OK I admit I have been following the recent Jack Neo’s affair saga with the gossipy relish of an auntie! But it is just too juicy to be passed up. The Chinese papers are the best for the juiciest details and blatant relevations but the English papers are surprisingly not too far behind. I think all local newspapers editors must be silently thanking director Neo for giving readers THE reason to sweep the papers off the newsstand.

Every where I go, I see tantalising and scandalous headlines screaming: “Sex in the car!” or “Sex on overseas trips!” For a while, I almost forget this is sanitised Singapore. It really feels like Taiwan. Well, for my two cents worth of thoughts on this saga….

Frankly, I am quite disgusted with Jack Neo - NOT because he hooked up with a “neng cao” young enough to be his daughter or that he probably have tried to woo countless other aspiring actresses or starlets when he is a married man with 4 children, or even for the fact that he has so assiduously established an image of himself as The Ideal Family Man.   

But the way he handled the whole affair. I see a picture of a man who knows he is in the wrong yet continued to play the part of the poor, beleaguered man who has undergone enormous mental and emotional trauma…. Err, who is the one who took the initiative to woo the aspiring model? Who is the one who chased Foyce Le Xuan relentlessly and “cold-freeze” her when she refused his advances years ago? And when things exploded, he hid behind his wife who played the gracious and forgiving spouse. He gave excuses that “Both of them (his mistress) and him have let the affair get too deep, 匆昏了头!”

He offered his apologises and pleaded tremendous mental and emotional anguish and exhaustion from trying to keep his mistress happy and to prevent the wife from knowing about it…. If he had truly loved his wife (like he claimed), why would he put his wife and family through this? And he even attempted to excuse himself for his behaviour by saying “he loved her (the mistress) but he loved his wife more!” Does that mean he loves all the women that he attempted to seduce?

For all his moral admonitions about “being human”, it is really ironic that he himself failed to practise what he preached. All his previous attempts to mock government, mock social norms, and mock everyone and everything in movies such as “Money no enough” or “I’m not stupid” feels like empty vessels.

I am not surprised if this turns out to be a mini-tiger, and more and more women stepped out to give testimonials of Director Neo’s skirt-chasing ways. I think it is time for him to take responsibility for his own actions, and not hid behind his wife and church/pastor to try to get away from this. It is fine and mighty for his wife to say that she loves him so she does not care who he sleeps with, but what kind of message she is sending out to all – young and old? That it is alright for your husband to cheat on you with countless other women? I admit I’m not such a saint. You can forgive but can you really forget? If director Neo gets away continuously with his skirt chasing ways and breaking his matrimonial vows, with the blessings of his wife who turns an eye away, what is the point of staying married then? Any tips to stay faithful to your chosen partner?