Square Room

When Today announced the formation of Association of Bloggers (Singapore) aka ABS, it was really the first time I heard of its official status. Prior to that, even though there are many members in the Protem committee whom I view as friends, I don't have any inkling of its official status or even the committee members. Honestly, I was surprised by its veil of secrecy that shrouded its formation. If it is a company launching a product for profit, I can understand the requirement of secrecy but ABS is a non-profit organisation formed to unite local bloggers. Then what's up with all the hush-hush? Wouldn't it have been better to have been more open and upfront regarding its formation which may foster more discussion among the bloggers and make everyone has a better understanding in its formation and purpose? Isn't social media about conversations? This is afterall a public and registered association. It is not suppose to be a secret society.

From the recent chatter in plurk, apparently there was a gag order disallowing its committee members to disclose any information to anyone - not friends, not family members, not boyfriends, not girlfriends. Again, why the gag order? Why the secrecy? If this is a non-profit association setup by bloggers for bloggers, then why is it behaving like gahmen-linked establishments with its non-transparency? But the irony is, the gag order seems to have been restricted to the blogosphere because according to the Today report, even before its formal launch, the association has received emailed media invites to cover events. Apparently, some are more equal than others.

In all honesty, I was pretty neutral when I learnt of its official formation. I was neither for nor against them. I would be in the area where some would call it grey. I've always believed the virtual world is really big enough for groups with diverse interests to co-exist. If a group of bloggers have a sense of duty and calling to unite the bloggers and wanting to form an official registered association, it is their perogative. It is a noble goal to unite fellow bloggers and to promote professionalism among the association's members. Until I read the entry by the association's president:

Singaporean bloggers were like loose sand, they were not united. They were easily manipulated and even banned for standing up against the foreign tyrant from self-proclaimed 'community meta weblog for Singapore bloggers'. Small bloggers are just too isolated to be able to fight for their rights.

I was surprised of the mentioned of an incident that happened almost 18 months ago and calling the owner of the meta blog a 'tyrant'? In my personal opinion, I thought this was ironical that it came from the president of an association supposedly created to 'promote professionalism among the association 's members'. How is this professional blogging? Why take potshots at an incident that happened so long ago and distract the blogosphere from the official news of its formation? With this, the leader has single-handedly cast suspicion on the purpose behind the forming of the association.

When Lucian of tribolum.com expressed his view on this in his personal capacity, the president's response is to write an entry in a blog titled "To PM Lee Hsien Loong" attacking Lucian on his job and capacity as a civil servant. This is almost akin to the scenario whereby 2 kids involving in a brawl, afterwhich, one of the kid resort to reporting the fight to the authority unit, "Teacher, he bully me!"

Sorry, how is this professional blogging again?

In a short 3 days, instead of uniting the local bloggers, I observed more strife. The association has instead brought out unsightly behaviours. There seems to me also an uneasy feeling, even among friends, if you are not with them, you are against them.

I feel like I'm now standing in a square room, seeing different groups of people occupying different corners of the room. Some at extreme opposite corners; some bigger group and more boisterous than others. Ironically, this is remeniscient of the "in", "out" debacle.

Me? I find myself ostracized and not belonging to any corner.

The room has just gotten colder.