God Complex

In the unprecedented case of Job vs God, Job, having submitted his testimony in the form of the Oath of Innocence, and parried the cross-examinations of the defense team, now calls upon the defendant to the stand. Job demands to know why a decent man like him has been rewarded by failure in life despite his exemplary obedience.

From the tempest, like a whirlwind, God answers:

Who is this man who speaks darkly, without understanding?
Who is this man who has broken the unspoken rules as to how we survive, how we have prospered?

(Aside to ISD: Who is this man? Who was his lecturer? Who is he related to? I want answers.)

Now put up your fists like a man; I will ask and you will answer.
If not, your head will be broken and your knuckles dusted.

Where were you when I founded Singapore from a tear in my eye?
Who decided how many people it should hold - surely, you must know - or how many are selected as worthy elites?

On whose word is the law based, on whose existence does Singapore depend?
When the scribes at the Straits Times gather, whose name do they praise?

In all your life, did you command the nation?
Did you tell the stock market to rise?

Have you entered the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore, and did you see the treasures of the Budget surplus?
These I have saved for a very rainy day, and not to be raided by an opposition party or wild-eyed populists.

Can you ride a communist tiger, or lay the smackdown on gangsters and secret societies?
Can you imprison enemies of the state indefinitely, or bankrupt them to irrelevance?

Do your enemies speak softly to you, or offer apologies in newspapers and magazines?
Do you have to queue to get treatment in hospitals?

Then Job answered:

I know you can do everything and no purpose of yours can be frustrated.
You, whose designs and machinations are veiled in non-transparency,
I have heard your reply and my eyes have seen your face.
Therefore I despise my life, and I will be consoled on dust and ashes.