Singaporean once jailed for sedition now serves up inspiration (and ramen)
- Force behind The Royal Singapore media company, Yang Kaiheng, sets aside toxicity to publicise feel-good stories of ordinary people
- Although he denies his former website, The Real Singapore, spread xenophobic views, he now vows to uplift with positive online content
There is the funeral director who conducts pro bono funeral services for elderly folks who die alone, and the hairdresser who gives free haircuts to loitering teens in her neighbourhood.
It’s a laudable goal, but those who are familiar with Yang may find it hard to square his new venture with his past. In 2016, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for violating Singapore’s sedition act for a series of articles he posted on The Real Singapore, a now-defunct sociopolitical website he had started with his wife. The law criminalises the deliberate wounding of racial and religious feelings within Singapore.
Yang said he had started The Real Singapore to give Singaporeans an outlet to air their views on social and political issues, and had never meant to promote ill will among any groups.
His inexperience led to him mismanaging the site, he said. The platform accepted online submissions from readers, yet there was little editorial oversight. This resulted in hateful and racist articles getting published, he said.
“I was an average Singaporean concerned about certain issues in Singapore. But my approach was wrong, and the law broke me,” he told This Week in Asia.
LONG ROAD FROM RAMEN
Starting another social media outfit was the last thing on his mind in February 2015, when he and Takagi were arrested while in Singapore, where they had returned after Yang had completed his studies. Soon after, Yang’s father suffered a serious stroke that left him paralysed. Though his condition is now stable, he is only able to move his eyes and requires round-the-clock care.
That episode caused Yang, an only child, “a tremendous amount of stress”. He worried about his father’s health and the financial burden of supporting his family, especially considering the cost of his father’s months-long hospital stay had amounted to a six-figure bill.
“Having just a normal salaried job, even as a university graduate, would not bring in enough to provide for the family for the long term,” said Yang, who now has a three-year-old son and another child on the way.
The couple decided to set up a ramen stall in a university canteen, even as the sedition case and a possible jail term loomed ahead of them. Named Takagi Ramen – after Yang’s wife – business got off to a slow start. But things picked up after another outlet opened in Ang Mo Kio, a busy residential area in central Singapore.
When Yang and his wife were serving their sentences, his mother kept the business afloat with help from relatives and staff. But he took over on his release, pulling in 18-hour shifts without rest days and doing everything from taking orders and washing dishes to prepping the food. Takagi took a back seat role to care for Yang’s father.
By 2019, the business had stabilised, with four outlets and a team that handled daily operations. It now has seven outlets.
This was when he decided to start The Royal Singapore, as he had always been interested in the social media scene. But this time, he wanted to do the opposite of what The Real Singapore had achieved – to build a positive online community with inspirational stories about everyday people.
In July 2019, after years of inactivity, The Real Singapore’s Facebook page came alive again under its new name and with a new brand of content, although with the same TRS abbreviation and the heading, “Stories that celebrate all that is Singaporean.”
The page’s ready audience of about 300,000 people – most of whom had supported The Real Singapore back in its heyday – took to the new platform fairly quickly.
One of the first videos put up was a three-minute long clip of a Filipino domestic helper talking about her job caring for her elderly employer, and the sacrifices she has had to make. The clip has been viewed more than 238,000 times, and has received a largely positive response from viewers.
FINDING COMMON GROUND
But Yang maintains he is the same person as he was when he ran The Real Singapore, but this time his main goal is featuring stories that will resonate with – and bring together – everyday Singaporeans.
“People have different political views and opinions, and that can sometimes cause tension,” he said. “But there is actually a lot of common ground if we set aside our differences.”
I will still speak up on things that I strongly believe in, and things that are not right
He is also uncomfortable with the idea that The Real Singapore was a xenophobic breeding ground, as media reports that had covered the court case back in 2016 suggested. Of the thousands of pieces published on the site, only a small fraction were found to have run afoul of the law, he said.
This could explain his wariness to engage with the mainstream media. Yang consulted his business partner before agreeing to an interview with This Week in Asia, although he opted for written answers to questions rather than a face-to-face meeting.
Though the time spent behind bars has made him more introspective, Yang said he had no regrets for anything that had transpired over the past five years.
“I will still speak up on things that I strongly believe in, and things that are not right,” Yang said. “But being in prison gave me time to reflect on my priorities. What happened with The Real Singapore and my prison sentence – they made me learn from my mistakes and become the person I am today.”
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Late last year, Tham Why Keen, 40, joined The Royal Singapore as its chief executive officer and creative director. Before that, Tham had produced several videos for TRS as a contractor. He now handles most of the daily tasks and oversees the creative and marketing decisions and manages a team of nine, including four full-timers.
Tham got to know about Yang’s brush with the law only after joining the company, but says he is not bothered.
“I’ve worked with him before, so I already had a sense of who he is as a person. I see a young entrepreneur whose goal is to build a successful business, and at the same time, to inspire the average person and make a positive change in the world,” he said.
The two men are working to build a viable business model for The Royal Singapore, which also provides video production and social media management services for clients.
“There is a general belief that positive content doesn’t do as well as controversies in the media industry,” Yang said. “I am determined to prove this wrong. Inspirational storytelling can do just as well, if not better, than negative stories.”
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3119754/singaporean-once-jailed-sedition-now-serves-inspiration-and
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