The trouble with press statements on someone stepping down/up is that they are so nice. I guess you have to be to persuade people to step down/up. But there’s no reason for the media to take the same approach. So Yeo Guat Kwang is stepping down from Case, and Kwek Siew Jin from NCSS. I am sure they are good men, volunteering (or is this a paid job?) their time and energy to civic causes. But it cannot be that there were no bad patches? Or stuff they themselves think they could have done better, or achieved? Hopefully there will be a more intensive look at their tenure – if only to set the standard for the next appointee!
It reminds me of how we always see quotes from people saying that the unfortunate fellow who died tragically was a “loving husband” and a “doting father”. Hard to do down someone who’s dead (but hey, dead people can’t sue you know!) Hard to get a crying widow to explain what she means by loving, doting. Had to appear callous even if the truth is that the fellow was a terrible husband and an even worse father. But who said journalism was easy?
An ex-journalist who can't get enough of the news after being in the business for 26 years
