dimanche, août 14, 2005 Please don't sacrifice our sensibilities for your fear Perhaps the NKF debacle terminated too abruptly, but the citizens of our fair nation-state seem to have developed an almost bloodthirsty desire to crucify the newest public figure on the block, also known as Andrew Kwan. He's certainly being flogged and hung out to dry by our national papers. Not that he doesn't deserve it - he gives me the impression of extreme arrogance, and his being in possession of an intolerable smugness. To quote Miss Bingley of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, there seems to be "an abominable sort of conceited independence" in his manner and presentation. It didn't help that he made a political blunder the very first day he submitted his application for the Presidency - he brought his pastor along. Mixing two out of three of the social sex-religion-politics tripartite taboo did not endear him to anyone - no, perhaps not even those who belonged to his religion.But that is all forgivable - to err is human, to forgive divine et cetera, et al. What is unforgivable is blatant way that our newsprint is framing our candidates, meritocracy be damned. When economic policies are debated, comparison charts are drawn up and published in the central news spread in the main section of the papers. CPF itself has bought countless cubic centimetres of real estate news through its length, Chew-illustrated explanations of policy changes, which are then in turn debated in the Home pages. Where is this rigour when we talk about one of our Presidential candidates? Where are the charts, comparing the companies that all four candidates have helmed? The comparisons of how much money each has handled? No. Instead, we have Andrew Kwan on one page, holding his hand to his head like he has a headache, being questioned mercilessly by reporters. We turn the page, and we see incumbent President Nair holding hands with the rest of the PAP folks (aka that family) as fireworks bloom in the background during National Day. Some semblance of fairplay would be nice, SPH. Any attempt to mask your endorsement of the current President just to play it safe politically would be welcomed. Even the playing field, please – it’s already bad that we have a one-party state and that that single party is going full-out in its obvious endorsement of Nair, and we need some form of transparency from you. [Please don't sacrifice our sensibilities for your fear] |
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