I don’t know Alfian personally, but I’ve read some of his writings, and he’s helluva talented guy.
So I got pretty pissed when I read about his termination as a relief teacher.
Once I cool down, I’ll send an email to Mr Tharman, the minister of education, to ask for an explanation.
I encourage you to do the same - do your bit for our education and our future.
For your convenience,
tharman_shanmugaratnam[at]moe.gov.sg
(Via Tomorrow.sg: Alfian Sa’at’s Unexplained Termination)

Do not know Alfian & his writings enough, but I do agree with your point of view and action.
It’s time to cut the red tapes. “stringent criteria”, “based on several factors”, “organisational needs” and “specific requirements”, yet communicate nothing.
The person who wrote the letter should be terminated with immediate effect.
We need executive decision. If Tharman do not terminate the person, he would fail as a minister.
Comment by Kevin — June 11, 2007 @ 11:57 pm
don’t just agree with me. have you wrote to tharman?
Comment by tinkertailor — June 12, 2007 @ 12:04 am
I won’t bother to write to a person whom I have no respect…a person who was involved in insider trading yet not punished by the law should be made accountable to the law and not granted any public office.
In my mind, he is not a minister.
Comment by Kevin — June 12, 2007 @ 11:21 am
i don’t know about your allegations, but it’s not a matter of whether you respect him or not. if you’re not gonna email him, then do something else that might help, rather than rant on my blog.
Comment by tinkertailor — June 12, 2007 @ 11:36 am
I don’t know about this person and I am totally neutral. But suppose I sacked someone and explained in a email (however badly written) the reason why I sacked him/her. If that person then publishes my email, I would feel quite vindicated in my decision to sack him/her just simply on the basis of professionalism (regardless of whether my decision to sack him/her was right in the first place).
Furthermore, interesting how everyone automatically assumes that he was sacked for his beliefs or gender orientation. No one asks him for the burden of proof about the email or even the context of how he was sacked. Everyone just assumes he is telling the truth about the HoD and his emails with MOE.
Also, as an educator, I would be concerned that he dropped out of medical school after 5 years of a 6 year program. I don’t want my students to quit at anything. I would respect him more as a teacher if he finishes what he started.
Just presenting my 2 cents worth. I don’t know enough to support either side, but right or wrong, to me, publishing a private email to me demonstrates unprofessionalism…
Comment by Thomas — June 25, 2007 @ 3:04 pm