Tress and I were unwinding last night when we heard a phone ring. It had a “No Called Id” banner so I ignored it. It was about 9.30pm, which was our usual time of going to bed. So that too was another reason to ignore the call. All of our phones then took turns to ring and finally Mel rang to say someone wanted to speak to us and. I really didn’t want to speak to this person, not because I didn’t like this person (we do) but I knew what was going to be the topic of conversation. It is the topic that gets me worked up and I usually have trouble winding down after talking about this matter.

The issue of Tham Fuan and LifeGate leadership remains a live one for a few of its members. To me it’s well (and truly) in the past. I have confined it to the same bin as I did with political and business leaders in Malaysia. Some things remain in my life only as a lesson of what to avoid. I was saying to Tress after that conversation with the caller, that I don’t need to pick up a piece of turd off the road and complain about how bad it smells. I simply need to walk away from it. Likewise, it is best those affected by the stench of what happened simply walk away.

The flight option isn’t a result of a desire to avoid the alternative fight option. It is a consequence of not drawing from the counterparties any interest to engage. The matter has dragged on for nearly 6 months now. It had percolated for some 7-8 months before that. So all in, it has been over a year since it all crystallised. All this while, copious emails have been sent by Jason. There is no stone unturned now. There is nary a response except shadow plays to avoid addressing the issue. So why would anyone dwell on it again? It really is time to shake the dust off all of our sandals.

The obstinacy no doubt remains astounding. It is obvious however that Tham Fuan, Kheang Te, Lettice Chia and David Chiang would not see it any other way. How one can view the way these 4 treated my brother Jason as anything but unfair, unreasonable, ungodly, crude, cowardice and all of that remains a mystery but that remains their view. It may be laziness. It may be pride, or fear, or it may be profound lack of cognitive ability (read: dumb) but whatever the reason or the cause, the fact remains that they refuse to acknowledge what they did to Jason was manifestly wrong. Like I said, the obstinacy is astounding. But it is what it is and given this, why revisit the episode over and over again? Why seek meetings to rehash the issues? It is a simple matter now of them acknowledging the wrong they did against Jason. Absent this, no other action will progress matters.

Every backward glance will mean a backward step in our journey. I know the older we get, the harder it is to leave things behind to embark on new paths. But the converse is also true. The older we get, the less we can afford not to think about the futility of not leaving bad things behind. We need to move on – not because of anything we have done, but because nothing has been done by those who needed to do something. And nothing will be done.  Shaking the dust off our sandals again comes to mind.

Related articles

• Opinion: Irrational Obstinacy not a product of Ideology, but of History (oakonomics.wordpress.com)
• All manner of obstinacy considered (colinon.wordpress.com)