Singapore's only vigilante group, SMRT Ltd (Feedback), has responded to media queries about their purpose in life in a rather serious and rare media interview with Vulcan Post on Nov. 10, 2014.

The Facebook page, known to poke fun at traditional mainstream media, has been in the news recently for their role in carrying out vigilante justice against Jover Chew, the owner of a Sim Lim Square shop that has become famous for its unethical business practices.

Their vigilante actions have hinted at by a Minister in Singapore after the page released private information and photographs of Chew, not before sending pizzas to his house to right his wrongs.

From Vulcan Post:

What are your thoughts on being called a ‘vigilante group’ instead of a ‘satire/troll’ group, since you started mainly to talk about the frequent MRT breakdowns in 2011?

Our thoughts are stoic at the moment, and regardless of how the public and the media paints us, we feel that ultimately, there are deficiencies in the due process of the law, which is why we reluctantly stepped in. We didn’t plan to be involved in any vigilante activities but from Heather Chua, to Anton Casey, and now the SLS saga, no authoritative figure has rise up to take concrete action. We filled that gap.

How do you think online-vigilantism has helped with the Sim Lim Square (SLS) scams?

CASE publishes the number of complaints filed with each errant retailer but as we all know, nothing proactive is being done to nip it at the bud for the past several years.

Online vigilantism comes in when the people we trust to handle the situation becomes incompetent.

The effect we are starting to see is that retailers in SLS now are more wary of their approach. This case is going to be debated in Parliament and the Govt. is finally stepping in to tackle this problem more seriously. Whether or not their solution works remains to be seen.

Do you think what you’re doing constitutes as cyberbullying?

Perhaps. Is it against the law? Maybe.

At the end of the day, we provide a platform to publish publicly available information. What people do with the information is none of our concern.

Whether it’s lawful or not, it does not matter in our books. What we do know is that if you want to fight a dragon, you don’t send a toothless tiger. You send another dragon of the same caliber, regardless if that dragon is in anyway a subscriber to the laws of the land. Sure there will be collateral damage, but it works.

Sometimes, a necessary evil precedes a greater good.

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