Roy has asked to meet with the children and parents to apologise to them. This is the right thing to do.
I met Roy several weeks ago. He is a thoughtful individual and no one should believe that he intentionally targeted his or the group’s actions at the children who were performing that afternoon.
It is important, nevertheless, that both he and Hui Hui offer an apology to the children.
The danger is that those who are angered by the episode but who, otherwise, would support the Return Our CPF campaign, unwittingly reinforce a culture intolerant of mistakes.
Throwing labels like “immature”, “inexcusable”, “attention seekers” at the protesters is unhelpful. For even the most experienced activists spend a lifetime making errors and learning from them. Gandhi, himself not immune to mistakes, acknowledged: “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
In this vein, let us re-affirm our faith in Roy and Hui Hui as well as in ourselves, who, with all our imperfections and weaknesses, continue to learn and grow in our journey to make our Republic a better place.
Authored by: Chee Soon Juan
