WTF is wrong with you journalists in Singapore and Malaysia?!

Hi everyone. Since I have been covering the Alvin Tan saga pretty much since the story broke, I must say, Malaysian and Singaporean journalists are just bloody awful and crap at their job. In a previous post, I had already dealt with a glaring error in the reporting of the case. Allow me to deal with a few headlines which are just plain wrong.

Unclear if Alvin Tan is seeking asylum in the US, says lawyer

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/unclear-if-alvin-tan-seeking-asylum-us-says-lawyer
Today is a Singaporean newspaper. Todayonline is their online portal.

What is fundamentally wrong with journalism in Singapore & Malaysia?

Oh for crying out aloud. WTF? That was not what his lawyer said. his lawyer has merely refused to give an official statement on the issue when pressured by the press. He simply said that he was unable to confirm or deny whether Alvin was seeking asylum in America. Look, I knew Alvin was in America since early September when he first reestablished contact with me - but he told me to keep quiet about it and not announce it yet on my blog. I agreed. In the meantime, I was approached by some journalists fishing around, looking for a story - when they asked me if I knew where Alvin Tan was, I simply told them, "I can't tell you, even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you." I did exactly what Alvin's lawyer did - I was not going to blab to the press. Hey reporter, when you get nothing, you don't try to weave a story out of nothing.

This headline is misleading at best - it suggests that Alvin Tan may or may not be seeking asylum in America, as if he has not decided what course of action to take. That is completely wrong, as we know, Alvin has already confirmed that he has indeed applied for asylum in America and it is a process that takes many months to complete. It is not like you're renewing your driver's license - it is a far more complicated process. The fact that Alvin's lawyer refused to make a statement to Malaysian and Singaporean journalists doesn't mean there is any ambiguity on what has happened at all. He merely told the journalists to fuck off in so many words and refused to give them a statement - yet they still somehow latched onto his words and tried to make a story out of it. That's piss poor journalism, that's so fucking pathetic.

Alvin has always been treated badly by the press.

It's not a 'claim' dummy, he has applied for asylum and it is a process that takes many months to complete. On top of that, Alvin has already spoken to a CNA correspondent the day before the article was published - yet you still went with the headline that Chong's lawyer refused to tell them anything, rather than use any useful quotes from Alvin himself from the interview. If you're a journalist, then don't be so bloody lazy - do some digging. (Credit to those who actually tried to get information out of me.) Stop hounding his lawyer and mother and perhaps try to speak to somebody in America who may have more information about how his asylum application process is going. What, do you expect stories to just fall into your lap or email account?

Seriously, what are these young journalists like these days for crying out aloud? Let's look at another awful story:

Malaysian sex blogger Alvin Tan claims he’s seeking political asylum in US

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/malaysian-sex-blogger-alvin-tan-claims-hes-seeking-political-asylum-us

OK time for a simple test of journalism for the clueless, stupid journalists at Today. Now if you get wind of this story, what do you do? The first thing you do is to try to verify the facts: is he really in America? Has he claimed political asylum? So you try to find out if Alvin Tan is really in America and if not, where in the world he may be. So you try to gather evidence to try to verify that claim. I can do that rather easily - he has posted a picture of himself on a nudist beach in San Francisco, with the Golden Gate Bridge right behind him. The picture looks genuine and he talks about visiting a nude beach in a recent interview. Furthermore, he has also revealed which city he is currently living in: Los Angeles.

Surely any half decent journalist must be able to find someone who knows someone in Los Angeles to try to track him down and see if they can try to find him in person, to speak to him, get some video footage of Alvin Tan walking down Santa Monica Boulevard or Rodeo Drive. It's not like he is hiding from the media - he is giving interviews left, right and centre and he is active on social media. Yet you bloody lazy journalists can't be asked to make a genuine effort to track him down in Los Angeles - what the hell is wrong with you journalists in Singapore and Malaysia? Why are you so lazy?

A good journalist would have been able to track Alvin down anywhere in the world.

Here's another Malaysian article on the case: http://english.astroawani.com/news/show/alvin-was-very-selfish-we-were-still-seeing-each-other-vivian-of-alvivi-duo-44656 - 'Alvin was very selfish, we were still seeing each other'. Astro Awani is a 24 hour news station and this is from their website.

his was an interview they managed to get with Vivian, nothing wrong with the interview except that they got Alvin's name wrong. Allow me to quote, "the other half of duo Alvin, whose full name is Alvin an Jye Jee". Good grief. What is wrong with the T key on your keyboard? Have you ever heard of proof-reading? You want to do an article about Alvin Tan yet you can't even be asked to get his name right? For crying out aloud - what is wrong with you people? #Aiyoh #Alamak

But the worst piss-poor article has got to be from the Rakyat Post:

‘There is a chance sex blogger may not get U.S. asylum’

Source: http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2014/09/25/chance-sex-blogger-may-get-u-s-asylum/
The Rakyat Post is a trilingual Malaysian online news portal.

Do you Malaysians understand how US law works?

Good grief. This article was mostly based on an interview with Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. Now Wan Junaidi didn't actually imply that Alvin Tan's application for asylum would be turned down - he was merely talking about what would happen next. He needs to choose his words very carefully just to make sure he will not be made to look like a fool if and when Alvin's asylum application is approved (which in all likelihood, it will). Now Wan Junaidi was indeed careful with his words - he merely talked about what will happen depending on the two different outcomes of Alvin's asylum application, which is fair enough. Yet the journalist chose to focus on one outcome to give the Rakyat readers the false impression that Alvin may not be granted asylum in America - which is at best, a highly unlikely outcome. I know because I have discussed this at length with Alvin and he wouldn't have even bothered trying if he didn't know that it was a done deal. #dealwithityouhaters

But then again, if the journalist had gone with a different quote from Wan Junaidi like, "The bottom line is there is very little we can do" (hey, his words, not mine) then it would risk showing the Malaysian government impotent and helpless in the face of Alvin Tan and more to the point, it would highlight the fact that the government in KL has virtually no influence whatsoever over Alvin's case as it goes through the American system and like in so many other cases involving Malaysians outside Malaysia, the government in America doesn't give a shit what demands the Malaysian government can try to make in this case. Anyone who has taken the time to read the article will actually come away with that conclusion - but why the misleading headline nonetheless? Like who the hell are you trying to kid with it?

Malaysians have zero influence over Alvin's asylum application in USA.

Oh and by the way, Wan Junaidi is wrong - he claimed that Alvin would have to face the wrath of American law against illegal immigrants if his asylum claim is turned down. That is incorrect: even if Alvin's asylum application is turned down, he applied at point of entry (at the US-Mexico border). So at no point did Alvin enter the US illegally, he went through due process and has currently been granted temporary leave to remain in the US until his application is either approved or denied - but the bottom line is that Alvin is careful enough not to break any laws in America to jeapordize his asylum case. Alvin never was and is not, an illegal immigrant in America. Get your facts right Wan Junaidi, Alvin is more careful than you think. So Wan Junaidi, you may want to do your homework before giving your next interview as you really don't want to make another mistake like that. 

I could go on, but I just despair when I see just how terribly low journalism standards are in Singapore and Malaysia. Many journalists there have no integrity - either that, or they have had their articles censored and edited by pro-government editors who don't want to risk running an article that may piss off the government. Either way, that just sucks for press freedom for Singapore and Malaysia. Now you can see why Alvin Tan chose to give me the exclusive and allow me to run his latest interview rather than trust any of these terrible publications in Singapore or Malaysia.

I am having a busy weekend but I will try to write more on this soon. In the meantime, please do let me know your thoughts on the issue by leaving a comment below. Thank you very much for reading, terima kasih.