GE 2015 – PAP Potential Rock Star Candidate Josephus Tan Says making mistakes isn’t shameful, but being unrepentant is.

In summary, my friend was convicted of a very serious offence when he’s a juvenile and was consequently remanded for a period of time. It was during his time that he resolved to straighten out his life. Thereafter, he renounced his gang affiliation and worked hard on getting his life back on track. He completed his vocational course at the Institute of Technical Education, Singapore, and achieved solid grades to secure a place at Ngee Ann Polytechnic to study electrical engineering. But it didn’t stop there. He went further and secured a place at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and then graduated with a degree in the same discipline! Now, he is a professional engineer and a father of 2 kids! 😄
Over the last few years, I had the opportunity of meeting some of these great individuals who overcame all odds to turn their lives around. And no, it is not their professional/academic achievements that inspire but the fact that they did not let their delinquent past beat them down. People like Benny Se Teo (a renowned social entrepreneur), David King Raj (a highly sought after motivational speaker), and Darren Tan (a celebrated ex-convict turned lawyer), (all of whom I can very proudly say are my friends) continue to be an inspiration to me. More importantly, their subsequent works of reaching out to the community, especially the underprivileged, should be emulated by all.

As per what I always tell my audience during the school talks which the actor captured it so accurately in Episode 2 – “You guys have seen my tattoos, I used to be a juvenile delinquent. I fought, created trouble, and did many bad things. But I never run away from my past because I believe I can only let go easily by facing it bravely…[and]making mistakes isn’t shameful, but being unrepentant is. If others give you a second chance, will you give yourself a second chance?”