Doing it Alvivi style - Alvin Tan & Vivian Lee's blog

OK, I have been asked to react to the story of the Malaysian scholar who started a sex blog: Sumptuous Erotica. I'm not sure what I have to say about it, but here goes. My first reaction was, "So what? What's the big deal?"

What's with that hat?!?

It's a free world, Alvin Tan has the right to do what he wants and if you find his sex blog distasteful, I have a very simple solution for you: don't look. It's not like Alvin Tan and his girlfriend were caught having sex in a public place, unwittingly flaunting their sexuality in the faces of members of the public. It was simply on his blog and you had to specifically choose to surf onto his website in order to see those pictures. In any case, it was not like he deliberately circulated those pictures, sending them to people who didn't want to see them. In fact, it wasn't until I heard about this controversy that I googled his pictures.

Oh yeah there are copies being circulated out there and sorry. I couldn't help laughing at just how totally funny he looked wearing that silly hat whilst having sex with his girlfriend. Dude, like what's with that ridiculous hat? No offence dude, but it was just funny. How many people fuck whilst wearing nothing but a hat? Look, I'm no prude and I've seen a lot of porn over the years. I've even blogged about it in my adult season earlier this year. You know, the guy has got a lot of guts to do what he did, some people enjoy doing this so much they do it without financial reward (unlike in the world of commercial porn production). If he wants to be an exhibitionist, then by all means, heck he's hardly the only one out there. There are so many amateur exhibitionists websites out there, this is nothing new really.

I do question NUS getting involved and all these angry Singaporeans demanding that for his scholarship to be revoked. That is ridiculous. What has his personal life got to do with his scholarship? Since when did the university get to dictate their scholars' personal lives? I fail to see how this sex blog of his would impact upon his studies at university - are we trying to pretend that university students don't have sex? Get real! For so many university students, being at university is a chance to experience all kinds of new things, including relationships and sex. A university is a place of education, it is not a convent, nunnery or monastery where students are obliged to abstain from any kind of sexual activity. You don't need to take a vow of chastity to do well at university - I did pretty darn well myself as a scholar and I was anything but chaste at university. I was a scholar, not a monk - duh. And if you can't tell the difference between the two, perhaps that's why you didn't get a scholarship like Alvin Tan.

As for the stupid Singaporeans demanding the punishment of the NUS panel who awarded the scholarship to Alvin Tan, get real you fucking stupid fuckwits! When was the last time you idiots had a job interview eh? Or a schoalrship interview? Do you know what it is like to be go for such an interview?  It is a very formal affair, you dress up nicely and you go face a panel who politely ask you questions like, "What are your long term ambitions? Can you tell me some of people who inspire you? If you had a colleague who was unco-operative and uncommunicative, how would you try to deal with such a person on your team? If you had a year off and money wasn't an issue, how would you spend that year? I see you have spent your school holidays last year volunteering with a charity in Cambodia, can you tell us what you have learnt from that experience?" You don't get questions like, "What is your sex life like? Are you a virgin? When did you lose your virginity  How many partners have you had? Do you enjoy porn? What age did you lose your virginity? Have you ever tried group sex?" Hell no. Should they be asking such questions? Again, no they shouldn't.

"So, can we talk about your sex life? Or is that private?"

Likewise, the candidate attending the interview is on his/her best behaviour! You would calculate your answers carefully to press the right buttons - you would pick and choose the best examples to substantiate your point in order to get what you want: be it the job or the scholarship. Oh please and you would go out of your way to flatter the interviewer and say nice things about them (or their organisation) to leave a good impression. (Read my lesson on performing well at job interviews.) Hence even if you were a big fan of porn, you would never be honest and tell them, "I really like hardcore porn, especially MMF and DP scenes. I prefer the classic work from the mid 1980s by European porn stars like Teresa Orlowski. My favourite director has got to be Marc Dorcel, in general I prefer German and French directors to American porn directors, but there are a few exceptions..."

As a triple scholar who has been through plenty of job interviews in my life time, the issue of my sex life has never ever come up. Why? Because it is private, it has nothing to do with either the scholarship or the jobs I have applied for - well, not unless I was applying to be a porn star but I am not good looking enough for porn unfortunately! In any case, there is definitely a sense of jealousy for there are only so few scholarships and so many applicants - there are many who would have considered themselves more credible candidates for scholarships but didn't get a scholarship and they're just waiting for any excuse to attack or criticize scholars or the selection process. Sounds like sour grapes to me.

The scholarship selection process is one that is shallow anyway - let's not pretend otherwise! The panel only have so little time to try to differentiate a large number of applicants all of whom have excellent academic results. Some organizations use more sophisticated psychometric tests to try to evaluate their candidates - whilst others stick to more conventional interviewing methods to find out more about the candidate. Have a look at the video below where Alvin and Vivian answer some of the questions they have been sent:

Clearly Alvin is eloquent and able to articulate his feelings whilst Vivian didn't say that much and at one point, was clearly so nervous Alvin had to assure her and give her encouragement to continue. Alvin is clearly the kind of person who can keep his cool under pressure and find the right words to express himself no matter how difficult the situation - such a person would no doubt perform well in an interview situation (and would probably make a good lawyer). Someone like Vivian for example, might struggle in an interview if she is unable to remain calm under pressure. So there you go, that's the simple explanation why Alvin managed to get his scholarship - not only is he clearly intelligent but he is able to perform very well at interviews. That's how he got his scholarship - fair & square.

The question is therefore where one should draw the line in terms of a contract between a university and a scholar - or a say between a company and an employee. Should a university be able to dictate what a scholar can or cannot do in his spare time, should it be able to regulate the kind of sex life he has? Should a university be able to dictate what, where and how a scholar expresses his private thoughts or opinion in social media? Where do you draw the line? It was reported in the Straits Times that Alvin Tan "may have broken school rules. NUS' code of student conduct states behaviour that is "offensive should not be a feature of our students". I find this rather vague - where do you draw the line when it comes to what constitutes as "offensive"? Offensive to whom? By whose standards? Personally, I find absolutely nothing offensive about their erotic blog.  I may not like the content (oh that hat Alvin...) but I respect their right to publish it and express themselves online. I find the fucking stupid Singaporeans who are saying xenophobic shit about Malaysians far more offensive.

Do you find Alvin and Vivian's blog offensive? I don't. 

I tend to see the relationship between a scholar and a university pretty much like that between an employee and an employer. The university is giving the scholar money, in much the same way my boss is paying me good money to represent the company. In exchange for this money I earn, I am obliged to represent my company in a positive light when I am dealing with the public, press, clients and investors on behalf of my company. Even though I am clearly an employee of my company, there is still a clear distinction between what I do as a private individual and what I do as an employee of the company. Everything I say here on my blog is a reflection of my thoughts as a private individual - my company does not own my thoughts nor do they care about what I say here. I have told my boss that I do have a blog, but I don't think he's actually looked at it.

I remember my time at university as a scholar - there were a few occasions when I was asking to attend certain functions. It was designed to show off the university's scholarship programmes, we were the international scholars drawn from all over the world, of different skin colours. It was very much a PR exercise when I had to pose for photographs, meet journalists and donors alike and tell them how wonderful it was to have the privilege of a scholarship. There were only a few events like this a year but when I was at such events, I would dress up nicely and be on my best behaviour as I knew I was representing the university and there was this old lady who would brief us prior to each event to make sure we understood what was expected of us. She couldn't care what we did or said in our private time, as long as we behaved ourselves when we were effectively ambassadors of the university at these events.

Scholars may be regarded as 'ambassadors' for their universities at public events. 

Now there are some people who use their professional capacity to promote their blog. Take this blog for example - meet Lui Ee-Min, a Singaporean IFA (independent financial adviser). He blogs on personal financial planning - a bit bland but otherwise useful information for Singaporeans looking for help with various aspects of finance such as planning their retirement or getting on the property ladder. On his blog, he states quite proudly that he is an IFA with Financial Alliance and lists his qualifications, so his readers will have no doubt that he is an experienced professional in his field working for one of the top financial advisory firms in Singapore - unlike some other bloggers who try to write about finance despite having no experience in the industry. No doubt Financial Alliance is happy with Ee-Min's blog and are happy to have their company's good name associated with Ee-Min's content on his blog.

However, in Alvin Tan's case, he wasn't using his status as an NUS scholar to justify his content on his blog. It was never mentioned on his blog that he was a scholar - instead, they were just two lovers happily creating their own pornographic content for fun. So trying to draw a link between his status as an NUS scholar and this erotic blog is just unreasonable. The two issues are completely unrelated at the end of the day because Alvin Tan was blogging as a private citizen and not using the blog to represent NUS in any way. 

Alvin was not representing NUS in any capacity on his blog. 

Lastly, the Straits Times reported that, "Mr Bryan Tan of Keystone Law Corp said that if the blog owner enters Singapore, he could be prosecuted for breaching the Films Act for his obscene videos, even if he is not Singaporean and the videos may not have been shot here." Groan, what a fucking idiot Bryan Tan is. The pictures/videos were taken in Malaysia, so why the hell would the authorities in Singapore be so kaypoh as to pursue any crime committed in another country? Hey Bryan Tan, there are loads of crimes committed in Malaysia, but the Singaporean authorities are more than happy to let the Malaysian justice system get on with their job. Say if a Malaysian criminal flees persecution and escapes to Singapore, then yes the Malaysian police could request for the Singaporean authorities to help apprehend the criminal if s/he is on Singapore soil. But what do they do after they catch the criminal in Singapore? They merely extradite him back to Malaysia rather than trial him/her in Singapore for a crime committed in Malaysia. Duh. How the fuck does a fucking idiot like him get through law school? What a total fuckwit.

It's not like Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee are lying low and hiding in Malaysia at the moment - on the contrary, they are busy talking to the press and giving interviews! The Malaysian police could easily arrest them if they want to - but they have not done so (yet). Whether or not they will face the wrath of the law in Malaysia depends on whether the authorities in Malaysia decide to persecute them - after all, these are two consensual, heterosexual adults having sex in the privacy of their bedroom. I have tried to find information about the legal status of pornographic production in Malaysia but the information I have found is limited to the consumption of pornography rather than the production. In any case, Alvin and Vivian are not trying to sell their content for money - instead, they are simply letting anyone who care to see those pictures access them for free. Given that it isn't illegal to view porn in Malaysia and they are not engaging in commercial porn production, perhaps the lack of regulation in Malaysia gives them a legal loophole to slip through as there are no laws specific enough to persecute them with? I don't know - if you are a Malaysian legal expert, get in touch below by leaving a comment. 

Alvin and Vivian were not engaging in commercial porn production.

Furthermore, it is not like this is a crime with a victim. Say if a PRC bus driver drives recklessly and runs over an innocent woman, killing her in the process - then there is clearly a victim in this crime. But this is clearly a victimless crime, how can this possibly be a crime if there are no obvious victims? Anyone who took the trouble to google those pictures (which are still out there on the web) have made a conscious effort to search for those pictures. If you think you are likely to be offended by their pictures, then I say to you, don't look at them. Don't be such a fucking idiot and google those pics and then claim you're offended by them. It's not like these photos are in some kind of public place like a bus stop or a shopping mall where anyone can view them! Duh. There is so much hardcore porn out there anyway on the internet long before these two Malaysian love birds decided to publish those photos, it's not as if their photos were all that ground breaking anyway. In any case, they're not the first people in Singapore and Malaysia to have published erotic/pornographic material online. There are loads of websites dedicated to exhibitionists and all you have to do is to search for content marked 'Singapore' or 'Malaysia' on those website and you will get loads of hits. I tried using the search sting 'Singapore' on Xtube (an adult version of Youtube) and found 918 hits. And let's not forget that one of the world's most famous porn stars Annabel Chong is Singaporean. 

What pisses me off in this episode is the intolerance of Singaporeans. Shouldn't we embrace the diversity in sexuality rather than freak out? How can anyone realistically expect everyone in society to have the same values when it comes to one's sexuality? Some people are asexual, some people are abstinent, others are monogamous whilst others enjoy plenty of sex. I say, as long as they are practising safe sex and doing it with consensual partners, then it is really none of your business what others get up to in the privacy of their bedrooms.  You have every right to decide what you want to do with your sex life but what gives you the right to judge others who decide to do something different? 

Have a great sex life but always use a condom!

Let me share a little story from my childhood to explain the adverse reaction towards Alvivi - when I was about 9 years old, a group of my friends were going to stay back after school to play basketball. I wanted to join them but my mother insisted that I had to come home immediately after school and study. "It's not fair! Why can they play basketball whilst I have to study?" My mother then convinced me that those children were very naughty for they should be studying instead of "fooling around" like that. Yup, those were her words. Given that I was 9 and couldn't overrule my mother's decision, I decided to accept her opinion that my friends playing basketball were in fact naughty and I was being the good kid in "choosing" to do the right thing, to go home and study.

By that token, Singaporean parents have but one approach to sex education: abstinence. Abstain and save yourself for marriage. No doubt Alvin and Vivian's parents probably told them the same thing - but they decided to become sexually active anyway. There are other Singaporeans who look on and think, "oh damn they're doing what I want to do but am not allowed to do," in much the same way I was secretly very jealous of my friends who were allowed to stay back after school to play games whilst I was compelled to go home to study. There's so much jealousy - especially of Vivian Lee who is very confident about her sexuality. Singapore and Malaysia can still be a deeply misogynistic and sexist place where women are expected to conform to very traditional roles which will prepare them for motherhood. There are some really downright sexist and cruel remarks on Facebook directed at Vivian by some men and I'm like, I hope women realize what a nasty sexist chauvinist pig you are. May you die unloved and unfucked in this lifetime. It is 2012, surely as a society, we can be open minded enough to let people do what they want with their private sex lives. You don't have to like or condone what they do, but at the same time you should respect their right to do what they want.  Leave Vivian Lee alone you pathetic sexist insecure Singaporeans!

Why do Singaporeans freak out over sex & sexuality? 

Listen, I know you're pissed off with the fact that the PAP is busy giving out scholarships to non-Singaporeans rather than awarding them to deserving locals. You have every right to be angry with the PAP. But you're getting absolutely no where in attacking Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee. You're so barking up the wrong tree. It's time for you Singaporeans to channel your anger at the right people - the 60.14% for voted for the PAP. Stop attacking FTs and stop attacking Malaysians for crying out aloud. The enemy isn't foreign, the enemy is amongst you - they are your fellow Singaporeans who have voted for the PAP. 

And lastly, to Alvin and Vivian (hey my blog is popular in Malaysia, they may read it) - Limpeh salutes you. You're very garang in having done an erotic blog like that. It takes guts and balls and I like your attitude! I'm sorry to hear that so many fucking stupid Singaporean idiots have been giving so so much grief when they should be attacking their government instead. Talk about salah, eh? If you do decide to do more photos in the future, please Alvin, tolong lah, get rid of that silly hat okay? I wish you guys every happiness :)

Update: Read my latest post on Alvin Tan "deserving" his NUS scholarship.
The double standards of Singaporeans http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-double-standards-of-singaporeans.html
In defence of Vivian Lee http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/in-defence-of-vivian-lee.html
Singaporeans & porn http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/why-are-singaporeans-so-squeamish-about.html
Stripping Alvin of his scholarship http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/so-he-was-stripped-of-his-scholarship-so.html
The blind leading the blind http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-blind-leading-blind-on-schoalrships.html
Alvivi & Liberalism http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/on-alvivi-and-liberalism.html
My exclusive interview with Alvivi: http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/exclusive-alvin-tan-speaks-to-lift.html