Part 1: http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/est-ce-que-le-tauhuay-nest-pas-assez.html
Part 2: http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/part-2-le-diner-en-fiasco.html
Part 3: http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/pr-firm-thox-dumps-diner-en-blanc-part-3.html
I have chosen to reproduce this latest statement in full from DEBI because it does clarify one thing which we have been speculating all along, This was taken from the Wall Street Journal Asia's blog pages today (this statement is also on their website). Please do take the time to read it as it does explain a lot. Note the one line I have highlighted in their statement which almost seems to say, "Don't blame us, we were not the ones responsible for the gaffe about local food, it's not our fault!"
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| Diner en blanc in Paris |
We wish to thank everyone for their comments and point-of-view. We love that people are so passionate about food and care about their cuisine. We identify with that too; investing time and effort into embracing food that we love with people we care about in a special setting is what we’re all about. People have shared the food that they care about at our events all over the world: food of different colours, cultures and tastes. All that we ask is that it’s tendered with care and devotion, and fit for a memorable occasion. It’s this spirit that is central to our experience and what has made our event so popular with people around the world.
We have watched this debate unfold and are overwhelmed by the discussion. For our part, we regret the confusion that has spread in relation to the food people might bring. We provide guidelines to the organisers in each city we enter – guidelines that are aligned to our history and values, but broad enough to encourage the incorporation of local culture and customs and of course, food. It’s clear that the guidelines were misconstrued and mistakes were made in the way they were communicated. The Singapore organisers have accepted responsibility for this. The most serious error involved a comment – posted on Facebook – that said local food wasn’t welcome. This was wrong and was withdrawn, corrected and apologies tendered; however, the damage lingers. This is the cause of much regret and disappointment. When people are so passionate and when food is so central, mistakes can be amplified and even the very best intentions misread. As one commentator has said; food should unite not divide. In that we completely agree. We will review the way we communicate our guidelines.
We are in Singapore now to prepare for what will be a wonderful occasion. As part of this, we’d like to again clarify our stance – though we accept some people’s views have hardened on what has become a sensitive issue. All food is welcome – of whatever background or taste – though we do encourage guests to have an investment in their meal and for it to be special to them. We’re sure there are many Singaporean dishes that meet these criteria but ultimately this is a personal choice – your choice – and we embrace that. We offer this guidance because we know from experience that people genuinely enjoy investing time in food of quality, food they care about, and this is what makes Diner en Blanc such a wonderful experience.
So for those that are joining us – thank you for welcoming us to this wonderful food city. For those upset and offended still, we respect your passion for all things Singapore and we hope in years to come we can find a way to come together at future Diner en Blanc events and celebrate our shared love of food, good company and occasion.
Aymeric and Sandy from Dîner en Blanc International.
"Our dedicated local team in Singapore has improvised on a few matters."
"Our local team has asked a blogger to remove a suggestion from his blog."
Now, let's add PR agency Thox's statement to the mix, upon unceremoniously dumping DEBS a few days before the event, Thox said:
"The organiser's actions were "against agency ethics" and disagreements over handling matters happened even before public backlash occurred last Friday. The representative also said that the statement discouraging local food was not made by Thox."
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| Thox has dumped DEBS as a client! |
There is only one logical conclusion: it's not the Angmohs (white people) at DEBI. It is not the PR agency Thox. Clemen Chiang and Nicole Yee - they screwed up big time. All fingers point back to Clemen and Nicole. You've gotta feel sorry for Aymeric and Sandy - I certainly do. The local team (Clemen and Nicole) screwed up and out of the blue, Aymeric and Sandy get accused of racism when they were not responsible for the gaffe. After all, they have successfully held DEB events all over the world and have never ever had such a negative reaction before! Credit where credit is due - this is a highly successful franchise which a good international reputation (until Singapore). Their mistake was in agreeing to work with these two feckless idiots in Singapore, thus ruining the event's reputation before it had even taken place.
This is why I am frustrated when I look at all the anti-French racist comments left by Singaporeans on social media and I'm like, no no no no no you're attacking the wrong people. The French (and Canadian for that matter) organizers are not racist, you should be directing your hate and anger at Clemen Chiang and Nicole Yee, the atas-wannabe local Singaporean couple who are self-loathing Singaporeans. For crying out aloud Singapore, get your facts right. Sandy Safi is Canadian, not French. She is French-speaking as she is Quebecoise but she has worked all over the world in 15 countries and also speaks Arabic and Spanish. Someone with this much international experience, believe you me, people like her would be anything but racist - she has this wealth of knowledge when it comes to cultures, languages and working with people from all over the world. In fact, as I look at her Linkedin profile, I am truly impressed by what this lady has achieved.
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| Sandy Safi is Canadian, not French! |
Aymeric Pasquier may not have had the kind of international experience or linguistic skills that Sandy Safi has (well, few people can match her on that front!) - but the fact that he has chosen to bring someone like her on board shows that they have a desire to be sensitive and respectful when it comes to local customs and traditions when organizing DEB abroad.
DEB is organized as a franchise and there will always be a local team - Aymeric and Sandy cannot possibly micromanage the event halfway around the world from Montréal, Canada where they are based. Even with all the modern technology available to help them communicate with their counterparts in Singapore, the time difference between Montréal and Singapore is 12 hours - that means that Aymeric and Sandy would be fast asleep during most of Singaporean working hours (10 am Singapore = 10 pm in Montréal!). Don't forget, they also have to organize other DEB events in other parts of the world as well - that is why they have to delegate a lot of the organization to the local team
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| There is a 12 hour time difference between Montreal and Singapore. |
Such is the nature of a franchise - it is always managed locally. KFC was founded in the state of Kentucy, USA and their global HQ is still in Louisville, Kentucky. However when you walk into your local branch of KFC in Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio or Tampines, the branch is managed locally by the staff based in Singapore. So if anything goes desperately wrong during your visit to KFC Tampines, please direct your anger at the local staff, not the Americans at their HQ in Louisville, Kentucky.
DEBS started when Clemen Chiang approached DEBI with a proposal to organize DEB in Singapore. Now DEBI made a fatal flaw when they said yes to Clemen, instead of picking a more credible, competent candidate to run the show in Singapore. Big mistake - and now they're paying the price for it. This reminds me of another story dating back to the 2010 YOG (Youth Olympics Games) in Singapore.
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| Be very careful when choosing your business partners! |
The entire YOG was broadcast live on the web via the YOG's webiste - whilst this delighted fans who could watch the event for free (as long as they had a decent broadband connection), they were appalled by the quality of the commentary. The organization responsible for the broadcast was OBS - the Olympic Broadcast Service - and they had a policy to always try to use local talent where possible, so they are able to get the locals involved. Besides, it made economic sense to employ someone locally, rather than have to fly in an entire team from halfway around the world. Now that is a good policy in theory, but it was shockingly poorly executed at the YOG in Singapore.
One of the commentators spoke such bad English that many Singaporeans were appalled - I understand you want to use locals, but honestly, this guy's English was a fucking joke. He made such gross errors that many Singaporeans thought, "please choose someone who passed his primary 6 PSLE English, don't allow that idiot to embarrass Singapore to the world, we don't want people around the world to think that Singaporeans are that bloody stupid and can't even speak basic English." Indeed, many non-Singaporeans viewers found this guy's English very hard to understand because of his very strong accent. Singaporeans were particularly angry because the vast majority younger Singaporeans today would speak much better English than this idiot the OBS chose, it was not as if that idiot was the best candidate OBS could find in Singapore in 2010!
The moral of the story is this: yes by all means use local talent when operating a franchise. But be careful whom you choose and if in doubt, for crying out aloud, CONSULT A LOCAL. No, make that consult a whole team of locals to check if you have made the right choice. Maybe some white guy at OBS thought the Singaporean commentator's accent was charming and exotic - but local Singaporeans begged to differ and thought he was a boh-tak-chek bueh-tak-chek idiot who bueh hyiao gong ang moh ueh and xia xueh xingapo lang ye bin ("uneducated stupid idiot who can't speak English and embarrassed Singapore to the world"). Likewise, maybe Aymeric and Sandy looked at Clemen's CV and thought, okay this guy's CV looks rather good - but had they consulted some Singaporeans, they would've at least been warned about Clemen's notoriety in Singapore and very bad reputation. Did they not consult any locals before deciding to work with Clemen?
So, there you go. I certainly hope that Aymeric and Sandy have learnt a valuable lesson about seeking local advice and opinion when it comes to choosing whom they work with. But please my Singaporean friends, by all means berate Aymeric and Sandy for having made a très mauvais choix when they chose to work with Clemen Chiang, but they are definitely not racists. Please. Tolong hor, s'il vous plaît. Please be fair to them.
Lastly, to Aymeric and Sandy, bienvenue à Singapour! I hope you enjoy your visit to my home town. I am glad your visit to Singapore got off to such a positive start with ieatishootipost - LIFTers, please read the story here about Aymeric & Sandy enjoying chicken rice & tau huay!
One of the commentators spoke such bad English that many Singaporeans were appalled - I understand you want to use locals, but honestly, this guy's English was a fucking joke. He made such gross errors that many Singaporeans thought, "please choose someone who passed his primary 6 PSLE English, don't allow that idiot to embarrass Singapore to the world, we don't want people around the world to think that Singaporeans are that bloody stupid and can't even speak basic English." Indeed, many non-Singaporeans viewers found this guy's English very hard to understand because of his very strong accent. Singaporeans were particularly angry because the vast majority younger Singaporeans today would speak much better English than this idiot the OBS chose, it was not as if that idiot was the best candidate OBS could find in Singapore in 2010!
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| Singaporeans are acutely aware of their international image. |
The moral of the story is this: yes by all means use local talent when operating a franchise. But be careful whom you choose and if in doubt, for crying out aloud, CONSULT A LOCAL. No, make that consult a whole team of locals to check if you have made the right choice. Maybe some white guy at OBS thought the Singaporean commentator's accent was charming and exotic - but local Singaporeans begged to differ and thought he was a boh-tak-chek bueh-tak-chek idiot who bueh hyiao gong ang moh ueh and xia xueh xingapo lang ye bin ("uneducated stupid idiot who can't speak English and embarrassed Singapore to the world"). Likewise, maybe Aymeric and Sandy looked at Clemen's CV and thought, okay this guy's CV looks rather good - but had they consulted some Singaporeans, they would've at least been warned about Clemen's notoriety in Singapore and very bad reputation. Did they not consult any locals before deciding to work with Clemen?
So, there you go. I certainly hope that Aymeric and Sandy have learnt a valuable lesson about seeking local advice and opinion when it comes to choosing whom they work with. But please my Singaporean friends, by all means berate Aymeric and Sandy for having made a très mauvais choix when they chose to work with Clemen Chiang, but they are definitely not racists. Please. Tolong hor, s'il vous plaît. Please be fair to them.
Lastly, to Aymeric and Sandy, bienvenue à Singapour! I hope you enjoy your visit to my home town. I am glad your visit to Singapore got off to such a positive start with ieatishootipost - LIFTers, please read the story here about Aymeric & Sandy enjoying chicken rice & tau huay!
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteLooks like our posts crossed...I had also mentioned the update from DEBI in my comment to your previous post. And as stated in my comment there, I feel the letter is too long, and a little too late, and will unfortunately not be read by many. As for not getting a negative reaction before, well, a precedence was set in NY last year (difficult to gauge the level of negativity though): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903480904576508922150176918.html. But this should not detract us from the success they've had in other locations (even if they had problems there). Anyway it seems that Singapore organisers have owned up even if the article does not make it explicitly clear: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1222827/1/.html
Seriously someone should tell tell the DEBI folks that there should also be a short version of their explanation available on the website. The original is too long and the format not ideal.
Another thing - this "DEBI made us do it" as the original stand of the DEBS .... does it not reek of not taking ownership of one's decision? This "we only do as we are told, we have no power" has all the hallmark of not believing the message one is peddling? ....Hmmmmmm
Yup, it just confirms that Clemen Chiang has no balls to speak off. If you wanna make a judgement call, then just do it and stand by what you say like a man and if you make a mistake, then own up and say, "It was me, I stand corrected."
DeleteThis is why I point the finger back at DEBI in Montreal in this article. After all, if I ran a global franchise called "Le chic posh snob" - would I appoint someone as crass as Clemen Chiang to run my Singapore franchise? Hell no. I would've put in a lot more effort to try to find some suitable locally. Heck, I was in this position last year when my company was looking to hire someone in Singapore and you won't believe the amount of effort I put in to get a shortlist of candidates and then subject them to a rigorous interview which included a Chinese test - that's right, I subjected them to a Chinese oral exam. That's how rigorous I was and I was just looking for someone locally to do our customer services/local marketing/sales support - but that's just me, cos I know that if I selected someone bad who fucked things up big time, then my boss would blame me for having selected poorly. Now how much effort did DEBI put into interviewing Clemen Chiang I wonder?
Hi LIFT,
DeleteI currently live in Canada and have been here for over 5 years. When I first arrived and started applying for job, I only sent my CV. But when I went for a job interview, I would bring a copy of my CV and also all the original certificates, expecting them to want to peruse it. And in Singapore, HR would take a photocopy of all my certificates before / after the interview. So, I was very surprised that the interviewer just believed what I stated in my CV. A lot of the interviewers were looking more for behavioural fit to the organization. They don't even take a look at my certificates. As long as your CV states the qualification and experience that they wanted and say all the "right" things that the employer wants to hear at the interview, you'd be employed. Btw, I'm in my 2nd job in Canada. But for both jobs, I was employed based on what I wrote on my CV and my performance during the interview, i.e., saying all the things that the interviewer wants to hear. Of course, I was able to deliver what I promised during the interview. Well, I was honest with my strengths and managed to turn my weakness as a strength at the interview. :)
So, I am not surprised that the 2 Canadians just took Clemen Chiang and Nicole Yee's words for it, assuming that the latter performed exceptionally well during the interview. And unfortunately for DEBI, they didn't deliver.
Hello there! Yeah I remember having to photocopy every darn thing and get a certified true copy stamp on it when I went for my scholarship interviews in Singapore - like the file would be so thick. Whereas my current boss didn't even ask for a CV, we sat down over a coffee and chatted - he quizzed me about what I have done and asked difficult questions. Needless to say, I answered honestly, some questions I could answer with finesse and others I just had to own up and say, "I don't know anything about that." He trusted his judgement to evaluate me like that - and maybe that's an Angmoh thing? Surely, it would be more important to grill someone like that with difficult questions rather than to trust paper qualifications.
DeleteLook at what happened with the Clemen Chiang case - people in Singapore were so bloody sotong! They were like, oh he's got a phD that means he must be good right? Then look what happened - they ended up in court to sue him for their money back. Tsk tsk.
And as for the 2 Canadians - well, for something this important, you are putting the good name of DEBI on the line. If the event goes badly, your reputation will be damaged; so by all means, interview Clemen but also accept the fact that as a Canadian who has NEVER been to Singapore, you don't know enough about the local culture/social context/history/etc to trust your judgement and you need to consult some locals for your opinion.
In the world of HR, that's the purpose of a reference. But more to the point, all they had to do was to google the words 'Clemen Chiang' and see everything dating back to his court case in 2009. Duh. Like were they too lazy to google Clemen Chiang? Incroyable.