Game Of Trolls: Singapore Style

Hi all, thanks for the kind messages of support in the last 24 to 48 hours from my readers. I'm doing fine and it's been a really strange 24 hours given how I have been under attack from internet trolls. Some of them are smarter than others and thankfully, the response has been mixed. Some people have been very understanding and nice, others have been downright nasty and whilst some are downright stupid.

The nasty ones are the ones who are trolls who make up shit about me just because they can't be asked to come to my blog and talk to me like an adult. Yeah, it's pretty grim when adults act like that - but I would have expected nothing less because I came across this back when I used to participate in forums years ago. It wasn't like, "Alex, I beg to differ on this issue as I think you're not seeing both sides of the argument..." It was like, "you're a prostitute, I am going to tell everyone here that you're a cheap whore who sells his ass in Geylang." Yeah, it has been at that level. But guess what? It's hardly the first time I have been under attack by these trolls and I have blogged about it here the last time it happened. That was when I was accused of being a PRC whore in Geylang.

Beware of trolls...

And then there are those who think that it is funny to use Hokkien to curse and swear at me in the forums and I'm like, can you not find the appropriate words in Mandarin or English to express yourself in a more articulate manner? Duh. And here's the funniest one: someone read my BBC interview and said, "KNNBCCB, I am going to CSI him!" Then he dug up my Linkedin profile - like okay, you know how to enter my name into Google, well done. Then he posted it as if he had achieved some great victory by sharing my rather illustrious CV and long list of achievements to the rest of the people on the forum. Oh at which point I thought, ooh I do have a rather impressive list of achievements on my Linkedin profile, a bit too show-off perhaps? I have resolved not to participate in those forums, but I wanted to tell him, "come to Limpeh's blog and have a good read. I've had 5 million views on my blog and if you wanna find out all about me, then post the link to my blog lah. You can also go to my Youtube channel and watch Limpeh's videos as well. I've got plenty of videos for you on my Youtube channel."

What is this about 'CSI' and Singaporeans - when you demonstrate that you know how to look up the name of a person on google? Amit Patel was "googled" and "CSIed" as well during the whole Timetric episode earlier this year. So a number of you looked at his Linked in profile.... So? Here's the thing about the internet - we tend not to put out stuff that we want to hide from the public. It's like I had a very unflattering photo from my recent holidays - I was eating and chewing in that photo, not a good look. Would I upload that photo onto my blog or anywhere else? Of course not. Stuff that I have put out (via my blog, Youtube and other social media channels) are things that I do want you to look at. Duh. You're not googling anything I don't want the public to see. Like when I agreed to give former NMP Siew Kum Hong details of my journey for his debate in parliament, yeah I knew my name was going to be discussed in parliament - I'm surprised it took someone that long to dig that one up. It shows how little attention you politically apathetic Singaporean pay attention to the going-ons in parliament.

"Hey, I found out how to use google to search..."

Oh don't get me wrong, I know there is a lot of hate for me in Singapore right now by some people - and I'm beginning to get an idea of how my good friend Alvin Tan felt last year when his sex blog went viral. And I'm like, what the fuck do you guys want? An apology? For what? For migrating to the UK? Duh. I'm flattered you guys actually missed me that much. I thought it was ridiculous that people demanded an apology from Alvin and Vivian last year - and now the very same people have been demanding an apology from me - like duh.

Some of you have asked me to respond to this piece here by Senang Diri, which I will now. What I would say is that David Boey did do his homework and dug up some of the things I have said over the years on the issue of moving to the UK. At least he had the decency to quote me properly and allow my words to speak for themselves - that is more than what some trolls have done. I just found it bizarre that he was splitting hairs over what my motivations were to move abroad (when he had actually quoted me, word for word, explaining the range of push & pull factors involved). The only thing that he doesn't understand is the fact that I did give the BBC journalist a fairly long story, encompassing many, many details - there was no way the journalist was going to reproduce it word for word in the article. The editor got the final say as to what stayed in the article, what was left out - I had no say in that. So it seems bizarre that Boey was attacking me for an editorial decision made at the BBC that I had no control over? And Boey used to work for the ST - surely he understands the role of an editor?

As for Siew Kum Hong's presentation in parliament, once again, I gave Siew a long rambling story in a very casual manner - Siew, being a lawyer, then summarized my story and left out certain points (just like the BBC editor did when he abridged my really long life story interview). When I watched his speech in parliament, I knew what he had left out (you could hear the moderator reminding him that he was running out of time and to wrap it up before he even mentioned my name) and my first thoughts were that he did so to prove a point that there was a gay brain drain. Again, Boey is attacking me for the way Siew Kum Hong summarized and presented my story - I stress: I didn't tell Siew what to say in parliament or what order he should present the points. He made those choices, not me.

Why do people make such snap judgement on one paragraph?

Regardless, I was accused of 'singing a different tune' - why? Just because all the factors in exactly the same order on different occasions? Let's get real here. My regular readers will know that I visited Kuala Lumpur this summer. I met many people whilst in KL and one question they all asked me was this, "What brings you to KL?" So even for a short trip to KL, I had a range of reasons.

1. I have not visited KL properly since 1990 and it has changed beyond recognition. I want to see the new KL.
2. It is cheaper to fly into KL than Singapore, so I was getting a cheap flight to KL instead of a more expensive one to Singapore; as I thought I would also enjoy the overland journey to Singapore via Melaka.
3. I have friends in KL - some of whom I got to see, two of whom were in jail when I was there.
4. A friend has recently visited KL and posted some amazing photos of Facebook which convinced me that I really ought to make the effort to go to KL if I was going to be in SE Asia.
5. I heard that the food is great in KL (and cheaper than Singapore).
6. I heard that the shopping is fantastic in KL (and cheaper than Singapore).
7. Public transport is really good in KL and it is an easy city to navigate.

Pavilion @ KL

Okay, so that's 7 reasons I had to visit KL. Do I need to rank them from most important to least important? Good grief. When people in KL asked me, "what brings you to KL?" I would rattle off these reasons in different order, sometimes I may list only 4 or 5 and not all 7. Would you then accuse me of being a liar who sang a different tune if I failed to list all 7 reasons in exactly the same order? And that is just for a short 3 day trip to KL! Can you imagine how many more reasons I would have when I am trying to explain to you why I moved from Singapore to the UK? For crying out aloud, I can't even list those 7 reasons to visit KL in the same order each time I met someone in KL and you want me to list all the reasons I had for moving from Singapore to the UK in exactly the same order, every single time someone asked me over a period of 6 years? Well that's exactly what David Boey expected me to do - hence he accused me of "singing a different tune". I'll let you decide if I am a liar or if he is being utterly unreasonable.

Now try this. We'll do a simple experiment right now, okay? Without pressing page up and re-reading my 7 reasons to visit KL, name all 7 of them in exactly the right order. I'll be surprised if you can get 5 of them correctly, with the right wording. Now imagine the BBC editor or Siew Kum Hong trying to summarize my story which involved a LOT more than 7 reasons. And you want the story to come out in exactly the same way, in the same order every time? Boey, are you seriously telling me you've actually worked in journalism? Have you ever dealt with an editor? Duh. The fact is, even if I did list all my reasons in exactly the same order on all three occasions, on two occasions, it was edited by a third party (the BBC editor and Siew) so that's when Boey's argument falls apart.

As for Boey's allegation of me "fighting the system" by making sarcastic jibes - I think he doesn't understand the purpose of us social commentators. Sure I am critical of the system in Singapore, but if I am just vehemently anti-PAP, then I have no credibility as someone who can judge the situation fairly. I see myself as a moderate who has long accepted that the PAP will be in power for a long time to come and that if you don't like them, well, you're better off leaving Singapore he way I did. I have friends in Singapore who have done a lot more than "bang out another letter, sarcastic jibe or bitchy retort of some sort" - they have organized various events, joined the Workers Party and have worked activity towards regime change in Singapore from within the country.

I chose to leave whilst others stayed to try to change the system.

I look at people like that and I have mixed feelings - there is an admiration and respect for what they are trying to do, people like Gilbert Goh who work tirelessly and selflessly to try to help others in Singapore. I may not agree with a lot of things Gilbert does but he has certainly earned my utmost respect. There are times when I really feel that I should be doing more to help people like him for I do believe in their cause and want to see them succeed. Then there's the other side... the sinking sensation that they're fighting a losing battle, which I well and truly got when I attended one of their events earlier this year. There's a part of me that thinks, what's the point? Things are never going to change in Singapore, you just have to accept the PAP's way or leave if you don't like the PAP.

If Boey is a PAP supporter, he should worry about people like Gilbert Goh who are actively trying to challenge the system - not me. So what does Boey expect of me? To only sing praises of Singapore? Would he preferred it if I told the BBC that Singapore is a nasty homophobic society stuck in the dark ages when it comes to human rights? Oh then you would say, "oh Singapore is a gracious society, we're not evil or nasty, we respect human rights - don't make us sound like monsters to the rest of the world." In any case, that is just one of many factors in a complex decision involving two countries.

Ironically, I am amazed that Boey has chosen to attack me thus on my stance on NS - after all, I am a moderate who has not been as extreme as those who have called for the outright abolition of NS in Singapore. On my blog, I have always talked about simply improving the system so that those who have to serve NS will walk away with a greater sense of purpose. Simple improvements can be made by matching soldiers to a vocation more closely related to their skills and expertise that they already have in their civilian lives - it is a win-win situation for both the soldier and the SAF when a soldier is actually very good at his vocation. I have also suggested more training and education for soldiers during their time at NS, so they feel that they are constantly improving themselves and will leave NS better trained, better educated and more prepared to join the work force. I'm practical and pragmatic - I may have the balls to speak up to say "things could be improved", but I'm no anarchist and do not appreciate being treated as one.

As for his so-called CSI work, he made a mistake. He thought he was so smart in finding the name of my sister (yeah I've mentioned that I have a sister who worked for the ST some time ago, Boey worked there too he may have known her) - yet at the same time, he quoted me from Trevvy talking about my other sister, my elder sister! Here's how it read:

"Whereas my sister's the total opposite, she's 8 years older than me and she changed jobs for the first time in like 15 years recently, and she was soooo (sic) nervous about it. She's now happily settled in the new job but she was one person who didn't like change, whereas I relished it."

This blog understands that Alex's sister, Ms Liang Hwee Ting, left her job as a Straits Times journalist some years ago.

Duh. Wrong sister Boey, I have two sisters. You're naming the wrong sister. In any case, what is the point of naming my sister (even if it is the wrong sister)? Anyway, I spoke to my sister about it a moment ago and yeah in her time as a journalist at ST, she wrote so many articles. Her illustrious as a journalist with the ST is well documented in the archives of ST and it does not constitute as 'dirt' and it doesn't take a genius to look her up when you have my surname. It suffices to say that I have two great sisters who both share a lot of my views on this issue - not only do they know my blog, they follow Alvinology too.  In response to Boey's comment on her, she said, "He obviously didn't do his research, I am not 8 years older than you, he anyhow hantam lah. LOL."

CSI salah lah David Boey...

Would I expect any less from these trolls? Anyway, it suffices to say that when I read the comments left on Boey's article (hey, some of the ones from earlier yesterday have been mysteriously deleted and those were the very ones which were critical of Boey), I am glad to see that there are still some sensible people left in Singapore. Quick, go and read those before Boey deletes them as well. As for what Boey said about Alvin, I'll let Alvin defend himself. He's an intelligent chap.

That's it from me for now. Getting trolled is nothing new for me, I'm just trying to work out if the trolls are the "sell-mong" type of Singaporeans I have offended along the way, or if they are just complete strangers whom I have never ever had any interaction with. Go figure. I can say this much about Boey though, at least he had the balls to blog using his real name - unlike the trolls.

One of the many reasons why I left Singapore - and you can't blame the PAP for that!