>There are two very different versions of what happened at Hong Lim Park yesterday.
This is the Straits Times version.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_387128.html
Excerpts:
SOME 15 people showed up at Hong Lim Park on Saturday to sign a petition for Ms Lee Bee Wah to step down as the president of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA).
… Saturday’s 90-minute petition drive was the first physical call for public support by wayangparty.com, a local blog site.
It had launched both petitions online last month, which garnered greater response. The petition for Ms Lee has collected more than 5,600 signatures, while that for Mr Teo has more than 150.
But none of the blog owners were present at the drive on Saturday. Instead, three people were paid to facilitate the event, but they left hurriedly – after the media arrived – and left the petition forms on a park bench.
More than an hour later, one of them, who had been hiding at a Clarke Quay MRT station exit, ran out and picked up the forms before disappearing into the station again.
Note how it portrays the above as another mundane activity on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
Now compare the report from Wayang.
http://wayangparty.com/?p=10117
There are a number of inaccuracies in the CNA report (read article here):
1. “When Channel NewsAsia arrived at the Speakers’ Corner on Saturday the people manning the petition booth were clearly uncomfortable with the media attention.”FACT: Our freelancers were told beforehand that the media may be present and they were not obliged to entertain them. They would NOT have left the booth had not the CNA journalists kept harrassing them by filming and taking photographs of their faces.
2. “They left the petition forms unattended…..”
FACT: The petition forms were NEVER left unattended. Though the three freelancers had left, we still have an event manager and two field reporters nearby keeping an eye on the petition ALL THE TIME. Why do you think we were able to take so many photos of the event?
3. ”Less than 20 signatures were collected during the petition drive.”
FACT: There were 56 signatures collected for the petition to remove Lee Bee Wah as STTA President and 37 signatures for the petition to DPM Teo Chee Hean to give the special award to Liu Guodong. The turnout will definitely be greater had not for the huge media presence at the booth. We are expecting at least 100 people.
4. “The petition drive ended abruptly after more than an hour.”
FACT: The petition drive ended on the DOT at 6.30pm when our agent ran to collect the petition forms. It was never ended abruptly. It started at 5pm and ended at 6.30pm as announced on our blog.
As expected, CNA took the opportunity to take a swipe at our petition drive. However, in view that the event is now publicized to a wider audience, we are prepared to turn a blind eye to their unscrupulous smearing.
Perhaps without the presence of the media, we may well have more than 100 petitioners. Though the turnout is less than expected, news of the event is now broadcast to more than 100,000 Singaporeans.
The two Singaporeans interviewed by CNA had expressed the thoughts of what many of us had on our minds. Instead of mere words in cyberspace, our voices are heard for the first time in real life.
Wayang Party does not care much about our readership, image or visibility. It doesn’t bother us a bit that CNA did not mention the name of the organizers. Our bottomline is to create a real IMPACT. The end justify the means.
What a difference!
As expected the ST is always covering up issues. Only about a month ago or so, it presented AWARE in a very different light from what actually happened on the ground. This is the second incident where ST’s report and what really happened don’t match.
Anyway, that’s expected of the ST.
