Going down to KL this weekend and thought I’d leave you guys with this (if I haven’t told you about this already).

I don’t usually care much for blogger drama but this case feels a little different somehow.

It started with a post by a Singaporean blogger, Jean, titled “Help needed: I was molested by a friend while I was asleep“. To really get into this, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS. Digest it and form your own opinion.

Basically in the post the blogger outlines how she went on a trip alone with a (guy) friend and ended up sharing the same bed with him because the hotel was out of rooms. On the last night:

Half way through my sleep, I thought I felt hands moving along my back. Being a light sleeper (I’m usually a light sleeper when overseas), I woke up and felt fingers running along the right side of my back. With my back facing John, I didn’t know what to do. I kept very still because I was afraid of being assaulted. He’s easily 1.5 times my size, not to mention being taller than me. Soon enough that stopped but I didn’t dare go back to sleep.

Then I felt it. The distinct feeling of a sausage-like object rubbing against my bottom. I couldn’t take it any more and screamed and jolted up. John then pretended to be shocked and asked me if I had a nightmare. I didn’t answer him but took the blanket and went to the small table where my laptop was. I signed in on MSN and turned on my webcam and told my friend what happened. I turned on the webcam facing me throughout the night, on one hand worried that something worse might happen and on the other hand at a lost of what to do.

I think I was surprised to find myself thinking “WTF is wrong with this girl - alone on a trip and agreeing to sleep in the SAME BED with a guy?” I wondered if I was guilty of victim blaming. At the same time, I couldn’t quite shake off the nagging feeling that if the blogger were such a prude, then she would have insisted he slept on the couch on the first place. No girl is that innocent - hey, considering she’s Singaporean.

A Singaporean tabloid even picked up and ran the story. However they also did something else - they got the guy’s side of the story. It turned out to be quite a shocker. Jaywalk has reproduced the articles on his blog.

Quite the sordid account, and will please those who like scandal and sex :). On my part, I was just glad that my instincts were vindicated.

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Odex, the main distributor of anime in Singapore, has forced Starhub (a Singapore ISP) to give up names of people involved sharing anime titles which are licensed by them - even a 9-year-old was not exempt (a copy of the letter here). DarkMirage has some solid criticism of the issue.

Even blog posts regarding the issue are being frowned upon.

Someone pointed out on Lowyat though that since Malaysia doesn’t have official anime distributors, we’re unlikely to suffer the same fate - at least for now.

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