freshbrainz.com reports that Doctor Andy Ho, Senior Writer at the Straits Times, has finally made a factual error so severe that it has prompted an angry and severe rebuttal from a wronged party.

This, of course, is not the first time that Andy Ho’s vacuous writing has drawn flak from readers. Other bloggers have taking him to task for logical fallacies of all shapes and sizes in his Straits Times columns, with issues ranging from combating litter, the debate over 377A, biological origins of homosexuality, unsubstantiated generalizations of homophobia, the death penalty, mrbrown, bloggers and journalism, pharmaceutical legislation, human rights, Terry Schiavo, and many, many other topics. Personally, I’ve thought many of his articles to be poorly reasoned, but apart from that weren’t really worth the bother to analyze further. However, in this most recent debacle, Andy Ho has apparently allowed quite a few factual errors to enter his latest article about plastic surgery, drawing flak from plastic surgeons. Considering the whole point of jounalism, factual mistakes are one of the most egregious lapses in journalistic standards.

For future reference, I’ve compiled a list of things that Andy Ho has written and published in the Straits Times that has drawn rebuttals and responses from others that directly address the issues raised. On the response end of things, I’ve tried to filter out the obvious nonsense and ad hominem posts, and kept only those with some modicum of merit.

It’s interesting to note a consistent pattern of logic throughout these articles that show a propensity for cherrypicking selected truths, a general ill-informedness on many issues, and more factual errors that one ought to reasonably expect from any given journalist.

References (Blogging, civil society and journalism)

  1. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Revisiting the banyan tree: civil society 10 years on, 2001-06-30.
  2. Jacob George, Think Centre, “Quiescent”? Think Again!, 2001-07-03.
  3. Narayana Narayana, Think Centre, Daddy knows best policy, 2001-07-07.
  4. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Blogging’s more than idle chatter–It may, over time, help to raise political consciousness, 2006-08-02.
  5. Huichieh Loy, Singapore Angle, Andy Ho on why bloggers should not have any more “wiggle room” than mainstream journalists, 2006-08-02.
  6. abhijit, Blowin’ in the wind, Give bloggers a break, 2006-08-02.
  7. Gayle Goh, i-speak, The Andy Ho Article, 2006-08-02.
  8. Mr Wang, Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma, Andy Ho Is Merely A Self-Indulgent, Opinionated Fellow Expressing His Silly Views, 2006-08-03.
  9. Two Steps From Twilight, Why Andy Ho may one day find himself writing a blog, 2006-08-03. (Now defunct, but archived, for example, here.)
  10. Andy Ho, Straits Times, For shame, stop this indignity, 2007-01-11. Archived, for example, here.
  11. Kway Teow Man, Is it public shaming? Isn’t it Citizen Journalism?, 2007-01-11.

References (Climate Change and the environment)

  1. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Who or what is the real culprit?, 2007-05-01.
  2. Eugene, What on Earth are you Doing?, Who or what is the real culprit?, 2007-05-01.
  3. Eugene, What on Earth are you Doing?, The real culprit of global warming? Human activities, 2007-05-05.
  4. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Plastic bags are the enemy, 2007-05-12. Archived, for example, here.
  5. Packrat, Empty Vessels, Andy Ho. Synonymous with idiot., 2007-05-13.
  6. Sam Bateman, Straits Times, Plastic bags are the enemy, 2007-05-16. Archived, for example, here.

References (Crime and law)

  1. Andy Ho, Straits Times, New music piracy law is fair play, 2004-10-29. Archived, for example, here.
  2. Lee Kim Mun, mrbrown, Is the new music piracy law fair?, 2004-10-30.
  3. Shaun Lee, Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc, Andy Ho defends the Singapore model, 2005-11-25.
  4. John (Plastic), Plastic.com, Is it ever okay to execute the innocent?, 2005-12-12.
  5. Eric Ellis, The Bulletin, Dire straits, 2005-12-13.
  6. Andy Ho, Straits Times, The serpent did not beguile you: most criticisms of the use of entrapment do not hold water, 2006-07-04. Archived, for example, here.
  7. The Kway Teow Man, Widely circulated regular columns in a serious newspaper needs higher standards?, 2006-07-09.
  8. Andy Ho, Straits Times, The moral case for the death penalty, 2007-11-24.
  9. Fr. Paul Staes, Catholic News, Death penalty: do we have a moral case?, 2008-12-09.

References (Homosexuality)

  1. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Homosexuality: not by science alone, 2003-07-30. Archived, for example, here.
  2. Alex Au, Yawning Bread, Homosexuality: not by science alone, 2003-08.
  3. SarongPartyFrens, Moran, 2004-12-20.
  4. Han, Legal Janitor, But not quite gray either, 2005-11-07.
  5. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Nude shots give gays wrong idea, 2007-03-03.
  6. Alex Au, Yawning Bread, Gays should support censorship, Andy Ho says, 2007-03.
  7. Kelvin, Salt * Wet * Fish, Andy Ho’s gay porn, 2007-03-05.
  8. Eric Gn, Trevvy, Is gay porn bad for gay men?, 2007-03-06.
  9. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Let the religious have their say too, 2007-07-19.
  10. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Gays and biology: who is right, PM or the MP?, 2007-10-27. Archived, for example, here.
  11. Sam Ho, Sam’s Thoughts, The doctor, the lawyer and the mathematician, 2007-10-28.
  12. Andy Ho, Straits Times, It’s not a big deal for most Singaporeans, 2007-11-03.
  13. vincit omnia veritas, viva Vox Dei, Singapore heartlanders and their attitudes toward homosexuality, 2007-11-06.
  14. Joel Tan, The Daily Backtrack, Driftwood, 2007-11-10.
  15. Andy Ho, Straits Times, There are gays, and there are gays…, 2007-11-10. Archived, for example, here.
  16. Alex Au, Yawning Bread, Minorities and state protection, 2007-11.

References (Medical)

  1. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Now, who is watching the drug watchdog?, 2005-01-23.
  2. Han, Legal Janitor, Prescription drugs, homophobia and Bad Economics: Why Andy Ho is Wrong, 2005-01-30.
  3. Akikonomu, Illusio, Advice to Andy Ho: don’t write what you don’t understand, 2005-03-28.
  4. household name, I’m no tai-tai, okay?, Surrogates, 2006-08-14.
  5. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Key issue is patient safety, not partisan interests, 2008-03-26.
  6. Colin Tham, Straits Times, It’s about protecting patients, not turf: plastic surgeons, 2008-04-02.
  7. Yves Gerard Illouz, Straits Times, French creator of liposuction joins in, 2008-04-11.

References (People offended by Andy Ho)

  1. Pranay Gupte, Letter From Singapore, 2004-11-19.
  2. Eric Ellis, The Bulletin, Hang democracy, let’s trade, 2005-12-01. (The Bulletin’s website is now defunct; the link points to an archived copy of the article.

References (Social issues)

  1. Chong Shan Shan, Singapore Angle, External examiners are not symptom of colonial thinking, 2006-08-13.
  2. Andy Ho, Straits Times, Rich will get richer, as will the poor, 2006-09-12. Archived, for example, here.
  3. The Kway Teow Man, A whole load of gibberish, 2006-09-12.