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John
Tan
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Vantage
When
John met
Jaya
John
Tan
2 Mar 08
Something funny happened on my way home
last week. It was a sunny Sunday morning, and Grace and I had
just finished breakfast at the market, and after picking up some
groceries were making our way home.
It was still the
Chinese New Year period and the tung-tung-chiang
of a lion dance troupe was going on a few feet away.
Ordinarily
this would not interest me. But this was no ordinary lion dance.
I mean, you would see young men in colourful, frilly pants that
matched the body of the lion, banging away at their gongs and
cymbals, right? But guys in long-sleeved dress-shirts? I know how
much Singapore likes the modern image but a troupe outfitted by
Armani? No, something was going on here.
My suspicions
were confirmed when I saw photographers milling around. Soon a
few policemen showed up with an HDB parking warden in tow.
Together they erected a portable "Reserved" sign and
choped two carpark lots.
Okay, she got my attention. "Who
are you reserving the lots for?" I asked. If you've been a
Singaporean long enough (nowadays, you don't really know what
that means), you know that something PAP-ish is going on here.
"Professor Jayakumar," the warden
confirmed.
To my wife's consternation, I decided to hang
around and observe the proceedings, or at least until the VIP
showed up. "I just wanna greet him," I assured her
within earshot of the police, both uniformed and non. That must
have made their proud chests swell a little bit more.
After
all, how often does one get to be up close and personal with the
deputy prime minister and, no less, the minister for law –
an area with which I recently had a few, shall we say,
disagreements.
Hmmm, why did I get the feeling that wifey
didn't quite believe me?
Suddenly a car pulled up. I'm
sorry, a Citroen – a grand, luxurious Citroen –
pulled up. It must have cost the driver a bomb. Add the road tax,
escalating pump prices and all those ERP gantries sprouting up
like mushrooms all over this little green island, he must be
worried sick.
Atten-hut! The very dapper looking bunch of
guys snapped to attention in a neat line as Mr Jayakumar
alighted. All those years of National Day Parade practices sure
come in handy.
(I wonder why everybody still calls him
"professor". That's a title reserved for those who have
made the grade in academe. But, of course, this is Singapore.)
I
joined them. Grace wasn't amused.
What? What's the
problem? Don't I look like the rest of the guys in the line?
Okay, okay, so I was in a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops (I like
my Sundays free and easy). But no one told me the DPM was coming
to town. Had I known I would have put on my party badge.
As
it was, I received a few curious stares from my fellow greeters.
I beamed back.
The PAP papparazi started shooting and the
minister smiled the most brilliant of smiles. He seemed a happy
man.
He went down the line shaking admiring hands and
exchanging niceties. Then he reached me. He held out his hand. I
took it.
"How do you feel getting paid three million
dollars when the rest of us are struggling to make ends meet?"
I asked.
Tung-tung-chiang!
The gongs and cymbals seemed to beat extra loudly.
His
smile, once so radiant, suddenly turned into a grin – one
of those that your cheek muscles had to work extra hard to prop
up.
"We'll talk about it," he muttered.
But
he didn't say where or when, and quickly plunged into the crowd
that had gathered to watch the the prancing lion. And, oh, the
prosperity god was there too.
Okay, so I wasn't there to
blow kisses at him but here's a thought: If a dozen of us were
there, we could have formed a line and asked the same question
over and over. Wouldn't it be neat if we videotaped the exchange
and captured the expression on his face. Priceless!
Here's
another thought: Perhaps we should start looking for such
opportunities. And when you do get the chance to meet a minister,
pop him the question: "How do you feel getting paid three
million dollars when the rest of us are struggling to make ends
meet?" We've got to keep up the pressure.
And by the
way, if you ever see Mr Jayakumar, please remind him that he
promised to talk to me about it.
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