Diplomat's son gripes about foreigners, S'poreans enjoy their moment of schadenfreude

S'poreans prove they enjoy schadenfreude.

Belmont Lay| October 25, 08:13 AM

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So, long story short:

A Singapore public relations agency, Ate Group, is threatening to take legal action against at least three former staff for allegedly poaching clients.

The firm claims in a public statement that three former senior staff solicited business while they were still employees of Ate, before forming a breakaway start-up.

Ate was founded in 2006 by Aun Koh (left) and his wife. Koh, who no longer has an operational role at Ate, but remains a partner in the business, is the son of diplomat Professor Tommy Koh.

However, this industry news has been attracting much wider attention in the public.

This was what Koh wrote on his Facebook page:

"What also saddens me about this incident is that I was always a huge supporter of foreign (white collar) labor here in Singapore. While I know these people are surely not indicative of a huge population of expatriates, it does make me rethink whether or not these new arrivals are really grateful for the opportunities they are being given here or are they all just so self-centered that they don’t care about things like professionalism, integrity or even right and wrong."

"I won’t be naming these people here. I’m not that stupid or petty. But friends from various sectors can guess who they are. And I hope these friends won’t give these people or their business the time of day."

Koh's gripe and highlighting of the fact that the three former staff were "coincidentally, all foreigners", left a sour taste in many people's mouth.

Unfortunately, in PR terms, Koh is experiencing quite a #failmoment.

Not only has his gripes not won him much sympathy, the tables have been turned against him.

 

Here are some comments responding to Koh:

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Singaporeans, in typical fashion, have also taken to forums to enjoy this moment of schadenfreude.

 

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Top photo from here

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