My First Press Conference

So I had my first press conference. I didn't think that I would be nervous. But as the time to get up to sit in front of all the people from the media drew closer, the butterflies in my stomach just went wild.

I said something, which I'm not sure whether the media picked up. But I think that I could have said those things in a much better way. In any case, it did open up for Dr. Maliki to further elaborate.

What amazed me about the whole thing was how Dr. Maliki handled the last question.

Someone asked whether Shine would support events from an informal group that had pro-gay and pro-homosexual themes.

Dr. Maliki answered that whether Shine supports an event by an informal group would depend on whether the event meets the objectives of Shine, i.e. Bottom up, Diversity, Ownership. And that it would also depend on whether the community in Singapore would find the event would appeal and reach out to the wider Singaporean community.

So in a sense, it was a neither yes nor no answer that leant more on the "No" part, though without explicitly saying so, and without leaving much room for attack. I have so much more respect for Dr Maliki now.