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, 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.

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.

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’?

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!”

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. “