ALFIAN SA’AT: EDUCATED FOOL
So this is what it has come to.
The Ministry of Education in Singapore may have tendencies towards the authoritarian and the dogmatic, as does everything else in the Singapore government. But they are not that stupid to cease employment to any teacher, relief or otherwise, on the basis of their personal beliefs, at least not at the secondary school level. When we look at a story and determine its heroes and villains, we realize that often it is not a battle of good against “evil” that we look at, but of good against good. Very often with each good subjective. It is always part of history’s greatest tragedies that the good of one fails to become the good of another. Even if both forms of the good are equally valid.
They are however, not wise enough in refusing to disclose more facts about what happened behind Sa’at’s dismissal.
I am inclined to agree that in this case, Sa’at behaved a fool. An educated fool, but a fool nonetheless.
Like it or not, society is a collection of competing interests, especially with the zero-sum game that politics in Singapore has perceptibly become, something believed in both by the rulers and the ruled to the detriment of both, this is hard to see. In this case, it may be easy to see that rather than being an ideological scapegoat, Sa’at was dismissed because he simply did not conduct himself as professionally as he should as a teacher.
Returning to Sa’at’s blog posts, it is easy to see that he displays an attitude towards his students that the Singapore blogosphere should be aware of: that Sa’at is not one of the salt of the earth, but an elite, and his attitude is typical of the elite rather than a commoner.
This entry on his blog was dated 24 April, about two weeks before his dismissal:
I have to admit the frustration I felt when half the time spent in a classroom was spent at raising my voice, issuing stern warnings (a whole spectrum of threats was taught to me by the outgoing relief teacher: confiscating EZ-link cards, making them stay back after school, invoking the names of the Discipline Mistress and the Vice-Principal), pleading for the students to return to their seats. The din from the classroom was overwhelming; a tidal wave of restless yelps, red-faced bully laughter, the wailing of the freshly-smacked…a boy at the back gripped the sides of his table and screamed, ‘I hate History!’ A girl at the side of the class stared at me as if she was putting a hex on me; how in the world did she leave her house in the morning with eyeliner on? A boy ran out of one of the classroom doors and re-entered through the other, as if he was an actor rushing to make an entrance from the opposite wing. A girl was putting some green dye in her mouth, probably Art Class leftovers, and spitting foul green liquid at her classmates. A rosette of lurid green sputum bubbled on her desk. She was like Linda Blair in the Exorcist, but ten times worse, because I couldn’t wave a crucifix at her and make her hair evaporate.
Yes, yes, yes, thinking about your charges as Linda Blair in the exorcist and seeing them as a collection of noble savages is going to win you popularity as a teacher no doubt. Sa’at should thank God that internet access is not a privilege given to many in the social strata that he taught, had any of them seen this blog entry they might not have taken that kindly to him. Maybe the only reason his class adores him may be because they don’t know about the blog. Sa’at has adopted a posture resembling some 19th Century colonial anthropologist among Desert Arabs or on a Pacific Island. Like some cheap B-adventure movie from the 40s, Sa’at redeems his new caught, sullen peoples with the beauty of the arts:
‘Do you know where it is?’ I asked. He nodded. The boy promptly came back, with a mop and bucket, and cleaned up the mess while I resumed teaching. He did everything with stoic professionalism, although I caught him taking a deep breath, hands on his hips, surveying the mess as he brought himself up to the task. He was probably used to doing housework.
This all happened in a sec one class. And at that point I believed that the boy’s initiative, that hands-on spontaneity, was a mark of intelligence. I wished I could have rewarded him in some way for that act. Actually I believe that all the students I teach are intelligent, although perhaps they respond better to visual than auditory input. I have to constantly strain my throat to get them to quieten down, but I realised that when I draw on the whiteboard they are rapt, respectful. And thus I would sketch the faces of Brahmins and Shudras, the four Ministers of the Melakan Sultanate, the Shang dynasty Emperor. I would draw four-clawed dragons, cavemen, even the faces of some of the students, who would blush at the attention. I have had so many requests for drawings: Stamford Raffles, a character called Lady Xin, exhumed from her tomb, from their textbook, and even a hamster. I have complied with all. After lessons, I allow the class to take pictures of the whiteboard, even though I know some teachers impose detention on anybody caught with a handphone in class.
Like some colonial anthropologist, loathe as he is to admit it, Alfian Sa’at is taken surprise by what he perceives as “intelligence”, the fact that he does not appear to have presupposed the presence of intelligence beforehand is a sign of his ultimately condescending attitude that is expressed towards his charges. Framing the narrative of his teaching experiences as a lesson among noble savages and blogging about it, Sa’at has shown that he lacks the necessary comprehension to differentiate between his personal and professional aspects as a teacher. In this manner, he has acted as an educated fool.
I will say it again, should I have been one of his charges and found myself written about in this manner, I would likely not have taken lightly or kindly to it.
We must consider that maybe the Ministry of Education is right this time round. Perhaps it was better that the students that he taught did not have internet access, the reaction should they have read the blog might have been catastrophic for him. Maybe Alfian Sa’at expects his blog to be private, but he has acted like Wee Shu Min in this case, and failed to notice what kind of attention his blog might draw. Just because one of them is a playwright and the other is a student, that does not mean they should be exempt from criticism for acting as educated fools.
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Actually I don’t see anything wrong with his blog entries on his class. It takes a stretch of imagination, a very long stretch actually, to find it objectionable.
sieteocho - June 12, 2007 at 7:40 am
i agree that there is something not right with this brilliant member of our Singaporean society.
There is no need to challenge the system in such a stubborn manner.
Either join it, or fuck it.
B-the-M - June 12, 2007 at 12:41 pm
I’m not exactly sure who you’re referring to as “educated fool”. You yourself or Alfian?
You have to note that these are thoughts going on in his mind as he is teaching the kids. The very fact that he does not vocalize this to the kids already puts him one above the rest. I know of many teachers who spout discouraging words to the schoolchildren, and implant negativity in them from a young tender age.
I’m not sure but Alfian has been in top schools so teaching in a neighbourhood one is understandably a different experience that he was trying to grasp.
Indeed it takes a lot of imagination to think of things in the way you have. I’m sure you’re one of those “think-out-of-the-box” people. Congrats.
Clarence - June 12, 2007 at 1:51 pm
There is everything wrong with the blog entries. Colonialists used to write that way about “local people” too.
That being said, I would be surprised if that was what he was actually fired for. And even if that was the case, he should have been asked to either remove them, or privacy-lock it.
mez9 - June 12, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Well said. Actually, I do believe that he was dismissed because of his rebel background. But he has given the ministry a valid excuse to fire him due to his silly blog entries.
woxy - June 12, 2007 at 3:55 pm
who is the fool here? i don’t find what he blogged about objectionable too. he didn’t include any names.
therese - June 12, 2007 at 4:25 pm
It’s too easy to vault to conclusions as to Sa’at’s “surprise” at the boy’s intelligence from a phrase like “at that point I believed that the boy’s initiative, that hands-on spontaneity, was a mark of intelligence”. Rather, it might be construed as a resigned note that society at large marks intelligence in a wholly different matter.
Mortimer Lang - June 12, 2007 at 4:33 pm
I had some exchange with someone on my blog about this whole issue of writing about my students in an ‘Orientalist’ manner. I thought I’d just like to reproduce my reply to him/her here.
***********
It was not my intention to romanticise the students or cast them as noble savages. They were not ethnographic objects of study, their ‘otherness’ redeemed under my ultimately benevolent gaze. I wrote that after 2 weeks in school, and my only defence is that the time spent was not sufficient for me to completely achieve absolute empathy with the students. I would argue though that the ‘otherness’ I clumsily described was not so much a function of class, but age; I was grappling to reconcile my own experiences of childhood/teenhood with what I was observing around me.
Now, as to your point that it is my ‘blogging about work’ that might have resulted in the termination, it doesn’t really hold water for two main reasons:
1) If ‘blogging about work’ was really the issue, the least MOE could do is to inform me that what I was doing was a transgression of a certain code of conduct. They could actually suggest that I either stop blogging about my experiences in school or remove the offensive posts.
Do note that I had not mentioned either the names of students or classes in the account.
2) More importantly, my dismissal came in the form of ‘rejection of your application for relief teaching’. What this means is that a decision was made my the MOE that was not based on either my work performance nor my blogging activities.
I would like to clarify that I am not comfortable at all in being positioned as a kind of martyr for a cause. The only reason I agreed to publish the correspondence with MOE and to eventually speak to the Press is because I wanted to prompt other people who have had similar experiences with all kinds of bureaucratic firewalls to share their stories. It is unfortunate that in some responses to this whole affair it’s taken on a personality-centred tenor of a David vs Goliath challenge.
I had good grades and have published books before, but these are no guarantee that I was some kind of saviour-teacher, descending upon a neighbourhood school to reform pedagogical practices. All I can say was that I tried my best; I admit to being overwhelmed at times; and I do think your accusation that there was some element of vanity quite off the mark. I had never felt superior to the students nor my fellow colleagues, and in fact did describe how humbling it was to be a relief teacher. I’m afraid your ad hominem insinuations do detract from the actual issue at hand, which is about demanding transparency from a civil service that increasingly sees itself as being exempt from public scrutiny.
Nevertheless, I thank you for voicing your concerns. All the best!
Alfian - June 13, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Hi Alfian,
Are you accusing the Samurai of making ad hominem insinuations? As I recall, he has not raised any issue of “vanity” in his original post. What exactly is the relevance of cut/pasting the entirety of your reply on this blog, to someone else who raised a different set of issues and opinions on your blog?
Akikonomu - June 14, 2007 at 7:57 am
Because, Vernon, I’m too inundated and too lazy to type out yet another reply to speculations that ‘blogging about work’ was what led to the termination/rejection. This speculation, if you will notice, is raised in both samurai’s posting and the response on my blog. I believe there is much relevance in reproducing both points 1) and 2) in countering this whole idea that MOE will move swiftly against any teacher caught writing about his/her students as if they were Gauguinesque Tahitians.
As for ad hominem insinuations, I think it is mischievous to somehow equate my blogging about my students to something tantamount to saying ‘get out of my elite uncaring face’, which is an association made when samurai decided to compare me to Wee Shu Min. Is my presumably ‘elite’ background an issue here? If it is not, then does that not imply some strategy to shift the discussion away from the issue to that of my character?
I quote: “Sa’at is not one of the salt of the earth, but an elite, and his attitude is typical of the elite rather than a commoner.” (By the way, Sa’at is my father, and he is a policeman, of sergeant rank actually, but I won’t resort to accusing samurai of racial ignorance or not getting his facts right : ) ). I don’t think in this particular case I am setting myself up to represent a certain ‘commoner’ constituency, but merely those who have ever found themselves frustrated by bureaucratic non-replies.
At any rate, to call someone a ‘fool’ *is* an attack on the person presenting the issue than a serious discussion of the issue itself.
And if one really needs to nitpick: how about *these* for elitist statements?
“Sa’at should thank God that internet access is not a privilege given to many in the social strata that he taught”
“Perhaps it was better that the students that he taught did not have internet access.”
Where did samurai get these assumptions from? Was it because I taught in a ‘neighbourhood school’?
I appreciate that there are those who try to look for alternative reasons in the face of what they see as a herd-like, reflexive, ‘typical’ response to anything perceived as bullying by the authorities. It is entirely possible that MOE is protecting its students from the trauma of being ensnared in any kind of Swettenham-like rhapsodies. But really, this whole ‘Alfian has no self-reflexivity because he reads Said and writes like an Orientalist=he is somewhat hypocritical=he is a compromised figure=compromised figures should not teach’ is a bit rich.
Alfian - June 14, 2007 at 10:38 am
Dear Alfian,
You are free to condemn the Department of Statistics for their elitist study on internet access of Singaporeans.
http://www.ida.gov.sg/doc/Publications/Publications_Level2/20061205092557/hh06_public_v4.4.pdf
Akikonomu - June 14, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Dear Vernon, and samurai,
I respectfully withdraw from whatever discussion is going on here.
I have come to realise that sometimes there is no getting round people who have fixed ideas about me, even if they have not met me in person to have an open, honest discussion with me.
A 20-year old has just written in to me to inform me that MOE has withdrawn their offer of a place for him in NIE, because during the MOE medical checkup it was revealed that he had declared 302 in the army. MOE’s reason for the rejection was that he was ‘medically unfit’ to be a teacher. The boy has no pre-existing medical condition. The withdrawal of offer was made in the first week of June, after the application deadline for the universities have closed. The boy does not know now what to do now, especially since term is starting soon.
I went public with my own dismissal not to simply surround myself with sympathetic responses, nor to breed conspiracy theories against the bureaucracy and government. I sincerely wanted those who have had similar experiences to know that they are not alone, and to hopefully share their accounts, so perhaps some redress can be sought.
It has not been easy for me to come online and read anything ranging from gay-bashing to speculations on why I had quit medicine to accusations that I am some elitist, disingenuous Orientalist.
But I am grateful for the messages of support and encouragement that I have received, and even more grateful that the boy and many others caught in similar predicaments have written in to me. And I was wrong to feel offended by some of the criticisms that the both of you have made in your respective blogs, because this really isn’t about me. I will have to put aside my ego because I truly believe that there are important tasks at hand.
So I would like to apologise if I have offended the either of you in any way, be it from the naive postings on my blog or the tone I had adopted in mounting a futile defence of my character, or perhaps even some prior incident that have made you so suspicious of my motives and so certain of my fallibility.
I sincerely wish the both of you all the best.
Alfian. : )
Alfian - June 14, 2007 at 5:19 pm
It’s interesting however how some people can accuse others of making ad hominem accusations and then, attacking his perceived ‘elitism’, list down reasons why Alfian Sa’at Cannot Survive As a Teacher. Is this not making ad hominem insinuations on the person himself?
I’ll make it even clearer. ‘Alfian Sa’at is elitist. Thus, he cannot be professionally fit to be a relief teacher.’
If you think that MOE dismissed him just because of his ‘elitist’ attitude, then maybe you are right, because all the elitist teachers are in the elitist institutions breeding more elitists anyway. But of course, since you are convinced that You Are Right, then go on and condemn all the elitists in the world. There should be no elitist teachers, no elitists in the world! So if there is no elite, what is going to happen? Maybe you are slightly leftist (i am not going to call the ISD), but there is no way you can get rid of the elite in ANY society.
That Alfian Sa’at was fired over blog entries, which you believe to be true, is for me really rich. Others are given warnings. So why Alfian Sa’at? Why were there no warnings? Why the summary termination? Because the elite and high-handed decided to sqish a not-so-elite bug?
But before you condemn the elitists, what is elitism? Do you know what an elitist is? Is it simply ‘get out of my elitist uncaring face?’ We (everyone) should get a clear and concise idea of what is elitism before we even start throwing it around! Do you think Alfian Sa’at was elitist in his blog entries? Maybe you do. But do I? I don’t. So i am an elitist swine who deserves to be shot. But really, what is elitism?
I can imagine you taking out phrases like ‘a mark of intelligence’ as a sign of elitism. Has it occured to you that he wrote that for lack of a better word, like ‘initiative’? But well, since you have branded him already, whatever cooks your noodle.
guojun - June 14, 2007 at 7:12 pm
well… i know of many other people whose application to relief teach got rejected. i am one of those. and guess what? i was then studying in university, on a PSC teaching scholarship! and now, i am a teacher. happily corrupting the young, doing an ok job.
so… why did MOE reject me? i have no freaking idea.
rench00 - June 15, 2007 at 1:11 am
rench00 – probably because you were studying in a university, and had to go back when term starts.
sieteocho - June 15, 2007 at 1:42 am
Sieteocho, you have just proved something—the reasons for Alfian’s rejection could be in fact, very mundane. What the MOE is not telling us could in fact, be very mundane too. It was the idea that Alfian was being an ideological scapegoat that was being active in some circles that I was trying to refute.
YOSHITSUNE - June 15, 2007 at 1:49 am
I’ll post here something I put up on akikonomu’s blog.
Reading his blog entries as being condescending is an excessively harsh verdict. To say that about somebody who volunteers to teach in a neighbourhood school at all, when most relief teachers from elite schools would go for the easier option, it doesn’t make sense to me at all .
Now even Edward Said is careful not to paint Orientalism as something wholly negative, because he also thinks the it can teach the occident something about himself through analysing how he views the orient.
You see, in order to pursue this line of argument that Alfian could have been fired for comments made on his blog, you have to show that:
1. The comments that are made are negative. By negative, I don’t mean colonialist. I mean negative. Also that his comments would damage the psyche of the students, the reputation of the students, the reputation of the school, etc etc what not.
2. Anybody else who blogs in this manner would be summarily fired.
3. That his infraction is so bad that even given the presumably laxer standards that would be applied to relief teachers, he would still be fired.
As for points 2 and 3, I could point you to at least one other full time teacher who blogs about work (with arguably a more negative attitude than Alfian’s) and still gets away with it.
There are other comments that you could make about his blog, such as how he might bring attention to how the MOE treats neighbourhood schools shabbily. How he might be a future threat by blogging, or evern worse, by writing a play about it.
But if you read the MOE reply carefully, they didn’t say he did something wrong, they were basically saying he was the wrong sort of person, which is to say they reject him on the grounds of a background check. So even when you take them at their word, it comes down to the predominant interpretation that he’s a dissident playwright and not somebody they’d want as a teacher, not even a relief teacher.
I’ll add this here: so far he’s written about the mischief that his students get up to in class. We’ve all been to school before and we know that fooling around is universal, and even takes place in elite schools (but to a lesser extent.) To make the association that fooling around is a negative portrayal, that is in itself an orientalist mindset.
sieteocho - June 15, 2007 at 1:59 am
It could be mundane: I’d definitely accept a mundane reason. Why not? After all a mundane reason doesn’t smear anyone’s reputation. But an exaggerated reading of his blog by some ppl up there is to me not mundane, and I’d definitely consider a mundane reason when I see one, but I have not.
sieteocho - June 15, 2007 at 2:04 am
“As for points 2 and 3, I could point you to at least one other full time teacher who blogs about work (with arguably a more negative attitude than Alfian’s) and still gets away with it.”
Hi Sieteocho, I wasn’t aware of the blog. Care to point us to it?
Akikonomu - June 15, 2007 at 4:54 am
The version of my comment on yr own blog has the link. But you could also look at this:
http://tomorrow.sg/tag/teacher
and it will show that teachers blogging about work is hardly an isolated phenomenon.
sieteocho - June 15, 2007 at 5:42 am
Ah. I was thinking that you’d actually give us the link to teachers who have actually named themselves and their schools in their blogs.
Akikonomu - June 15, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Gosh, give it a rest already Vernon. Are you going to start a personal witchhunt and start reporting them to MOE?
Anyway, I should have spotted the tell-tale attitude before I foolishly jumped into the fray.
“And if that weren’t enough, remember this is a blog where Alfian Sa’at posts updates on his gay plays, his coterie of hangers-on, his adventures in New York – meeting up with self-exiled dissidents and telling the MDA “Fuck you”.”
Is that what my friends are called? I don’t think any of them will take very kindly to that description of them as leeches who have outstayed their welcome. Why is it always the gay ones who think I don’t have friends, only members of a personal entourage???
Alfian - June 15, 2007 at 8:20 pm
I’ll give you that he named the school. Although enough people read that site that it would have come out some way or another.
I’ll give you that the powers that be (it’s not the school itself that sacked him) are worried about what he might have blogged in the past. (ie his students getting the “wrong message” when they read his blog).
I’ll give you that they’d probably be worried about what he might blog about in the future.
Akikonomu is gay?
sieteocho - June 16, 2007 at 12:58 am
alfian,
“Why is it always the gay ones who think I don’t have friends, only members of a personal entourage???”
Possibly because we know how you work. Note the mention of your posse of ardent devotees, which is public knowledge. This is not to the exclusion of your having friends, of which we know you also have many.
Sik Wee - June 16, 2007 at 7:01 am
And if we’re talking about conspiracy theories, let’s be a little fair. I wouldn’t count against Alfian starting his work in school with half a mind about exactly what was to be done if he were to be terminated for no good reason. You could even say he planned this all along, but everything depends on the MOE making the first misstep of dismissing him unfairly.
sieteocho - June 16, 2007 at 7:07 am
1. Sieteocho, I think we can agree that despite the existence of teacher blogs, there are no teacher bloggers who have revealed their real names, posted pictures of themselves, and identified their schools.
I apologise to you if I made that point in a roundabout manner, but you do get the point. Sadly, Alfian – a brilliant member of his society – doesn’t, and has gone off the deep end accusing me of wanting to start a personal witch hunt.
2. And if we’re talking about conspiracy theories, to elaborate on your scenario, it wouldn’t be surprising if Alfian planned this all along, that he’d come out harshly against any online detractors after they point out that MOE has not made any misstep.
Akikonomu - June 17, 2007 at 12:53 am
Well I also apologise for not realising that you meant that the problem was his naming of the schools, maybe I didn’t see that mentioned anywhere earlier. I thought that your standpoint was that ludicrous assertion that he was a neo colonialist.
I’m not taking the position that the MOE is right. The sacking could at best be a pre-emptive one. And you don’t appear to be starting a witch hunt. At least not yet.
I still think that the main purpose of Alfian’s taking a job as a relief teacher is to see what neighbourhood schools is like. (In other words, the entrapment is always secondary).
Sik Wee, write as well as him, and you might have yr posse of ardent devotees yet. You’re probably one of those clowns who think that an artist can separate his work from his self promotion.
sieteocho - June 17, 2007 at 6:24 pm
sieteocho – not everybody wants an entourage of sycophants.
Sik Wee - June 18, 2007 at 2:16 am
Yeah, but a fan club puts the food on the table for an artist, and everybody wants food on the table.
sieteocho - June 18, 2007 at 2:22 am
Hi Sieteocho,
“You’re probably one … who think that an artist can separate his work from his self promotion.”
But, but
I know Cyril Wong doesn’t do much self-promotion. Neither does he have a posse.
Up-and-coming playwright Ng Yi-sheng doesn’t do self-promotion either. Neither does he have a posse.
I wouldn’t call them clowns, despite how they are achieving their greatness without much self-promotion and collection of hangers-on.
Akikonomu - June 18, 2007 at 4:49 am
Well I don’t know them, only contact I had with Yisheng was when he pipped me to first prize in a play writing competition a long time ago.
But I googled their names and damn, I had to rub my eyes at the number of hits. Where did they come from? The sky? I’m no artist but I know that either these things drop down from the sky for you, or you’re going to have to self promote. Especially if you’re not making a living elsewhere.
As a way of making this discussion more constructive (I know we should be discussing this on your blog but it’s hardly my fault we’re talking here) I’d also like to know just what it is you find objectionable about Alfian’s shall we say hands on approach. Because I can hardly find it in myself to object if certain artists realise that they’re here to communicate to real people, rather than pieces of paper.
sieteocho - June 18, 2007 at 7:36 am
What I found objectionable:
Substantive/primary line
1. As a relief teacher, he blogged about his teaching experience
1a. I believe his description of his students was out of line
1b. The public announcement that he, a relief teacher, was marking the exam scripts of 16 classes – is sufficient cause for his removal.
Secondary line
2. Not only did he blog about his teaching work, he failed to do so in a blog separate from the rest of his non-teaching concerns,
2a. in a blog where he shows off his collection of uncensored DVDs with a caption “Fuck you, MDA!”, where he gives updates on his gay plays, and shows off his posse.
If you like, I can reopen the comments section on my blog post so you can address questions specific to my blog post there.
Akikonomu - June 19, 2007 at 6:22 am
No no no I meant, what do you find objectionable about him having a posse. we all know what your objections to his blog are already.
As for 1b, if anybody else were to write that, you’d probably say they’re just complaining about work. If you can fire a teacher for saying that, I’m sure you can fire all the other teachers who ever complained about how hard they have had to work.
sieteocho - June 19, 2007 at 1:37 pm
My dear Vernon/Akikonomu,
I really hate to do this just to prove a point, but I’d like to direct you to the following:
http://lastboy.blogspot.com
This is one of Ng Yi-Sheng’s many blogs, and this particular one he calls a careerblog. On it you can find reviews of his works and announcements on his latest projects.
http://cyrilwong.livejournal.com
This is Cyril Wong’s blog. There are pictures of other people in there, people who I would safely assume to be his friends rather than members of his posse.
My blog started out as a means of updating my friends on my life. I do not have a posse. I get fan mail, but more often than not I maintain email correspondences with these people and they do not end up being people I hang out with. Among my circle of friends, there are many whose work I love and admire; they are filmmakers, set designers, multimedia artists.
But the very basis of our friendship is quite simple, and fundamental: we enjoy one another’s company. We celebrate one another’s birthdays, we hang out, watch movies, etc. They criticise my work, and I do theirs. My best friend says I should retire from playwriting but that has never made him less of a friend.
I take offence when these same friends are referred to as members of an ‘entourage’, ‘ardent devotees’ or ’sycopanths’. When I put their pictures on my blog, I am commemorating an event, not ’showing off my posse’. I have to set the record straight here, because all these ridiculous assertions regarding ‘hangers-on’ diminishes the very real and very valuable friendships that I have. Out of curiosity, I’d really like to know where all these impressions come from.
Alfian - June 19, 2007 at 8:07 pm
[...] some of the reponses to Alfian Sa’at’s dismissal is a little perturbing. Apparently, these [...]
Blogging about work at Flying Low - June 20, 2007 at 1:39 am
Hi Sieteocho,
“what do you find objectionable about him having a posse. we all know what your objections to his blog are already.”
I have never stated that his having a posse was objectionable – my only mention of his posse in the blog post was only to make point 2a. Other than that, there aren’t any instances where I have mentioned or even passed judgement or mentioned that his posse is objectionable – not even in the comments here.
My only mistake was not to reply to Alfian’s post on 15 June, 8:20 pm. I can see how anyone reading that comment would assume I find something objectionable about his posse. Of course, a cursory inspection of the text he selected and objected to merely shows that it is a statement of 2a, and nothing more.
Akikonomu - June 20, 2007 at 2:12 am
Very nuanced discussion, arguably the best thread from the entire fallout after Tomorrow. I’ve written a response to this, which I hope is equally nuanced. If you are that way inclined, you may read it on my blog.
Regarding Samurai’s use of the word “fool”: I think the usage was hyperbolic. Truth, if it exists at all, lies in the dialectic space between a statement and its antithesis. Better to push at the boundaries of such a space, than to potter about perpetually in the middle.
Anyway, here’s an excerpt of my own entry:
“I am certainly a product of my background and environment; my prejudices run deep and are difficult to shift. There is room for choice, however; I can make the conscious decision to see more of the world out there, to look beyond what has already been presented before me on an EM1 plate, to visit places and demographics outside of my comfort zone. I can also consciously decide to eschew both outright elitism (Wee Shu Min) and overcompensating humility (to a certain extent, Alfian Sa’at, but may I qualify this by saying that I am sure Alfian’s position is a lot more nuanced than this). The undesirability of outright elitism, I think, is clear; Elite Girl will guide you along if you cannot see this poiint. But overcompensating humility? Is there anything wrong in that? I think so. “
thegreatsze - June 20, 2007 at 6:54 am
Damn, I had the impression you’d have preferred Alfian to achieve greatness “without much self-promotion and collection of hangers-on.”
Guess it ain’t offensive to have a life, only to blog about it.
So the next time I call Sik Wee a clown (something which I sorda regret – sorry Sik Wee), don’t put up your hand and say, “me too!”
sieteocho - June 20, 2007 at 7:15 am
Naw, I only mentioned that others have achieved greatness without much self-promotion and collection of hangers-on. Not that it’s better they did so this way. Or worse. Just, different strokes, y’know?
Akikonomu - June 20, 2007 at 8:12 am
troll!
alfian is trolling – and has been trolling since he first joined the discussion by posting a completely irrelevant conversation with someone else. He’s been trolling us with fake outrage (we can tell it’s fake cos while he’s a passable playwright, he’s a lousy actor) over the universal agreement that he has an entourage, fan club, ardent devotees, hangers-on, etc. and now he’s trolling on a new topic!
akikonomu’s sexuality is irrelevant – PLU are a bunch of twits anyway. i don’t see what akikonomu being gay/straight has to do with the issue at hand, so stop trying to distract. besides, alfian’s also as gay as they come, and nobody’s even insinuated that it has any effect on his work (i.e. still not a redeeming factor).
hmm. can anyone say ‘gay troll’?
Sik Wee - June 22, 2007 at 3:48 am
Singaporean in a “I was being rejected for a job” shocker!
Surely this is the first! Its outrageous! Singaporeans have never been rejected by their potential employers for any jobs in history! In this paradise surely this can’t be right?
Wait a minute! I was also rejected during the course of my contract! And I did not even write blog entries about anyone! I am not even a gay! I have no idea why? I did my job well, always on time and even disposed of my coffee cup without a drop of coffee.
Someone I knew was also rejected, Me thinks it was because he has this bad habit of his horrible yellow tie he wore.
Someone told us that it may be because it may be competition from more qualified candidates, or it may maybe that I stepped on the boss’s toes by being too vocal when he wanted to replace my favourite Nescafe with some Owl brand 3-1 coffee. It may be higher management did not fancy me because I wrote a crap resume! I should try for another job blah blah and learn from my mistakes.
But I don’t care! I am in the centre of the world! I am king! They have no right to kick me out, despite the fact that I was not hired technically yet when they ‘fired me’. Even if I am on a ‘trial period’, if I decided to dance down the office wearing nothing but my tie singing “God save the damn Purple Hippo from all Advertisement Departments (Which incidentally I ‘worked for’ “, it is my right! I am the king of the world. If I am bring fired, its discrimination against Purple Hippo lovers!
Damn I am already feeling giddy from the powers bestowed on me by my ego.
J - June 22, 2007 at 4:33 am
OK, maybe he’s a clown after all.
sieteocho - June 22, 2007 at 7:44 am
look to your own red nose first.
Sik Wee - June 22, 2007 at 8:20 am
“As for 1b, if anybody else were to write that, you’d probably say they’re just complaining about work. If you can fire a teacher for saying that, I’m sure you can fire all the other teachers who ever complained about how hard they have had to work.”
Sieteocho, the issue is about non-anonymous blogging of work, and as we’ve both conceded, the universe of teachers who ever complained, non-anonymously, about how hard they had to work consisted of just one member – Alfian Sa’at.
But let’s look back at the complaint post anyway
“red river
I’m a relief teacher.
WHY AM I MARKING THE EXAM SCRIPTS FOR 16 CLASSES????????”
I’m not sure why you’d claim it’s just an innocent complaint. Even Alfian’s readers – surely more sympathetic readers than us – understand the enormity of what Alfian has done. They put it thus:
“u should just get a parent to call in and ‘complain’ that a relief teacher is marking the papers! that will keep the principal occupied for a while.”
“It’s ridiculous to have been given that soooo many classes of exam scripts to mark. What were your superiors thinking?”
A post like this provides ammunition for parents to keep “the principal occupied for a while”. Whether the principal was justified and had the power to make the decision; whether Alfian Sa’at was qualified and authorised to mark exam scripts – the upshot is this post has turned Alfian Sa’at into a liability to his principal, a source of (unwarranted) embarrassment and inconvenience to the school (just imagine irate parents writing to the Forum Page about a relief teacher marking exams and demanding a reply from principal and the proper authorities).
Alfian’s anonymous readers understand this fact, and in their own way, point out the dangers this post poses to the principal and the school.
Akikonomu - June 23, 2007 at 7:24 am
It’s questionable that Alfian wrote his poems intending that they would be analysed, pored over, dissected, the measure and the punctuation debated over by students of prac crit. But that’s what happened anyway. So when it’s a mere blog entry of his, why should I find it remarkable? Next thing you’re going to tell me is that you drink his bathwater.
You can read anything into any given piece of writing if you look hard enough. Some people make a career out of this and you could consider it.
But let’s go back to your argument. Somebody (not necessarily celebrity playwright with posse of admirers, but just anybody) points out that he, as a relief teacher has to mark exams for 16 classes. Is it “dangerous” for him to blog about it? So the principal gets irate complaints from the parents of these schoolkids, whom, according to you, have no access to the internet. But let’s say they complain. What’s the problem? Maybe the principal was not the one who caused the situation, but does he not bear responsibility for the fact that his school is understaffed?
Or would you rather let the situation run its course, to have relief teachers progress to marking scripts for 20, 30 classes? That is not “dangerous”?
But that line of argument is already conceding too much to you. You are making an incredible amount of fuss over 1 banal statement. We are shocked, shocked! to hear that teachers in Singapore are overworked. Look me in the eye and tell me that you are genuinely surprised to hear that. Tell me that he’s saying something none of us already knew. Tell me all the teachers who ever taught you at school are so fit and healthy that you never had a relief teacher, and didn’t know that relief teachers also marked exams.
And naturally because he is overworked, because they are short of staff, they fire him. It’s a very interesting proposition.
As for your assertion that his principal sacked him, Alfian himself mentioned that it was the MOE, not the principal, who sacked him. And that’s what I’m going to believe until I see proof to the contrary.
J – if you read the today article which featured Alfian’s sacking it’s written in there somewhere that relief teachers are almost never sacked or turned down for jobs. The fact that teaching is an understaffed vocation should tell you that it’s a fairly unusual event.
sieteocho - June 23, 2007 at 5:35 pm
It is regrettable that Alfian cannot carry on as a relief teacher but rather guessable as to why this has come about. Assuming that he was not rejected for the normal run-of-the-mill reasons, which is also possible, then the obvious inference is that there must have been some attention directed to his blog or merely to his gay sexuality.
Blogging about his work in that manner already might be grounds to not take him, to say that he must have been rejected on other factors is his intepretation of the situation, based on his reading of the MOE’s letter.
The next reason is of course his gayness, a gay civil servant working amongst adults would obviously be regarded in a different situation as to a gay teacher working closely with young children. Even if this is perfectly harmless, the possible complaints from parents, the fear that such a teacher might be involved in irregular situations with the young students, and the present societal stance on the gay issue simply make it another obvious factor in the situation.
In the end, it seems like Alfian just doesn’t fit the profile of what the MOE wants as a relief teacher.
And thus we are left with the question of whether the MOE should change, or is it simply just Alfian’s problem.
SigmundRingeck - November 14, 2007 at 9:22 pm