Peekaboo, Alvin, we see you!
It seems that he’s (kinda) back online again as Channel NewAsia, via a correspondent’s personal Facebook account, have reported that they’ve spoken to him recently. As recent as 24th September. Apparently, the 25-year-old Malaysian “sex blogger” Alvin Tan Jye Yee claims to have fled to US, where he intends to seek political asylum.
Alvin allegedly said, “I’m busy starting a new life here (in the US), apart from awaiting my final asylum hearing. I’m here to seek political refuge from the tyranny of UMNO – simple as that.”
He added:
The Department of State produced a Human Rights Report on Malaysia in 2013 which explicitly cites my case as a repression of internet speech rights
If all else fails, I can easily publish more “seditious” materials on my Facebook to taunt the authorities and get them to be hot on the pursuit of me again, therefore creating an even more well-founded fear of political persecution to bolster my asylum claim.
Just in case you’ve forgotten, Alvin Tan and his “partner”, 25-year-old Vivian Lee May Ling (you may know them best as the “Alvivi” pair) are still facing criminal charges under Malaysia’s Sedition Act as well as the Film Censorship Act for their controversial online uploads, including a “Bak Kut Teh” photo deemed insulting to Islam on Facebook as well as pornographic images on their blog, “Sumptuous Erotica“.
Sessions Court judge Abdul Rashid Daud granted an application on 12th May this year by the pair to have their passports released so that they could shoot a documentary in Singapore. The judge granted them the period between 18th May and 3rd June. We reckon that was when he first applied for asylum-seeker status because he has since disappeared from the public eye following a documentary shoot in Singapore.
And he sounds like he’s pretty confident of getting asylum status in the United States.
In any case, the court has since issued a warrant of arrest for Tan after he forfeited the RM20,000 bail that was imposed on him after he failed to return his passport. It was also previously reported that even the Interpol is after him.
Hmm. Your thoughts on this, peeps?
