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From: CPL (kojakbt22) Dec-12 10:46 pm
To: ALL (1 of 30)
25744.1
Dec 13, 2009
Young PAP bars user from its Facebook page
By Rachel Chang, Political Reporter
The youth wing of the People's Action Party has blocked a 22-year-old project engineer from its Facebook recruitment page.
It has also deleted his posts after a war of words between the two sides last month.
Mr Alex Tan has been banned from the page until he agrees to 'abide by the rules', according to a message sent to him on Nov 29 by the administrators, who are members of the Young PAP (YP).
The ban comes some six months after Mr Tan started posting on the page.
He maintains that he was silenced for his outspoken views against policies like national service (NS) and the Central Provident Fund.
He considers NS unnecessary and harmful to young Singaporean men, and claims that CPF takes away Singaporeans' choice on what to do with their own money.
YP administrators said the Temasek Polytechnic graduate was booted off the page for indulging in name-calling and vulgarities.
Mr Tan's rejoinder is that the flame war was started by YP members.
From his point of view, his discussions with the YP had been proceeding well, with both sides respectful, until early last month.
That was when a YP member posted information on the page that Mr Tan had been put in detention barracks for five days last year, for writing a blog post listing the number of people who have died while serving NS since 2000.
The Singapore Armed Forces has a policy against national servicemen blogging about operational matters.
'I don't deny that I was detained,' Mr Tan said, 'but they should handle me by the content (of my posts), and not my person.'
The YP's side of the story is that it engaged with Mr Tan for a number of months by responding to his various posts on a range of topics.
In fact, Mr Genesis Shen, a 21-year-old law student at the National University of Singapore and moderator of the page, said he and several others were roped in by the YP to reply to Mr Tan's posts.
They were coming very frequently, sometimes as often as every half-hour.
Early last month, the war of words escalated.
'That was when we realised his purpose wasn't to engage us, but to undermine us,' recounted Mr Shen.
Two weeks ago, the decision was made to bar Mr Tan - the first time the YP has banned anyone from its online operations.
The majority of Mr Tan's posts were deleted, but some of the 'more rational' ones were moved onto the discussion board of the Facebook page.
When contacted, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, an MP for Hong Kah GRC and vice-chairman of the YP, said the YP's Facebook page was not controlled by the party's top brass.
'We don't dictate who gets banned,' he said.
He had heard of the case but was not familiar with the details.
'We would not ban someone just for making anti-establishment remarks. It must have been because those remarks were harsh and malicious,' he noted.
Mr Teo Ser Luck, who is chairman of the YP and head of its recruitment arm, could not be reached for comment.
Although Mr Tan has been blocked from the YP's Facebook page, he has not been barred from YP events.
Last Thursday, he was present at a YP dialogue as a guest.
During that event, he challenged two MPs - Mr Christopher de Souza of Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and Mr Sam Tan of Tanjong Pagar GRC - on whether political apathy among Singaporean youth was caused by one-party rule.
Mr Sam Tan gave The Sunday Times his take on the Facebook saga, saying: 'This is a free country. People are free to make a comment. People are also free to not welcome those who they think do not share their ideologies.'
[email protected]
To: ALL (1 of 30)
25744.1
Dec 13, 2009
Young PAP bars user from its Facebook page
By Rachel Chang, Political Reporter
The youth wing of the People's Action Party has blocked a 22-year-old project engineer from its Facebook recruitment page.
It has also deleted his posts after a war of words between the two sides last month.
Mr Alex Tan has been banned from the page until he agrees to 'abide by the rules', according to a message sent to him on Nov 29 by the administrators, who are members of the Young PAP (YP).
The ban comes some six months after Mr Tan started posting on the page.
He maintains that he was silenced for his outspoken views against policies like national service (NS) and the Central Provident Fund.
He considers NS unnecessary and harmful to young Singaporean men, and claims that CPF takes away Singaporeans' choice on what to do with their own money.
YP administrators said the Temasek Polytechnic graduate was booted off the page for indulging in name-calling and vulgarities.
Mr Tan's rejoinder is that the flame war was started by YP members.
From his point of view, his discussions with the YP had been proceeding well, with both sides respectful, until early last month.
That was when a YP member posted information on the page that Mr Tan had been put in detention barracks for five days last year, for writing a blog post listing the number of people who have died while serving NS since 2000.
The Singapore Armed Forces has a policy against national servicemen blogging about operational matters.
'I don't deny that I was detained,' Mr Tan said, 'but they should handle me by the content (of my posts), and not my person.'
The YP's side of the story is that it engaged with Mr Tan for a number of months by responding to his various posts on a range of topics.
In fact, Mr Genesis Shen, a 21-year-old law student at the National University of Singapore and moderator of the page, said he and several others were roped in by the YP to reply to Mr Tan's posts.
They were coming very frequently, sometimes as often as every half-hour.
Early last month, the war of words escalated.
'That was when we realised his purpose wasn't to engage us, but to undermine us,' recounted Mr Shen.
Two weeks ago, the decision was made to bar Mr Tan - the first time the YP has banned anyone from its online operations.
The majority of Mr Tan's posts were deleted, but some of the 'more rational' ones were moved onto the discussion board of the Facebook page.
When contacted, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, an MP for Hong Kah GRC and vice-chairman of the YP, said the YP's Facebook page was not controlled by the party's top brass.
'We don't dictate who gets banned,' he said.
He had heard of the case but was not familiar with the details.
'We would not ban someone just for making anti-establishment remarks. It must have been because those remarks were harsh and malicious,' he noted.
Mr Teo Ser Luck, who is chairman of the YP and head of its recruitment arm, could not be reached for comment.
Although Mr Tan has been blocked from the YP's Facebook page, he has not been barred from YP events.
Last Thursday, he was present at a YP dialogue as a guest.
During that event, he challenged two MPs - Mr Christopher de Souza of Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and Mr Sam Tan of Tanjong Pagar GRC - on whether political apathy among Singaporean youth was caused by one-party rule.
Mr Sam Tan gave The Sunday Times his take on the Facebook saga, saying: 'This is a free country. People are free to make a comment. People are also free to not welcome those who they think do not share their ideologies.'
[email protected]
