(This post is a reply to the author of the blog "critically-me". I have read many of Mr. S'bas Chen's posts on his blog about Raffles students, and I think the ever-increasing misunderstanding must be resolved.)

Hi Mr. S'bas Chen, I'm not sure whether to call u "mister" or not but since you are already working I reckon I should include this addressing as a form of politeness. I will try my best to sound friendly though some part of this post might seem argumentative, also I detest the usage of double entendre so you don't have to worry about any beat-around-the-bush statements.

You have brought up many points that really shocked me when I first read your blog. I am a secondary 2 RI student now, the secondary 1s you have mentioned in you blog since last year are actually the batch I am in. I know that you were very upset by the misbehaviour of the secondary 1 RI students at "Connect SG". I was sick on that day and I didn't turn up for the event, so I was not aware of what happened.

I remember there was an ex-school-counsellor who replied on your blog, in reponse to your dissension and unhappiness towards RI students, and he really made some good points, so I won't emphasise more on those. Well, this is not just a reply of apology, therefore I wish to raise some points too.

I would like to ask you: are you really sure that a student really heard "Waffles" when RI was doing their school cheer? Can you be certain that it really was Rafflesians' 'pride and arrogance' which made them protest things like 'see, neighbourhood schools'?

To tell the truth, I really don't see any difference between a RI student and a neighbourhood student. But, do you know what 'we Raffles people' did wrong? We did wrong for knowing a bit more than our primary schoolmates; We did wrong for getting a few more marks than our friends for PSLE; And we ultimately did wrong for entering RI as our secondary school. It is me who get stared at because of my white uniform when I return to my primary school on Teacher's Day, it is also me who walk with my head lowered when I encountered groups of neighbourhood school students.

I shall use an extract from the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird": "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." I will tell you some events which always happen to me, from my point of view. Online gaming is currently one of the easiest and fastest way to interact with other members of the community, and I have found that many people like to ask questions like 'which school are you from?' After I tell them they just shout right at my face things like 'bloody nerd', 'only knows how to study', 'get lost', 'I know that you are damned smart, stupid idiot', and even vulgarities, I also get kicked out of the game room because I am a Rafflesian. In real life too, people just say "RI la, 'smart' la", "eh RI, talk nerd leh, teach us maths leh", maybe I should also ask "What is this"?

All these would give a Rafflesian a mindset thinking people like to find trouble with him just because he is a Rafflesian. With a mindset like this, a Raffles student would definitely feel a great sense of retaliation when he hears someone calling Raffles 'Waffles', putting aside whether the person said it intentionally or not. By putting yourself in his shoes, don't some things just come to sense? He makes comments about another person's school because the other person insulted his school, now doesn't "see, neighbourhood school" sound more logical? And a Rafflesian would have said it in such a situation, if he didn't suppress his feelings at the moment.

I know that there are some people who are just irritating and disgusting with a bad character, I have seen a few of them in my school though I don't know them too well. However, I would also like you to know that the students have already lived for 12 years before entering RI! 12 years is long enough for one's family, one's environment and people around one to mold one's character into shape. What can character/moral education do to a person who already has a hardened character, not to mention in a year? The people whom I know well in RI are all good fellows, and it's we RI people who long to be treated just like how neighbourhood school students are treated.

Actually, I can't address those people with lousy character as just a group of Rafflesians, I should address them as a group of Singaporeans, because there are some people in different areas who possess wrong ideas and thoughts. This is not the focus of this post so I'm not emphasising on this.

I have also discovered that people have some incorrect impressions of RI: Our school motto is "Nurturing Leaders, Thinkers and Pioneers", not "The Only School Producing Leaders, Thinkers and Pioneers for Singapore". Not every one of us will be governing Singapore in the future, similarly not everyone from a neighbourhood school will never become a parliament member. For example, I am a Rafflesian and I dislike politics, many of us do.

I also remembered that you mentioned one of my batch mates called Goh Yon Lu, I went to check with him and he admitted that he did send a letter to you, but he really didn't mean to seem "high and mighty", maybe it was because he was just in secondary 1 and was not perfect in expressing his thoughts. But for one instance, those Rafflesians who had been flaming Mr. S'bas Chen's blog, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

To end off this long post, I still wish to apologize on behalf of Rafflesians if all these misunderstanding has brought you much trouble. I wish this post can clear all the misunderstandings. Please feel free to comment using the shout box.

You are human, I am human, Rafflesians are human, neighbourhood school students are human. We are of the same species, therefore schools and countries must not make us different. Don't you agree?