Malaysia and Singapore went wild when the Singaporean media made a cover featuring the sex blog by Asean-scholarship holder and current law student Alvin Tan and his girlfriend Vivian Lee, which
contains explicit scenes and nude photos of the both.
Caught in the middle of the controversy, the couple remained calm and seemed to be basking in the limelight, without any regrets for what they’ve done, claiming it to be
a way “to show the world how much they love each other”.
Many have labeled them as immoral, stupid and ignorant, but youngsters seem to find no
fault in their doings and some even expressed support for the couple.
I would like to say a few words regarding this issue.
First of all, it is true that the couple has the rights to showing their love or
whatever they call it to the public, but as rational adults, they should have considered the consequences. What influence would it pose to teenagers in our country? What would happen to their parents and family members? They ought to know that this
isn’t only about themselves, but also about others.
I’m sure the parents of the couple must have been tremendously ashamed by their children’s acts.
Vivian Lee once defended her postings by saying that there is no wrong in liberalizing
her sexual habits and this won’t cause uproar if she were in America. However,
she needs to consider that Malaysia is an Islamic country, and while Singapore
isn’t, both countries have always upheld moral values of the East such as
manner and propriety. Most importantly, she has to remember that she is not in America.
Secondly, I’m sure teens in both Malaysia and Singapore have great access to the internet. What if they come across such postings on the net? What if they think that
there is no wrong in doing such activities and re-enact the scenes they saw? What
social problems would it inflict upon the society?
Some may argue that even if the couple’s blog didn’t exist, teens would still be exposed to dangers of the internet. This is true to some extent, but then again, if
everyone says the same thing, the internet would be nothing but a world of
explicit videos and nude photographs.
To keep things simple, I do not oppose to the couple's taking nude photographs of themselves and recording explicit videos. However, I would like to give them a word of advice: keep those things private and do not publicize them just for fun, no matter how much you want to "demonstrate your love for each other". It's one thing to commit in a sexual relationship and another thing to parade yourselves in-the-making.
