I do hope that I am wrong.
I did a bit of checking around the traps and here is the low down;
The letter was penned by an ex-ST arsehole who recently came back from overseas and runs his own consultancy. It was planned for sometime and came not from the local team but from the Strategy team that reports to LHL and it had his endorsement. It appears that they are happy with the outcome which they wanted but not pleased with the online reaction. I am speculating here from what I got which was not very much;
1) They wanted to "out" VW as a gay (which was not revealed by anyone prior to this) . Surely the homophobics and the conservatives and the Christian talibans would react adversely. In this regard it is a win. BT/Holland profile is not one of young teens and couples.
2) Second as indicted earlier, it was to float the sex with boys theme which was the main intention ( which was not addressed or smothered by VW and it still hangs in the air).
The PAP might have lost points but I not sure if the net loss was in PAP camp. My sense is that that damage has been done and it was pointless pursuing this any further. One interesting comment made by the person close to this is that standard of English has certainly dropped in Singapore and he told me that many Singaporeans actually did not realise that age consent in the statement referred to same sex but many took it as sex between consenting teens of opposite sex. The main driving point about a minor having sex with an adult of the same sex was completely lost.
Looks like PAP's effort in running down the standard of English has finally paid off.
what did i tell u!!...LOL...Scroobal wif all due respect think u, locke n me really salah on this one bro...further i am most pleased to stand up and admit that i was wrong, gives me great pleasure
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