IF YA SMELL WHAT THE HOCK IS COOKING??!!

Memories...

Sunday, March 25, 2007

ENGAGING MR PHILIP YEO..

I must admit, i am a professed fan of Mr Philip Yeo, chairman of A*Star (and previously of EDB). I ve been following his recent entry into the blogosphere, where he actively engaged others on Aaron's blog, giving his side of the story, and his views on many issues. I think Singapore needs more tough and straight-talking leaders like him. Below is the excerpt of my little conversation with him on Aaron's blog:

Ching Hock // Mar 24, 2007 at 6:42 pm

"Dear Mr Philip Yeo,

I wonder whether you remember that 10 years ago at The Chinese High School, you delivered a speech and chaired a Q & A session during our assembly session? I was 1 of those sitting among the 300 students then, not having a clue what EDB was about and I still can’ t recall exactly what you said about EDB (haha!) But what I do remember is that you encouraged all of us to dare to pursuit our dreams, and to dare to believe in ourselves.

10 years on, I thank you for that, and maybe I m pointing out this to highlight “the other side” of Mr Yeo haha.

On another note, I just want to add that I have 2 good friends who were interviewed and selected by Mr Yeo personally as A* Star scholars. They had drive, were extremely hardworking, had excellent academic grades, and distinguished cca records. They are most certainly outstanding all-rounders, contrary to the image of some who feel that scholars are “those who only know how to study”. I could be generalizing, but I do believe that no selection system in the world is 100% perfect, or that A* Star “mistreats” their scholars.

P.S: Haven’t been eating frog legs since smashing and killing live bullfrogs with my bare hands back in my army days.. Apparently when frogs die, their tongues will stick out. And 1 of the frogs actually pee-ed on my mate’s hand moments before he was going to smash its head.. Well..all part of training.."

"philip yeo // Mar 24, 2007 at 9:49 pm

Dear Ching Hock,

I am not perfect. =)

I try hard to find Cranes (Chinese symbol for wisdom?) amongst young Singaporeans.

And some Frogs and Toads hide in their midst. =)

Yuk! I prefer to buy “ready for cooking” frog legs from Cold Storage. Supposed to be good for people with asthma.

philip"

I feel some of the criticisms labelled on Mr Yeo haven't been fair, esp those bloggers who called him names and hiding behind anonymouity. Cheap shots. As expected, he lamblasted these anonymous bloggers, kinda similiar to the way i whack anonymous people on my blog. (except that i use more vulgarities back in return).

Melissa Sim's article on the Sunday Times today regarding his spat with Chen Jiahao (or acidflask) was crap as well. Contains no analysis, but mere cut and paste of the blog posts months ago. She also left out large amounts of information, and reading her article alone without knowing the whole story would potray Mr Yeo in a very negative light. Shows the limits of mainstream media, and as usual, another crap article from the Straits Times.

The Incredible Hock