Right no turning back now...

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction

OK no turning back now…

We knew that when we wanted to take on Asian breast cancer as a cause that there would be days like this, but it’s been pretty hectic nevertheless.  You see Mike and I are not natural publicity people.  Our purpose in professional life is to try to stay out of the papers.  But for what we have to do it’s something we need to get used to.

So the boss makes a few phone calls and soon we undergo Media Training.  For the uninitiated like myself I soon found out that there is more to this than I thought.  Under the capable and altruistic tutelage of the indomitable Ms Amy Tan, we learned the basic rules.  Some things are probably drummed into my bones permanently, like, “the fullstop is your friend”, “2 stories, 2 social statistics and 1 sound bite” and  “go back to your message house”.  Most of all we learnt context, content, credibility controversy and control. That the media encounter mantra is, perhaps a little counter – intuitively, not about the person being interviewed.  Rather it’s about the external audience that the reporter serves. 

So yesterday we went public. (see http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/nus-professors-ride-singapore-sweden-breast-cancer-research-20131017)   Interviews with the English press  at lunchtime, camera stills and movie shots follow and by teatime it already online when we head down to Mediacorp for the very short live televised interview. By this morning it’s pretty much everywhere – meaning everywhere online.  Well wishers generally dominate the comments columns and I have a fresh idea of just how far and fast the reach of this new media is.  A fellow Vstrom rider I have never met from Spain sends his godspeed within 2 hours of the story hitting. 

Then comes that trickle of criticism which at least for the moment is just a trickle.  I remember what someone once told me about how being anything but completely anonymous in Singapore needs most of all a thick hide. A few  suggest that this is paid for by the university as some sort of sabbatical. Nothing is further from the truth.  Its three years annual leave rolled into one.  We did not even apply for no pay leave because that would keep us away from our patients longer than what we were normally entitled to. Of course there are the silly ones too:  That we should not be allowed to take this up because we are not at risk of breast cancer ourselves.   On the whole though the positive comments far outweigh the negative ones so I still have some hope that people see the positive side of what we are trying to achieve. 

It's been a learning experience how the different people  want different things, because they serve different audiences (see above mantra).  The day before the press release we presented our little adventure to schoolboys at my alma mater. Talking to young teenage boys about anything to do with breasts is always going to raise a certain amount of twittering, but I hope some of the message did get through.  While raising breast cancer awareness and fund raising are our primary goal, we had other reasons to go to schools.  The idea of promoting  “cultural intelligence - CQ” was put in our minds when we first met with Ms Euleen Goh the chairperson of the Singapore International Foundaton last year.  The SIF is a charity organization which has as one of its aims to “tell good stories of singaporeans doing good”.  While raising funds for research is an admirable goal, another possible application of our trip is to expose Singaporeans, children especially, to an education outside of the classroom.  This is especially needed as singaporeans seem to have missed out on CQ.  This is seen in the way we react to foreign cultures and practices among the immigrants in our country.  Ms Goh’s contention is that this shortcoming might make singaporeans unsuitable or unprepared for a life outside their own cultural comfort zones.  What could be better to correct this than a shared experience of two singaporeans obviously all at sea in foreign lands relying on the help of locals.  


There is another reason for going back to school with this.  In the late seventies I remember a certain ex ACS boy who had successfully taken his Honda CB 750 from Singapore to London.  Surname of
Wong I think.  His younger brothers followed in his footsteps a few years later.  As a primary schoolboy then I thought this the height of adventure and always wondered if I could have a chance to do the same. Last wee i asked the school administrators if there was any record of this  and unfortunately they drew a blank.  it was a long time ago but I don't think i have this wrong.  it would be grand to meet them.

As reporters ask for real practical details – the route, who we are meeting, how are we getting from here to there, it hits me that these questions are not just being asked in my head anymore.  Not even just over maps and coffee and stale pizza.  It’s out there in the wide public. General knowledge.  With our names and faces on them.  This is the real difference between a private yomp and a ride with a cause.  By announcing our intent we have pinned colours to the mast. Over a short time the mood switches from “please let me go and try this” to “please don’t let me fail”.