Latest Update (10 Sept, 20:00 hours):
TOC understands that Otto’s case has attracted the attention of the Ministry Of Education. We expect both MOE and Raffles Institution to release a press statement on the matter very soon.
Otto Fong is a gay teacher in Raffles Institution. He recently came out publicly in his blog (see TOC sidebar), writing an open letter to the public about the trials and tribulations he felt as a gay teacher.
TOC last visited his webpage at 1400 hrs, 10th September. 40 minutes later, it was gone.
Credible sources tell us Otto was called into the General office of Raffles Institution this afternoon.
We will monitor the story for continuing developments. Below are excerpts from his original blog post.
Excerpts from Otto’s original post:
“I am Otto Fong. I have been teaching science in Raffles Institution for the last eight years.”
“When you ask me who I am, I will answer: I am a son, a brother, a long-time companion, an uncle, a teacher, a classmate, a colleague, a part of your community, a HDB dweller, a Singaporean. And I am also gay.”
“I have lived long enough to know that what I am is not a disease, an aberration or a mental illness.”
What one student says about Otto Fong’s “coming out” (link):
“I adorn a man with my respect when he shows me courage, and Otto Fong deserves it. I have never had the privilege of being taught by him but I know he’s a great man, and it will earn him nothing but veneration in my eyes to, so aptly put, come out of the closet.
The world would have been a more beautiful place, beseiged by less lies and less deceit. If people were more comfortable with being themselves. Proud of themselves. Less pain and less ignorance. Less hate.”
Who is Otto Fong?
Otto Fong is a playwright, film-maker, engineer and a Science teacher and comic artist. He first discovered his love for drawing while storyboarding for the Beijing Film Factory production of Monkey King. In 2000, he won the 1st and 3rd prize in the first nationwide comic drawing competition, Toon Craze Toon Grace held by the People’s Association.
In 2006, he published Sir Fong 2, his third solo comic publication after Buddy Buddy in 1998, and Sir Fong in 2005.
A review of Otto’s book “Sir Fong” can be found here.
Some of his cartoons can be seen here.
Choo Zheng Xi
