When Singapore’s Speaker’s Corner first came into being, I can't remember JBJ's exact words on why he would not participate at Hong Lim Park, but I would always remember their spirit - Singapore is a free country, so why can't we speak up anywhere?
Ironically, JBJ had first hand experience of exactly why. Too liberal a tongue landed him in legal trouble, bankruptcy and a political slide that he never really recovered from.
Yet behind the (some say excessive and unnecessary) public drama that surrounds the man, a certain light shines through that citizens should take another look at.
JBJ's "national policy", if we can put it as that, was based on simplicity.
Going back to the fundamentals gave him a focus that distinguished him from other public figures. By going back to what freedom of speech should really be for Singaporeans, he forced us, or at least the more questioning among us, to take a step back and consider why we even need a pre-defined space for public speaking, when the public sphere is really and already out there for our taking.
This simplicity extends also to the way he weighed in on many issues, as he voiced out about benefits for the lower income group and the electoral system alike.
This simplicity should also not be confused with simplification. Granted that we do face complex problems, but ours have been a society that tend to over analyse and second guess every move we make, to the extend that “matters are not as simple as we think” becomes a mantra that have become almost too convenient a reason for those who drive our policies.
If we take a step back and look at a problem for what it is, the solution is usually straightforward and staring us blatantly in the face.
Many would espouse JBJ’s legacy as opposition leader, radical and zealot, bent on seeing the end of political monopoly. But I remember him as a passionate man and the way he conducted himself right to the very end.
He picked himself up every time he was knocked down, refused to give up, and clung on to ideals that remain rooted in simple facts, believing that his fight is for the basic rights of Singaporeans. Idealistic and misguided, perhaps, but passionate and patriotic, nevertheless.
And so it is that we lose a passionate man on Tuesday, as he passed on amidst controversy of the Prime Minister’s supposed condolence letter to his surviving family, and the fiery volleys from the online community that smothered it.
In an age when Speaker’s Corner undergoes a facelift, it would do its new wave of participants good to take another look at the spirit of JBJ’s words on the topic, as this patriot surrenders his. N
02 October 2008
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