Saturday, 20 July 2013

Shocking news from KL: Alvin Tan arrested, denied bail

Hello everyone, selamat pagi from KL. I was so busy in Oman I didn't get time to post anything and I flew into KL yesterday. Totally jetlagged, dazed from the heat and the humidity and getting my brain slightly rattled (I got lost between the LRT station and the hotel and had to ask for directions from the locals who only seemed to speak Melayu, it's okay Limpeh boleh cakap pasar Melayu...), only to stumbled into my hotel lobby to be greeted by the following sight. It was 3 local newspapers - in English, Malay and Chinese, showing pictures of Alvin and Vivian being arrested and sent to jail (and denied bail!) over the whole Bak Kut Teh incident. I was shocked and angry... I was supposed to have spent today with him and was so looking forward to meeting him at last. I was told that it was very unlikely that I could visit him in jail now as it was a high profile case and I am not related to him (close friends and family will have access) and hold a foreign passport.

Boy, I tell you, it sure started the KL leg of my trip on a sour note to say the least. The thing is KL seems so utterly modern - there are parts around the middle of town, from KLCC to Pavilion which are full of skyscrapers and modern Malaysians on their iPhones - then you have someone arrested over something like that and treated like a dangerous criminal? I am outraged. Okay he was stupid, he did something wrong - but he is not a dangerous criminal lah!
Front page news in Malaysia in 3 languages yesterday

I had dinner with two KL friends of mine last night and I asked them, was Alvin simply asking for trouble with the whole Bak Kut Teh incident? Or was the Malaysian system just downright unfair? I was unable to be objective about the whole episode, so I had to rely on their opinion as locals. I will do a full write up on my conversation with them when I get to Singapore and I will probably do a vlog about it, but probably not whilst I am in Malaysia. I just wanted to clarify one thing here though: it seems like his arrest was mostly about the Bak Kut Teh incident, rather than his sex blog which has been going on for a while (and the authorities here turned a blind eye to).

Okay, so that's it for now, I am going out to make the most of my day in KL and contemplate what Malaysian society is all about. Jumpa lagi semua. PS. Yes I had a reasonably good time in Oman, but it was too freaking hot.
How sunburnt do I look?


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8 comments:

  1. Chin Lam Toh21 July 2013 at 01:59

    What a rude and jarring arrival you must have had. Its a shock for me too, since this now (your blog) is the first Ive heard about it, and my sympathy is all for him, Vivian & their families.
    Frankly I cant understand why he is being treated so harshly (the pictures speak for themselves) but my only guess is that he is being made an example of, as in the saying, "chop off a monkey's head to scare the chickens".
    Though he was not arrested over the sex blog itself, it MAY have contributed because it made him seem like a loose- cannon- maverick- anarchist, and so it was the accumulation of his many brazen acts that landed him in this trouble.
    In any case, thank you in advance for your upcoming blog/vlog post on this whole issue. We wait with bated breath.

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    Replies
    1. Limpeh Foreign Talent21 July 2013 at 17:04

      Hi and thanks for your comment. I am in Melaka now and will be in Singapore this time tomorrow. I will write more about it when I get to Singapore. And we've not said much about Vivian - I get the feeling she is the innocent party (or ignorant young lady) who gets led by Alvin a lot of the time. It must be a terrible time for their families as well.

      Delete
  2. Wanderlust21 July 2013 at 14:25

    Hi Limpeh,
    I haven't really been following this issue closely, but the fact that he got arrested for this incident speaks volume about our so called "racial harmony".

    Fact is, I believe that true racial harmony is achieved only through true racial blindness, i.e when one's action is judged based on merit and is not seen through racial filters. Such a state has not even been reached in the United States, where a simple issue of a shooting can be re framed into a racist act without even due consideration of the circumstances that has occurred.

    Given that a supposed enlightened country that kick started this racial equality movement still cannot look at actions objectively, what chance that a country where racial divisions are actively encouraged will be able to not judge his actions racially?

    This case also speaks volume about the attitude of Singaporeans. Many netizens in Singapore are quick to condemn him and call him racist. They do not realise that by perceiving his actions to be racially charged they themselves are not able to throw away the shackles of racism.

    In conclusion, no country is fully race blind. And for us to pretend that just because such a thing will not happen in Singapore due to the offender being tarred and feathered immediately is just presumptuous and arrogant, and does not bode well for true racial harmony in the future.

    So my 2 cents for today.

    P.S Do you mind commenting on my standards of written English? Be as harsh as you can, I welcome criticism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Limpeh Foreign Talent21 July 2013 at 17:09

      Hi there. Your English is fine but I am reading this on my phone in my hotel room in Melaka so it is perhaps not the best way for me to evaluate it. I think a good comparison is Leslie Chew - he is arrested but allowed bail at least. But I daresay Leslie has more friends and supporters than Alvin at this point.

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  3. choaniki22 July 2013 at 06:59

    So typical for them to make a mountain out of a molehill. Unfortunately for Alvin he is a minority in Malaysia and not exactly an elite so he doesn't have any clout.

    If he were a bumiputra and made fun of a Chinese would he have been treated the same way? Food for thought.

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  4. Unknown23 July 2013 at 07:41

    I agree with you man. I've seen even worse racism in Malaysia, especially from their own politicians against Chinese, and they have the cheek to arrest a commoner just for a bak kut teh photo.

    shame on their government.

    ReplyDelete
  5. choaniki24 July 2013 at 09:52

    Well this might interest you LIFT. Barely anytime has gone by and we have this shit:
    http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/236473
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SXE5mA3P0c

    Seems that its true that majority rough-shedding over the minority.

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  6. Anonymous25 July 2013 at 07:01

    Been reading your blog for quite a while as I enjoy alternative views on Singapore. I can understand why you're surprised at their harsh punishment since in Singapore, the races are treated in a more equal manner (or even if it isn't equal, at least the Government seems to look professional about it). In Malaysia there has been a long rivalry between the Malays and Chinese so naturally a Chinese mocking a Malay and/or his religion would cause a ruckus.

    ReplyDelete