Welcome home,prodigal son, unless you are Chen Show Mao

Dear Friends,
For the Easter weekend, I have penned the following letter to the Forum page...
Have great long weekend,
Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan

Letter to Traditional Media:
(addendum: printed in Today click here)

Dear Editor,

Re: We welcome the prodigal son unless he is Chen Show Mao?


Singaporeans accept this maxim: Achieve success in a developed country overseas and recognition by Singapore society will be “automatic” and almost a given.

On this Easter weekend, many may know that the Bible mentions that “A Prophet Hath No Honour in His Own Country”.

That is why we are so proud of the few internationally recognised stars we have such as fashion designer Ashley Isham and pop stars Kit Chan (Chen Jieyi) , Stephanie Sun (Sun Yanzi) and JJ Lin (Lin Junjie).

Ashley left Singapore as a normal person in 1996, but when he made it in London after a stint in the prestigious Central St. Martin’s College, the whole of Singapore embraces him as our own, even if many of us may not dare to wear his esoteric creations.

So many of us loved Kit and her Heartache (Xintong) album and tracked her path to success in Taiwan with pride and it was only after she and Singaporeans like Stephanie and JJ became household names in Taiwan that we their countrymen knew how good they were.

In social circles, we call this the “Prodigal son” syndrome. Most of us have heard of the biblical parable where the father seemingly welcomed and loved the prodigal son more than the other children who toiled diligently at home.

This is true in most aspects of Singapore except for the strange case of a certain Mr. Chen Show Mao. I hereby state that I am not associating Show Mao with the wining and dining which the original prodigal son was accused of. I need not extol Show Mao’s credentials anymore as almost everyone has Harvard, Stanford and Oxford at the tip of their tongues and the more well -read would also know of the Agricultural Bank of China’s US$22b IPO (which is really a big deal!).

Yet the PAP chooses to treat him like a leper ( sorry- Easter reminds me of Bible again).

Why?

Is it because, Show Mao, and those that he may attract, poses a real threat to PAP’s hegemony and supremacy?

Food for thought for this long weekend.

Anyway, Show Mao, the rest of Singapore welcomes you home. Home is where your heart is.

You have nothing more to prove.

Cheers,

Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan