A personal experience at Thio Li-Ann’s “New Media Breakfast”
By Timothy Seah
[This article was sent to us and a few other bloggers. The Void Deck had published it earlier yesterday. The event was held on 9 September 2009 and was blogged about by some of its participants]
My Wednesday morning for this week was rather unusual. I had an appointment in a church. It was something called the New Media Breakfast organized by ATRIA and held at the Kum Yan Methodist Church.
I was pleasantly surprised when a generous breakfast of McDonald’s muffins and coffee was indeed served to the mostly Christian crowd which numbered 45-50. They had gathered there to listen to former NMP Prof Thio Li-ann speak on, “Debating Values in the Public Square”, and the soft-launch of Singapore’s latest news hub, Singanews, by its CEO, Mathew Yap. It was publicized as a decidedly Christian affair, held at in a church and presenting the Christian point of view with regards to public space.
Atria on the poster of the event was described as “an interchurch community that works to connect the Church in new media and amplify Christian ministry and enterprise with industry knowledge and capacities.”
According to the introduction by the moderator of the event, Atria was started about a year ago with a bloggers’ conference, and lately it has focused on helping church leaders to connect with the latest happenings on the internet.
The moderator added that although there is a certain degree of negative influence on the internet, Christians need to understand the medium of new media in order to impact the youth.
In addition, Atria acts as a resource space for Christian groups looking at opportunities opening up in the new media. Besides Atria, there were also many members of Singapore Campus Crusade for Christ who were present to promote their recently assembled series of short films.
Debating Values in the Public Space by Thio Li-ann
In a presentation littered with passages from the Bible (it was a church after all), Thio asserted her right as Christian to speak on public issues. She argued that as a Christian, it is part of one’s religious call to articulate their views in public especially on contentious such as casinos, same-sex marriage, euthanasia and stem-cell research. She warned that if Christians do not speak up, others who may hold conflicting views will speak up and forcefully occupy the secular public space, which in fact is what they have already done vociferously.
Thio paralleled Christian activism to salt and light where by salt is the preservative used to preserve the Christian goodness and light exemplifies its visibility to believers as well as non-believers.
Thio warned Christians on dangers of apathy to the public debates that are going on in Singapore. She urged them to speak up peacefully and lawfully, for it is a Christian’s duty to speak for the weak and steer society away from the dangers of immorality.
Invoking the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark where God was so incensed with human corruptions and sins that He flooded world, Thio warned that if Christians remain indifferent to secular trends then Judgment Day might come sooner than expected. She added that God would only listen to the prayers of those who stand up for what they believe in as God does not condone hypocrites who wait for others to speak up or remain indifferent on such urgent issues confronting our society.
Next, Thio attempted to debunk the notion that Christians were trying to impose their values on society. She argued that Christians do not desire a theocracy or a Constitution based on the Bible.
What Christians want, according to Thio, is a democratic debate on public issues where all views are considered and not the present situation whereby Christian views are not tolerated and are shot down as being “imposing” and “irrational”.
Portraying Christianity as a religion that has been targeted and assassinated by secular militants, Thio warned that Christians might face obstacles when participating in public debate as the philosophies of the world is contrary to Christian values but they shall, Thio quoted a Bible passage, “not be held captive to hollow and deceptive philosophies which depend on human traditions and the basic principles of the world rather than our Christ.”
Thio also shared on how she has been maliciously targeted online and had to “turn her cheek” many a times as a good Christian. She commented that Internet is filled with ugliness and misinformation and Christians using new media to debate in public space or proselytize must prioritize truth and remain civil, i.e. do not resort to name calling and character assassination.
Depicting Christianity as a victimized religion, she warned Christians about the difficulties they face, especially on the Internet, as others would invariably paint them as oppressive, emotional and irrational. She added that while Christians are tolerant of others views, the others do not have the same toleration for Christians, which she thought was unfair.
On another front, Thio claimed, Christians face an emergent threat to social harmony whereby a non-religious group uses the religious card on Christians to raise emotions and divert away from the issue at hand.
Thio stated that the AWARE incident was a perfect example where there was no religious issue as it was about a private takeover of a NGO and a debate over public values. But someone threw the religious card into the debate and when that happened all rationality was lost. The non-Christian who threw in the religious card, Thio argued, used religion to incite hatred over a group and such an act was dangerous tantamount to playing with fire.
The same, Thio continued, could be said of TOC when they victimized her (no specifics) by playing the religious card and accused her of imposing her Christian values when she was merely debating on a public values as a citizen. She termed the TOC coverage as a lie and irresponsible reporting and said that TOC was not interested in public debate and was only interested in creating confusion. Thio also used a Latin expression that equated those who create irresponsible internet postings as swine.
Towards the end, Thio was somewhat emotional and questioned the Christians why are they not angry when Christian views are being attacked publicly. If Christians continue to remain silent then their freedom will be lost eventually. She ended by debunking neutrality in politics and urged Christians to take up a position and speak up for the common good.
Singapore’s latest news hub: Singanews
Next on the stage was former ST journalist Mathew Yap, who took the stage to introduce a new online news portal called Singanews. Yap began by stating that Singanews was secular and not just for Christians as it included editors of other religions.
Yap also stated that the idea was not borne out of the AWARE saga as they had already been toying with the idea since mid-90s but they did not have the financial capability then. Yap shared that a group of well-wishers have provided them the seed money but he stopped short of revealing who they were.
Terming it as a social enterprise, Yap said that Singanews would not be able to compete with the mainstream media but rather Singanews could add clarity to the national debate by offering alternative viewpoints and fill in the gaps left by mainstream media which sometimes fails to cover a story due to one reason or another. It did not state if it would advocate a Christian angle as argued by Thio above.
Singanews, Yap added, was possible due to the cheap and readily available technology of Internet and new media such as twitter where citizens are able to “scoop” stories.
Yap took the opportunity to introduce the editorial board of Singanews. Teo Hwee Nak, who is a Christian and former journalist with TODAY, CNA and Lianhe Zaobao. PN Balji, a Hindu, renowned journalist, former MediaCorp Editor and presenter for CNA.
Jeffrey Tsang, former Business Times journalist. Samuel Wong, who was in-charge of Mandarin news and Hiliary Chan, a techie and Malaysian staying in Malacca. Also mentioned but not present was “Wen Hong” and former The New Paper sports journalist Suresh Nair, a Hindu.
Yap also shared his personal history where as a Christian journalist, he faced certain challenges such as climbing up a religious structure to cover a Hindu consecration. He acknowledged that the common space amongst Singaporeans was secular and that journalists, whether Christians or not, should do their job professionally with a clear conscience.
Yap added that because of this he was not afraid to share Singanews with Thio Li-ann. He ended by saying that should the pressmen at the event want to report it, they should do so with consideration and respect.
It was regrettable that Yap could not share more with audience on the roots of Singanews and how it viewed the debate in secular public space in Singapore.
The identities of the financial backing would throw light on the perspectives of the news portal. Perhaps, the choice of stage, companions and location also hints subtly. This could be the first Singapore news portal that was launched in a church.
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XiSd Tay on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 9:24 am
Thio can only talk cock and sing song as usual. Simi she had to turn the other eye on Internet? Rubbish!
Given her mentality and stuck up attitude, she won’t survive a week on the Internet if she starts engaging anybody.
Eric Campbell on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 10:35 am
Hi.
Anyone is free to try to start an info-hub. Its a free internet after all. Only I dont understand what is the point of showcasing the likes of Balji, Teo Hwee Nak, Jeff Tsang etc. Are they supposed to represent some benchmark in terms of credibility? Btw, the earth did not move
how’s that?
We all know, any attempt to fashion an info-hub will go absolutely no where without complementing it with an outfit that is reputed to have integrity, honesty and courage, without something close to the brotherhood press. It will be a real challenge. Only dont hold your breathe.
Fairplayplease on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 10:48 am
Come on ! Respect the richness of diversity. People attend weddings and funerals of other ethnicity and or religions. Are these mob blind???
Can anyone “order” the ( preferred???) “mess” of diversity??? Who says the world is exactly round, flat or square???
Singa on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 11:43 am
Remember, like GopaLAN now, XiSd Tay, is a non-stakeholder writing outside Singapore to sink Singapore (Sinkapore he says).
Baware!
Great Asia on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 11:45 am
“Thio stated that the AWARE incident was a perfect example where there was no religious issue as it was about a private takeover of a NGO and a debate over public values. But someone threw the religious card into the debate and when that happened all rationality was lost. The non-Christian who threw in the religious card, Thio argued, used religion to incite hatred over a group and such an act was dangerous tantamount to playing with fire.”
Ha ha ha!
Bigots are the worst on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 12:32 pm
Bigot – 1. a person who holds blindly and intolerantly to a particular creed, opinion, etc.
2. a narrow-minded, prejudiced person
There are many bigots in any one society. Some bigots cause more harm then others.
An isolated bigot, one with no contact with others would normally do no harm.
A bigot who is a parent will normally pass on their bigotry to their children. So if he/she have more children, then more harm may result.
An idiot who is also a bigot normally would not do much harm. Because others will recognise their idiocy as such and ignore most of what they say.
An educated bigot probably does more harm. He/She would hold a job in an organization but still she will hide her bigotry because she would worry how others view her, until she reached management, of course. She will probably have a close group of friends who have the same intolerance.
A highly educated bigot, now that’s the one you have to worry about. If she holds a high office in the public domain, she may be extremely biased in her decision making towards the group she dislikes.
A highly educated bigot who can scheme and plan actions taking over ‘democracies’ really scares me. She would quietly plan her strategy, getting reinforcement from light-minded bigots and steal elections because the ‘democracies’ were not aware of their plan.
A highly educated bigot belonging to a religious faction is by far the scariest of them all. Any religious faction would have a substantial following. If the highly educated and eloquent bigot were to act, it is way too easy to get a followings. A ‘cult’ if you will.
If such a highly-educated-eloquent-bigot belonging to a religion were to head / mentor a small organization, much harm may be done.
If such a highly-educated-eloquent-bigot belonging to a religion were to head / mentor a big organization, more harm may be done.
If such a highly-educated-eloquent-bigot belonging to a religion were to head / mentor a small country, people she dislikes will really suffer in the country.
If such a highly-educated-eloquent-bigot belonging to a religion were to head / mentor a mid-size country, there will probably be “WAR”.
If such a highly-educated-eloquent-bigot belonging to a religion were to head / mentor a big country, there will probably be “WORLD-WAR”.
gambit on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 2:34 pm
thio-cracy at work again. next
i guess she’s still smarting from the humiliation of NYU. give it a rest, woman. the only one who’s going to burn in hell are the self-appointed, self-righteous prophets of doom
tinky winky on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 3:32 pm
she needs to wear something that doesn’t make her look like a telly tubby
god's name in vain on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 3:58 pm
save 70 cents. The New Paper reported it today
http://i25.tinypic.com/2s93tps.jpg
Singanews have high flyer supporters
1) Matthew Yap
2) Thio Li-Ann
3) Basskaran Nair
4) Lee Chong Kai
5) Victor Ho Kok Yin
thio.. same thio that wanted to take over AWARE right? now want to take over news, wtf?
Holding out for a hero on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 4:50 pm
Remember, like GopaLAN now, XiSd Tay, is a non-stakeholder writing outside Singapore to sink Singapore (Sinkapore he says).
Baware!
Yes, beware indeed! My guess is at least 70% of the so-called contributors here are not related to Singapore. Why the administrators of this website would accept their comments is beyond logic. Unless they (the admin) are non-stakeholder themselves!
Fairplayplease on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 8:05 pm
@ tinky winky on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 3:32 pm …greetings…
THAT IS A GOOD ONE, tinky winky. ROTFLMAO
Not Thio Again! on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 8:39 pm
I think we all have enough of her!
born-again-gay on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 9:48 pm
The whole Thio Li-Ann & NYU fiasco can be summarized by a Texas newspaper, which states :
If you do not bathe, we do not want to learn personal hygiene from you.
Keep in mind : Thio Li-Ann is a woman scorned by the LGBT community, she will always be planning her revenge.
tkb on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 11:44 pm
Entertaining and cringe-worthy though these Thio sagas may be (does anyone know what our dearest Feminist Mentor is up to these days?) it is worthy reminding all of us to be extra vigilant at these threats to social progress, civilisation and human survival.
It may be easy for us to see through their stumbling logic and appalling and deliberate ignorance, the sad thing is their fear/hate mongering and manic desire to force their moral ideals on the rest of society are real and have real tangible effects on the collective well-being of this planet.
Please let us all be vigilant. I do not want to live in the Dark Ages…
tinky winky on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 12:18 am
are these people taking foreign funding from foreign churches?
Skeptical Mind on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 1:30 am
No one is fooled by this pseudo alternative media website.
If they are truly balanced and not just trying to shove their christian agenda down our mouths, then WHY THE HELL ARE THEY INTRODUCING THEMSELVES AT A CHURCH??
And don’t get me started on this mysterious seeding money crap. We all know the christian pockets run deep and that the Thios are funding their fundie activities!
Rainnix on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 3:38 am
Singa news = Teo Hwee Nak, who is a Christian and former journalist with TODAY, CNA and Lianhe Zaobao. PN Balji, a Hindu, renowned journalist, former MediaCorp Editor and presenter for CNA.
Jeffrey Tsang, former Business Times journalist. Samuel Wong, who was in-charge of Mandarin news and Hiliary Chan, a techie and Malaysian staying in Malacca. Also mentioned but not present was “Wen Hong” and former The New Paper sports journalist Suresh Nair, a Hindu.
All from 154th media? No thanks, I won’t be reading this. Any difference from MSM? A Chinese saying for this will be “change soup, never change the ingredients”.
gerrymap on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 9:03 am
Conviction is a good thing. So is Passion and Belief. When one has conviction, based on a belief, and the collective outcome based on experience has been positive, many would want to tell others about it.
How it is communicated by each individual may be different though. Some may do it passionately, another may highlight the experience in written form. Still someone else may just tell family and friends.
Why do we tell other people about our belief concerning a matter or something,or make an effort to give an opinion about a hot subject, or seek a forum of friends and family?
To share, gain support, get acknowledgement, make advocates or convert others around to the same view or belief.
There’s nothing really wrong with that. We can choose to either agree, disagree, debunk the presentation with logic, facts or perspective or simply walk away.
In any relationship, there must be common interests, supported by incentives and some level of aspiration about where it may be going. For the relationship or dialogue to continue fruitfully,and for it to grow, there must be both value and results. And if all goes well further, it is good to close the loop, get others to know about how happy or good everything has been, knowing full well that if they like what you have told them, they will tell others willingly. They become your advocate. That’s the multiplier effect.
So if what someone says is unconvincing, bias or skewed, then like any sales pitch, we can ignore it.
If it’s sound, factual, sensible and heartening, then we can support.
This is all about open, mature and sensible communication and debate. That’s what speaking one’s mind is all about in any situation to gain support and to build advocates.
For many really bad comments posted in the Temasek Review. I simply ignore them.
Unfortunately, there are more people taking swipes then contributing to healthy, sound, sensible debate.
Jason on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 9:56 am
Thio should not talk on behalf of Christians. She doesn’t represent them. Christians are a diverse lot, and we know from reactions coming from the AWARE saga that many of them (exemplified by Gwee Li Sui) do not think like her at all.
abc on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 10:00 am
I wonder if it is some cleric talking of similar content in a mosque, calling for all muslims to get together…that will probably get the govt on its nerves.
thio’s speech simply makes me feel very uncomfortable.
abc on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 10:05 am
“Thio warned Christians on dangers of apathy to the public debates that are going on in Singapore… for it is a Christian’s duty to speak for the weak and steer society away from the dangers of immorality.”
1. apathy? this apathy is nationwide, not only christians.
2. what immorality? speak for the weak? there are rising poverty in singapore, is prof thio speaking for them? there are 50000 people dying of hunger everyday in the world, is she helping? there are people being killed in Darfur, what has she as a christian done for God??
i think she needs to learn more from Mother Theresa.
Fairplayplease on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 11:03 am
@ gerrymap on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 9:03 am ….GREETINGS..
Why not respect diversity? Let each choose what is fulfilling to him or her and accept their preferred divine choice?
A “CONFUSED” Chinese teenager posed me this mind-shaking question which for all my age of experience (and wisdom or foolishness??) cannot answer. He asked
IS GOD MALE OR FEMALE?. If you cannot prove to me, HOW DO I KNOW GOD EXISTS?
I DON’T BELIEVE ANY RELIGION…other than money!!.
My mind just went blank.
Exposer on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 11:13 am
“Remember, like GopaLAN now, XiSd Tay, is a non-stakeholder writing outside Singapore to sink Singapore (Sinkapore he says).”
XiSd Tay is more Singaporean than anyone here. So anyone who criticize Thio of close-mind and lack diversity view are just as guilty of that if he say that XiSd Tay should not comment since he is no longer a Singaporean. XiSd Tay is at least smarter and understand the ground than most Singaporeans.
morris on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 1:05 pm
All that should be said has been said. I feel very sad for her.
fairplay on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 5:14 pm
Holding out for a hero on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 4:50 pm
If not for xISD Tay’s contribution , I wouldn’t have known so much of PAP’s working in the earlier years against activists. So many people had been victimised. I hope xISD Tay can continue to share with us his knowledge.
Anonymous on Mon, 14th Sep 2009 10:34 am
I’m not sure what brand of fundamentalist christianity she is into but she certainly has doomsday-cult tendencies. Noah’s Ark indeed.
Also, I haven’t heard anything from her about publicly opposing the casinos. All too eager to stamp out homosexuals but afraid to speak out against a governmental decision?
Non-Religious on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 9:54 pm
她在歧視那些無宗教信仰者。
她的言辭在利用宗教之名煽動那些與她同宗教信仰的人。
AWARE事件也是她們母女利用那些教堂裏的無辜者的力量來達到她們偏激的自私目的。這是很明顯的。幸運的是她的面具被揭穿！她們母女因此惱羞成怒！多得有互聯網的力量來制衡她們。否則這種宗教極端行爲會危害社會。現在回教極端主義已逐漸消沉，別讓另一種宗教極端主義再擡頭！
在歷史上有過十字軍東征，這是基督教與回教之爭。
唯有佛教尚未捲入這種宗教的漩渦，希望永遠也不會！阿彌陀佛，善哉善哉！
Anonymous on Wed, 16th Sep 2009 12:05 am
“I’m not sure what brand of fundamentalist christianity she is into but she certainly has doomsday-cult tendencies. Noah’s Ark indeed.”
Not very fundamentalist actually. Unless you consider the Bible to be irrelevant to the Christian faith.
“Also, I haven’t heard anything from her about publicly opposing the casinos. All too eager to stamp out homosexuals but afraid to speak out against a governmental decision?”
That was in 2004. She wasn’t NMP then so not so much publicity I think. Regardless, don’t you recall the government consulting all the religious groups and still going ahead despite all of them objecting.
“Thio should not talk on behalf of Christians. She doesn’t represent them. Christians are a diverse lot, and we know from reactions coming from the AWARE saga that many of them (exemplified by Gwee Li Sui) do not think like her at all.”
I don’t think she is trying to speak on their behalf. She’s just trying to tell them what they should do. Nothing wrong with a church leader leading the church right? (in this case nationwide)
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