Bellagraph Nova Group - the manipulated image.

 

“We are serious people...the only ambiguous thing has been the photoshopped picture. There wasn’t any malicious aim behind it.”

Indeed they are. And I am reading in the papers today what a Singapore-registered Bellagraph Nova Group (BN) did with former president Obama’s image. But first, a little backdrop. 

BN is owned by Singapore businessmen Terence Loh, 42, and Nelson Loh, 41. They are cousins, closer than brothers in fact. 

That part about being “serious people” was what BN Group’s appointed spokesman Antonio said in defence of the integrity of the company. 

And if you must know, this is what serious people do. 

First, they admitted to having “manipulated the images in the materials used to publicise the group.” 

If you see the first photo top (the left side), you will see the original photo on its right. In that original photo, Obama is in the middle, and there is no BN logo on the glass screen. The man to Obama’s left is a different person from the picture on your left. 

On the left photo, you will notice the doctored ”logo” on the screen inserted. To Obama’s left is a doctored ”Terence Loh” inserted. Both the logo and Loh had been photoshopped to spruce up the company’s social and corporate image. 

Second, if you look at the second photo (on the right), you will see how Obama is photoshopped in the top picture with the three company founders, the Loh cousins and one Ms Evangeline Shen, a Chinese jewellery merchant and former Morgan Stanley banker. 

FYI, that Obama effigy was earlier taken in a charity event on 14 Dec. 

So, they are indeed serious about the image they aim to convey to their potential and existing investors, competitors and the public at large. And it is a manipulated image, with the aim to milk whatever social prestige they can squeeze out with America’s 44th President. 

Yes, there is no malicious intent, because it was not intended to cause harm. When confronted, Antonio, BN’s spokesman, said, and I repeat: “We are serious people...the only ambiguous thing has been the photoshopped picture. There wasn’t any malicious aim behind it.”

Of course there isn’t. Antonio was right. It is just a harmless aim to mislead, and alas, what is the price of honesty or truth for the rich and influential like them anyway? 

When asked to comment about the Lohs, a former business partner said: “They are very social people, and come across as very well-bred and went to good university”.

Well, they do come across as “very well-bred” and have gone to good university, but then, however ingenuous you seek to present yourself as such to others, you can’t hide the character inside you. 

While you don’t judge a book by its cover, you don’t stop there right? You still have to read its content, page by page, check out its sources, and then ask, what kind of fruit is it bearing over time? 

Mind you, the cover may be doctored to make the book look good, when in truth it is far from it. The image and the content can therefore be worlds apart. 

Now, let me be clear that I am merely making a general statement here, because I do not know the founders of BN. They run charity, how bad can they be right? 

This post is however not so much about them, but about what their spokesman had said, which seems to me to be part-denial, and part-deflection. It even appears to me to be part-self-conceited (I felt a sorry would have been more earnest and effective, as a matter of social responsibility). 

Let me just put it out there that whatever the rich does is really none of our business. Whether they are “well-bred” or came from good university, well, I can only presume they worked hard for it, and thus deservingly earned it. 

But, when you have admitted to manipulation of something that is meant to lead the public at large towards a certain direction (or impression), which turns out to be not true, and then try to trivialise it by saying (or implying) that it is only a “harmless ambiguous thing” with no intention to be malicious, I feel that you have made a mockery of the public good sense and the prevailing virtues the society is trying its darnest to uphold. 

And if the boy who cried wolf need only to cry twice before the villagers disbelieve him to his detriment, then the two photoshopped images to give a false impression are not the only “harmless and ambiguous thing” they have done.

(Mind you, this ain’t like a harmless stunt to just taking an impromptu photo with EM Goh or PM Lee in front of your chicken rice stall when they walk by during their visits and then permanently paste it on your stall’s glass screen to give the impression that such public Illuminaries are regular patrons to your stall). 

So, going back to BN, the wolf cries went beyond the doctored photos. As reported, these are some impressions they have or had conveyed: -

1) In BN’s Instagram, they once said: “with our world record number of private jets for a single entity, our over 10,000 private jets are ready to take you anywhere you wish to go with an unprecedented experience on board.” 

FYI, the “Instagram post was later edited to remove the mention of the number of private jets at its disposal.” 

Another FYI, “Singapore Airlines, in comparison, has 138 aircrafts in its fleet, while American Airlines, the largest commercial airline in the world, has 874 registered aircraft.”

2) Antonio “reportedly told The Telegraph that the group planned to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and said it was “in direct contact” with the Juventus superstar. (However) a source close to the player told The Sunday Times that he had not heard of such contact.””

3) Here’s more. “Financial technology firm Hydra X is listed as one of BN Group’s more than 30 entities, and it is supposed to be implementing a trading system for the Singapore Exchange, according to a marketing brief the group sent to the media earlier. Reuters (however) reported that Hydra X and the exchange denied this.” Where is the truth then? 

Well, that’s not all. At this point, I expect the villagers to have grown jaded of the boy’s cries?

4) “In a media statement last week, the BN Group said it had enlisted the help of former England captain Alan Shearer and former Michael Chopra to support its takeover bid. British paper The Telegraph reported that “sources close to the Newcastle and Premier League legend (Shearer)...denied any involvement with BNG.””

And...

5) BN “states on its website that its new headquarters is at the renowned No. 10 Place Vendome in Paris, France. This is where the Ritz Hotel and high-end boutiques are located. Reuters reported yesterday that there is no company called Bellagraph Nova Group registered in France.”

Now, BN does have a registered address though at “a more humble Novena Gardens in Singapore’s Thomas Road. The four-storey unit with opaque glass doors and a dark blue facade.”

Finally, it also reports that BNG is a holding company, and on its website, it described itself as “the only group in the world to boast an international presence in all major commercial sectors” ranging from healthcare to financial services, technology and media.””

Well, I have no comment on that website’s claim, but nevertheless I am reminded of what the late Carl Sagan once said: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” 

And at the very least, I’d like to say that it seems BN’s manipulation of Obama in their photo shows quite an “extraordinary attempt” to underestimate the intelligence of the discerning public and the media as a whole.

 

A civil service hero - Ngiam Tong Dow.

 

The best leaders are those you don’t even know about, but the changes they make speak enduringly of their effort, dedication and legacy. And we have a few of those who had worked tirelessly behind the scenes like Dr Goh Keng Swee and S, Rajaratnam, just to name two. 

This week, another of such leader has passed on. Mr Ngiam Tong Dow (“NTD”), aged 83. An unassuming man, he spent 40 years in the apex Administrative Service “developing policies on the economy, defence technology, transport, savings and retirement, as well as housing.”

We have to give credit and extend quiet gratitude where such is due, or overdue, and NTD, in passing, has given us, the younger generation, a name (and cause) to remember by when we talk about selfless service in humility and quietude to build our nation. 

NTD actually came to the such pivotal role quite fortuitously. His father passed away when he was just 9 yrs old. He died of tuberculosis. 

On a checkup, NTD was also diagnosed with early-stage tuberculosis. As he was declared unfit for work, “he went back to his books and won an open bursary to the University of Malaya, where he got first-class honours in economics.” And the rest, well, is history. 

Today’s paper shows PM Lee and wife, Ho Ching, paying their due respect to NTD. In a letter, PM Lee wrote that he was a “versatile and outstanding civil servant” from the founding generation. (He) had also served on some of our most important statutory boards...worked tirelessly to woo investors and make Singapore more business-friendly.”

NTD was chairman of EDB from 1975 to 1981. PM Lee said: “He also fostered a go-getting culture in EDB officers that persists even today.”

Then, he went to Ministry of Trade and Industry when PM Lee was a young Minister of State in 1984. “As a young office holder, I benefited greatly from his considerable experience and sage advice.”

From there, NTD sat on the economic committee PM Lee chaired in 1985. “He worked closely with me to implement the recommendations and help our companies regain their competitiveness and recover.”

NTD also helmed HDB, DBS and even had a hand in pushing for the MRT, amid naysayers and opposition. PM Lee penned: “His ethos of discipline and prudence continues to define the bank today. His legacy will live one, and his contributions will touch the lives of many generations of Singaporeans to come.”

Even Tommy Koh, who studied with him at Harvard University in 1963, speaks of him as a “loving critic of Singapore.” He also remembered NTD as “extremely thrifty.” 

DBS chairman Peter Seah recalled: “The man enjoyed a simple and frugal lifestyle. He would go to his favourite coffee shop along Telok Ayer Street and share a table with the lunchtime crowd to have his favourite Teochew porridge.”

On that loving critic part, this interview in 2003 would have left a political imprint. NTD remarked that Singapore is “larger than the PAP” and “talent should be allowed to spread throughout society. So far, the PAP’s tactic is to put all the scholars into the civil service...But in my view, that’s a very short-term view.” 

I guess PAP has since then gone some way in their journey away from meritocratic elitism or the imperial scholar-bureaucracy. 

Notably, two baptism of fire in the GE2011 and the recent GE 2020 were the inflexion points of such an awakening, that is, instead of practising selective diversity in government with extreme bias on a one-trick-pony-like kind of merit-benchmark, what is ultimately crucial for a healthy, enduring and vibrant democracy is universal diversity, truly regardless of race, language, religion and education. 

NTD foresaw the long term maturity and thriving of a society, and it is surely not in having a monopoly on the definition of what talent is, but rather one based on a mindset that is inclusive, generous to all, and rooted on character, humility and resilience. These qualities cannot be graded in a classroom, but have to be tested with opportunities granted on the basis of NTD’s words, “talent should be allowed to spread throughout society.”

Let me end with his words again. NTD was one visionary who saw the importance of developing the “intangibles” instead of just blindly prioritising the dollar and cents of things. For it is not the GDP of a country that measures its true wealth. The reality is that we are undeniably objectively better off in economic sense, but studies after studies have shown that we are curiously subjectively worse off, with depression, alcoholism and suicide. 

As such, we risk turning our society into one where we view and treat our neighbours as a productive means, devoid of humanity, for our self-enriching end based on a vicious competitive spirit that is driven by an insatiable appetite to horde the tangibles in society for purposes of empty praises. That is something I believe NTD avoided at all costs. 

And sadly, NTD saw that coming when he forewarned us with this overarching wish for our nation. “We should be a humane society where people have respect for each other. Then we can survive. That’s the Singapore I would want for my grandchildren.”

And hands down, a Singapore I would want for mine too.

 

A father's revenge.

 “You are too much”. 

That’s what a father-in-law told his son-in-law, just before he stabbed him three times outside a Telok Ayer Street coffee shop on 10 July 2017, at 1:20 pm lunchtime. 

But, what is too much? 

Is it that his son-in-law, Spencer Tuppani, 39 yr old, had taken over the company his father-in-law had painstaking built up by persuading him and his wife to assign their shares to him? 

Is it that Spencer shortchanged them by paying a paltry sum of $450,000 from the sale of shares, as his father-in-law expected to receive more?

Is it that Spencer is suspected by his father-in-law to harbour plans to get rid of his sister-in-law too, possibly including his own wife?

Are all that too much? Wait, there’s more.

How about the time when his father-in-law found out that Spencer was having an affair with another woman, and they had two children born out of wedlock?

The papers in fact reports that the father-in-law “believed that Mr Tuppani had plans to cheat him of his business by divorcing his daughter after taking control of all their shares.”

After the offence, Tan Nam Seng, called his daughter, Shyller, and told her this: “I can’t sleep at night. I have done it. I have killed him. Don’t cry. I am old already. I am not scared (of) going to jail.” When Shyller cried over the phone, Tan said: “What’s done cannot be undone.”

Indeed, what is done was he had stabbed his son-in-law while he was having lunch with three friends. Before that, Tan went to his office, took a knife from the pantry and headed to the coffee shop to hunt Tuppani down. 

“Closed-circuit television footage was played in court showing Tuppani running away and collapsing in front of a restaurant in Boon Tat Street”.

That’s not all. He went over and kicked him twice in the face. And chasing passers-by away, Tan told them: “This is my son-in-law, don’t help him, let him die.”

I guess the intention to end a life is quite clear. It was a premeditated act conceived with resolve at the office’s pantry (when Tan armed himself with the knife) and ended with him kicking his face and telling passers-by to “let him die”. 

Tan was thus convicted of a reduced culpable homicide charge and will be sentenced in due course. He was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. The papers explained: “His condition, which included “overwhelming ruminations and worries about the well-being of his daughters,” impaired his mental responsibility for his actions, said an Institute of Mental Health report.””

Lesson? Sadly, truth is stranger than fiction. Such family tragedy is not only limited to the Netflix screen, but the reality of it can be even more visceral and shocking.

So, how is the hand of justice going to mete out the sentence in this case? How does the judicial fact-finder then perform a Solomon and divine the nuances, which concern many moral and legal wrongs at so many levels? 

Needless to say, we have progressed far beyond the tribalistic or folksy justice of ancient days where it is about an eye for an eye, or a life for a life. Over time, we have institutionalised that whimsical justice into the impersonal hand of the rule of law, instead of putting it in the emotional hands of the one deeply aggrieved, and seeking revenge.

But for argument’s sake, I trust this case appeals to the emotional side of us as against the rational side, where the rule of law resides with a firm hand. 

For on one side, you have ingratitude, greed and lust. And on the other side, you have betrayal, hatred and revenge. I therefore trust that the scale of justice from the emotional side will never find its balance. 

And I also trust there will be many out there who quietly sympathise with the struggles of the protective father for the well being of his daughters and family. We are human after all. We are thus more easily swayed by emotions than reason. This is evident with the numerous scams of late involving promises of companionship and quick-fortune. 

But, at the end of the day, a life is gone. That is a fact. He too has loved ones. He may have done what he was alleged to have done, but it was still a life that deserved to live, comeuppance notwithstanding. 

In other words, Tuppani did not deserve to have his life prematurely ended in such a way, with impunity. And if we are tempted to pitch the case as a heroic father sacrificing himself to protect his family from a crook, justice would not only be blind, but immobilised, to the adverse effect on society. 

But if we allow reason to be tempered with emotion, more relevantly, compassion, both working hand in hand, it is hoped that the hand of leniency will mete out the sentence in a way that the troubled conscience of society will be assuaged for both sides' sake.

 

Baby found alive, a mother's dilemma.

 

A mother serves 18 months for dumping her new born into a rubbish chute. The baby’s cries alerted a nearby cleaner and he was picked up from the chute. He suffered a fractured clavicle, “which doctor said could be traced to a birth injury.”

The papers did not reveal the father’s identity, but the mother was a part-time waitress and cleaner at the time she gave birth. The events leading to the offence were highly peculiar as reported.

The mother (27 yrs) ”felt pain in her abdomen and went to the toilet in the early hours of Jan 7.”

“Although she had not had her period for many months and wondered if she was pregnant, she chose not to “dwell on it further.””

“Her family was also unaware that she was pregnant.”

“After she threw out the baby, she cleaned up the blood in the house, took a shower and went back to sleep.”

When the baby was found, the police did a door to door inquiry. At first the mother denied knowing anything about it. 

“On Feb 9, the police told her to report to the police station on Feb 14 for an interview and a DNA test.”

That was when she knew she had to own up and on the eve of Valentine’s Day, she surrendered herself. 

You would think that she may have suffered from some mental condition, depression or something, but IMH “found that she was not suffering from a major mental illness at the time of the offence.”

The prosecution asked for two years for her actions. The judge, considering the “baby’s vulnerability” and “that he was thrown from a height into an unsanitary environment” gave her 18 months. 

You must know that her defence lawyer argued for a “human touch” as it was an “unusual case”. Another factor was that the baby survived and curiously, her lawyer said that “the woman has tried unsuccessfully to see her child through the Ministry of Social and Family Development.”

Lesson? One, and I take my cue from this segment of the report: “The property officer from the town council later opened the bag tied in a dead knot and found the crying baby covered in blood.”

If you’d recall her defence in mitigation was that the baby survived and she tried to see him without success. Yet, what morbidly caught my attention was the part about the bag being tied in a “dead knot” with blood all over. 

Even more confounding is the report that after “she threw out the baby, she cleaned up the blood in the house, took a shower and went back to sleep.” The mother actually bothered to clean up her baby’s blood in her house leaving no crimson trace, while she abandoned her flesh and blood covered in blood in the bag. That’s simply heartbreaking at so many levels.

It is really anyone’s guess what was in her mind when she cut the umbilical cord to separate herself from her child before she took a nondescript bag to throw her son inside. 

At that time, whether she knew she was pregnant or not was not material, as it ought to have dawned on her by then that the abdomen pains she had been labouring under for months was in fact her womb incubating a new life. Mind you, it has always been, from the start of conception, a part of her, but alas, she wanted no part of him. 

By writing this, I can expect to raise the ire (or indignation) of the general public against the actions of the mother. But after much thought, I really don’t see a point, not so much because she has been dealt with by the law, and I trust (or hope) that the gravity of the situation will soon hit her, eventually. 

I don’t see a point because, while her actions are inexcusable, what she had done cannot be undone. Such past ought to be buried, for good, for his sake. While it was a past to be readily erased for him, it is one the mother would have to eventually confront and bear with for life. 

It bears repeating that thankfully, the child survived. His cries were signs of life even in a bag that was tied in a dead knot, with intention otherwise. And yes, ironically, the hands that had tied the bag was the same hands that had facilitated the gift of life, yet, where he was never given a chance to live, he now has one and I pray that henceforth it would be a life that will receive love unconditionally, and to be nurtured in the fullness of it. 

Alas, the world can be a cruel place for him, yet I believe with all my heart it is not devoid of selfless love waiting to embrace him. And what has kept the world from spinning out of its orbit is that this same love has given many lives a chance to live, to grow, and to live life to its fullest.

 

In Memoriam: CJ Yong

When LKY asked him to “just clean up the whole thing, you know what to do,” former CJ Yong Pung How (YPH) stepped up to the plate and made it happen, taking the unbeaten path to become “the father of the modern judiciary of Singapore” - per VK Rajah. 

If you turn to the obituary page this morning, you get to see for the rarest of times all of YPH’s colleagues, from CJ, Justices, Judges and Court officers paying their tribute.

That being said, not everyone, especially on the legal practitioners‘ side, could adapt to YPH’s epic overhauling of the judiciary system when he took over from his predecessor in 1990. 

Mind you, he had a backlog of more than 2000 cases to clear and the system was still tethered to the colonial traditions. 

Reforms therefore called for a tough hand and a firm grip, and in his 16 years at the helm, he transformed it into a “world-class judiciary staffed by first-rate legal talent and deploying cutting-edge technological advances” - per law society president Gregory Vijayendran. 

Aside from his other achievements in finance and government, even the private sector, YPH was also feared by lawyers. It reports that “some lawyers were on the receiving end of a dressing down from him in court would subsequently avoid appearing before him again.” 

YPH was also known as the “double-up” judge, referring to the various occasions when he enhanced the prison sentences of accused when he presided over criminal appeals. Yet, according to Singapore Academy of Law Serene Wee, the reverse was true. For more often than not, “he reduced sentences on appeal.” It is a seldom reported compassionate side of the man. 

But it is undeniable that YPH had his candid (and unfiltered) moments when he presided over cases. He was a straight talker, didn’t mince his words. He called it as it is, with tact or otherwise. 

“Mr Yong was also well-known for his acerbic observations in the courtroom. Once, he was told by the defence counsel that an 18-year-old boy who had sex with a minor was given probation by a district judge. Mr Yong said of the judge: “Maybe he should be put on probation.””

Lesson? Mm...although I do not know the man personally and professionally, but in the various reports today, you get to read two quotes from him that I find most humane and illuminating. 

Here is the first quote.

“Speaking at the dinner hosted by then President SR Nathan, he added: “It has been said that judges live on through their judgments. Perhaps so. I would like to think that if I live on, it will be though the unstinting efforts of the men and women (present), who have made me proud to have been their leader and associate.”

That’s true. For I have learned that the greatness of a leader is not in himself, but in the greatness he or she inspires in others. It is thus a concerted effort that perseveres amidst the greatest of trials, and it is never a solo high-flyer act. 

Here, I am reminded of what MLK once said, “the arc of the moral universe is long and it bends towards justice.” In this case, I believe it bends tirelessly towards friendships forged, systems transformed and a sterling legacy carried forward like burning torches passed on for the future generations of our land. 

The second quote came right from his heart. 

“In an interview in 2004, (when asked about his finest hour in life), he said: “I would say it was the day I married my wife. We have been married for 50 years now, and I still consider her my best friend.”

He added: “To stay happily married with a good reputation and a close-knit family must be one of anybody’s happiest achievements in life, whatever the work you do.”

Alas, from a man of fierce logic and one who is a “prodigiously talented individual”, that is the truest and the most down-to-earth reflection straight from the heart.

It is something we can all identify with, beyond all measures, and it is a timeless advice to remind us all that at the end of the day, whether you find life or people contemptible or generous, we eventually come home to the most basic desire of our soul, that is, the unmistakable empowering embrace of family and loved ones. 

No relationship (in all our worldly endeavours) is closer than the union of two, and the fruits of such labour over the years is the birth of a family one spend his or her lifetime with. 

And indeed, the happiest achievement in one’s life is to return - after all the fanfare and attention - to the anchor and safe harbour of our love and devotion, regardless of where we are in life, regardless of the mistakes we have made and/or the earthly accolades lavished upon us. 

For I must always bear in my heart that, in the blinking eye of mortality, what matters at the defining bend of this moral universe is the unwavering companionship of a lifetime. That has to be the crowning glory of our earthly life when we too make our quiet exit.

Retrenchment amid Covid-19.

It is not easy being retrenched. The social stigma can sting more than the economic dilemma, especially in a society like ours, which is rooted deep in meritocracy and efficacy. 

We judge a person in many ways. From an early age, our children are judged by their grades, their school and their stream. At tertiary level, they are judged by their faculty, their extra curriculum and their class of degree. At work, we are judged by what we do. We know what profession our parents want us to pursue. There is just no point reliving their good-intentional nagging here right? 

And you can imagine the stares or squint you get when you tell them you are retrenched. You can scapegoat Covid as the one to blame for your plight, but over time, the sting will eventually bite when you are still unemployed. 

The papers today aims to paint a resilient picture of those being retrenched due to covid. It is a commendable effort by our national newspaper to lift spirits. It tries to balance perspectives and encourage hope.

I imagine here a dim-lit room where there are many windows. Some windows face the dark clouds and rain. Other windows show the emerging sun from a distance with clouds clearing. The papers this morning directs our attention to that side of the room, the hopeful side, with windows showing the storm subsiding. That’s hope in printed words. 

Take Andy Yap, 40, for example. He was laid off in February. He was a former digital design director. When his company retrenched him, he said he was quite calm. He packed up and left, and “only sunk in the next few days.” 

Andy then applied for jobs in all sectors, you name it, supermarkets, hospitals, and cleaning companies. None were successful. He now spends six days a week “zipping around Yishun delivering food on his mountain bike.”

How about 29-yr-old former business analyst Srividhya Ganapathy Sundaram? She is on an employment pass and her husband works as a mechanical engineer with a S-pass. She too was retrenched in May, and was discouraged. 

She is still looking for job. But in the meantime, she busy herself with “learning German and Sanskrit, and spent time painting.” She said: “I cannot sit idle at home, so I try to make sure I never have a dull day. I think the important thing is not to let my mind idle.”

Just a heads up, LinkedIn, has “introduced a feature where users can attach a green banner to their profile picture with the words #Opentowork that will let recruiters and those in one’s network know that the person is open to job opportunities.”

Nevertheless, the main woe about our society is that once you are laid off, people tend to see you differently. This comes mainly from the script that is handed to us from young, which is quite fixed. We are still a culturally conservative society, hierarchical and stratified, and tend to benchmark one’s worth against his/her standing in society. 

The script expects one to go with the flow. So, after school, you are expected to start work. When you’re working, you give your best to climb up the career ladder. Along the way, you marry and start a family. Then, the children come and you prepare for their future as well as your retirement. You can only pray that things will work out smoothly, no major glitches. 

But, for the majority of us, we will face disruption. That is expected. Yet, we are never prepared for the expected, not to mention that which is unexpected. 

Another case in point is Raymond Leong as reported. He is 62. He was a former senior sales manager and “used to work for a cruise and events company.” After just 1.5 years of joining the company, he was laid off. 

Raymond said: “By the middle of February, client’s started cancelling or postponing events, and activity was more or less dead.”

He added: “When they told me, I didn’t react. In fact, it was my immediate boss who burst into tears, and my colleagues were in shock.”

Raymond recounted that after he packed and left, within 30 mins, “he spent the next month crying himself to sleep once the reality of the situation set in.” He said: “I felt I was treated unfairly, and I kept thinking, “Why me?” It felt personal.””

Raymond is now a Grab driver and he “hits the road every morning at 6:30 am...and usually works a 12-hour shift.”

“It is tough, but I am trying to be positive and open about it,” Raymond said. “You need to come to terms with the reality of retrenchment because Covid-19 has created unprecedented times.”

Lesson? At such times, it is tough to put a gloss over the pain and uncertainty many are going through. You can’t spin much positivity out when many are still groping and hoping. 

But still, I felt that the attitude of Andy is deeply encouraging, and hopes to direct our attention to the different window in a dark room. 

As a backdrop, when Andy was working in food delivery, he said some of his friends questioned that decision. But he said: “Food delivery is pandemic- and recession-resistant. Everyone still need to eat, so undecided to do this.”

Here is his advice to those going through tough times. “There is a light at the end of the tunnel, just that now the tunnel has got a lot longer. But you have to keep going.”

Three things you have to hold dear to your heart in Andy’s wisdom. It is light, distance and keep going.

Whether you believe it or not, there is always light. It is not about an imagined light, but it’s about a good fight. You see, all trials bow to the overcoming vision of a persevering soul. The latter always outlive the former, because we are a species that is drawn to light, be it for guidance, for growth or for hope. 

So, yes, some tunnels are longer than others. But if we keep going, picking ourselves up whenever we are down, we will soon see the light at our own tunnel. For even Covid will soon pass, but the human spirit is simply indefatigable.