Courage, gall, guts and balls – In celebration of all things daringly Singaporean

By Chia Ti Lik

I was held up in Court over the past 2 weeks for the 2nd tranche of the Tak Boleh Tahan Protest Trial.  I needed a full week to recover only partially from that.

On one occasion during one of the stand downs, I ended up with Rachel and Seelan.  We ended up talking about the things which move us. We spoke of things that Singaporeans ought to do and see done. We questioned whether there was enough dare and courage in Singaporeans generally and whether there was dare and courage in the administration of Singapore.

In the discussion, I came to realise that i am very much of a rebel at heart and i admire the guts and courage displayed under varying circumstances of steps taken by certain people. My take on the following events are some of the things which reveal so:

I admire the Singaporean wife who risked breaking the law to reach for her hubby who was arrested on suspected drink driving. She was eventually charged for obstructing the police in their work if i do not recall incorrectly. Imagine such defiance towards the Singapore Police Force. And rightly so. Where do you see such devotion from a wife to a husband these days?

I sympathise with the Singaporean teacher who made the mistake of having a relationship with her student. In this day and age where the young mature early, they are far from being the innocent and gullible like in the past who needed protection. These days the young can be more corrupted than the old. Recall the case of the underaged girl who had sex with many men. The men all got traced and charged => but does the fact that the men got charged prove that the men are heinous sex fiends and the girl was an angel?

To be fair to the teacher, when she tried to end the relationship, the student had turned around to attempt to blackmail her. Now that is not something an innocent person would do. The teacher plucked up the courage and admitted to an embarrassing wrong – it takes courage for someone to do that. Not everyone has that kind of courage.

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