Monday, October 8, 2012

The Amy Cheong saga… fast and furious, gone the next day!

Based on Yahoo! News

Consider the timeline of events.
Late on Sunday evening: Amy Cheong makes Facebook post
Monday, around 3am: First petition calling for Amy Cheong to be fired springs up on Facebook
7am: Her post starts going viral on Facebook, Twitter and social media
9am: Mainstream, online media and local blog sites begin to pick up on the story
10am: NTUC chief Lim Swee Say makes first public comment
1030am: Police report filed against Amy Cheong by member of the public
1230pm: NTUC issue statement of Cheong's dismissal
Sometime in the afternoon: Vacant position advertised on Jobstreet
530pm: Amy Cheong issues full statement of apology

Think of poor Amy. Within a space of less than 24 hours, her world has collapsed -- she's lost her job, her career, her reputation and maybe even her friends. She is also potentially facing criminal charges and a fine or jail time.
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If you have not heard about this local news in Singapore, you probably go " What the...?"
Well, it all began on last Sunday, Oct 7th. A lady named Amy Cheong had expressed her anger and frustrations by posting her offensive comments on her personal Facebook page regarding another class of population, Malay holding weddings at void decks under HDB flat units.

I just wonder what if:
- Amy Cheong is not the former assistant director of NTUC membership, will this news be as hot as it is?
- Amy Cheong was not giving her racially insensitive remarks on the Malays but the Chinese who also use the void decks for funeral events instead of wedding, will this become a racism issue?
- Amy Cheong did not use %#^*&$# on her remarks but just simply a comment on her personal feelings towards events that are held at the void decks that could cause unpleasantness to some, will this kind of comment be acceptable?
- Amy Cheong is not a Chinese but a Malay, will her comments be considered racist?
- Amy Cheong has her comments spoken at the Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park, will that be an offense?
- what if, what if, what if.......

The above questions are not posted to show my support to Amy Cheong's behaviour. As a matter of fact, I totally despised it because no one should be rude to anyone. Having say that, it does not mean that we could not voice up our opinions, except one should not acts foolishly before giving a thought to every situation.

P.S.
I am curious, if there is a particular department where we can send our posts for screening for sensitivity contents before posting to avoid getting into trouble with the law in Singapore ?

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