Patriotic Singaporeans are criticising a satirical video about an "Instagram boyfriend academy" by Singaporean personality Elizabeth Boon, slamming it as "disrespectful" to the military, especially represented by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) military uniform.

In case her name sounds familiar to you, Boon is the same person who created the "Hire Me Leh" photo shoot, which features her squatting around town area in her graduation gown:

The "academy" in her current video is likened to serving National Service, where recruits are put through BMT — which stands for Boyfriend Material Training in this case, instead of the original Basic Military Training.

This is the preview uploaded to her Instagram account:

[video width="640" height="640" mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2018/01/instagram-bmt.mp4"][/video]

However, a good number of commenters expressed their unhappiness with Boon's use of the SAF No. 4 Dress, which recruits wear during training.

The main complaint is that it "disrespects our uniform":

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More in-depth explanations of why it disrespects the uniform, which centre around its improper wearing:

And the ultimate argument of portraying women as "sex symbols" because they are made-up in uniform:

That being said, the Singapore Navy had no qualms about using an attractive woman in a recruitment video to bait less judicious young men into signing up.

And some may argue that these good-looking males potentially sexualise the uniforms they are wearing too.

Boon's response: Unbuttoned uniform not intentional

Speaking to Mothership, Boon emphasised that she did not intend to under- or misrepresent the armed forces in any way.

She believes the attention on Instagram was "misdirected" to the unkempt uniform's missing button, when the focus, she asserts, should be on "a woman asserting her self-worth".

The unbuttoned uniform was also not intentional, she adds — they had been facing audio issues on top of bad weather, and Boon was instructed to place the wireless mic under her bra for better audio quality.

However, after repeatedly fixing and removing the mic throughout the filming process, she forgot to button up.

Boon says she fixed the error when she spotted it during playback halfway while they were still filming, which is why her uniform was entirely buttoned up towards the end of the video (from 3:06).

Here's her response to Mothership in full:

"The sketch is a parody and complete satire over the relationships that girls share with their IG boyfriends, and all the diligence that comes with that title and territory. In no way, shape, or form did I intend to under or misrepresent the armed forces.

The sketch portrays a woman of power teaching men how to be the best boyfriends. What is becoming an issue here is that my uniform was missing one button. The attention is being misdirected towards the unkempt uniform when the focus should be on the woman asserting her position of self-worth.

The unbuttoned uniform was not intentional as well - we were facing audio issues on top of bad weather that day and I was told to place the wireless mic under my bra in an attempt to better the audio. I simply forgot to button it back after the countless times I had to mic up and take it off after.

I fixed it immediately after realising it halfway through filming while watching a playback, which is why the later scenes have the uniform buttoned up. There certainly was zero intention to underrepresent the armed forces."

This is the full video on her YouTube Channel:

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Top image adapted from Elizabeth Boon's Instagram and YouTube.