Terry Xu has a cat. Its name is Fluffy.
Much like how Fluffy’s name is apt yet unremarkable, its owner calls himself an “average individual”. But unlike Fluffy, Terry is cursed with the desire to help others—or so he tells me.
Having served as Chief Editor of The Online Citizen (TOC) for close to 3 years, Terry has become the de facto face of anti-establishment media in Singapore. Following the General Election in 2015, he was called upon during a post-election forum to shed light on how social media had influenced the outcome of the election.
At the same time, this reputation doesn’t translate into any kind of swagger or antagonistic posturing from the man. Instead, he seems almost devoid of ego. His responses are measured and thoughtful, and he often launches enthusiastically into replies before immediately catching himself, a habit that results in many abrupt pauses that punctuate his speech.
Terry shares that up until he was 21, he struggled very little both academically and financially. As a result, he lived in a kind of bubble that informed his views as a “hardcore PAP supporter”, a fact that led to many heated arguments with his grandfather.
National Service, however, changed everything. He signed on as a regular during Basic Military Training, having rationalised that it was only an additional year and a half, on top of which he would be drawing a full-time salary. After being posted to a Signals unit, he began to notice how many of his superiors who were deserving of merit went unrecognised while others who were less deserving were promoted.
Later on, during an overseas exercise in Thailand, he observed an incident in which an officer was involved*.
It was then that he found himself wondering, “If the officer had actually been a specialist instead, would he have gotten the same kind of treatment? Or would he have actually faced consequences?”
More at
Terry Xu: “I Am Ready to Go to Jail Forever.”
