French Fries Day
2005-07-13 @ 11:03 p.m.

I'm quite shocked about the whole NKF fiasco. Not so much by the fact that the charity is clearly in need of some self-examination, or that the CEO is mad to think that "the case would not have much impact on the public" and that "he did nothing wrong, and saw no reason to step down now", but by the irresponsible nature of the NKF's patron's remarks. Pardon me, but I do not think "it did not make sense to...attack an organisation which helped the sick". You see, this is your typical sort of government mentality, which also happens to think that shoving money at its ministers is a good way of reducing corruption. (Dan puts it very nicely with the comparison to Mussolini being invited to take power to avoid him seizing it.) "All the NKF had wanted from The Straits Times was a retraction...but the case had been extended to question NKF's transparency and 'expensive things'." Excuse me? Mr Purvis doesn't usually think much of The Straits Times, but this time at least, even he must admit that it ought to be applauded for running the article that led to this whole debacle. In the first place, why should the newspaper be forced to retract something which is true, which the CEO has just admitted is true? Ridiculous. "For a person who runs a million-dollar charitable organisation, $600 000 is peanuts as it has a few hundred millions in reserves." Well, our country happens to have very healthy reserves too, but I don't see anyone rushing to offer a few "peanuts" to help people living in poverty locally, let alone contribute some "peanuts" to fighting world poverty. "Why make a fuss out of it?" I think we bloody should make a fuss out of it. This is a government that prides itself on being free of corruption, and "question[ing] NKF's transparency" is making a mountain out of a molehill? What the hell? It's stuff like this that rankles more than lacking all the freedoms everyone's always complaining about in this country. Is an honest charity too much to ask for? You know what's disturbing on a personal level? I want people to stop donating to the NKF to prove to the CEO that we do care about this matter, and that just because people have been donating for years (like my dad), that doesn't mean they naturally understand the NKF is doing perfectly fine. Nope, sorry, not buying that. At the same time, I know that if everyone thought like me, patients on dialysis are going to suffer the consequences. Just thought of something, in relation to what Mr Sowden has been saying about credibility and expectations. The NKF should be taken over by the MOH, because as much as our government isn't perfect, most people either trust it, or don't give a damn. Having the MOH run the NKF is quite possibly the best way to prevent its reputation from being permanently tarnished.

Okay, so the rest of the entry is going to seem positively trivial in comparison to the above paragraph. Donita Rose came to RJC yesterday with her husband and his team to give a talk about stress management. Apparently, she was freaking uncool and unpopular during her school days, but she made good and so can you. Thanks, but I don't buy that line anymore either. They gave most of the Civics block to a useless presentation brought to us by the Health Promotion Board, and were kind enough to spare five minutes or so for Dr William Tan, the paralysed wheelchair-marathoner. Fine, so I wasn't really interested in hearing either of them, but Dr Tan was way more inspiring just sitting there at the front compared to the HPB's long spiel. Ran yesterday for about 15 minutes. Silver in two weeks' time? It feels so much easier to just resign myself to PTP. Speaking of which, I have received a Further Reporting Order for 28 July, which happens to be when I was thinking of retaking my NAPFA. Bummer. Now I have to find out why they want to call me back and whether I'll be able to make it for the NAPFA that day. I hope it won't be as much a waste of time as it was the last time I was there! Incidentally, three movies I want to catch are all opening tomorrow.