Two images sprang to my mind when I read about the decibel that Wee Shu Min has created recenty. She had commented on blogger, Mr. Derek Wee’s views on the anxieties of Singapore workers. He was worried about competition from foreign talent and the lack of job opportunities for older workers in Singapore. He has implored the Singapore government to understand Singaporean’s predicament.

In his comments on his daughter’s action, her father, Mr. Wee Siew Kim supported her basic point that a well-educated university graduate who works for a multinational company should not be bemoaning about the Government and he should get on with the challenges in life. As a parent, he confessed that he may not have inculcated the appropriate level of sensitivity. This led me to think of two famous parents who did took the effort to make sure that this type of insensitivity will not take root with their children.

The first was Princess Diana who made clandestine visits to terminally- ill AIDS patients. She would turn up unannounced, with stict instructions that these vsists be hidden from the media . At times, she would bring her sons along as she felt that there was a need for them to connect not only with the common people but with those who were disadvantages.

The second was a photograph of our Prime Mininster as a young teenager who had accompained his father MM Lee to visit Pulau Ubin. I remembered him holding an umbrella standing next to his father.

According to MM Lee from his book Lee Kuan Yew, The Man and His Idea, he explained that when he took office as the Prime Minister, he and his wife chose not to move into Sri Temasek which was the official resident. His children was still young then, age ranging between two to seven. He felt that it would be a very bad thing for his children as they might get an inflated idea of who they were, what they were with all the servants around and the gardeners. As parents, they have tried to make their children have a sort of normal environemnt which was equal to the kind of life he led before he was the prime minister.

I can only postulate at the possible reasons why the internet community is so disappointed with Shu Ming. Coming from an elit school, being a Humanities Scholars with the poetntial of winning a scholarship to study overseas and coming back with a job awaiting for her in the prestiges Administrative Services, one wonder if she would be formulating policy that would take into consideration all strata of society.

Prince William was expected to be king and thus his mother made an extra effort to ensure that he knew how to buy a hambruger, a bag of sweet or even take a ride at a theme park.

As for PM Lee Hsian Loong, I remebered reading an article a few years ago about him waiting for his son to come back from a ruby tour in South Africa. What struck me was the last paragraph where the reporter said that our PM was waiting in line at the MacDonal counter to buy food for his son.
As for Shu Ming, perhaps a possibility could be for her to attend some of the meet-the- people session that her father, a memebr of the Ang Mo Kio GRC conducts every Tuesday. From there, she could learn how her father plans to build an inclusive and caring community, where he reaches out to his residents in need and lsiten and channel feedback on issues and needs to the government.

To those who are given more, more will be expected from them. Shu Ming has been blessed with a gift for writing and an ability to perform well in school. All she needs to do is to develop that sensitivity that Derek Wee has for those who have given less in society. In all probability, she would be placed in a position where she will be able to make a difference in people’s life. Will she takes up this challenge in life? Can she take this brutal truth ? Only time will tell

This article was not published in TODAY