A male teacher of a local elite school came out as a homosexual on his blog, and attracted much attention. In the end, he rapidly deleted this open letter.

The Ministry of Education responded that it does not permit teachers to endorse homosexuality openly, because teachers have special authority - they have influence over students, and are often regarded as role models.

The 38-year-old- Raffles Institution male teacher Otto Fong started teaching 8 years ago. He worked in the theatre before he started teaching.

He published this 2000-word open letter to his friends and colleagues on his personal blog. The letter is dated 7th September, and published on the 8th.

This blog was featured in the local blogger site tomorrow.sg, and many netizens were engaged in discussion, including students from Raffles Institution. The open letter was deleted within 3 days of its publication on the internet.

However, some netizens have saved a copy of the open letter, thus it is still circulating on the internet.

Otto Fong admitted frankly that he is gay in his open letter. He also hoped Singaporeans can be more tolerant towards people like him.

He said in his letter: "When I became a teacher in 1999, I looked back on the good guidance my own teachers gave me as a template, and tried to be a better teacher to my students. Besides teaching them Science, I spent considerable effort in imparting good social values.

Yet, in the eight years I have taught, I have done little for that small group of students who are gay... When my niece returned from school saying, "Gays are disgusting!" I knew she learnt that hatred from a classmate, who had in turn absorbed that hatred from a parent."

"This is the same environment of hatred I grew up in, as a gay teenager and student."

Otto Fong said that he was motivated by some personal reasons later on to come out openly, and stop being "a bonsai tree at the mercy of people's trim and cut".

One of the reasons for this motivation was MM Lee's speech in April. MM Lee was engaging in a dialogue with young PAP, and he questioned the validity of criminalizing homosexuality when it is an in-born condition.

Otto Fong said, "I felt that in order to reach my fullest potential as a useful human being, I must first fully accept myself, and face the world honestly. I have lived long enough to know that what I am is not a disease, an aberration or a mental illness."

He narrated the story telling his parents about his sexual orientation, and gained their support. They also accepted his partner.

Otto Fong also said that the only thing gay people want is to have the same rights and dignity as other people. He hopes that he will have the same respect from society, just like other Singaporeans.

Otto Fong's open letter sparked off much discussion on the internet and in school, after it was widely circulated and deleted. Zaobao's journalist contacted Otto Fong yesterday to inquire the reason for deleting his letter, but he told the journalist that he cannot be interviewed at the moment in his email reply.

Raffles Institution's statement to Zaobao revealed some clues. "As a school, we need to be considerate towards the views of stakeholders, especially parents who are uncomfortable with teachers who endorse homosexuality."

"In this incident, Mr Fong hoped that his colleagues and friends would read his blog. He has already clarified that he has no wish to promote homosexuality to students; therefore he did not give his blog address to his students. However, he discovered that some students read his blog as well, and thus he decided to delete it." The Ministry of Education said, "MOE supports the school's way of handling this incident, because this is in line with the Ministry's stand."

Otto Fong was an engineer before joining the Chinese theatre. He wrote a play about homosexuality" Different Species" in 1992. Later, he resigned to study movie directing at Beijing Film Academy, and began to teach in 1999. He is a comics artist as well, and published a series of "Sir Fong" comics.

Interviewed parents and students: Sexual orientation should not be a concern

After the open letter is released on the internet, a lot of netizens are speculating whether Otto Fong will lose his teaching position. Zaobao's journalist tried to ask him about this possibility, but he declined to respond.

However, a student's blog revealed that Otto Fong planned to leave the teaching profession before writing this open letter. Even if he quits, it may not be due to this incident.

Furthermore, parents and students interviewed say that if a teacher has upright character and dedication for teaching, his sexual orientation should not be a concern.

Raffles Institution Secondary 4 student Huang Maoxuan (16) described Otto Fong's teaching style to be very lively and fun, and sustains students' interest. He is a good teacher, and hard to come by.

He feels that even if Otto Fong comes out publicly, it would not affect students' impression on him.

Parent Wu Shuqian (46, housewife) thinks that dedicated and responsible teachers should not be ostracized or reprimanded because they are gay.

She said, "From what I know, Mr Fong is good at teaching. A teacher like him is hard to come by. It would be a great pity if he is forced to leave because of this incident."