Hyperbole 101.

There's something strange about the reactions to the Kovan Road vicinity double murders. The deaths of the two men were indeed tragic and I am sure ordinary Singaporeans extend their condolences to the victims' families.

The fact that the arrested suspect was a senior non-commissioned police officer who, we are told, was in monetary debt (and has been since declared a bankrupt) and other details like the suspect being the station officer on duty when one of the deceased men -- the owner of a motor repair workshop -- made a complaint about theft, have obviously set tongues wagging and all sorts of conjectures circulating online. I am sure the court case that eventuates will see a packed courtroom.

But I am puzzled about the reactions... about how the message to us, nay, that screams at us  -- the ordinary Singaporeans -- is being conveyed: "Don't give up on the Police! You have to trust us still! We (the police) are just as shocked as you (the public) but together we'll get through this crisis of confidence!"

Huh? We -- and again, I emphasise we, the ordinary Singaporeans -- can and do think. We know that humans are not perfect, and that someone wearing a police uniform does not automatically become a paragon of justice and virtue. Certainly, many cops join the force for the right reasons, and continue to do so. But there might be those who, for some reason, do things that range from momentary indiscretions to major repeated acts of commission. Even priests, we have come to know, are not perfect.

So I do not think that public confidence in the police has been shaken -- at least not to the extent of requiring such a hyperbolic statement as that by the Police Commissioner, which seems to me like a schoolboy's maiden speech for an oratorical contest:

Incidentally, the use of the idiom "it hits you like a freight train" is incorrect here:

In the first place, you will not know what it is like to be hit by a freight train, unless you were Superman. Secondly, the idiom usually refers to something inanimate, like a location. Hence, "this place looks like it's been hit by a freight train".

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On a different note, here's another bit of hyperbole, or at least, here's yet another strange headline:

Okay, the story is about the sale of Fulham Football Club by its Egyptian owner to a new boss, a Pakistani, ie, another non-Englishman. So, the Egyptian is walking away from the club. But walk like an Egyptian?

Ah, but it gives me an excuse to wrap up, with this strange 1980s song by the all-girls' group The Bangles. The song is of course "Walk Like An Egyptian"!...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=SG&v=4nuhja7y4TM&hl=en-GB