chia sai and his orchids

chiatilik hates orchids

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much ado with nothing........
This morning I had tried with Choon Hiong and Seelan and Martyn to intercept a revolting ceremony at the Orchid Garden, Singapore Botanical Gardens where the Singapore Government would name an orchid after a General of the Burmese Military Junta. The ceremony had been scheduled for 8am but the event had been wrapped up before that and the General was seemingly whisked out of the Botanic Gardens before 0805hrs. When we arrived, there was a number of National Parks Board staff and non-uniformed police officers still present, we were told by the NPB staff that the event had ended and the guests had left.

We had planned to present a bouquet of orchids to the General for him to pass it to Miss Aung Sann Su Kyi for as she is the democratically elected leader of Burma, she should be the person having an orchid named after her and not a General who has his hands tainted with the blood of his fellow countrymen. He was certainly undeserving.

Plans thwarted, we headed to the Burmese Embassy attempting to pass it to the staff for the transmission back to Burma for Miss Aung San. The Embassy staff refused to turn up at the gate to accept the bouquet. We ended up reading out the message and the card and we left the card and the bouquet at the gate and left. Now was there anything daring about what we did? No. What we had done was a peaceful expression of our disgust and disdain at the love relationship between the Singapore Government and the Burmese Junta and the revolting act of our authorities here.

The naming of an orchid after a foreign guest, traditionally bestowed upon deserving celebrities and visiting Heads of State, was this morning degraded and denigrated to being offered to a murderer who is 4th in the chain of command in the Burmese Junta. The event was conducted in a hush hush manner but i do not believe that such things can be kept away from public eye and ears for long.

Defiance towards the police and dare in the game of gangland battles count for nothing against the backdrop of one who is able to admit the mistakes of committing an embarrassing wrong.

That cannot compare with the cheek to call a failed share investment involving billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money as investment as one that is meant to break even over 20 to 30 years.

But even that pales in comparison to what the Singapore Government did, to laud and worship a murderer, and in doing so, denigrate all past illustrious recipients of similar honour to the low level of despotic military rulers who doggedly cling on to power and would not hesitate to shoot their defenceless countrymen.

To me, that kind of courage in cavorting with the Burmese Military Junta and being shamelessly brazen about it, is the most daring act of all.

would there be any public irate opposition if an orchid is named vanda chiatilik