Forenote: I apologise for this exceptionally long article. It's because I am including many quotes in verbatim to prevent accusations of “misquoting” that some politicians like to levy when they are defensive. Please be patient and read on....especially the colourful quotes from the party leader and the guest appearance of his "loving" "wife"....
It began with a nasty and admittedly below-belt rumour about Goh Meng Seng (GMS), the NSP Sec-Gen. It was published by someone on the Sammyboy forum and spoke of a metaphorical and charming 20-cents public toilet.
To me, the authenticity of the salacious rumour is immaterial – it is a non-political personal affair for which GMS only needs to be accountable to his own conscience and loved ones. If necessary, he need to sort it out himself.
So this article will NOT be about what GMS did in private. Like everyone, politicians deserve their privacy.
Instead, the main issue at hand is GMS's severe CHARACTER FLAWS.
These manifest themselves in his unbecoming and immature REACTION and lack of self-control when confronted with such circumstances - which is unavoidable in public and political life.
This is especially serious since he is the leader of a political party.
First, instead of maintaining a stolid standoff like every seasoned and astute politician would, GMS dove into the Sammyboy discussion thread flailing .... as only the notoriously hapless GMS would and often did online.
Initially, he tried to sound cool and indifferent:
“Aiyoh! Can your lies and stories be more creative than that or not? I nearly fell asleep reading it...”
..... then, he started to fend off other netizens, accusing them of being gullible and challenged the MSM to republish the bawdy story:
“Haha. I am surprised that people can be so gullible! If he has any truth worth any cents, he wouldn't be hiding behind some nicks. If you want to be your last dollar on what he says, I guess you will definitely be very sorry. He is known to spread vicious lies around here. I stand as politician and of course, I welcome the newspapers to report on what he says. That will make my campaign financing very much easier.”
…..then, as his derogatory tactics were not working, he pretended not to be bothered, although the truth was that he was, as will be seen later:
“To people who tell lies, I won't really give a damn.”
…..then, he smirked at the rumour-monger:
“Haha.... he will shit in his pants.”
Goh & Grace...
..... then GMS's sense of self-importance took over and he tried to offer an inane reason why others were spreading rumours about him. He posted a photo of himself posing with Grace Fu:
“This is the photo that triggers such silly devilish attacks of me... The Politics of ENVY and Jealousy really can make people go nuts...”
…... then, he changed tactic and counter-attacked by associating the rumour-monger with Edmund Ng:
“I am just very curious, out of all these half truths, lies and wild stories, why did you miss out one of the important event of Edmund Ng leaving NSP?”
Psycho
And finally, when all else failed, he labeled his attacker a psychopath and mentally ill:
“You are really a psychopath. Most probably you marry too young and always fantasizing about having affairs with other people. That is reflected in the things you wrote so far. Of course, there are reasons for your knee jerk reflexes on and off. Most likely you don't or couldn't be "famous" as in becoming "prominent opposition member" and you will jump whenever you see photos of me on the ST or other newspapers. But it is really nobody's fault to start with. I empathize your mental conditions and what you need is not spreading lies here but a professional psychiatrist. Seek treatment early and don't let it worsen. Take care. “
“I am just worried about you. People with past records of mental problems, even if it is just severe depression or maniac depression, could fall into more serious mental problems later on in their lives. You should really take care of your mental health.”
“I will not want to bully a mentally handicapped and ill person. I feel sorry for him, that's all.”
“It is so typical of you and your mental illness to talk so big and so loud. You are living in your world of delusions. Go and seek professional help!”
“But leave him alone lah. Some sympathy for the mentally ill person.”
It seems that "mental" is GMS's favourite word of reasoning!
I wonder whether he will put this word to frequent use when and IF he enters parliament one day. Since he often talks about wanting to be part of the government, perhaps they might even create a special post for him : Minister Mental.
But the more pertinent issue is this - is this the kind of behaviour we expect from politicians who want to represent our concerns and views in parliament and TAKE CARE of the wards.
I personally doubt so.
Anyway, GMS's online tirade at this thread somehow miraculous ended when the rumour-monger mentioned the magic word “Macau”. Many must also all be wondering what happened in Macau. But as I have mentioned, we should let his conscience judge him privately.
Smear..
I normally don't like to conduct sleuth work on the complex world of the internet, but I will make an exception in this perplexing and preposterous case. The reason is after he gave up on the discussion thread, GMS went back to his FB and lamented very farcically that:
“People are down right despicable when they go into making use my dead father to smear me. Well, that's how dirty politics can be in Singapore. A total lack of class and fineness but full of pure barbaric acts.”
The fact is that the mention of GMS's dead father (....god bless him) in the rumour was very secondary to the storyline – it was merely to set a timeframe to the series of events. Nothing untoward or derogatory was spoken of his deceased father.
GMS conveniently chose NOT to mention the crux of the rumour, which was where the lack of “class and fineness” and barbarism actually was.
Then GMS went down the well-trodden paths into hypocrisy - in another FB post, he went on to protest that:
“This is a strange world whereby faceless nameless people on the internet keep throwing challenges to others who are open with their full name and personal profiles.... hmm.... the cowards throwing challenges to the braves?"
The hypocrisy arises because when the salacious story was first released on Sammyboy forum, the first netizen to comment was one with the nick “Tampines”. He challenged the rumour-monger twice:
“Would you care to post that TODAY's article about GMS' alleged [censored] in this forum so that Samsters can come to their own conclusions about what kind of person GMS the politician is ?? At the same time, GMS can take legal action against TODAY paper if he's truly innocent??"
“Hi [censored], my question to you is this : Just like [censored], are you also convinced that Goh Meng Seng had committed [censored]?? If you have the photographic evidence, you should post the pictures in this forum to substantiate your claim, or you could write an email directly to Goh Meng Seng stating your NAME and IC NUMBER in it. Otherwise, you are just a F[censored] IDIOT who is just out to do malicious damage to other people's personal lives with your nonsensical postings! OTHERWISE, you should seriously refrain from repeatedly making such slanderous and damaging allegations against an innocent person!”
It should be noted that this “Tampines” account was created very recently and has only 4 posts to date – all either very supportive or defensive of GMS and NSP. We should be wondering why we have a very cooperative, faceless and nameless “Tampines resident” popping out of nowhere
[see here for "Tampine's" profile:
http://www.singsupplies.com/search.php?searchid=1841101]
Then, to further add zest to the comedic turn of events, the rest of GMS's close “family” poured in.
First, someone claiming to be GMS's brother (“gewatchdog”), came in twice, attempting to “poke holes” in the storyline of the rumour.
“I am GMS elder brother. This NQ nick is a great liar. My late father was never ailing from long term illness before his death. He just passed away two days after his leg was infected by antibiotic resistant bacterias.”
“My late father is the one always manned the tampines shop with my sister. Be careful, my late father may go and find you.”
It should also be noted that GMS's brother is a member of WP(?). One wonders whether GMS would have objected to his brother's namelessness and facelessness until he was forced to reveal his identity to “rescue” GMS.
The farce reached its climax when even GMS's “wife” stormed in to his rescue!
Calling herself facelessly and namelessly “Delightful Chocolate”, she spoke up one hour after GMS's first did!
“I am Goh Meng Seng's wife, Margaret Chu. What NamQiong is telling is a pack of lies! Everything in it are lies!
Goh Meng Seng is one of the most faithful hubby in the world, and we both know that. Throughout our years of marriage he has been honest and 100% committed to me."
"For NamQiong to suggest he ever cheated on me, is just plain nonsense!"
"For your kind informations, when the New paper report was out, Meng Seng called me first thing and apologise for dragging our family into it, but I told him, I don't blame you, I never have any doubt on you.
These people are crazy people! In fact Meng Seng and I had a good laugh afterward. But he never stop his apology to me, and he wanted to make up to me by bringing me and our little MeiMei to go Disneyland. He is a very real gentleman and great husband."
"As for the selling of our flat, let me tell you I fully support Meng Seng, and it is his decision, he wanted to do it very much and he asked me for permission first."
"I am very happy to have such a great husband like Meng Seng, and I hope all this nonsense can stop. Our little MeiMei and I love him very much.”
I will not comment on the GMS's marital relations with his wife. Those are again for himself to manage.
But it should be noted that this purported online “wife” of GMS's only registered her Sammyboy account about a month ago and her one and only posted prior to coming to her husband's rescue was about Dollah Kassim's death! (….haha).
She said this of Dollah Kassim:
“Poor thing, he was a great man indeed!”
It is a bit curious that GMS's wife, who has been living in HK, was such a fan of our olden days soccer heroes! Besides, I wonder why she did not mention her interest in football on her FB profile.
Anyway, I suppose all of you get the drift of what I am saying here, especially concerning GMS's “objection”to faceless and nameless online cowards who attack our beloved politicians like him.
I cannot prove who “Tampines”, “gewatchdog” and “Delightful Chocolate” are or aren't, but the timeliness of their interjections were highly coincidental.
I suppose after my article appears, GMS can now get both his real brother and wife to cooperate and collaborate on his story, but I will let readers decide for themselves how hypocritical this particular Sec-Gen is.
GMS would cry foul when faceless and nameless cowards attack politicians, but once it happens, it is the license for some of these politicians to summon faceless and nameless ones to defend themselves or even attack others.
But the story does not end here.
After GMS complained publicly on his FB about those “downright despicable” cowards, several of his acquaintances came in to offer his some advice. Some of whom are also faceless and nameless, but that is acceptable to GMS since they are on his side.
In fact, some of them gave him very sound advice but also chastised him for his inadequacies. Andrew Loh's words were especially apt and insightful:
“....if you (GMS) do not add or provide fuel to the fire, those attacking you will run out of things to attack you with. The very fact of you engaging them is the fuel these people crave for. If you were to ask me, I would ask you to not engage these people who are casting all sorts of lies about you."
"And do remember this: It is not the same as before. You now represent a political party, you are its leader. Every word you say has the potential to either damage or gain credit for your party."
If I were an NSP member, I would not like to see my sec gen engaging in such tit for tat is a forum known for being trashy.”
Wise words from others included:
“Meng Seng, I do agree with Andrew on this, you tend to lack discretion in engaging critics. especially mad idiots whoever you may think they are whether rightly or wrongly.” - Yap Eng Kian
Initially, our dear Sec-Gen was still defiant:
“No Pain No Gain”
Then, a change of tone was detected:
“I understand your concerns. Thanks anyway.”
Finally, he apparently saw Nirvana:
“Thank you all. I will make adjustment to my engagement policy. Thanks.”
People celebrated!
Then being my inquisitive and nosy self, I joined in to confirm that his “engagement policy” has indeed changed. It was not to be.
Nice leopard spots..
Despite the advice of his faceless and nameless acquaintances to “just ignore and don't feed the troll(s)”, he just could not resist going back to his old “loutish, brash, loud-mouthed, defensive, fight-until-win and always-must-win attitude”.
He went on and on, as if he had forgotten what he has just said about adjusting his engagement policy.
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http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=156974971009081&id=1028466204]
Readers may also recall what happened a few years ago that led to GMS's “departure” from WP.
The leopard's spots have hardly altered.
After WP and NSP, which party should he join next... the double-first party?
by Bryan Ti