SINGAPORE: Net posting draws angry response

A barrage of abusive messages has flooded the sgchinese.com website in response to a mainland Chinese student's online message which said Singaporeans are stupid and despise Chinese nationals

The Straits Times
Tuesday, April 13, 2004

A barrage of abusive messages has flooded the sgchinese.com website in response to a mainland Chinese student's online message which said Singaporeans are stupid and despise Chinese nationals.

The student, whose user name was diablo3434, wrote last month: 'Singaporeans' brains are fed with pig swill, fat, and have no intelligence.'

The website was set up by Mr Patrick Li, 28, a Chinese national and IT programmer, in 2001 to help mainland Chinese students here cope with problems.

The message was posted on March 7, but responses came fast and furious after The New Paper (TNP) reported the outburst on Sunday.

Diablo3434's message has been removed from the website, but it is not known when it was done.

The TNP report quoted the website's moderator, Mr Li: 'Messages indulging in personal attacks, criticisms of any government, or selling illegal stuff will be taken down immediately.'

Mainland Chinese expatriates and students interviewed by The Straits Times felt the student had overreacted.

Associate Professor Hao Xiaoming, vice-dean of the school of communication and information at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said: 'The student has no right to say anyone is stupid. There may be some Singaporeans who look down on mainland Chinese, but that could be because they haven't interacted with mainland Chinese.'

NTU undergraduate Pan Feng, 21, said: 'Some Singaporean students despise me because I'm from China, but not all Singaporean students are like that and I've met helpful ones as well.'

However, some Singaporean academics said they are not surprised by diablo3434's remarks.

Last November, the former Chinese ambassador to Singapore, Madam Chen Baoliu, said Singaporeans have to drop their 'air of superiority' if they hope to see Sino-Singaporean ties improve.

Assistant Professor of Asean Languages and Culture at the National Institute of Education, Dr Chua Chee Lay, said he knows of many Chinese nationals who agree with Madam Chen.

Mainland Chinese students are sometimes unhappy with their Singaporean classmates because they feel they aren't as serious about their studies, he said. 'They can't understand how local students can do other things instead of studying.'

Other academics said while diablo3434's comments are a gross generalisation, some Singaporeans do have a stereotype of China as a 'backward country', which is actually two decades out of date.

Mr Raymond Huang, 37, chairman of Heartware Network, a charitable youth organisation, said: 'Singaporean youngsters must take a larger world view of things and learn we're not the centre of the world.'

Date Posted: 4/13/2004