From the desk of Raymond Anthony Fernando
Warren Fernandez
ST Editor
Ms Zuraidah Ibrahim
Sunday Times Deputy Editor
Ms Rachel Chang
ST Journalist
Dear Journalists at SPH,
I have been following the
reports that you have written on the National Conversation exercise, and
frankly I am somewhat disturbed by what I read. As journalists, you need
to provide different perspectives, be neutral and not keep putting down
Singaporeans all the time. That’s not the way to go. That’s not the way to
build a truly cohesive society that can work with the Government of the day to
make Singapore the BEST HOME to live in.
Singaporeans who raise issues
on the difficulties of getting jobs are reasonable - they are real issues. I
would like to ask all of you this:
Supposing you wake up one morning and
discover that you are out of a job, and later find out that your job has been
taken away by a foreigner, how would you feel?
How would you feel when you have
mouths to feed, having to looking after a family member who is disabled, or
ill?
How would you feel if you end going to the CDC and be put
through rigorous questioning when you are already down on your luck?
Have
all of you gone through that?
More queries:
How would you know what it is
like to care for a family member who has a serious mental disorder and you are
all alone to carry out this extremely difficult task with absolutely no
structural support system in place?
Have any of you been to IMH-
especially in the afternoons when the counter there is like a market?
Have any of you been inside
the wards of IMH, including the forensic wards and see what goes on behind
closed doors?
Last year, 992 people were
arrested for attempted suicide. Is this not cause for concern? Is this not an
issue to be addressed and discussed openly and rationally?
I
have put forwards questions on mental illness and answered the call by PM Lee,
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat and the media to participate in the NC
exercise? What happened? All these queries have been blocked off? Is this
fair journalism? There is a large psychiatric community here in Singapore, and
it is growing?
The Straits Times has done a grave disservice and injustice to
the mentally ill and their caregivers by deliberately choosing to ignore our
cries for help. But I will be relentless in bringing hope to the mentally ill
and their caregivers, with OR without your support.
Through my reasoning with
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, there has been a break through. He has
invited me to sit in at one of his dialogue sessions to touch on mental
illness- to share my wealth of experience in how I have cared for my wife for
37 years; counting. Yes, my wife has schizophrenia and advanced
arthritis, but I’m still damn proud of her.
Read his email to me from
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat:
Dear Raymond
Thanks for this note. I am sorry I
missed your email earlier. I thank you for sharing your perspective
and experience, as well as the efforts you are making to help your wife and
others. I am glad to learn of the support from the
church. I am asking my colleagues to look into the issues you
raised.
Meantime, may I invite you to join one
of our dialogue sessions for you to share this with others?
Regards
Heng Swee Keat
Then from the Secretariat of NC:
“Dear Raymond,
Thank you for writing to Minister Heng and we at the Our
Singapore Secretariat also extend our thanks for the good work that you are
doing to aid your friends and family. We have received this correspondence from
The Minister and note that he has invited you to the dialogue sessions to share
from your wealth of experience.
We are in the process of organising the platforms to
engage Singaporeans, and will contact you again via email in a few weeks’ time
to join in one of the sessions.
Thank you once again for the good work you do. Please
continue to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly because the future of
Singapore's proactive community service is in hands like yours. We hope you
also consider encouraging your friends to take part in this national
conversation on Singapore’s future.
Warm regards,
Tim @ Our Singapore Secretariat”
I’ve written to PM Lee and
his team on the NC TV show and my sentiments are best expressed here on my
blog:
Report to PM Lee and his
team:
As one priest puts
it so well, “ Unless it (mental illness) hits you or your family, you don’t
know, and many a time you just don’t care!”
In closing, those who have
not experience the hardships citizens like us face: See this:
I hope you will mull over
what I’ve said and show me that indeed even the press can have a Singapore
Heart.
Thank you, for your time.
Sincerely,
Raymond Anthony Fernando
Advocate for the mentally ill
and their caregivers
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