There’s an episode in Everybody Loves Raymond, a comedy series that we rewatch over dinner regularly where Raymond gets into hot soup after he tells a lie to his wife Debra, and when quizzed, he has to tell more lies, and more and more family members get involved with each concocting more stories to cover for a previous fib.
I usually avoid doing follow-up or subsequent posts on News & Letters posts too soon, if at all. Usually, the issues already receive a lot of press attention both in print, online and in coffee-shop talk.
Still, it’s hard not to comment again on more news revelations on the beleagued Miss Singapore – World 2009, especially when she’s giving media so much verbal fodder by continuing to respond to questions on her actions in the fiasco.
The sum of it is this: while there might had been some justifiable sympathy for Ms. Low’s poor diction and inability to speak proper English, the last round of news and her ‘confessions’ is making it (basically) very hard if at all possible to feel sorry for her anymore. And I’m not referring to the revelations that she had been convicted of credit fraud – which is bad enough as it is.
Consider firstly her constant shifting and backpedaling. It started off with Ms. Low denying that she had been involved in legal troubles:
“When The New Paper learnt of Ris’ legal troubles about a month ago and confronted her, she denied it.”
Then when the news broke in Mypaper’s expose, Ms. Low ‘fessed up but insisted that she did inform pageant organizer ERM:
“They said then that as long as the news did not get out, they would give me the opportunity to continue with the competition. Who would’ve thought this would leak out. Now that the whole thing is all blown up, I’m not so sure,’ said Ms Low.”
And when ERM finally issued a terse statement pointing out that they were never told, she now says:
“When asked by The Straits Times and other papers last week whether the organisers knew about her conviction, she insisted that they did. But yesterday, Miss Low made an abrupt U-turn and confirmed ERM’s version of the events. She said she told the company about her brush with the law only after the My Paper story appeared last Friday.”
Secondly, there’s also the trivalizing on the seriousness of her conviction when she said:
“She added that she let on only after she was asked about it: ‘They ask then I tell lah, because actually I don’t find the point of telling…’ Asked why she did not come clean about her conviction from the start, she replied: ‘It’s still a record, but it’s not as though it’s that big… I was given a second chance to change.'”
There are a couple of arguments flying around in her defense: and here’s my (very) short take on each one of them:
That she was privately sponsored, and since no public money was spent, there is no need to publicly audit her winning the local segment of the contest. – Agree.
Hence, she cannot be denied her chance at the finals in December as Miss Singapore – World. – Disagree. To have won the local segment is one thing. To participate in an international tournament as Miss Singapore – World is another: her representation is now squarely under public scrutiny since she’s now flying the flag of the country (so as to speak).
That the credit card fraud was committed in a moment of folly. – Disagree. Stealing a credit card once and impersonating as its owner once is a moment of folly. Repeatedly doing this using multiple cards on multiple occasions, and chalking up 60 other charges before a probation sentencing is not.
That Singaporeans are very harsh on her. – Agree. But she’s invited a lot of these criticisms through sheer and repeated carelessness on her part.
That everyone deserves a second chance. – Agree. But in Ms. Low’s case, she’s firstly asking for chances well beyond the first; and secondly, a second chance should not mean she must represent the country in an international event here and now when there is currently so much attention heaped on her failings. There will be other events where she can “fulfill her dreams” once she’s let the furore subsided.
I still feel a little sorry for her, but only on account that whatever she’s going through is a lot for a 19 year old. While the decision to crown her Miss Singapore – World could be argued as questionable in view of her language ability but was not of her doing, whatever that’s happened after that has largely been the result of her own actions, words and denials then backpedaling.
The best thing for her to do now is to fade away and disappear off Singapore’s radar. There will be other opportunities for her. But while Ms. Low has insisted that she’s not ready to give up her crown despite all that’s happened, like Ling has remarked – I don’t think it’s her choice anymore. My hunch is that this fiasco will be resolved very soon – when she is politely ‘told’ to step down by event organizer ERM.
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Afternoon appendum: Looks like Ms. Low has surrendered her title.
To have your life cone under public scrutiny at 19 years old can be quite an intimidating matter to begin with.
To speak to the press not just about her aspirations, but also about her closet full of skeletons can also be pretty demanding, especially when she is linguistically challenged. Sure she could have been more careful about coming clean with her conviction accounts, but we aren’t sure what actually transpired behind the scenes.
We know very well the media is capable of sensationalizing issues especially when it’s something of such nature — celebrity with a less than pristine background. She is 19, and I don’t think everyone can pull off politically correct statements under that kind of emotional pressure.
Somehow, we know our lives are imperfect most of the time, we understand we screw up and we hope others will offer us chances for every infraction we commit. However, we become overly moralistic, and suddenly scrimp on every modicum of forgiveness when it comes to forgiving others on their mistakes. Strange isn’t it?
She may have her reasons for her multiple infractions which may well be attributed to her bipolar disorder. Well, we know how quick we are to call bull on that reasoning, but again, she is 19. Are we really expecting her to be calm and still offer her public apologies like those of from corporate communications?
If asked again, I’m sure she will not commit those credit card frauds if she’s aware that this is going to cost her the Miss Singapore World title. But none of us have precognition abilities eh?
I’m stressing that an age to discern right from wrong cannot be clearly defined by our own myopic perceptions. Anyone who have emerged from competitions and public limelight would have tell us that they have come out more humbled.
But seriously, are we any happier now that she’s out of the competition?
Which is more fulfilling? To witness an ex-offender attaining their dreams because of our collective willingness to forgive or to see a finely groomed lady from an elitist family awarded with some President Scholarship award?
If we were to send her for the competition, will we be branded as a nation full of credit card fraudsters? Certainly not. Sure there will be criticisms on our seemingly skewed moral standards. But in any case, since when is there a lack of negativity?
On the other hand, why do we need to add on to it?
Call it a national Schadenfreude — a hobby Singaporeans adore.
Happy isn’t how I’d describe the general reaction: I think it’s relief that the this whole sordid matter can be laid to rest now that Ms. Low need no longer be in the limelight. If she’s no longer in the running, news can finally move on too.
As for which is more fulfilling, the two options you’ve got below – the first does not appropriately describe the predicament Ms. Low got into (forgiveness is predicated on genuine remorse first, something that came too late for her and only after repeated gaffes trying to justify / trivalize her actions first), and the second is an extreme – why not a finely groomed lady who isn’t from an “elitist family?” And why has elitist families come into the picture to begin with?
As I said in my earlier post, I don’t care for the extreme umbrage that’s been heaped on her online. A lot of it has been hateful and unkind. However, I don’t agree either that she should had been free off criticism. She was given repeated opportunity to clarify and come clean, and not only in the kind of intensely-pressured environment that some have insisted had been the case throughout – the weekend news interview on Saturday morning comes to mind, but avail herself of that opportunity she did not.
Now that Ms. Low has given up the crown, it’s win-win for all concerned. She will have other opportunities to participate again when people are no longer scrutinizing her every movement and word. She’s no longer in the news, so people will eventually move on. Is it a perfect outcome? No. But I cannot see the outcome being any different that would had resulted in the same calm now that will follow.
As said too, I feel sorry for her (as I’m guessing you do too), and this is on account of that this has been a lot for a 19 year old to go through. On the other hand, there are a lot of 19 year olds here who have demonstrated far more maturity, sensibility, measurement of themselves, and when entrusted with far greater responsibilities they can still live up to. I need look no further than the boys who get enlisted into national service.
I’ll stop my comments here.
>>>>>>>
But seriously, are we any happier now that she’s out of the competition?
Which is more fulfilling? To witness an ex-offender attaining their dreams because of our collective willingness to forgive or to see a finely groomed lady from an elitist family awarded with some President Scholarship award?
I’m not suggesting that her wrongdoings be extenuated. But I believe that the public’s disdain was first brought into limelight because she did not possess the eloquence many expected of her to represent Singapore internationally. It was then exacerbated because her convictions was brought into picture by the media.
I took elitism into this because if she can at least speak well, her convictions might not even be raised – the media went forth looking for issues to continue smearing her already wrecked reputation. Had she came from an elitist family (and speak well), Ris Low might not even make headlines because elites making the headlines with their numerous achievements are not really newsworthy (at least to journalists).
The negative connotations about elitism are not in this picture. I hope you get what I meant.
I agree that she could have come clean given countless chances to. And yeah, I feel sorry for her because she is 19.
I’m not saying that she should be free from all the criticisms, but it all depends on what are we really against. Your criticisms on her are different. They aren’t neither on her problems with diction nor her credit card frauds but rather on her lack of compunction on the frauds. It’s a different thing all together.
I know for sure you and me aren’t rejoicing about her surrendering of the title. It’s just saddening that the Internet community and people in general aren’t willing to tone down their diatribes.
Not adding on to what I’ve said above. But at the incident winding down, there’re still letters reflecting on what happened and how one moves on from here. Here’s a thoughtful letter to TODAY by a reader who offers at least another perspective of ERM, and his view of Ms. Low basically sums up how I felt.
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC091001-0000016/Save-Spore-from-embarrassment
Save S’pore from embarrassment
We should withdraw from the Miss World competition until the local edition is better organised
05:55 AM Oct 01, 2009
Letter from Joel Kong
I HAVE been following the saga involving former Miss Singapore World Ris Low and the statements made by the relevant parties.
While I am sympathetic towards Ms Low for the predicament that she is in, I can only conclude that the sequence of events is down to her and ERM World Marketing, the company that organised the event.
First, it was reported that ERM’s registered business address is at an HDB flat in Toa Payoh. What does this say about the company?
ERM was also slow to react to the daily revelations and, from this outsider’s perspective, seemed afraid to become embroiled in any controversy.
ERM stated that there was no way for them to check if Ms Low had a criminal record. This is unacceptable; of course there was. Bear in mind that they knew that the winner of the competition they were organising would go on to represent Singapore at an international competition.
Is such an attitude acceptable?
Neither did Ms Low do herself justice as the controversy got worse. Being a public figure, she should have known that every word spoken would be used against her, and that she would be under heavy public scrutiny.
I believe a company tasked to find a representative for the nation in an international event should be more thorough in its interview process, when choosing participants. Sure, she may have done well over the two hours the competition was held, but the repercussions for the company – and Singapore – have reverberated for much longer.
It is as simple as including, in a contest application form, a field asking about whether a potential contestant has a criminal record – or another incident like the Curious Case of Ms Ris Low will probably resurface again in the not-too-distant future.
ERM is on the hunt for someone to replace Ms Low as Miss Singapore World, but the gloss has already been taken away from the competition.
I believe that the wisest move for the organisers now would be to withdraw from this year’s edition of the global event, and build from this bitter experience to ensure that they don’t commit the same mistakes when choosing Miss Singapore World 2010.