You-know-who threatened to sue you-know-who about you-know-what. And now, it seems, the whole world knows about it.

(If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest gossip, huichieh’s compilations should bring you up to speed. (thanks for the plug.)

To be continued…

The Committee to Protect Bloggers.

Quick to pounce on the news were Trompe L’oeil. Sheena wondered what happened. Adrian Loo saw it as a knockout blow. YL think’s it’s scary. hooch is put off from studying public law. Wowbagger grouses on more test-tube washing. Kelvintan73 parodies a scene from the Matrix trilogy.

Others take to writing letters. Chrischoo notes the seminal impact and writes another Youthink article in the Straits Times, which was picked up by huichieh and endorsed by SingaporeInk. Others, such as Bernise Ang, wrote letters to the Straits Times Forum which were rejected for publication. Modeus on the Young PAP Forum writes an open letter. Personal friend Ng Yong Kuan wrote an open letter which circulated around and eventually got published on From a Singapore Angle, inspiring Singapore Ah Beng to write an open letter too.

Singapore Speaks thinks it’s “distributing” (?).

Some members of the blogosphere have been supportive. bouncingbells sent him an email of support. Oikono writes an open letter. Palatable Horse Dung has an elegy.

Others smell a rat. De Se dissects AcidFlask’s apology.

Zuco warns against victim deification, while simultaneously being upset over what he sees as a disproportionate reaction.

For yet others, nothing about this situation is new. Jacob complains about the use of intimidating tactics. YC writes that the response is merely SOP. hdbanger worries about trawlers.

For yet other Singaporeans, the issue raises yet again the bête noire of government scholars. Paul Delima laments the naïveté surrounding Singapore government scholarships, a post that was picked up by tomorrow.sg and lambasted by wyng.

Dark humor, for some, saves the day. Calm One muses about having to wash teacups if invited to tea. TalkingCock has a cameo mention amidst the (presumably) hypothetical transvestite scientists. A commenter on Singapore Ink muses about evidence for transgressing an OB marker. Huichieh discovers the Xiaxue doctrine, and re-emphasizes the role of blogs as facilitators for civil discourse. duh41 draws analogies with female orgasms, and references a Wall Street Journal editorial commenting on the stifling of personal expression, and a rather hoity-toity right-of-reply letter from MICA [subscription required].

physicalpoet remarks wryly on the conflation of true facts to make a false statement that will probably go down in history.

Lively discussions ensue on online fora, such as HardwareZone and VR-Zone. Sammyboy, of course, takes the opportunity to bash ‘pappies’ and ‘papayas’, having plenty to say about pyrrhic victory, collations of historical quotations, past flak, and repackaging as damage control, and spending tax dollars on advertising. One mjuse on NewSintercom cross-posts to the Singapore Review.

Others are piqued by what the future holds for Singapore blogs. Theoretically Practical is intrigued by getting ‘locals’ to sit up. Huichieh waxes lyrical about the rift between blogs and the mainstream media (MSM) have not been silent though, although many think that the reporting by Singapore and non-Singapore media are worlds apart. Agagooga thinks local press coverage is depressing. The Financial Times (London) muses about the paradox of promoting the arts while curtailing freedom of expression.

The issue has truly gone international, too. Harvard’s Cyberlaw newsletter. American blogs like the Captain’s Quarters, Amygdala,

.Cyber Conservative hoped that the incident would pressure the government to open up.

Mention on the Peking Duck earned the author an interview with WILL.

The Canadians, too, show unusual interest in the apparently backward ways reported on miss-information.net, as picked up by Le Blogeur, and on Conterfactual, posted by the son of an ex-Singaporean. Canadian mainstream media have a field day over the story, which cropped up in the National Post, CTV, CANOE C-News, CJAD 800 AM, TELUS, and Macleans.ca.

The Far Eastern Economic Review blog picked up on the sensitivity to criticism shown by the scholarship czar.

The incident has earned a mention on the David Lawrence podcast.

French blogs such as Just a Blog also.

Fellow Hongkong bloggers become disgrunted at the state of affairs faced by their Singapore counterparts.

Randy Kluver is not too surprised.
Akikonomu laments the Bantustanization of the Singapore blogosphere. Joel wonders why Singapore had to blow the matter up.

News circulates in online Austria, Qatar. India’s Kerala Next [2] and Express India carry the news.

Malaysia is not idle. Mention on Nilesh Babu. the mudpond remarks briefly on the extent of the impact.