Nation Kena F***ed

Seeing I'm regurgitating from memory, my apologies if I've gotten anything wrong or misrepresented, always welcome to email me to set the record straight, please don't sue me.

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF), mightiest of the charities in Singapore

1. has $262,000,000 in reserves as of July 2005. Enough for anything from 5 to 30 years of operations depending on how you slice the cake. No, wait, NKF says that's only enough to last 3 years.

2. had a CEO, T.T. Durai, who worked as a volunteer for 21 years before becoming it's CEO in 1992 with a starting salary of $12,000, turning down the initial $20,000 he was offered. Mr. Durai's salary for last year was north of $500,000, his monthly basic of $25,000 and what really pissed people off, a 10-12 month bonus.

3. had a board which approved the above salary package.

4. misrepresented the number of patients under it's care. So is it 2,000 or 3,000 dudes?

5. had a board which included one Ms. Matilda I-can't-remember-the-surname, who was first an NKF employee, left the NKF, started a call centre business with abovementioned CEO and then proceeded to bid for and win a contract to run NKF's call centre.

6. had gold taps which cost $990 before discount installed in the CEO's bathroom before said CEO thought they might be a little too expensive and had them swapped for cheaper alternatives. $990, I could live on that for two months and still have change to buy a bag or two of peanuts.

7. had a patron, Mrs. Goh Chok Tong, wife of the SM, who probably got an earful from the husband when he found out she had justified T.T's salary by saying for someone who managed $262,000,000 his salary was peanuts. Engage brain before mouth Mrs. Goh, if you had just kept it zipped and smiled a sad smile for the cameras and walked away you could have come off smelling like roses but you just had to say something *throws hands in the air*

8. has a new board and Chairman/CEO, Mr. Gerard Ee, I hope he doesn't stop smiling after a couple of weeks of wading in the neck high shithole he's stepped into. Bravo on your decision to not take a cent for your post. Seeing as how the entire nation would have been terribly interested to know your salary you defused that potential bomb with aplomb.

It's 14 days to the day the defamation suit that kicked over this whole anthill started, heads have rolled and people in suits are poring over the nooks and crannys of the NKF. People power came to Singapore 2 weeks ago, it was the first solid expression of the power of the masses and what that power was capable of, gives me the tingles just thinking about it. Just imagine, apathetic Singapore has got a voice and we're not afraid to use it.

Well, not really. The NKF issue was one that united all because it was a victim of it's success. 2 out of 3 Singaporeans donated to it. It galvanised the people in such numbers precisely because so many people were affected by the revelations. Will we see such an awe insipring display of the power of the masses again?

The buck seems to have stopped at the resignation of T.T. and gang, people have gone back to their lives. Wait damnit, where you all going? It's not the end yet, is it?