Have blog will write

Since New Asia Republic has published this article (see HERE), I think that it's important that I say the circumstances under which TOC decided to publish the article 'Racist posts on FB by blogger – police investigates'.

On 20 November, Amran who is a personal friend PMed me on FB and asked if I knew Donaldson and if I'd advise him to take down the offensive picture.  He also said, "I really don't want him to get into any trouble, not at this period of time. Tried talking to him but he stand on his believe that he has the right to post things on his wall and that if I don't like it I can take out myself from being his FB friend".

By the time I saw the PM and tried to refer to the offensive picture, FB had already deleted it. Even if FB had deleted the offensive picture, Donaldson had continued to post insensitive comments on his FB justifying his right to post what he did.

When friends cautioned him against such postings and requested him to apologise for bad judgment on his part for re-posting that picture, Donaldson defended his action by continuing to say insensitive things about a particular religion. Although later Donaldson came out to say that he was only "whistle-blowing" and that some others who are Muslims had also posted the same picture on their Facebook but were not accused of trying to create ill will; but when a non-Muslim like him does it, he is accused of inflaming anti-Islam sentiments.

On late Monday afternoon, Amran notified TOC that he had made a police report. When I asked him why he did so, he said that he did it out of frustration as Donaldson continued to offend Islam even after the picture was taken down.

So with a lot of deliberation on the consequences of reporting something like this, TOC decided to go ahead and report it as it is. The main reason TOC decided to publish it was because we considered if we were not to publish that a blogger had offended religious sensitivities, when we had published earlier that a YPAP member and a national serviceman had done so, would it be construed that we were trying to protect one of our own (as Donaldson was formerly a TOC editor)?

Jewel, my daughter is a writer in her own right. I wonder what was the necessity to inject in the NAR article that she is my daughter, except maybe to flame her and me along with her. She only reported the facts, as they were given to her, and NAR being a group blog should know that whatever writers write, has got to be edited (and we adopted the most stringent standard for articles of this nature). So, she is not entirely responsible for the article. The editorial team is equally responsible.

The suggestion in the NAR article that TOC should not report on the article because investigation is ongoing is ingenuous because the media (not just TOC) have reported in the past that police investigations are ongoing in certain cases. An example being Tin Pei Ling being investigated for flouting election regulations (see HERE).

So is the writer from NAR suggesting that TOC should not have reported on Donaldson until investigations are concluded because he is a fellow-blogger, when anyone else including PAP members and national servicemen are fair-game for such reporting?

NAR to suggest in their article that the police reports were politically motivated by a certain opposition political party is even more worrying. Already, the Government is using cases like Donaldson's as an excuse to regulate the internet (see HERE), and now aspersions are cast on opposition political parties - that they practice divisive politics.

The question I have for the other editors of NAR is, did they advise Donaldson to moderate his FB 're-post' considering the ill-will it will generate for NAR? Those in the core team of TOC for example are very careful what we post in our own personal FB, for we are aware that readers will associate personal leanings to official positions. Also, who is 'Jay Sus' (the original poster of the picture)?

But having said all this, let me say here that I do not think that Donaldson is a racist. He could be an idiot - but certainly not a racist. I also certainly do not think that a police report should have been lodged against Donaldson. If Amran had asked me before he made that report if he should do it, I would have advised him against it.

Let me quote the NAR article on what I think about the article on NAR which prompted me to write this blog post - "what separates good editors from the bad ones is the ability to judge which stories deserve the light of the day, and which to turn away or keep in view". .