Straits Times named Ris Low’s photo as “sg-stupid.jpg”
September 30th, 2009 | 
Author: From our Correspondent
The digital edition of the Straits Times has labelled one of the photos of ex-Miss Singapore World 2009 Miss Ris Low as “sg-stupid.jpg”!
The Straits Times has been conducting a media witch-hunt on Ris Low and the organizer of the pageant ERM World since SPH journalists dug out her past conviction last Friday.
To ensure that Straits Times does not try to wriggle its way out by changing the name of the photo later, we have taken a snapshot here:
Straits Times Photo link:
http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20090925/sg-stupid.jpg
What exactly does Straits Times mean by “sg-stupid”? Is it casting aspersions on the intelligence of Miss Ris Low by labelling her photo as such?
It is utterly despicable, disgusting and disgraceful for a supposedly professional national English Daily like the Straits Times to give such a derogatory name to the photo of a person.
Though Miss Low may not be blessed with impeccable command of the English language and she had a history of a psychiatric disorder, it doesn’t mean that she is less intelligent than the average Singaporean.
Even if it is really so, the media has no right to shame her in front of the public. The journalist responsible for naming and uploading the photo should issue a public apology to Miss Low and the public.
Miss Low should consult her lawyers to see if there are any legal grounds for suing the Straits Times for libel. She is still young and has a long way to go in her life.
The Singapore media should let her off and stop harrassing her like some public enemy when there are more pressing issues like hand to deal with.
Unlike some public officials, Ris Low did not cause the deaths of any person nor did she lose billions of taxpayers’ monies. When asked about her past conviction, she was perfectly open and candid about it. She also expressed her remorse over her mistakes and seek forgiveness from Singaporeans.
Did any of our millionaire ministers apologize for their mistakes? Instead of chasing after the people of real importance, the Singapore media found fit to bully a defenceless young girl whose only mistake is to sign up for Miss Singapore World without revealing her past convictions to the organizers.
Posted in Editorial
it is so hypocritical of ST to ask ppl to give her a break yet label her as stupid
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This is completely unacceptable. I thought SPH Chairman was looking for quality publishing?
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Hi Darkness,
Sorry your comment was deleted accidentally when we repost the article. Please post again.
By the way, where did you go to? Miss your analytical articles.
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Excellent work Eugene & Co. You all deserve the pour le merite on this one. Well spotted! Dont worry abt it; you go down to P65 and copy it from there – I think SD posted it there.
Keep up the good work! Brilliant! Carry on.
Many thanks!
Darkness 2009
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Maybe sg-stupid wasn’t meant for her but Sinkaporeans?
Sinkaporeans Stupid?
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Last saw Darkness at http://p65.sg/newp65/2009/09/26/miss-singapore-and-credit-card-fraud/
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not trying to defend Straits Times but I think this is probably caused by a single staff or web master.
Anyway how was this discovered? I think that person was downloading the picture to use it as wallpaper.. hehe
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or web master.
“Anyway how was this discovered? I think that person was downloading the picture to use it as wallpaper.”
I think most readers are HTML savy. By now you should know the code to deliver images to a broweer
[Moderator, please display the angle brackets.]
Someone was trying to steal javascript code or something(that’s me) and stumbled upon it
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Can anyone ask that smart-ass Lui Tuck Yew what he has to say about this?
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I think an apology is in order. Is ST man enough?????
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once again, another case of elitism raring it’s ugly head.
the ris low fiasco is simply another example of a widening class-culture divide here. the majority of her detractors hail from the english-speaking elite who are outraged that our country can be represented by an ah lian singlish-speaking girl when truth is, that is what makes singlish uniquely ours. her criminal record was just an excuse to malign her further, but the fact remains, no elite wants an ah lian representing us.
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If Indonesia can accept Miss Indonesia who can’t speak Indonesian. Why are we so touchy. her comments “It’s been hard for me *to speak Indonesian*, because I use English every day,” says the half-American woman. “But I will learn. Indonesian is an easy language, as long as we’re willing to learn.” Learn this Singapore
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Support local singaporean PLEASE!!! We are Singapore, born in singapore. Singlish is our culture! why condemn it? can’t speak good english ? what’s the big deal about it?? witnessing pple who have excellent command for english but could not handle tough question from the media or press!! Hm are foreigners better than us? Why not make them a PR or citizen and represent us! look for pple from maybe UK or US, hey maybe we can be second runner up ?
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Aiyo! Should fire the Straits Times web developer! Should use HTTP POST instead of HTTP GET. The standard of IT professionals are appalling…
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i felt is not so much about her command of english but credit card fraud. anyway, to take part in the miss universe/world one has to be free of criminal record.
you said she was open about it but i felt it was the media who found out so i guess she can’t hide it further that’s why she has to come clean.
as for “sg-stupid.jpg” i agree this is mean.
anyway ERM and Ris Low has to be responsible as it’s unfair for her to take the responsibility alone.
my 2 cents worth!
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Should ask LBW to apologise too. She commented negatively on Ris Low’s participation in the pageant in the Chinese media.
Will she? Or remain studiously silent this time again?
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I totally agree with Mark regarding taking whoever responsible totask. Given the Track Record of the Shitty Times, Sinkaporeans may not be able to touch the famiLEE but their croonies, YES.
If these arse screwed Ris to riase their readership of a mistake years ago, why not screw them now.
They should be taken to task and made to answer for calling Sinkaporeans Stupid!
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Why is it ST’s fault? They can’t start checking every file name the techs use on their site. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s the tech who put it up there. Say what you want about a witch hunt by ST and Singaporean elitism, but to blame ST for this Filename-gate is to blow it out of proportion and make ourselves look as unreasonable as ST is being accused of being.
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It is really highfalutin national pledge of one united people by offialdom sources labelling ordinary Singaporeans as “lesser mortal”, “bacteria” and now “stupid”…. and maybe undesirable refugees in our country of birth soon?
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I think ST is liable for that. Even if it is the techs who carelessly used the name. It is defamatory. The site is maintained by ST, after all and they should ensure that their news reporting is accurate and unbiased. This is not what I’d call unbiased. It is labelling her.
But if people could hardly find that link, it is really difficult to say that it had an impact on her already tarnished reputation.
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Cardinal, whoever published the article works for ST, thus ST is responsible and accountable, PERIOD.
If some low rank police officer assault an accused, the entire Police Force can be sued and taken to task.
So going by your reasoning, Ms Ho Ching lost $40b of Temasek Holding’s money, so it is HER fault and the Board of Directors and the Gahment NEED NOT be responsible to the people?
No wonder the PaPies can always get away with the mistakes they make, Sinkaporeans with such illogical mentality to support them.
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ST is using Ris Low as a prefect diversion of public attention.
Come on ST, we are not as stupid as you imagine. There are far more important and pressing issues for you to report….if you dare to. Eg. exploding population, overcrowded buses and trains, competition from PRs for limited primary 1 places, hundreds of billions of dollars lost by GIC/Temasek in just 1 year, jobless S’poreans, homeless S’poreans, …..
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“the ris low fiasco is simply another example of a widening class-culture divide here. the majority of her detractors hail from the english-speaking elite who are outraged that our country can be represented by an ah lian singlish-speaking girl when truth is, that is what makes singlish uniquely ours. her criminal record was just an excuse to malign her further, but the fact remains, no elite wants an ah lian representing us.”
Since when is Boomz part of the Singlish vernacular? I think she was trying to utter an Americanism like this: “My bikini is the bomb”. Alamak, she got agent or not ah? If she cant speak English, then speak Chinese, but I doubt her Chinese is any good as well.
Which would make her more miss MTV Singapore than a Miss World Singapore.
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omega lee
not part of vocab okay wat, if boomz exudes a better meaning of what she wants to convey than bomb.
try saying it.
BOOMZ
bomb
the zzz effect cannot be denied.
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“it is so hypocritical of ST to ask ppl to give her a break yet label her as stupid”
口是心非. That’s our world class newspaper
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“ST is using Ris Low as a prefect diversion of public attention.”
Personally it highlights the declining standards of Sinkaporean society under PAP rule.
ST is very unprofessional. What do u expect, 154th in World Press Ranking.
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I agree with the last person. It is utterly irresponsible of the person who did the webpage to do such a thing. She is still considered a teenager and I am sure that many of us are neither perfect nor able to speak impeccable english all the time, I am sure everyone has stumbled with english one time or another.
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Great capture, but i guess ST can just deny uploading such a photo. Since the credibility of the image can be questioned. Who dares to go against the them – the government?
And I really do feel for RIS Low, all this fiasco is getting blown out of proportion because of the media. They are just interested in getting reader’s attention and not caring about the after effects of that poor lady’s life.
Highly hypocritical just to stir up people’s emotions and interest.
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I see nothing wrong for Ris Low to represent Sg for the Miss World.
She speaks Singlish. Majority of Sgean speaks singlish, and also the local celebrities and so call those other elite.
Next about her fraud incident, also a good representation of Singapore. A lot of similar cases like this in Sg, scammer, NKF, the monk thingy etc. And maybe even the mmmmm u know those ppl high up there taking the money of the country n ppl.
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Shitty times – always full of shit lar.
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I don’t think we need to speak the queen’s english to properly convey our thoughts, emotions or feelings.
Miss Low should consider her legal options.
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Aren’t the so called MSM “jornalists” perfected the art of investigated reporting selectively..infamous 145th ranking tells it all. Still got the cheek to get the rear minister to defend them as mainstream “balance reporting” against new media, my foot.
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Oh cmon… she does not fit the bill to represent singapore and why are there so many people defending her? Is this the image you want the whole world to think off when someone mentions singapore? If she was an average english speaking singaporean, its not to bad. But she can’t even form a proper sentence correctly. It is embarrassing. Together with her proud attitude, it will not go down well with a country with english as their 1st language.
Everyone should be given a second chance? Yes but for her, The chance was lost the moment she got interviewed.
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My first reaction the the original video was one of disbelieve that the judges could have picked her. While I must confess to making fun of the episode in casual conversation among office colleagues and friends, I find the public humiliation by the media totally uncalled for and irresponsible. There was one evening – I think it was the Friday weekend of the Singapore F1 (can’t rememebr date) – the Power 98 crew around 5-6 pm spent pratically the whole hour making fun of her. I think this has gone too far; we’ve all had our laughs (which I am now ashamed of) and it’s time for this to stop.
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The local “media” seems suddenly interested in seeking MPs’ views on every damn leeporting….sigh – showing lesser mortal they’re connected to the ground????
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Is the Singapore government, in pure Singaporean style, now going to cane Ms. Low for her stealing of the credit cards? If so, I recommend doing so publicly and televising the event – could be quite a ratings coup for the networks.
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actually should blame the web guy who published the article online.
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No wonder ST is losing readership by the thousands…..
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Now now all…
I am sure that was an honest mistake.
Mistakes happen, and to err is human.
But that didn’t impress me much.
If the Straits Times did a blooper like this, I will be impressed:
(Chinese site)
http://bbs.news.163.com/bbs/photo/143339410.html
Basically, it was an online article about some wanted criminal in China, and Chairman Mao’s mugshot was posted (by mistake?).
Perhaps the Straits Times can do a similar thing for the next robber/rapist article. Have a LKY mugshot photo on standby.
P.S: There is the remote chance that ST deliberately stirred up this Ris Low controversy to boost traffic to its site.
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I really believe the lady in the photo should seek legal advice on this matter.
I happen to be a journalist and I would prefer to hold my tongue as I dont know whether this is true or not.
If it is true, I will say this, its very unbecoming and unprofessional (period) There is no way to be nice abt it.
She should really seek legal recourse. I believe this is covered under vicarious liability in the law of tort.
Once it goes legal, I am sure the Strait Times will have undertake an internal enquiry on this matter. As it is, its doubtful anything will ever happen.
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The vilification she is receiving is akin to the torrent of verbal abuse that have been heaped on certain members of religious groups, although I don’t think Ris Low’s family has been subject to denunciation in the press.
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She repeatedly stole credit cards and went on a shopping spree, later claiming she had some psychological issues. the woman has no talent, has shitty typical chink looks, is a known criminal, lied to the organizers and you expect folks to treat her nicely?
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I do not see anything wrong with file name. It is not a crime. Can I sue someone if they named a photo “Idiot”? I don’t think so.
Stealing and using other people’s credit card is a crime. In some countries, you go to jail. In Singapore she only got ‘probation’. I have seen poor mothers going to jail for stealing milk powder for their babies. This Idiot woman stole credit cards and used them for her own pleasures and all she got was a PROBATION.
Bipolar disorder? What crap excuse. If everyone claims bipolar disorder and get away with it, might as well ask all murderers to claim bipolar disorder that at moment of crime, the evil part of oneself took over, and no one will ever have to go to jail. All criminals will only get PROBATION.
Also, it is better for ERM to admit they screwed up. People would have more respect for ERM if they admit mistake rather than giving more excuses.
To all Singaporeans, please not not let such a person represent Singapore and destroy the good name of Singapore.
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Whilst I do not feel that she is the right choice to represent Singapore, it is simply ridiculous that the Straits Times can allow such a mistake and that because it is THEIR site, they are liable to pay for any damages should the lady decide to sue. To label someone stupid just shows the lack of class and standard in the Straits Time, period.
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Give her a break. Everyone’s only human.
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haha, the link is no longer available.
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“almighty singaporean Says:
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I do not see anything wrong with file name. It is not a crime. Can I sue someone if they named a photo “Idiot”? I don’t think so.”
You post your photo lor, see what I name it!
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Mee Siam Mai Hum? Sounds familiar…oh ya, isnt this the boo boo made by our PM during some speech addressed to the nation??? How come SPH didn’t play it up and the Radio DJs didn’t laugh at it for weeks huh????? Why leh?? I’m sure our gahmen, being so gracious will just laugh it off what?? Will sue SPH meh? I think one of the replies above say not, sph not responsible leh. Maybe not lah, that’s why don’t need to account for lost of public funds to lame-man bros shares, no need to account for Mas Selamat’s escape, no need to account for lost of milti-billions by Temasek Holdings. All the above are minor issues pertaining to the nation and the Ris Low issue is a BIG one that the press has to keep hounding her???!!!
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THIS IS HILARIOUS.
That poor journalist must have overlooked that the name of the file will appear the in the URL. I hope Ris Low takes this very seriously… (instead of the company chairpersons).
Low needs to know how to withdraw from the limelight graciously.
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@Kim on Fri, 2nd Oct 2009 3:55 pm
Give her a break. Everyone’s only human.
Ris Low never gave the first runner up a break, did she? Wouldn’t you also agree she needs to withdraw graciously instead of trying to emotionally injure anyone else?
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She do not seem to be capable of withdrawing herself from the fracas graciously…
Seems like she is trying to make sure nobody else can take her place, kind of like “If I can’t have it, nobody else will!”
Claire should sue her for defamation, but still i think it may be best to just let the whole thing slide.
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There are 2 issues here.
Whether Ris is fit to represent Singapore is not the main point of this article. Neither is her character nor skills (or lack thereof) the issue at hand. For those that support her, good for you. For those that don’t, you have your reasoning as well. Discussing about that till the cows come home here, won’t solve anything.
This is about a ‘reputable’ media having one (or more) of the employees labelling a photo of a person in a derogatory term. And that is wrong.
Let’s not get ourselves confused here.
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