Troll page SMRT Feedback baits Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director on Twitter

A mature discussion about free speech in Singapore is overdue. Just not on Twitter.

Martino Tan | December 16, 2017, 02:50 PM

A publicity tweet about an extensive 133-page report on the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, published by US-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), has descended into a barrage of name-calling and insults on Twitter.

The exchange is between HRW deputy Asia director and a troll Facebook page, SMRT Feedback.

Tweet to publicise 133-page human rights report on Singapore

On Dec. 13, HRW published its first report on Singapore in 12 years and examined how the laws and regulations in Singapore had been used to limit individual rights to speech and assembly.

The report drew on interviews with 34 activists, journalists, lawyers, academics and opposition politicians and provided 60 recommendations, calling for the repeal of restrictions on the rights to speech and assembly.

"Monkey", "Frog", "Colonialist"

Enter SMRT Feedback, which appeared to argue that Singaporeans are unwilling to trade safety and security for the anarchy of unrestricted freedom of expression.

Source: Twitter.

It then proceeded to insult the report's spokesperson Phil Robertson, by calling him an "ignorant monkey".

Undeterred by the insult, Robertson proceeded to highlight examples of safe cities such as Boston, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and New York, before calling SMRT Feedback a "frog".

Source: Twitter.

SMRT Feedback then step up the insults by calling Robertson a "colonialist".

Source: Twitter.

Fact check: Singapore does not have much similarities with North Korea. It maintains diplomatic relations with North Korea but has recently suspended all trade with North Korea.

Fact check: Robertson is an American who has been working and living in Southeast Asia over the past decade.

By then, Robertson was probably ready to move on and asked SMRT Feedback to just shut up.

Source: Twitter.

Fact check: The United States occupied the Philippines from 1898 - 1946.

And SMRT Feedback just didn't want to shut up.

Source: Twitter.

Fact check: Nicolás Maduro is the President of Venezuela 2013.

Robertson then tagged Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Donald Trump.

Source: Twitter.

Nope, they didn't respond.

The two-day tweet fight then went on for way too long for anyone to care anymore.

[related_story]

But life's really tough if you need to retweet an online influencer's remarks.

Source: Twitter

Sad.

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