From a Singapore Angle

IMPORTANT NOTE: I've conscientiously left trackbacks at just about all of the blog posts listed here, except for a few that I was somehow unable to. If you don't want your post listed here, please feel free to contact me. I'm giving you a veto. (Add: If you found your site listed and wondered how did that happen, go to the end of this post.)

Read this News Flash

What have we learned? What ought we have done better? What does it portent for the Singapore Blogosphere? While chewing on these questions, I made a list of all the bloggers who posted on the event. It is as exhaustive as I can make it now (if you have a blog entry not listed, do leave a comment); but does not cover the ongoing discussions in the comment sections of Wannabe Lawyer's post and SPUG. As far as I can tell, most of the bloggers have been level and sane in their tone (compared to some of the comments and forum postings). The fact that many have chosen not to be anonymous helps--we too are being held responsible for our expressions. [Note: my own stand on the issue has been posted previously, so I won't repeat.]

UPDATE: A few more just found on Technorati and added under "Second Wave". These were not linked to the others, which is also why I missed them first time round. I'll add them as I find them.

UPDATE 2: Incidentally, I think it's time to clarify one misconception. The bloggers (SingaporeSerf, Wannabe Lawyer, Nisinelabore) who first got their hands on the offending posts on CZ's site did not have to do any 'hacking'--there was nothing to hack. (There are rumors that the site was hacked subsequently--after the storm broke--but that's another matter altogether.) While it is true that CZ's domain root directory

http://www.chengzhan.net/

pops a Javascript password prompt, none of the other directories and files are protected. There are two totally obvious ways to get to CZ's blog. One: by going to either of these two URLs:

http://www.chengzhan.net/home.html (which links to the latter)

http://www.chengzhan.net/main/blog/12157914.html (which is the blog itself)

Two: least anyone thinks that the blog URL is meant to be a mystery--it is hyperlinked from the blogrolls of (at least) two blogs composed by friends of CZ, neither of which are password protected (still true at the time I am posting this; UPDATE: One has been taken down). So: while I do believe that CZ intended his blog to be read by his close friends, and may even believe that he 'protected' his site by a password, the fact remains that it is not. Anyone could have very easily wandered into his blog.

UPDATE 3: The data below is basically begging for someone to makes sense of it...

UPDATE 4: New items added. Also added a new category for entries that are primarily about privacy, freedom of speech and so on. Some of the earlier added items are relocated there.

UPDATE 5: Afterthoughts on the whole affair, plus a modest proposal.

The first posts (Apr 13/14):
- "Shanmugam Murugesu" by KnightofPentacles at Singapore Serf
- "A future Singapore bureaucrat" by Nilsinelabore (no longer available to the public)
- A comment left by Nilsinelabore at Caustic Soda
- "Everything that is wrong with our scholar selection process" by Han at Wannabe Lawyer (since modified); picked up on the same day at the SPUG Forum

Early blogosphere follow-ups (Apr 14-16)
- Stop Talking Cock by Ivan at Ivan's Chimera
- "PSC Scholar? What a joke!" by Kevin Koo at I am but a Sojourner for Christ
- "Our proud PSC scholar" at Tomorrow
- "Disappointed" at The Spoke
- "Killah rages against the machine" by Ivan Killah
- "PSC and a scholar of theirs" by Lzydata at Singapore Ink
- "Javascript weasel" by Gecko at A Gecko's Tale
- "An ethical conundrum for the Internet age" by Tym at Tym Blogs Too
- "Racism, Singapore Blogging" by Karate Kid IV at Girl, Emancipated
- Kureshi on Exiled Heaven
- Agagooga at Balderdash.
- "Missing the bigger issue", by Merv at Atypical Singaporean
- "Racist bastardism" by Faz
- "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" by Huichieh at From a Singapore Angle
- "The Witch Hunt" by Juznuts
- "It's a scary blogosphere" by Lzydata at Singapore Ink
- "Over-reaction - Blogosphere vs. Individual; China vs. Japan" by Wows at Ty Crooked Stairs

- "How much does attention cost? Too much, I'ld say" by Nafic/Cherf (a friend of CZ)

Second Wave (Apr 16/17+)
- "The storm over CZ breaks on print media" by Huichieh at From a Singapore Angle; this is a primary reference post as it contains the text of the Sunday Times article
- "From anonymity to public apology - a PSC scholar (CZ)" by Nilsinelabore
- "The Witch Hunt is over - He got burnt at the stake" by Juznuts
- "The power of blogdom" by AcidFlask at Caustic Soda
- "PSC scholar under fire" by Chris at The Spillover Ink
- "Never underestimate the power of the internet" by Kevin Koo at I am but a Sojourner for Christ
- "The Scholar Firing" by Wows at Singapore Ink
- "News break~" by Yang at Crossroads of Life
- By Manthu at Inner Sanctum
- "Once bitten, forever shy" at A Life Uncommon
- "Racist psc scholar?" by LCT on Somewhat Blue
- "In Support of the Racist Blogger" by Jeremy at Convex Set
- "The Scholar Firing (cont'd)" by Wows at Singapore Ink
- "Cz-ed" and "Racist? Maybe not. Handling it with 'Satire' would have been better" by Justina at Singapore Watch
- "It's hit the fan, but may turn out to be a good thing: 'Scholar under fire for racist blog entries'" by Ivan Chew on Rambling Librarian
- At Queer Singaporean in pain
- By Xue at Random Musings From London
- "People who live in glass houses should never throw stones" by Angelkitana
- "Who's the f---ing stupid one", by Whatever
- "Local blogsphere, meet mainstream media: Scene one, take one" by Jeff Yen (he is the moderator at SPUG)
- "Racist comments by scholar provokes witch hunt" at Singapore Commentator
- "An Open Letter to Chua Cheng Zhan", "The Dust In His Eyes And The Beam In Yours" and "More thoughts about the racist PSA asshat scholar" by Caleb on A Gonzo Journal
- "Publically Stupidified Concepts" by Azrael at Insaintly Yours
- "PSC-ism" by Anthony at Almost Infamous
- "Racist PSC Scholar - The WitchHunt Part 1" and "Racist PSC Scholar - We are our own prophets" by Marilyn at A Crunchy Green Apple
- By Weeleeum at The Universe Declares your majesty (a friend of CZ)
- By Agagooga at Balderdash.
- " of blogs, bloggers and bastards" by Christine at f*! ass+ablishmen+

Second Wave II (these are not linked to the previous group)
- "In Defence of Cheng Zhan" and "Postscript" by Shaun at Alpha: A Beginning (a friend of CZ)
- "Scholar under fire" and "Scholar's personae" at Restless Dreams
- "I hate Sundays. Sometimes." at Stoned.Nerd
- At I Raced Against Time
- "No ice cream for me" by Evelyn at Hiatus
- "Racism" at Jiatong's Quantum Blog
- At Tandoori Chick
- "Racism still prevalent?" at Bitch Central

Primarily on Blogging, Privacy, Freedom of Speech
- "On Blogs" by J at Idle Thoughts
- "Should a blog be private? What can we learn from this?" by Kevin Koo at I am but a Sojourner for Christ
- "Blog privacy revisited" and "Further thoughts on blogging and CZ" at Mindless Ramblings of an Ineffectual Preacher
- "Time to stop posting too personal stuff and urm overly biased opinions on your blogs!" by Dotdotx
- "Of blogs private limited?" by LancerLord
- "The perils of the singapore blogosphere" by Klem on Thinking Aloud
- "Zen and the Art of Blogging" by Anthony at Almost Infamous
- "A Blow To Free Speech" by Tedbasser at It's Time to Rock
- "I was happier when bloogs were obscure" by Serialdeviant

UPDATE: The latest here.

ADDENDUM: A new post on a related topic (note: CZ is not mentioned).

ADDENDUM 2: Some of the bloggers whose postings ended up here expressed surprise at how I managed to find them. Look: nothing especially diabolical here. I have access to no more resource that you have. You are found either by google or technorati, or because a post I found links to you, or because you linked to me.

UPDATE 3: PSC has reprimanded the scholar involved (Apr 26).

[Technorati: singapore, blogosphere]