Whoa, cowboy! This isn't a political blog!
Well of course it isn't. What I'm about to say is tech related, or at least work related. Bear with me.It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of the PAP. In particular, I despise their grovelling fanboys, but that's another tale for another day.
One of my pet peeves this election has been Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (who, for the remainder of this blogpost, simply be referred to as ESM Goh). I'm aware of his not-inconsiderable contributions to our Nation, and fully acknowledge them. However, I could not quite shake the impression that ESM Goh did not want to defend his ward Marine Parade, and even resented the fact that citizens would be given the chance to vote him out. In fact, he appeared disdainful of the need to justify his near-silence in Parliament over the last term. Some quotable quotes below.
"I spoke up once, but once was enough. It was impactful. That's all I need to say." - ESM Goh Chok Tong
"For many years, the PAP was the only party in Parliament. Had the PAP gone corrupt in those years? Until the 2011 election, there were very few opposition MPs in Parliament. Had the PAP let the people down? We are our own checks, the integrity of our leaders and our MPs… not this seductive lie of check and balance." - ESM Goh Chok Tong
The latter, incidentally, was referenced in a speech by Mr Pritam Singh of the Worker's Party. "Ownself Check Ownself", since then, has become quite a catchphrase, often used mockingly, among Opposition sympathizers.
My thoughts regarding ESM Goh went along the lines of - dude, you've done a lot for our country and all, but you're not above the law. You've got to respect our democratic process. What's with the attitude?
A week later, I had my answer. The elections being over, I thought about it some more and remembered an episode from my misspent youth.
It was 2008. I had quit drinking and quit my job because a friend needed a programmer on his rather ambitious web project. I threw myself into my work day and night, committing uncountable hours of sweat and toil to this endeavor. It was my baby. I built the system from ground up. It was a labor of love.
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| Yep. A labor of love. Brick by fuckin' brick, baby. |
That's when my buddy-turned-boss began to annoy me. It started small. I would submit a layout proposal and he would then hail one of our mutual friends to take a look and give some critique. My what-in-the-blue-hell-are-you-thinking expression was barely contained. My boss enthusiastically explained that he just wanted more feedback from different sources - the more the merrier, right?
Suuuure, mate. How about you hire him to do the work and I just come in and critique? The more the merrier, right?
And then one evening while I was tinkering with the system as usual, a stranger sauntered into the office. My boss introduced him as a friend of a friend, and said he had asked him to take a look at our product and see if he had any insight to share. The stranger swaggered around a bit, smiled at me and said "well, remember the system documentation, OK? Documentation's very important."
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| OMG really?! Thanks so much for telling me. I totally wouldn't have guessed. |
No shit, Sherlock.
I seriously considered introducing my keyboard to his smug condescending face, but... well. It was a good keyboard. Besides, it wasn't really his fault. The one truly responsible for my annoyance was my clueless jackass of a boss right there. He had really thought that any free professional advice was a steal, especially since he wasn't the one doing the work. Buddy, you smell that? I just farted. It's free, too.
(Editor's Note: Honestly, to all the clueless jackass bosses out there, if you truly want quality professional consultation, that shit doesn't come cheap. The free stuff is something anyone, me included, could just pull out of his arse. Remember, you heard it here first. You're welcome, jackasses!)
Yes, technically I was an employee and my role was to deliver and get paid. My feelings didn't matter. Technically, more feedback from various sources is a good thing. But emotionally... well, I was invested in the system. And to simply grab any Tom, Dick or Harry, an outsider with no stake in what I was doing, to tell me how I should work? That felt utterly disrespectful.
Is this story starting to sound familiar yet?
I'm willing to admit my thoughts and feelings weren't very professional then. Perhaps I simply needed to step back, look at the big picture and keep my developer's ego in check. But how can I feel so vehemently about this, and at the same time feel so strongly that Opposition representation is needed in Parliament? OK, perhaps it's ridiculous of me to even attempt to equate one web project with the lifelong task of Nation-building. But still... if I could feel so strongly regarding a web project I'd been involved with for months, how would ESM Goh feel about some unknown upstarts butting into a project he'd been involved with for most of his life?
Boggles the mind. I guess this makes me a huge hypocrite, doesn't it?
Were voters simply being insensitive to his feelings? Or does ESM Goh need to step back, look at the big picture and keep his ego in check?
I honestly don't know. There's never an easy answer, is there?
The fairest thing I can say is, if you've poured your heart and soul into something and interference is encountered, a certain amount of angst is par for the course. But external appraisal is all part of due process. And at some point, we're going to have to accept it.
Till next time, go easy on the self-checking. Too much self-checking can cause blindness.
T___T
T___T
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