The Dinosaur and the Cockroach

This is the story of a group of primary school boys and bullies from another school. But read the next paragraph and you will see that there is another story hidden within this story. There is the impatient and go-getting Mun, the skinny and swift-footed Soon, and the fun loving and stubby Mok. The three of them rally around Cheng, the smart one always brimming with ideas, and ... most of all, Lam the confident and articulate natural born leader, . The five of them are confronted by three teenagers from a nearby school. Will they bow their heads in shame or will they transcend beyond their tender years to out-wit their bullies? Through this journey, they discover the bonds that bind them together, and also the forces that drive them apart. In their own little ways, they show us what leadership is, and what it is not.

This story was written at a time when street violence on political issues has been relegated to the distant past. Even then, it was evident that politics develop in an uneven progression. Political development in some countries has appeared like a dance : one step forward, and two steps backwards. If this is true of other countries, it was also true of Singapore. This story won a merit award at a Singapore national short story writing competition. In the award giving ceremony, this story was described as a political parable. This is obvious, once you know who is the man in white. It is a sign of political maturity in Singapore that this story can be enjoyed by one and all without fear or favour.

This story begins with the imagery of the dinosaur and the cockroach. It ends by recalling this imagery. Will Lam be the dinosaur or the cockroach? And what about the man in white?