Singaporean Blogger gets hit by a Defamation suit. Why am I not surprised?
Just came from reading a bunch of blogs like Wannabe Lawyer's, mourning the 'death' of AcidFlask who had to take his blog offline after getting hit by a letter threatening legal action.
I have to state frankly that I wasn't surprised. It was just a matter of time before something like that happened. I recall an interview with Alfian Sa'at that I read sometime back. He said that the only reason the government had let him alone so far was because he was small fry. And until recently, so were the Singaporean bloggers.
Until the last couple of years, the group of people who read or created blogs was small. Their audience was a select group of the highly literate and techno savvy. Now, with every ah lian and ah beng(Tom,Dick and Harry not Singaporean enough lah) jumping on the blogging bandwagon and in turn reading blogs, the gahmen as MrBrown calls it, will begin to sit up and take more notice.
I came onto the blogging scene late, being one of the most technologically incompetent persons around. By then the more popular blogs already had a readership numbering in the thousands, that is for Xiaxue at least. The popular bloggers were also starting to get more organized. People like Mr Brown, Mr Miyagi, Xiaxue and Cowboy Caleb were starting to meet up.
This was just bound to happen. Maybe AcidFlask was just the scapegoat needed to set an example and scare the rest. Although I highly doubt that it was necessary. We're Singaporeans man, we know what awaits us if we're naughty and we know that ISA does not stand for Internal Server Alert. I've noticed that people like Mr Brown and even Wannabe Lawyer have always been so careful with their remarks.
Gilbert Koh in my opinion gave the best advice of all. Although unhappily he decided to take his own advice and shut down his blog which is an enormous pity.
What else can I say? Only this, that AcidFlask was the first, but most assuredly not the last. The whole idea of defamation suits scares the willies out of most Singaporeans especially those with alot to lose like MrBrown with his wife and kids. If this method works so well, they're going to use it again.
I have to state frankly that I wasn't surprised. It was just a matter of time before something like that happened. I recall an interview with Alfian Sa'at that I read sometime back. He said that the only reason the government had let him alone so far was because he was small fry. And until recently, so were the Singaporean bloggers.
Until the last couple of years, the group of people who read or created blogs was small. Their audience was a select group of the highly literate and techno savvy. Now, with every ah lian and ah beng(Tom,Dick and Harry not Singaporean enough lah) jumping on the blogging bandwagon and in turn reading blogs, the gahmen as MrBrown calls it, will begin to sit up and take more notice.
I came onto the blogging scene late, being one of the most technologically incompetent persons around. By then the more popular blogs already had a readership numbering in the thousands, that is for Xiaxue at least. The popular bloggers were also starting to get more organized. People like Mr Brown, Mr Miyagi, Xiaxue and Cowboy Caleb were starting to meet up.
This was just bound to happen. Maybe AcidFlask was just the scapegoat needed to set an example and scare the rest. Although I highly doubt that it was necessary. We're Singaporeans man, we know what awaits us if we're naughty and we know that ISA does not stand for Internal Server Alert. I've noticed that people like Mr Brown and even Wannabe Lawyer have always been so careful with their remarks.
Gilbert Koh in my opinion gave the best advice of all. Although unhappily he decided to take his own advice and shut down his blog which is an enormous pity.
What else can I say? Only this, that AcidFlask was the first, but most assuredly not the last. The whole idea of defamation suits scares the willies out of most Singaporeans especially those with alot to lose like MrBrown with his wife and kids. If this method works so well, they're going to use it again.
posted by adinahaes at 10:54 PM
3 Comments:
Scared? If I was scared, I would have stopped doing this years ago, before all this openness stuff was the new political mantra. The gahmen was way less tolerant then.
True, I have kids and family. But I also believe in letting them grow up in a country where they are can speak more openly. The threat of defamation suits have always been there for me, all these years. Yet I still keep writing.
Nobody is above the law, and we have to find ways to open up discourse in this society without becoming legal roadkill.
if you're going to say your piece, then be prepared to defend it and go down in flames if you fail. Otherwise, just hold your peace.
haha, mb, this is my friend, and you've found her blog... lol
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