Are we being too harsh on Ris Low?
September 27th, 2009 | 
Author: From our Correspondent
To foreigners who do not know Singapore very well, they may think of us as a petty, vindictive and shallow people from the way we harangue our Singapore ladies who come out tops in beauty pagaents.
First, it was Rachel Kum who was criticized for her use of an “inappropriate” part of the male body to celebrate her birthday. Next, it was Ris Low who faced the wrath of Singapore netizens with her less than perfect English.
Following the latest sensational revelation that she was once convicted for credit card fraud, she was lampooned once again for her dishonesty and pressurized to give up her Miss Singapore World crown.
It is very easy for all of us to sit back in the comforts of our armchairs and type nasty comments about her in front of the PC under the cloak of anonymity, but how many of us even dare to show our faces to the public and take part in a beauty contest?
It takes a lot of courage and self-confidence to reveal oneself in all its entirety in front of a thousand pairs of critical eyes out there ready to pounce on any slightest flaws one may display.
Ris Low may not exactly be the most ideal and qualified winner for Miss Singapore World, but surely she deserved an applause for her bravery to step forward into the limelight.
As for her past conviction, it is only human to err. Ris had already expressed her remorse for her mistakes. What is done cannot be undone. What else do we expect her to do?
In her own words:
“How many people out there, fully aware of their shortcomings, still dare to stand out to pursue their dreams – and will not back down despite so much pressure? If there are any regrets, I would blame myself for doing those things in the past….. Who does not have a past? Who has never done wrong?”
Before we point our fingers at others, have we really taken a closer look at ourselves? Are we that infallible and immune from blame too?
The only mistake made by Ris Low is that she kept her conviction from the public and the organizers before she won the contest. Had she been perfectly honest and upfront about it, she might have won more support and approval from Singaporeans.
The journalists who spent time and energy to check on her background had an agenda to boost their flagging readership because such sensational news sell.
Let us not join in the media witch-hunt of a fellow Singaporean. Ris Low is only human like every one of us. She did commit an offence, but she was already punished for it. While she may not deserve the crown, it’s quite pointless to add on to all the flak she had received.
Some Singaporeans questioned if Ris Low is fit to represent Singapore in the international Miss World competition given her imperfections and past conviction.
Of course if the ultimate aim lies in winning, then perhaps there are better candidates than her, but then again, winning is not everything in life. It will be a good opportunity for Singaporeans to show their forgiveness and magnanimity by giving Ris Low a second chance in life to fulfil her dreams.
For all the resources the government has spent on the “Yellow Ribbon campaign”, it will be a massive PR coup if it can give extra leeway to Ms Low to enable her to travel to South Africa to participate in the competition.
A gracious society is not simply about courtesy and social etiquettes, it is about understanding, forgiveness and compassion. What message are we sending to others if we continue to punish Ms Low unnecessarily for an offence she had already paid a price for?
To err is only human. Life is never perfect. What is more important is that we learn from our past mistakes and pick ourselves up when we are down.
By having the courage to take part in the Miss Singapore World competition, Ms Low has demonstrated an inner strength, tenacity and resilience seldom seen in young people. Is it right and fair for us to knock her down when she had just stood up?
A little kindness goes a long way. Let us give Ris Low the benefit of the doubt and give our moral support and encouragement to her. She and her family must have suffered enough at the hands of the media during this difficult period of time. We should not continue to add salt to their wounds.
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totally agree!
A very good afternoon to you and all readers. I am a semi retirer.. I have never committed any offend at all except car park fine for more than 50 years here.
But remember .. today is not yesterday years…
No body is perfect… or humans are imperfect at all.
You will not be perfect the moment you “hand over your IC ” and your last birthday.
Just look at yourself in your mirror and the answer is there.
Warmest regards
Haya3188
There is a fine line between good courage and utter shamelessness. At the very least, people who represent our good country Singapore should be sufficiently ARTICULATE. It is good that she stepped up for the challenge, but harsh or not, bad standards have to be cut when it really matters.
While what you brought up is true, that many people just criticize without first reflecting on themselves, we have to look past that at the real issue here. This is our national identity. How can someone who undoubtedly creates a first impression, in i dare say almost everyone, of ‘DUMB’ when she opens her mouth take on such an important role?
I would encourage her to represent Singapore, but only after a good effort to improve her speech abilities so that she can leave a better impression of Singapore on the whole world.
First of all if the person who created the youtube.com about her english no one will really be that bothered about her english. Secondly with her credit card fraud case that she is trying to hide and still participate in beauty contest and prepare to go overseas to participate internationally despite still under 24 months probabation does not show that she feel her responsibility to finish up her probation before joining. Again now with latest news she has bipolar ? She should not join any beauty contest to start with. Her parents I cannot understand what they are thinking to allow her to participate when she was not stable. She should go through more counselling before she think of going overseas that may further put her under stress and her bipolar get even more serious.
Re: “To foreigners who do not know Singapore very well, they may think of us as a petty, vindictive and shallow people from the way we harangue our Singapore ladies who come out tops in beauty pagaents.”
To locals who know better, but strongly condemn this aspect of Singaporean – why don’t we NOT soften the blow and call it Chinese? – behaviour, we know that this is the typical visciousness of this group of Singaporeans.
This site attracts it’s fair share of such barbaric persons.
Get over with this stupid story.
There are other more important things to talk about other than “a Miss Singapore who bares her body for the world to see and committed a crime (credit card fraud).”
its not abt being harsh, it’s a matter of principles
This beautiful lady deserves every citizen’s support
We have corruption stealing and plunder by the rich to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars all over the world since time immemorial, Singapore included !?
Here we have a poor girl who after some mistakes in her growing years, now is being stigmatised by certains groups who think they are perfect
By the way, nobody’s perfect
Today, you might think your only inperfection, througout your life, was a parking offence but tommorrow you can commit murder
Please be careful. This lady is brave, beautiful and a hundred other good things you can say about someone
Never judge someone, who might be a purified soul
It’s everybodies responsibility to self-purify
Let this beautifiul purified(she paid for her mistakes) soul go to the finals
She is an inspiration for the downtrodden
I’m sure she will come in TOP TEN in the finals
She is going to do Singapore proud
I think the problem is not Singaporeans being too harsh but rather the lack of preparation these contestants have. Yes, Riz Low is a lot like the common girl on the street, human. But we don’t watch beauty contests to nominate humans to represent us. Being exposed and criticised by the mass media is an occupational hazard all public figures have to undergo. Would-be fame seekers have been duly warned… What we need are professionals who are willing and able to go through PR, communications and psychological training to survive in this career choice.
my first response to this incident is beauty pageants are just money makers. i mean, people like to see pretty girls, pretty girls like to get attention and besides, there’s money. viewership is guaranteed, means advertising dollars, and tourism boost for the organizing country.
if i were to just forget about all that and really think if she deserves to represent singapore, my thoughts would be….
singlish is okay, if the judges do not understand her, she can get a translator.
her inarticulateness doesn’t really suggest that she’s not intelligent. she’s quite a delight to watch wat. i think she’s just not used to talking to the media. if english is not her fluent language then don’t use it lah, unless there’s stipulated clause from the singapore organizers.
she committed theft and all sorts of things… a lot of ppl say cannot lah, how can represent singapore like this….but if you think about it, would people say singapore is a country of thieves just because our ris low was an offender. or would they say ‘ wah not bad ah this country, very forgiving leh, commit theft still can get to represent singapore.
i have a feeling a lot of singapore just don’t like her anyway, because of her speech and singlish , so whatever theft and stuff just added to the fuel.
The world is round but NOT EXACTLY round. Leave her the chance to take the stage and find her own destiny. Each of us got our own stage to find our success and destiny, haven’t we?
Why the sudden out pour of sympathy, compassion and forgiveness? Pressured to be the “nice person” who is forgiving just because of a reverse psychology trick?
My God! This is your national identity you are talking about. Singapore is sending a person who is DISHONEST, UNCOUTH and UNEDUCATED to REPRESENT Singapore…
Personally, nobody could not care less than she cannot speak well, does not look 1/10 as pretty as Rachel Kum and is a convicted criminal. BUT NOT when she is representing a country.
Geeze.. Singaporean are truly dumb and deserves every crap the Gov stuff down their throats.
If Ris Low is the epitome of “beauty and intelligence” (a representation of the crown she is wearing), then Singapore is truly without talents. Singapore needs to import more FT than before to replace all you dumb ass Singaporeans.
I must be right.. just look at Singapore idol? It is so sub-standard that the winners would probably fail to qualify for the audition rounds of Australian and American idols.
Ris Low, for all her weakness, should have gracefully given up the crown. Why would she continue to pursue this when she knows that she (and all the people she represents) will be ridiculed in the Miss World pageant?
Dumb ass Singaporeans.
let he who never sin before cast the first stone.
i totally agree.. i committed a crime when i was just 14 and i got probation.. i hope that i would not get the same treatment as Ris in the future..
That’s exactly what it is: Chinese.
HK tabloids are even more vicious.
Sorry… I can’t support Ris Low. She has to face the consequences of her naiveness. Reality dictates that she has to exit gracefully.
To flay,
How can Singaporeans criticize her articulacy, when the standard of English in Singapore itself, in general, is not of the highest standard. Even in the article above which I assume is written by a professional journalist, I can see at least two grammatical errors, and I find this is not uncommon on articles written by journalists on this website.
Perhaps her English is below the standard of the average Singaporean, but on the other hand, she is also a product of this society, so perhaps this should be a time for reflection on the state of English in Singapore, rather than a time to blame particular individuals for their poor standard of English.
One thing i can say is – given the same situation, most people
would just clammed up and hide at home ! I do think it takes alot of courage to face up to all the critics !
Maybe some good can come out of this !
Take for example, another celebrity who spent time in prison, is now the toast of the town – feted on TV every other day,
whiter than white !
对牛弹琴.
She will be the aspirations of every young Singaporeans. Imagine what message will we be sending? You can commit crime and get away with it? Good thinking Singapore.
It is not Ris Low’s fault that she cannot speak or write as well as Shakespeare.
But it is the event organizers and judges’ fault for choosing her as the winner, and subsequently insisting that she speaks just like any other Singaporean.
Ris High said: She will be the aspirations of every young Singaporeans. Imagine what message will we be sending? You can commit crime and get away with it? Good thinking Singapore.
You are wrong there. Ris Low did NOT get away with the crimes she committed. She was charged in court as will be with other young offenders and offered probation.
Hi there ,Im Singaporean,I only have this to say
I hope the organisers realise in their comment made in her defence has only made matters worse ,many of you may want to defend her ,its only natural that there are both sides to the fan club.
However it does not deviate from the fact that she is a petty thief and that she is going to be an ambassador of our country.
I cannot understand how Singaporean people can stand by and watch this fiasco.
In any game there are rules,she lost, plain and simple!
Noob, we do not need illegitimate motherf**king inbred degenerate foreign turdballs like YOU. All we need is to develop our OWN talents, something the stupid government refuses to do, except for their own elite children.
If you are even a fraction as good as you think you are, why don’t you return back to that shitpile you call a homeland to make a name for yourself instead of coming here on favorable conditions imposed by the government against the wishes of the people? It’s because the likes of brainless, talentless garbage like YOU cannot survive genuine competition, so you have to go where it’s skewed in your favor, that’s why!!!!
If we can allow a Traitor to run our country for 40 odd years, this Ris Low case is nothing la.
So all the hypocrite out there, please STFU!
Darth Vader, grow up… Your incoherent argument and assumptions of what you know about me and why I am here is a clear demonstration of jealousy and your immaturity.
Regardless of what I am doing here.. let me ask you “What the fuck can you do?”
With trash like you, who needs Ris Low? No wonder your government is desperately seeking foreigners to help set your ass on fire. Your government is smart enough to recognize that it is a futile attempt to recycle trash like you into talents. It would be more economical to import them.
We may not be the top grade in our own country; I admit. But we are definitely light years ahead of junk grades like yourself.
And you are right.. with folks like you around, Singapore is definitely skewed in my (our) favor.
I think this is a small matter and we should move on to issues that affect citizens and the country.
Yes, she made a faux pas. but humans cannot be perfect. We each also have made a faux pas in other times in our lives if not in future.
the important thing to note is that she did the mistaken HONESTLY. Would she purposely do what she boomzed to sabo herself?
There those who did a mistake but find all ways to cover up and never take responsibility for FIASCOS. These are the ones who deserve to be punished by society.
Lets not waste time on trivial matters like the above. I am sure many of us do not command perfect english either. At least we don’t speak as well as a British scholar, writer or columnists.
Lets also not insult ourselves by being so mean that we indirectly revealed our inability to emphatise or show compassion.
There seems to a quite a number of self-appointed divine here, seemingly irreconcialable of rehabiliation of their own warped mind of overtly vindictiveness and contradictory saintly judgements.
Ris Low has already been punished in legal denunciation, and under supervision. Surely that is deterrence from further prospects of her wrong-doing which she has owned up of her youthful indiscretion. She lost her job but repaid some of damage caused and in self-rehabitation of studying for a future.
Is there a compelling need to punish her TWICE by insisting on a vindictive bent? For those divine minds hell bent on exacting of retribution, I have a simple question for you – did her punishment appropriately match the seriousness of crime committed and the damage caused to community?
Is this an offence she erred a crime against humanity or crime of terrorism that we need to exterminate her life and future to satisfy lusts for revenge? Are there not more serious crime committed by those residing in Changi Prison now?. If Ris Low wrongdoing is much less serious and still worthy of exacting vindictiveness, then why don’t all those self-appointed divine judge of morality GO into Changi Prison and beat up into vegetable states all its inhabitants for a good measure of proving their holier-than-thou mentality?
She is on the path to rehabilitation, and wants the opportunity to try for a stage to advance her life further, couldn’t this little nation of us be a little bit more tolerant, compassionate, understanding and facilitating of her CHOSEN PATH OF REHABILITATION.
Those of you behaving as self-appointed guardian of morality, are demanding the pageant organisation play God when your own morality compass is lost in the darkness of insanely stupid brutality of blind vengeance. You make me PUKE!
Is this not true?
First of all, i doubt it was bravery or confidence that made her participate. It was for fame and attention that she wanted (and has since gotten) !
Secondly, i’m suprised her offences didnt land her in jail. Perhaps her “bipolar disorder” got her off the hook. Let me pose this qn to you : Without such a disorder, would her offence of credit card fraud deserved a jail sentence ? why is it that other singaporeans convicted of fraud are behind bars yet this “beauty queen” is not ?
Thirdly, if she really has “bipolar disorder”, shouldn’t she be banned from participating in the highly stressful Miss Universe competition as it may be detrimental to her mental health ?
This isn’t about taking the moral high ground or about forgiveness.
Its all about an ambitious, remorseless lady with bipolar disorder digging a hole deeper and deeper for herself that she may never ever climb out of.
The best we can do for her is to send her to Woodbridge for some medical attention. Let’s setup the Ris Low Woodbridge Fund on Facehook !
3wisemen said: i’m suprised her offences didnt land her in jail. Perhaps her “bipolar disorder” got her off the hook. Let me pose this qn to you : Without such a disorder, would her offence of credit card fraud deserved a jail sentence ? why is it that other singaporeans convicted of fraud are behind bars yet this “beauty queen” is not ?
You are sadly wrong and mistaken. It is allowed under the law and a common practise for Judges to award YOUNG offenders probation so as not to destroy their future and allow them a 2nd chance in life. This applies to almost all the offences, excluding some hardcore offences like murder or trafficking.
Ris Low did what she did when she was young and got probation. Whatever it is, she got her probation and is still serving it, should we all not give her a 2nd chance in life?
True that; everyone makes mistakes. But even if we were to put her credit card fraud issue aside, it is still a matter of fact that her english are not up to standards for the title. Seriously, people may try to speak up and say “oh beauty comes from within” but hello, she is representing Singapore and in this world, everyone is VERY practical. What’s beauty without looks? What’s looks without talents? And the very truth that she can’t even speak well; she shouldn’t be representing Singapore, really.
Yes I agree that some people may be too harsh on her but come on, who, upon seeing her interview doesn’t shake their heads in disappointment (at the very least)? I bet no one’s satisfied at her performance.
Leave all the offenses, bipolar disorder issues aside. Even if she has the cleanest past records ever, and free of that disorder, she’s just not cut for the title. The point here is she is REPRESENTING Singapore, how will the world see us as? As a matter of fact I really don’t know how she got to the first place and along with that winning other awards in that competition.
I’m not a hater nor am I ‘anti-Ris Low’. I just don’t get the part where she is actually crowned Miss World Singapore.
noob
If Ris Low is the epitome of “beauty and intelligence” (a representation of the crown she is wearing), then Singapore is truly without talents. Singapore needs to import more FT than before to replace all you dumb ass Singaporeans.
i hardly think the winner of a beauty contest, including miss world and what not, as epitomizing beauty and intelligence. there are people who are beautiful and intelligent but who don’t care for contests. who don’t care for walking around on stage in bikinis. who don’t need that kind of attention. unless one widens the range of what beauty and intelligence entails.
i am beginning to feel that in some portion the outrage expressed here is directly proportional to the perceived tonnage of importance of such beauty contest.
people feel ashamed that ris is representing singapore. let me ask these people. if people are so stupid that they inflate the representational importance of beauty contest and further, extrapolate that character of the representative, not to say she has a bad one but just assuming, to that of the rest of the populace, then why care for such opinions of stupid people, unless you are blindly stupid yourself. that said, choiceless stupidity i would still forgive but if stupid people spout rubbish and become so noisy that they interfere with other people, stupid or intelligent, then maybe a debate about the definition of stupidity is in place.
your turn.
Some divine police obviously won’t miss this chance to play witch doctor spewing malicious thoughts and even accusation of imagined further wrong-doing (yet-to-eventuate) in cyberspace. Puke! Puke! and Puke again.
[...#gambit on Sun, 27th Sep 2009 12:56 pm
its not abt being harsh, it’s a matter of principles... ]
Your perspective is too miniscule. Come on, give the poor lovely lass a break. she’s not all that bad.
Moral principles apply to all levels of society, not just petty ‘kachang puteh’ innocents like her.
If the overwhelming influences in a society are already moving in an undesirable direction, why only pick on her and penalise her by condemning her forever? Please don’t pick on her.
Ultimately the question we want to debate is whether the standards for Miss Singapore World should be set a little higher than someone convicted of fraud and with such poor speech skills.
If you’re answer is no, she should still be given the chance, then good for her. But then going by that logic we should allow everyone the chance to be anything then, regardless of their capabilities, background or personality. Would you want to be treated by an incompetent doctor?
By saying that she is not fit to be Miss Singapore World does not detract from her courage to participate in the pageant. (Or was it a lack of insight?) Stripping her of the title and preventing her from representing the country at an internation competition does not deny her a second chance in life. She has no criminal record and will have no trouble finding gainful employment after her studies. Do not conflate these issues.
As a side note, she did inform the organisers of her conviction prior to the commencement of the competition. Their response was to keep it quiet and hope that the public wouldn’t find out. This is tantamount to intentionally deceiving the judges and the public. Had she been upfront about it she could have turned it into a boon by saying she had learnt a good lesson, advocate staying away from crime etc.
Nobody is perfect.
Give her 2nd chance and even 3rd chance.
You girls made it sound as if Ris committed the crime when she was 3 years old.
Can you all focus for a little and see that she was only convicted in May (4 months ago)?
It’s not about moral compass, being more “divine”, or righteousness. As one comment put it, most people wouldn’t care any less and I bet 99% of us are forgiving to the theft she has committed.
The issue here is.. do we really want her to represent Singapore? Do we really have no other choices?
For all those campaigning that we be magnanimous, forgive her and support her crowning.. branding those who do not share your views as vicious, playing God and “lost in the darkness of insanely stupid brutality of vengeance”.. are you not trying to be “divine” and “holier than thou” but as a result, missed the whole grand picture? Who are you to judge that those who are true our feelings (that we do not support her crowning) are evil and unforgiving? Pick your fight carefully for you’ve chosen to support stupidity out of the sheer vanity to display your outright, all encompassing compassion.
Your self righteousness make me puke.
Darth Vadar,
You’ve just admitted that Singaporeans are worse than brainless, talentless garbage. Anger reduces one’s intelligence.
Stick to the topic.. it’s about Ris Low. Bashing BT is about thread on it’s own.
HELLO! SHE STOLE SEVEN CREDIT CARDS, NOT ONE OR TWO!!!
Do you call that naive? She was simply lucky being a minor to get such light punishment. And blame it what “bi-polar disorder”??? Full of crab!!!
What courage? Look at the interview and you know she belongs to the group that wants to be popular and ‘glamourous’. Dont start telling people about admiring the courage etc. This is not the 70s or 80s where people are shy and hiding away and thinking being on limelight is something that needs huge courage. Where have you been??? This is entirely 2 different topics, the fact is she is representing a country at international ground. Just solely looking at that fact alone, if you still think having the courage is enough to justify everything she has done…then bravo, you can probably be a judge too. She’d probably be crowned Miss World 2009. I’m not trying to push her down, dont get me wrong. Support and encouragement to her can be done at the personal level. She’s just not fit to represent a nation, at least not at this time and on such an event.
Come on lah. Its not as if she knocked someone on the head, murdered her and ate her, then stripped her flesh off to make a hand bag.
I mean using stolen credit cards to buy something as traceable as mobile phones is like using a rubber banana to stick up a petrol kiosk. Cant be a real crime, its just really dumb thats all. My point is she is no threat to society.
Besides she is squaring off her accounts with society. The real hypocrites here are the press. They set up this whole game from start to finish; they battle tasted the readers first; then they dropped the bomb shell.
We all know they have no guts to go after the real “criminals” ; so what else can they do put go after defenceless Ah Lians.
SD (Internet Liaison officer of the brotherhood)
… vicious, playing God and “lost in the darkness of insanely stupid brutality of vengeance”.. OR
are you not trying to be “divine” and “holier than thou” but as a result, missed the whole grand picture?
Punishment of wrongdoing in crime – universally except in radical jurisdictions – I believe aims to achieve one or a combination of these objectives
- retribution
- deterrence
- rehabilitation
All three objectives have already been achieved.
Retribution? Already has a stained mark in record, loss her job, difficult to get reference after this publicity, probation and supervision to comply. Is this not sufficient, why don’t you petition the President to bring her to YOUR GALLOW hanged her to dance on the end of the rope until the oxygen of her life is snuffed out and then goes out to a public forum and ask for clapping hands. Let me see how many will be in favour of your kind of disproportionate cruelty in relation to your perceived level of crime.
deterrence – life behaviour is on notice and on watch. Violation of conditions risks unravelling the 2nd chance given to her. It completely befuddles my dumb intelligence that someone could make such a wild allegation as……Its all about an ambitious, remorseless lady with bipolar disorder digging a hole deeper and deeper for herself that she may never ever climb out of…..” Has Ris started “digging a hole deeper and deeper for herself that she may never ever climb out of ? Or is this recklessly false yet to happen allegation a definitive proof of the accuser’s being or having been “lost in the darkness of insanely stupid brutality of vengeance”..” DOES THE INSANITY OF HATE KNOWS ITS OWN INSANITY OF VICIOUS ATTACKS??
Rehabilitation – Ris is back to education. MSM says that she gave back part of the money she spent. She has turned the corner. If anyone wants to stop or pulled her back on this rehabilitation trail, is it not proof of your vindictiveness instead of FACILITATING her rehabilitation path to life normalcy. Haven’t you people read in the papers lawyers squandered client’s money in millions and worse unsavory conduct in the corporate world? How many do you want to be hanged to satisfy your lust for vengeance and brutality AS YOUR PREFERRED CRITERIA AND UNIQUE JUSTIFICATION AND OBJECTIVES OF PUNISHMENT FOR THOSE WHO OFFENDS THE LAW?
Or in place of my all encompassing compassion, perhaps your TRIBALISM OF MOB LYNCHING IS YOUR SENSE OF QUICK ROUGH JUSTICE
that rule this world.
Ask how many sane minds PUKE at your insanely maniac world of violent thought and behaviour! STUPID!!
Anonymous.. is there someone here asking Ris to be punished/jailed and suffer enormously painful retribution for her petty crime?
No.. we’re just stating that she is not fit to represent Singapore in the Miss World pageant.
If your English is only slightly better than Ris, you would have comprehended this.
Yeah right.. mob lynching.. so colorful.
She said her crime was “unintentional”
Since when has credit card fraud been “unintentional”?
Shows she has not realised what she did. Or mabe she will say anything.
Sorry, no way she shld rep S’pore. BTW I tot her ‘poor” English shld NOT have disqualified her from rep S’pore.
missed the whole grand picture?
Who missed the whole grand picture?
Only one dimension – hurtful unfounded vindictive allegation..digging deeper and deeper for herself that she may never ever climb out of…..”
And now the storyline changed! ….. we’re just stating that she is not fit to represent Singapore in the Miss World pageant….What happened to those hypocrtical attacks like….
“you’ve chosen to support stupidity out of the sheer vanity to display your outright, all encompassing compassion….” ALSO EVAPORATED INTO THE THIN AIR OF UTTER HYPOCRISY????
My English better than her? I failed my “O” level, how do you know?
I am sure my thought process is clearer than those mindless warped mindset trapped in the perverse and INSANITY OF HATE that KNOWS none of ITS OWN INSANITY OF VICIOUS ATTACKS.
And now playing God’s God to demand the pageant organisser play your tune of YOUR DEMAND THAT they play “GOD’s” will and judgement to turn the clock backward in Ris life and pull out the rug under her feet of walking the path to rehabilitation. You all wants to be a medical doctor of witch intelligence to decide she is ‘unfit” for an opportunity she won on skills assessed IRRELEVANT to your hate-filled abusive attacks here AFTER she won the contest?
How pathetic of your hate world can sink to and the trash of public attention you crave for by your sickly vision of “whole grand picture” of complete blindness of sanity and proportion?
Cheap tribalism of mob lynching and killing fields. You should go starve in Africa and learn a little bit of low morality of self-respect before coming back to post any more of your trash henceforth.
STUPID!!!!!
v
Ultimately the question we want to debate is whether the standards for Miss Singapore World should be set a little higher than someone convicted of fraud and with such poor speech skills.
If you’re answer is no, she should still be given the chance, then good for her. But then going by that logic we should allow everyone the chance to be anything then, regardless of their capabilities, background or personality. Would you want to be treated by an incompetent doctor?
going by that logic…huh? how is representing singapore in a miss world contest the same as being a doctor competent enough to heal patients?
one is a representation, one is a profession. in a profession, the skills required thereof must be ensured.
what is required of a miss world representative will depend on what miss world competition is all about?
so my question to you is, what do you think it is about?
“We may not be the top grade in our own country; I admit. But we are definitely light years ahead of junk grades like yourself.”
Please lah, all these FT morons who think they are Einsteins and Singaporeans are junk balek kampung, even it is across a narrow strip of sea.
Reminds me of some people of a certain race I personally know in a neighboring country who cant even assemble an Ikea furniture. These people need to be cajoled constantly as a whole they are smarter than people of another race.
We can live in denial like minorities of a certain crutch mentality in a neighboring country who blames everything wrong in their country on unequal PRIVILEGES and belittling their much more talented and smart countrymen of a different race OR do something concrete to improve ourselves. Like voting for example. Stupidity is doing the wrong thing, time after time, despite proven evidence to the contrary.
Ris Low can withdraw from this competition, and take part in Miss Universe instead in another year after intensive classes etc.
Why is everybody not happy with Ris Low?
She’s not your enemy, is she?
Did she raise the HDB flat prices or your COE?
She is also living under the high cost of living in singapore
She also not chinagirl, why so angry with her?
Cannot understand…
people dislike her more than the miw…!!
old people like me cannot understand how young people see young …!!
english not very good, never mind.
ang moh also know singapore english is like that.
even you speak very good english with ang moh, they also like to sometimes pretend they cannot understand you..!!
you want to be ang moh kia or what?
cannot find fault with her body so find fault with her words..
Why people like that now..
Sheldon, you asked the right question. It is about the world is round but NOT EXACTLY round. Even doctors missed diagnosis and recommended aggressive treatment procedures when less evasive solution and a little patient wait sometimes did turned an adverse condition around. In simple truths,doctors, preachers, Presidents and Prime Ministers and the law are all not “Gods”. Let us move on beyond the pale of petty gripes for ticklish perfection and drama of sensationalism.
There is a “SCAPEGOAT PREFERENCE” in every part of the world. In Singapore, it just happens to be a particular female media personality every season.
Singapore just loves to criticize their women to death.
In Singapore, the women are Never Good Enough.
Never SLIM enough (like those severely photoshopped slimming center ads)
Never FAIR-SKIN enough (must out-pale Lindsay Lohan or East Asian Actresses)
Never HOT-BOD enough (must be pole-dance-fit to inspire flabby SG males into action)
Never WENT-TO-BEST-GIRL-SCHOOL enough (Must speak UPTIGHTTTT English to make uppity Singapore male partners feel more like white gods by association)
Never COSMOPOLITAN enough (Must out-do all hardcore Orchard shopping queens in correct brand name pronunciation)
Never NICE and OBEDIENT enough (must outdo the imported regional waitresses)
Never PURE enough (must over-apologize and show great remorse and volunteer harsh self-punishment for petty sins)
Never VIRGINAL enough (must not show desire towards for young, virile, fitter, sportier, FOREIGN males)
Never CHEAP enough (Shopping habit must be bench-marked against Vietnamese mail order wives or regional maids)
And in Ris’s case, not pretty/fat/thin/classy/young/old/whatever enough for the over-achieving self-loathing Singaporean females and their flabby armchair prince who really should buy themselves some overpriced Japanese princess or Myammar babysitter.
No loss for the made-in-Singapore girls in the long run. All this excessive disciplining will eventually make these girls the Most Competitive Export to the world.
The Singaporean females who nitpick at Ris (or other beauty queens and celebrities) are so STUPID.
1) These women are “trashing” their own national brand and own value as export
2) These supposedly educated women are perpetuating the already skewed male-biased double standards Singapore women have been living (and suffering) under
On a more practical, gender-neutral note, why can’t myopic Singaporeans learn from China who could sell the average-looking Zhang ZiYi for such high price and returns. Initially Asian females were very harsh against Ziyi too, envious of her “undeserved” success. But eventually, ethnic Chinese females see the light. Now both gender stop bashing Ziyi.
Dear Singapore, THINK about it – if you could sell second grade silk for $200, imagine what profit you can make for first grade silk!
Hyping and exporting average silk while keeping the best for your domestic appreciation and consumption, is smart.
Bashing a good-enough export like Ris to pieces, is stupid economy.
“Never VIRGINAL enough (must not show desire towards for young, virile, fitter, sportier, FOREIGN males)”
You mean desire for older, uglier, fatter, BUT richer FOREIGN males. I see many more of them in the streets than the above mentioned. I think those angmoh who are like Brad Pitt prefer their own kind like Angelina Jolie.
“Never FAIR-SKIN enough (must out-pale Lindsay Lohan or East Asian Actresses)”
Thats racist, there are many hot Indian Singaporean girls.
What other country would select a girl with poor language skills and a credit card fraud to be their ambassador?
Please folks…
Let’s give Ms Ris Low a break and support her as she represents singapore and all of us in a way…
nobody is perfect…even when she screws up, at least she has the courage to come clean…
unlike our so called overpaid ministers who know how to wayang when screw up, sayang “over-talented” foreigners, justtify their ridiculious pay and tell us to lower our pay and expectations, further step on our local citizens by milking and working them to death, told that we are quitters or whiners, idiotic self-servcing policies to the detriment of singapore and its local citizens etc etc…
while netizens [plus me right now] blog/whine over Ms Ris Low…come on folks….nobody is perfect but respect here at least for honesty and courage….or you prefer to her to be like our local politician…who can look at you straight in the face and still lie to you…please folks let us stay focus on singapore our country and our local citizens.
Hey Noob,
You said, “Singapore is sending a person who is DISHONEST, UNCOUTH and UNEDUCATED to REPRESENT Singapore…” My counter to this is that, after 10 years in Singapore, you couldn’t have picked someone more representative of the nation.
It’s time to dispel the myths, Singapore.
Meh thinks the issue is not about her speaking improper English. Rather, it’s because her standard of english is SUBPAR. The issue is not the Singlish. It’s because most of us do not understand WTF she was muttering in front of the camera. Perhaps that should be the focus. She does not even represent the population of Singapore.
I honestly don’t know why you guys consider the Credit Card theft petty. I honestly don’t. If you’ve read the papers, she has over FIVE credit card fraud attempts, and was caught after she spent SGD $2500 on a card.
So really, we’re talking about fraud in the thousands. If you still think that’s petty, perhaps you should put yourself in the people whom suffered because of it. I wonder if you might dismiss it as a “petty crime” if a “lovely lass” stole 2500 bucks off you.
Singapore prides itself on being a country with low crime. It’s a wonder that Ms Low defies just that.
excuse me? why don’t you applaud her for her immense courage in lying to the entire world? you must be completely out of your mind to condone her actions.
i want all pageant organisers to bear this in mind – if you let her get away with this, in future, based on the precedence set by this case, we can now happily crown any girl who only need to look beautiful. never mind her felony or mental record.
go figure.
She went thru so much stress and sweat just to make a name for Singapore on the world stage and here we are booing at her. The Yellow Ribbon Project!
More than half of Singaporeans who understands English speaks Singlish.
How come nobody spares a thought for the other contestants who never committed any crimes and put in the effort to speak proper English?
Why should they be penalised?
I say strip Ris of her Crown and give it to someone who actually deserves and can better represent Singapore!!
I tend to think Ris Low is but a victim of temptation.
Why? Just imagine this, if you are a young and simple nice teenager doing your work. And in the course which, customers one after another by being careless, negligent or simply forgetful, often leave their credit cards behind and not checking. Ris may not have bad thoughts at first, but as time goes on, even any good person will succumb to temptation to benefit from that situation.
Imagine if you leave your ATM card at the machine, you will also tempt some good people to think thoughts, especially since in bad times when more and more people in society, without exception, think of nothing but only money and more money. In context, we must not condemn her like many do here and all over.
Coming to her ‘bad’ English and diction. Is the ‘brand’ and style of her English, or for that matter, of any world contestant the overwhelming consideration in a beauty contest? I should think definitely not. Ris obviously has a big dose of inner and outer beauty, as the judges have already seen for themselves. I would have voted for her without hesitation too if I was one of the judges.
Rather than condemn her to death, we should up our own EQ and have a sounder perspective.
What a joke. Anyone else commits that kind of crime and they go to jail. This is Singapore, remember.
It was bad enough she won the Miss Singapore World title, where the optics behind that decision raised enough questions. She’s barely articulate, none too bright and not terribly beautiful.
Still, Singapore has a proud history of awarding beauty titles to women less than beautiful.
But to read Ris Low’s story, how she avoids jail and wins big, raises the questions: Who is she related to? Who are her friends?
Who cares if she’s bipolar. The prisons here are full of people with similar conditions. What about them?
“What other country would select a girl with poor language skills and a credit card fraud to be their ambassador?”
sorry for my Boomz english. What I meant was what other country would select a girl with poor language skills, who is also a credit card fraud, to be their ambassador (in a beauty contest)?
The only regrettable thing about her poor English is that it is not an act nor a publicity stunt; if it were, it would demonstrate how creative and intelligent Singaporeans can be and Ris Low would be a far superior comedian to Gurmit Singh.
It is interesting to note that the British educated generation is so keen to proclaim their undying LOVE of the Anglo Saxon language. I would reserve such zeal for my own mother tongue.
I do not think Ris is just ‘barely inarticulate’ at all. On the contrary, I think she articulates herself very well and spontaneously too, and without any hint of artificial pretentiousness, as is evident from her natural language style.
Why imagine too much who she’s connected to by her ‘winning big’ in spite of the big odds against her? She’s chosen on her own personal outstanding merits as perceived by the judges.
Life is really short, literally, and if we don’t start to cultivate some measure of sensitivity into our lives, when are we going to do so, if at all?
Reading the posts reminds me of the peppered discussions between Democrats and Republicans over the Sarah Palin; and I see the similarity between those supporting Palin and Ris.
I am dumbfounded by some of the arguments and anger displayed by some of Ris’ supporter. Plain dumb.
Noob, you are absolutely right. My impression of Singapore was a country of excellence filled with geeky smart people. This is an eye opener. No wonder my friends said Singaporean girls are dumb and easy. Yaks.
With regards to English, Singaporean accent is not equal to bad English or Singlish; it’s just that our MEDIOCRE (ahem Mediacorp) Productions English shows are not exported worldwide.
For example, I would not describe a native English speaker who has a thick Irish accent which I cannot understand, to have bad English elocution.
remorseful? those of u that really feel she’s remorseful plz do think again. who wouldn’t say that just to keep the crown? if she was remorseful, why did she deny it the 1st time reporters questioned her? to me, the main thing is about being fair, in this case it would be to those contestants who took part in that contest. if i’m not wrong, beauty pagents often have a rule that u can’t have a conviction before. so why did she hide that fact then? those of u who claim to have compassion on Ris, have u all ever thought about the rest that took part? isit fair for someone to win on unfair terms?
“My impression of Singapore was a country of excellence filled with geeky smart people.”
Fantasy socked by Reality.
“I do not think Ris is just ‘barely inarticulate’ at all. On the contrary, I think she articulates herself very well and spontaneously too, and without any hint of artificial pretentiousness, as is evident from her natural language style.”
Your high praise will be lost on it’s recipient, even it is to be translated to Mandarin with an equivalent level of vocabulary. Utilitarian enough English for you Miss Pek?
I agree with what rob on Mon wrote. Cheating is a serious offence and in the past many such offenders were sentenced to jail. She should really thank god and her lucky star for not having to go to jail. Cheating is dishonest and a serious flaw in a person’s character. I don’t we Sporeans were too harsh on her. She is going to represent our nation in an international beauty pagent, perhaps watch by millions of people all over the world. Obviously, we would prefer someone with clean record, honest, and beautiful to represent the nation.
We want integrity, accountability, reputable. We don’t want her to represent us. However, what we don’t understand is: credit card fraud is an serious offence. It’s just more serious than stealing. However, her sentence is so light?????? Is there fairness in this country????????? And yet she can represent our country. May be what someone said is true. We can still put a “dummy” there and it can still work. So she is the dummy?
Here are my guesses.. and we’ll definitely know in the days to follow.
1) Ris hid the truth from the pageant organizer
2) The pageant organizer is going to come out refuting her claims that she told them; and was told to keep mum about it
3) The pageant organizer is going to sue her
Her troubles are not over yet and she is too thick to realized that. She first denied it when being questioned. Then said her agency told her it will be okay if no one finds out. She next said the agency “warned” her that news is about to break (suggesting that the agency collaborated with her).
Honestly, you think the agency will just keep quiet and hope it will blow over?
Those who are supporting her now… think again.
I think she can be forgiven and represent Singapore if she can pronounce “Johannesburg”…..(Should be interesting to hear!!!) lol
Over the years Miss USA and White Europeans commit real, measurable, physical FRAUD of CHEATING. Fake nose, lips, cheekbone, hair colour, mammalian gland, etc ete. They got crowned nevertheless.
Over the years Miss South Americas and Miss Latin Europes commit very real, shocking, unintelligible CRIME of BAD ENGLISH. They got crowned nevertheless.
The Americans and Europeans are smart people. They can tell the difference between BEAUTY contestants and MATHS PHD professors.
Meanwhile, let’s continue to NITPICK ASIAN FEMALES to pieces, shall we?
ya loh…. why you people so fussy…. it’s a beauty contest lah. looks is 90% of judging criteria no matter what they claim lah. nobody ever said beauty contests are brains and beauty and anglo-saxon-proof contest lah. what is the big deal… ever hear Ms Spain open her mouth or not? And to think that their country is so much closer to anglo saxon capital than our little red dot…
most of the people who over react to Ris are either jealous over-educated plain janes or other contestants who feel their preppy upbringing makes them more deserving of the title of “beauty” queen. to these i say, count your blessings – your preppiness and anglo-saxon proofing should get you far. let the Ris of the world have their chance at making a living loh…
aiyoyo…why so narrow-minded…
see big picture lah…
a lot of ms worlds and ms universe speak bad english and commit fraud also lah….
Over the years, there are many dictators and corrupted officials that squandered billions from their countrymen. You should all be grateful to your government that you are not worst off than your neighboring countries.
Why are most of you so narrow-minded to nitpick on your government?
Hypocrites.
Singaporeans are a joke. A bunch of dumbass.
does anyone on this forum actually care to watch the ms world pageant anyway? why the fuss then?
Foreigners reading this thread must be very impressed that Singapore is uniquely a “first world class” society deservingly infested with more than its fair share of clinically sterile hate-infested hooligans bathing in the glory of bashing-prone worshipping in the public arena.
Civilised thuggery has been given a new meaning and respectability.
“I do not think Ris is just ‘barely inarticulate’ at all. On the contrary, I think she articulates herself very well and spontaneously too, and without any hint of artificial pretentiousness, as is evident from her natural language style.”
totally feel it too man. i think those who cannot appreciate that spontaneity is jealous that they have lost it.
I wonder if people will think the same way if the credit cards she had misappropriated had been theirs…just a thought…again, i blame the organisers and judges…what are you guys? spastic? seriously, what’s the point in choosing a ms singapore world who will not be able to participate in the ms world pageant? (based on some weirdo rules somewhere, i think she can’t. i could be wrong here but there’s something about beauty queens needing to be paragons of virtue of sorts – blah blah) then again, mebbe, this is all part of the plan..to have a ms singapore world who cannot participate so that singapore has an excuse not to have any placing? not that we need any…we all kinda know that frankly, the international standards a little out of our league.
Aiyoyo, yes Ms Spain might not speak good english but have u thought about what is the main language of her country? i think your comments not others are narrow minded. yes, it is a beauty contest but if u actually had watched 1 before, u would know that how they answer a question is vital too and to add to that, integrity is impt. and if u didnt know, u cant have a criminal record to compete. yes, Ris should be given another chance to get a job to make a living but representating people is another thing all together. some people are fortunate not to have such low standards like you and are unsatisfied with having a deceitful person that committed a crime to represent them. u should understand that people ought to be able to let their opinions known as she is representing the whole country. do u even think she is remorseful after happily spending all that money? jokes man! she’s just saying all she has to in-order to keep the crown. cant even believe peeps like u can fall for it. she was just given a light sentence and u believe she learnt from it, it was just it May dude, how long ago was that? FYI, some singaporeans actually have standards and stand for principles and do not wish such a person to represent them.
Why are most of you so narrow-minded to nitpick on your government?
Noob, your motivation is better understood now.
Ris Low was the convenient available object of your vicious punching bag for political motives unrelated to the real insidious motive in your witchcraft hunting in this thread.
You are not hypocritical, just hate-filled venom of a cobra in the guise of priestly virtue.
Did your mother or this Government gave you this type of profound education to shame Singaporeans before the eyes of foreigners?
Not her fault. The judges should all be fired!
can i ask those people who are against the representation of ris, what is your idea of miss world contest?
or you all just sukah sukah think no need to go into that , as long as it’s something to do with representing singapore, who cares?
or is ‘face’ so important ah? that as long as there are billions of people watching, she cannot be on stage ah? i wonder if the outrage would still be in force if she was representing another country?
what have you done, kuan yew?
She is not only a cheat, but also a liar. She lied about telling the pagent organizers before/after and god knows what before/after the contest?. She should just come clean and get on with her life. Given a second chance, she should treasure the golden opportunity given and transform herself into a much better person. Using another person’s credit card is a very serious offence and many past offenders were sentenced to jail.
Indeed, we all make mistakes. Who does not?. But she should learn from her mistakes and not keep telling lies, Just come out clean, promise to change for the good and keep the promise.
“You are not hypocritical, just hate-filled venom of a cobra in the guise of priestly virtue.”
First, it was a dimwit Darth Vadar who cannot comprehend simple English. Then came another simpleton who cannot draw comparison nor understand analogy.
For the record, I think the Singaporean government is fabulous. Smart politicians with great foresight.
Go ahead and have Ris represent you. I am beginning to believe that it is a perfect choice and it DOES represent the epitome of Singaporeans’ abilities – mentally, intelligence and perhaps, dignity.
Many Singaporeans dare to criticise an HONEST Mistake but are the 1st to IGNORE or KEEP QUIET about people who made MISTAKES but SWEPT them under the carpet with sugar coating.
How many of these singaporeans can speak perfect english? wahahahaha!
To those who defend Ris Low with her Miss Singapore World title, ask yourselves this question: Have you been fair to the rest of the contestants?
second chance. This really depends on situations.
I do not agree to allow Ris to represent Singapore, as a Singaporean. I oppose.
As we are not aware of whether she lied to the organizers, we cannot judge her character. But it is not projecting the right image to allow her representing us. It might send the wrong message to our young girls.