A TVD article for HR Day. For those who have not voted in the
Mini-
Star Awards, hurry on down to our site to cast your
votes!! At the rate the Awards are going, the Hen will beour next
DPM!
------
Tribute to a Local Net Legend -- Sintercom Founder, Mr Tan Chong
Kee
This afternoon (Saturday) a local Net legend will be speaking in
a
NUS political science forum on "Cyberspace and the New Politics".
The
legend is none other than the founder of Sintercom, Mr Tan Chong
Kee
(TCK). In an age where Net guerillas prefer to abide by the cover
of
anonymity (us TVD crew included), TCK and his crew bravely
placed
themselves on the magnifying glass of the ruling regime with a
true
blue open Internet set-up, Sintercom. In many ways, Sintercom was
the
pioneer civil society website, who can forget its classic Not
the
Straits Time section? Forum letters "mysteriously" rejected by
ST
found a voice, a means of expression in Sintercom. Other than
the
premier wacky and politically inclined newsgroup,
soc.culture.singapore, of which TCK was also an integral
founding
regular, the next forum to chart out and carve a Singaporean
cyberspace was the wildly popular Sintercom forum. Of course,
we
later had the equally trend-setting Sex Forum run by Sammyboy,
the
civic-minded Think centre and the funniest satirical website
Talkingcock as well. These are the pioneers of local cyberspace.
It
is unfortunate that a few of the local websites today do not
share
the camaraderie and open spirit of sharing which founding sites
like
Sintercom promote; for example, our TVD crew have been
"unofficially"
banned by FunkyGrad and Sgboyx for very mystifying reasons still.
But
we are grateful for sites like Sammyboy, Sgforums, SPUG which
tolerate our existence and who help us spread the Voice of
the
Singapore Net-gen. It is essential for a culture of open-ness
to
prevail so that we fall not into a conditioned response of
self
censorship. This was what participating in the early Sintercom
forum
meant for a few of our TVD crew, a growing confidence that we
can
speak and publish without censorship and which inspired our
little
website as well.
For those singaporeans new to Singapore cyberspace, it would also
do
well to remind newbies about a tragic piece of Singapore history;
in
the last GE, a slew of draconian Internet regulations
eventually
forced TCK to disband Sintercom, but not without a symbolic act of
in-
your-face panache by TCK. Forced by SBA to register itself as
a
political website, TCK amiably agreed to registration but
immediately
announced the closure of Sintercom following registration. This
was
by no means capitulation, I dare say, but an act of defiance
against
the system of governance forced upon him. Sintercom exists
today
still, in fragmented underground form as a Geocities website and
a
Delphiforums discussion forum. The spirit of Sintercom has been
ably
carried forward by diehard supporters. It is a testament of
the
spirit of Internet politics.
TVD crew hopes that TCK will continue to promote a spirit of
Internet
civic activism. We are sure that he will touch on Singapore
Net
topics fearlessly as he had guided sintercom fearlessly during
his
tenure. Unfortunately, this NUS forum is by invitation only but
we
hope eventually to be able to publish TCK's piece as a reminder
of
our roots and where we TVD Net wannabes came from.
Cheers!
Lau Ah Pek
11.12.03