The School of the Arts (SOTA) is investigating a visual arts teacher who was named as an alleged sexual offender on an Instagram account that has since been deactivated.

In a Facebook post put up on May 31, SOTA said it was aware of the allegation made on the account, known as @durian.dot, against Jason Lim.

The school also reiterated its stance to maintaining a safe environment for its staff and students.

SOTA added:

"If you are a SOTA student or staff, and believe that you have been a victim of wrongdoing, we encourage you to come forward and lodge a report by writing in to [email protected] with the necessary information so that the school can properly investigate the matter."

Incident happened prior to the teacher joining SOTA

Subsequently, in another Facebook post on June 2, SOTA added that the incident involving the teacher mentioned in the durian.dot account had occurred before he joined SOTA.

In the meantime, however, SOTA said it had "engaged" the teacher and will ensure that he does not have any contact with students until the matter is resolved.

The school also stated:

"We would like to clarify that contrary to earlier media reports, these allegations involve one SOTA teacher and a few former students."

What is @durian.dot Instagram account?

The Straits Times (ST) reported that the account called for people to submit experiences of either sexual assault or harassment, although it stressed that such experiences should be first-hand.

In addition, posts that attracted the most attention were those that involved SOTA teachers and students, ST further highlighted.

These included a ceramics teacher who allegedly sexually harassed a 19-year-old student in a cab, and a student who supposedly took upskirt photos and shared them in a group chat across the cohort.

Another post further added that the account was aware that its actions were considered doxxing and that it could get reported.

The post also stated that for some cases, it had "sufficient evidence" to work with the police, which had not been made public for the victims' protection, while for other cases, the account was raising awareness as a lack of evidence meant that those cases were "not compelling".

Doxxing is an offence

Under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA), perpetrators can face a fine of up to S$5,000 or a jail term of up to six months if the intention was to cause harassment.

The jail term can go up to 12 months if they intended to cause fear or provoke violence.

In response to Mothership's queries, the police replied that reports had been lodged about the matter and that they were looking into it.

However, the reasons for the reports were not specified.

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