around.
follow rules eh? you know who mindlessly follow rules? people that do not think independently. no wonder Singapore can lose $100 billion and law-abiding citizens like you just follow rules and keep their mouths shut. i must agree with alex au of yawningbread. the saddest thing about singapore, is not that we have a one-party state, but because singaporeans think its the best thing that ever happened to them. the lack of individual thinking is well-embodied in a typical Singaporean, who follow rules and rules and rules, even when they are morally wrong. Those guards in Nazi Germany that gassed the millions of Jews were following rules and orders, weren’t they?
thanks for trying to understand me. i like kangaroos. i see them often in Singapore actually, manifesting in important places. i also happen to like ants. I see them everywhere too. They follow the rules, and don’t think on their own. only rarely do you see an ant that seems independent and away from the pack.
don’t you agree taking one’s own life represents the morbid form of courage, but courage nonetheless? killing people is easier. at least for me personally. again, its my personal opinion, and of course you are entitled to yours. =)
March 15, 2009 at 8:48 am
two pts:
=we shd refrain from glamorising suicide.
in this downturn, one can predict that more will be contemplating suicide due to hardship, poverty and just trying to make ends meet – i am talking those at the very bottom rung of society. And we are also free from war & violence.
but the doctor was definitely in a better position, and yet he chose this route. while it can be said that it’s his personal choice, it is very different when people like you attempt to glamorise him.
=rules of life applies to everyone – in government, corporations, societies & families. it is how people respond to them that matters.
March 16, 2009 at 12:05 am
that’s right. I am not glamourising suicide and i reiterate that suicide should not be seen as a solution as far as possible. but if a suicide has happened, like in this case, we should look beyond labelling him as weak, privileged etc, but instead look at the core reasons what forced him down such the path of no return.
i am not glamorising suicide, i repeat one last time. i do not endorse, neither do i support, using suicide to solve any problems.
March 13, 2009 at 8:48 pm
I am disappointed by the quality of thinking in this forum.
Yes, a life is wasted. But it is an individual’s decision ultimately. And I believe the decision in not in the best interest of his family/love ones.
No point cry father cry mother… blame organisation blame society. It just shows the world that Singaporeans are sheltered and has to fortitude to rise up to face challenges. While the system may/should try to accommodate the individual (in an ideal world), but (in the real world) the onus is ultimately up to the individual to adapt & survive the life knocks.
I feel sad for the family.
March 13, 2009 at 7:58 pm
The more I digged deeper into David (NTU) and Dr Allan cases, the more puzzled I become.
Someone, somewhere is hiding the truth of the matter.
March 14, 2009 at 2:47 am
and instead of telling the truth, the media hides the truth.
March 13, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Not all of Straits Times articles about Allan were untrue. As a friend of Allan, the articles in the Straits Times by Jermyn were at least as FACTUAL as it could go.
We are mostly disturbed by the other medias, Sin Min Wan Bao, Lian He Zhao Bao, Ri Bao, The New Paper, the Sunday Times, 938Live (who even staked outside the house we heard) and AsiaOne.com. But they all belong to different news rooms I believe.
So attack all and not just ST – Straits TImes.
ESPECIALLY the tabloids.
Most of which, we are utterly disappointed with AsiaOne.com for their direct translation of Wan Bao’s article. They did not even have the integrity to do their own research. Not only did they get the facts WRONG that he killed himself over love, but they even retranslated his letter from Mandarin as opposed to trying to get their hands on an original which by now, is everywhere. I hope u’re proud of urselves AsiaOne.
Additionally, we would like a formal and public apology from all the medias that have gotten their facts wrong. Its the least u could do, to save ur credibility.
Have not seen such blatant blunders.
March 14, 2009 at 2:47 am
hi the tabloids are just doing what they know best, gutter journalism that knows no ethics. however, ST is NOT a tabloid, neither does it profess to be. it professes to be reliable and truthful, but its far from it which makes it disgusting. I have to disagree with you. I was quite upset when I saw the articles that blamed WoW for your friend’s death. That is downright ridiculous. imagine the anger when i saw the suicide email?
the media have the originals. no doubt about it. unfortunately, they censored the critical parts. basically, the media is trying to blame everything else, except the real issue. SAF.
March 13, 2009 at 5:07 pm
This SIN Society is very sick !
Homicides in Tertiary Institution.
SAF Officer committed suicide.
Member of Parliament attacked.
Medias speculated as much as layman citizens before reporting the News and Investigation Results are slow or kept secret.
Can such a society provide wellbeing and happiness ?
March 14, 2009 at 2:44 am
sighs, the disgusting actions of the media is really…defame dead people.
March 13, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Hi there,
This is Zhi Yuan from wayangparty.com
On your point of Dr Ooi’s friend leaking the letter, if there is no coalition of blogs in cyberspace committed to serve as a bulwark against the spins and lies of the state media, there will be no outlet for the truth to surface.
We would like to invite your blog to join our fellowship of blogs after which we will start aggregating your articles to enable it to reach out to a wider audience.
Our fellowship works on a very simple concept – to add as a multiplier of information to spread them throughout cyberspace in the shortest possible time. We aggregate each other’s original articles to generate the maximal impact simultaneously. Other blogs on our fellowship are sgpolitics.net, Singapore Enquirer, groundnotes, Chia Ti Lik etc.
Please contact us at wayangparty@hotmail.com if you are keen to find out more.
Regards,
Zhi Yuan
Wayang Party
March 14, 2009 at 2:43 am
hi wayangparty, i’ve been following your blog for some time. i must say i am impressed by the amount of dedication you put in. I have to decline your offer unfortunately as I do not feel I am up to the task of constantly updating my blog, and also the pressures of being linked to blogs like yours. I will still provide the link to your blog, and I recommend readers to read these articles. As and when I find suitable articles, i will also publish them with acknowledgments of course. Do feel free to quote me freely if you wish, and you can take articles as and when you like if you find them necessary or suitable.
please do not take this as a snub. Your blog has a bigger following than mine. I greatly appreciate your offer. Its just that I feel I’m not up to the task, neither do I want additional stress. =) If I one day do change my mind, rest assured that I will contact you. In the meantime, keep up the good work!
March 13, 2009 at 3:18 pm
thanks for a great post. it’ll be interesting to see what happens next.
March 14, 2009 at 2:39 am
we are all waiting. =) ST has been silent so far. perhaps silence is their best policy. attempting to argue or spin another round will make them look ridiculously stupider than now.
March 13, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Thanks for the eye opening!
March 14, 2009 at 2:38 am
no problem. =) spread the truth out!
March 13, 2009 at 2:07 pm
We used to subscribe to both zaobao and ST. But the family has stopped subscribing to ST a couple of months ago, saving us some money, But we still keep the zaobao as my parents need them and I can still read zaobao if I am sitting on my er…water closet. Also my chihuahua needs them for his loo too, so no choice,
but listen here SPH, I have decided to boycott all sorts of publications, magazines and newspapers from u, if i have a chance to stop buying zaobao i would to, grow some conscience and start doing real “reporting” for the people, stop those cut and paste jobs and be the mouthpiece of the heartless gov.
i thought the media is the watchdog for the people not the running dog. serves u right, i hope u people get a 50% paycut or better still ganna sacked. being a running dog for ur owner, lies for them, do not do things upright for those who feed u, means u have a bad ending.
March 14, 2009 at 2:38 am
i wonder does any ST reporters read blogs. or do they only read blogs to see if there’s any news to steal from? you need to wean your chihuahua off ST poo paper, just like how you weaned yourself off ST. with determination, anything is possible. =)
sighs, people like you will cause ST and other newspapers to collapse leh! imagine no ST, what will our students read? seditious pieces like wall street journals??? =)
that’s for failed western states in europe and USA. successful countries like singapore needs a nation-building press. that’s why ST goes hand in hand with the government and pushes the government-approved messages out. You want them to get sacked? easy. just convince 20% of their readership to turn away from the ST. to these reporters, ST feeds them, so they must help ST. ST, as a responsible press, needs to help the nation. hence you get positive nation building articles. =)
March 13, 2009 at 1:32 pm
You have given them a nice-one, fellow lesser mortal. I have given up reading ST long ago.
Sometimes, scanning through their headlines like
“Singapore tops in these, Singapore No 1 in that”
makes me want to puke.
With all the news available on the net, I don’t understand why do people still want to pay good
money for shit
March 14, 2009 at 2:01 am
hi fellow lesser mortal. singapore is no. 1 in innovation you know? this really makes me laugh. i am still struggling to think of important inventions that singapore has.
we are always number 1 anyway. being number 1 is the national obsession. just look at our social studies textbooks our younger generation is reading today.
i guess old habits are hard to break. perhaps they also need some humour in their lives. we even have readers writing into ST Forums complaining about the lack of ST on SIA flights. TALK ABOUT SELF FLATTERING. next time i am going to write that ST is sold out too easily in my neighbourhood shops.
March 13, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I haven’t bought a newspaper for years. There’s nothing much inside anyway that you cannot hear on the news on tv.
Flipping through the newspaper, they repeat what was said in the news, a section on quoting what people say and trying to engage in some kind of interactivity with readers (if the readers quoted are real), padding, padding, sports news which I am not interested, padding, useless commentary by editors, padding. Ok.
Life section, padding, padding, advertisements, feature stuff that 1% of the population is interested, padding, advertisements .. oh yea .. TV listings . that’s interesting .. finished.
I used to buy the Saturday newspaper, not for reading .. goodness, I use it for my rabbit’s poo. The saturday paper’s is quite a thick bunch and my rabbit does poo a lot .. so its quite a good value for money.
Otherwise, there’s nothing much in the papers.
Oh yea, there’s horoscope too. That’s about as factual as any other news in the papers.
March 14, 2009 at 1:58 am
wah your rabbit has good taste for poo. i recommend the free newsdailies. come on, poo paper should be free! good papers are meant to be read. our national newspapers do not fall into these categories. i can categorically state that not reading ST has not in the least made me ignorant. in fact, i read the online news outlets before turning my attention to see what rubbish the ST is conjuring. usually, i ignore the rubbish unless its outlandish. but articles such as last sunday’s really make my blood boil.
i will say the horoscopes are more factual. at least for some people, the horoscopes is quite accurate.
March 13, 2009 at 12:28 pm
And the 66.6% knows no shame in helping perpectuate these lies !
It’s really no surprise to me, hence I ‘ve stopped buying ST or related for quite a number of years now. I ‘d been giving these monies saved from this activity to the poor tissue sellers which I find more meaningful ! At least I get something back which is more useful!
March 14, 2009 at 1:55 am
ironically, it could be those poor tissue sellers that are part of the 66.6% =( and some of them are frauds. =/
March 13, 2009 at 11:54 am
heh… cool write-up. Cool ending that drives home the point.
All said, I hope more light will be shed.
“I think I am a mushroom because they keep me in the dark and feed me nothing but bullsh*t.”
Kaffein
March 14, 2009 at 1:55 am
thanks kaffein. you can hope, i can hope, but i think our hopes will be in vain.
that’s right. and if you bought the ST, you are buying bullshit.
March 13, 2009 at 11:35 am
[...] The Passing of Dr Allan Ooi – Wayang Party Club: Sin Ming forced to publish Dr Allan Ooi’s farewell letter with a different SPIN to distract attention from the real reason behind his suicide – Kaffein-nated: What you read is not what you read – Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: Shameless ST sinks to all-time low [...]
March 13, 2009 at 9:10 am
Thanks for saying what needs to be said. Now we wait.
March 14, 2009 at 1:54 am
and we are still waiting, aren’t we?
March 20, 2009 at 12:00 am
hahaha. =) who said anything about me being in smu or anything? =) school of biz and school of SS? double degree?