I am finally back from Denmark and Sweden

Hi guys, I am back from Denmark and Sweden and it was an interesting experience. I will of course be blogging more about the trip over the next few weeks but you know what it is like after having been away for a week - I have a long list of things to catch up with. But here are a few things that I wish to bring to your attention whilst I have a few minutes.

Limpeh at the VM Houses in Cophenhagen

Limpeh's blog is ranked 14th in Singapore

What do you know - my blog is ranked joint 14th on this latest list of most influential bloggers in Singapore. That is amazing, I knew that I had received a large number of hits on my blog since the passing of LKY, but to be ranked joint 13th is quite unreal. I looked at the top blog sites and amongst the top 15, five were dedicated to food, seven were sites that featured a group of writers (as opposed to just one blogger) and so that actually ranks me in 8th place (behind Parka, Daniel, Xiaxue, Mr Brown, Leslie Tay, Qiuqiu, Tammy Tay) if you were to discount the blogs which have more than one contributing writer. I also contribute to Alvinology of course, which is at joint 8th place. 

Most of these other blogs have some kind of commercial element to them - which makes me think that I am sitting on a gold mine by not doing a lot more to try to capitalize on the kind of traffic I get to my blog. It is just me blogging about anything and everything I want to talk about, I don't have a specific theme: I talk about everything from travel to politics to education to fashion, though my social commentary on topical issues have often proven to be very popular - thus just based on that formula, to be placed joint 14th is just unbelievable. To think that people in Singapore want to hear what I have to say and are interested in my opinions is just incredible. Thank you so much for reading my blog.

The famous Ms Xiaxue

Haters are gonna hate...

I also received a whole lot of hate mail in the form of comments when I was in Denmark and Sweden - mostly over Amos Yee. It was not so much people who were disagreeing with the points of views that I had presented on my blog, but rather they were Singaporeans who were mostly angry with me for daring to 'disgrace' or 'embarrass' Singapore by criticizing it on cyberspace. One such hater argued that if people like me didn't say nice things about Singapore to my European friends, then they are going to 'look down' on Singapore. Rather, they felt that I should be promoting Singapore to these Europeans and getting these Europeans to 'like' and 'respect' Singapore. Like, where do I even begin with such people? Can I even try to reason with them?

Firstly, my European friends (well, those who are interested in Singapore) are going to form their own opinion on Singapore anyway, they are not waiting for me to tell them what to think about Singapore. And there is a pretty wide range of opinions out there about Singapore amongst the international community, as explored in a previous post. Furthermore, why are people talking about 'Singapore' as if it was a monolithic entity? When I make my criticisms of Singapore on this blog, it is always about a certain aspect of Singaporean society or culture - such as when I was talking about the herd mentality, it clearly doesn't apply to all Singaporeans. No, Singapore is a diverse country with 5.4 million people and definitely not a monolithic entity. Furthermore, even those Europeans who love "Singapore" are actually liking certain aspects of life in Singapore rather than all of this monolithic entity you call "Singapore" per se.

Europeans are going to make up their own minds on Singapore

In any case, Singapore doesn't need any help from me when it comes to giving Europeans a bad impression - no, the government of Singapore is doing a pretty good job of that without any help from Limpeh. The way Amos Yee is being treated by the authorities is being watched by so many around thr world as the story has gone viral worldwide - whereas anything I have to say about the issue is hardly going to make much of an impact. As a social commentator and blogger, all I can do is to provide my readers the social context of Singaporean society to help them understand why Amos Yee is being treated as such, why what he did was such a big deal and why Singaporeans had reacted like that. So at the end of the day, I am merely being a part of the discussion that is going on in social media.

More about Alvin Tan on Youtube....

Many more people have been flocking to my blog to read the exclusive interview that I have done with Alvin Tan in America - he is certainly trying to get the attention of the media with his latest stunt, an R&B cover of Azan (the Muslim call to prayer) and guess what? He has succeeded and there is a part of me that thinks that he is trying to outdo Amos Yee - but then again, Amos Yee was just a sitting duck waiting for the police to show up at his parents' home in Singapore, whereas now that Alvin Tan is comfortably in America, well he can do what the hell he wants without worrying about the consequences of his actions.  The whole Bak Kut Teh incident was a big deal and he was arrested for it - but as for this Youtube video? I don't know - when I look at the traffic I get for my Youtube channel, sometimes I feel I have to resort to something like that to boost the hits I get on Youtube! Come on, I have even done videos with Hirzi who is so incredibly popular in Singapore.... I would love to have one of my vlog videos go viral in a big way,

And finally, the Ikea anti-gay controversy.

I have been asked to comment on Ikea's stance on supporting the homophobic pastor Lawrence Khong's magic show vision. My first reaction is that Ikea Singapore had made a poor decision in supporting a show like that which is controversial at best, offensive to many who object to Lawrence Khong's blatant homophobia. Yes, there are many Singaporeans out there who are homophobic but Ikea is risking alienating customers who are appalled at their decision to lend any kind of support to a divisive, controversial figure like pastor Khong in the first place. If I may put on my marketing & PR hat, this is commercial suicide because any potential commercial benefits they may gain from supporting pastor Khong's show has to be weighed against the current backlash from those against pastor Khong's homophobic message. The net benefit has always got to be positive and if you're not sure, then the safest thing to do is to decline to be associated with an event that may tarnish the good name of your company.

Look, there's plenty going on in the Singapore's arts scene this year: there are certainly no shortage of interesting events that a company like Ikea could choose to support, sponsor or be associated with in Singapore. Even if Ikea is simply promoting the show and not funding it per se, this is the kind of PR disaster that goes viral very, very quickly. Ikea is a big global brand and what Ikea does in Singapore may be a very local decision, but the HQ in Sweden would be keen to avoid any kind of controversy that will tarnish their global image. Ikea in Europe for example, would be keen to demonstrate that they are extremely gay-friendly and that the Ikea brand name would never be associated with an anti-gay message. Hence it is no longer just a local marketing decision about what events to work with in Singapore - it has now spiraled into an international PR disaster for Ikea, one which they need to clean up quickly and there is only one obvious solution for them: apologize and withdraw support for the show. Boy I would love to be in the office when the MD screams, "what the hell were you thinking supporting that homophobic pastor's magic show?! Do you know what a bloody mess you have caused by offending the gay rights lobbies around the world?" Heads are going to roll!

Will your marketing activity bring loss or profit to Ikea?

Okay so for now, that's a quick summary of a number of hot issues now. I have been so busy since my return from Denmark I just need a bit of time to catch up and resume blogging and vlogging as usual. Many thanks for reading.