carrion_istari

Well, something has yet managed to enliven our days....

A juicy scandal that everyone is involved in in one way or another, for which everyone feels that he or she has a personal stake in the matter, and thus possesses the right to actively partake.

The NKF scandal.

A scandal that is reeking with stench so ostensibly that everyone is infuriated - public passions are swayed, indignation is brimming over the surface like wild fires that cannot be contained. Even for me.

When I first got wind of the scandal, I found myself saying, with impassioned delirium, "Die NKF, die!" It felt good saying that. Finally, all the speculation that has surrounded the fundraisers has been justified. Especially for someone like me, who has seen how lavish the lobby of the NKF building is, this revelation should have exonerated me fully from all the guilt that has previously plagued me whenever I caught myself getting cynical about the fundraisers.

Now that the furore is beginning to die with the resignation of TT Durai, I am looking at this with greater composure and maturity.

We are all entitled to our opinions about how charities should be operated, but one thing that I cannot refute, much as I'd hate to admit, is that the NKF is a different sort of charity. Yes, with all the prizes that they line up as rewards for donations, the approach may not agree with everybody. Some people would even think that they vilify the very essence of charity. And I cannot completely disagree with them.

But one thing that I cannot refute - the approach to raising funds by carefully planning it like a marketing campaign, managing it like an enterprise, is completely unprecedented. What's more, the success with which they achieve their objectives is incontrovertible. And it is all one man's vision, that of TT Durai.

Now before I am stoned to death, let me elaborate on what I intend to say. As a communal body drawn together for a course to provide affordable quality healthcare for patients with kidney failure, it has set out to identify that funds are of utmost importance. And it has stayed focused to that end, that is, to raise the most funds in the shortest time possible. It's success is for all to see...if not, we wouldn't have a situation today.

TT Durai, driven by his own convictions, has pushed his visions to effect public acknowledgement of his cause. He has actively put in place mechanics and concepts to drive an organisation to achieve the goals that it has set out to do. And do it well.

I wish many other charitable organisations can boast of a quarter of the kind of reserves that NKF has. Such funds, when put in good use, will certainly go a long way to alleviate the many problems that we are faced with today.

The only glitch is this case, is human fallibility. That a man of such vision and drive, is nonetheless subject to human foibles like greed and self interest. Yes, he is guilty of most, if not all, of the charges that have been made against him. Like my fellow men, this is my conviction and belief too. And from the ashes of greed, rise the crime of deceit and fraud.

For too long, because of his vision for NKF, he has been synonymous with the organisation itself. I think it is time to remind ourselves that despite what the organisation has progressed to because of the man, it is and should be separate from the man who made it what it is. The NKF might be everything to TT Durai, but everything about the NKF isn't TT Durai. At the heart of all this, NKF is still a channel of help for thousands of kidney patients. That was the mission it was set up with, and should remain as the very same mission for years to come.

I was all for his resignation and now that that has come to pass, I am all the more glad for it. I guess the more pressing thing to do is to ensure that the work that has been done for kidney patients continue without prejudice.

Perhaps that is why despite all my skepticism over the years, I have still continued to donate without question.

And I am gratified to know that justice does prevail. Now, Mrs Goh Chok Tong...that's another story altogether. I won't even want to go there. Fodder for another day perhaps.

Now I wonder, after all this, does Jeanette still want to boast about comparing shoe sizes with Mrs Goh Chok Tong.