Oh Capitalism, who’s the boss now?

August 16, 2008 by Yvonne Foong

Fellow Brandon Teoh sent me an email with the title, ‘Blogger being sued by an arrogant corporate company…’.

These days, bloggers involve in so much branding, so that when I read the word ’blogger being sued…arrogant company’ I almost flipped. Oh man, not again. These bloggers are having a ball of a time.

Nolah. It’s just the way Brandon wrote. The matter here concerns Mr. Edward Skading, a man just like any other man, who bought a can of F&N TeaPot condensed milk and found mould in the can.

Mr. Skading brought up his concern with F&N Customer Services. Having received no response, Mr. Skading wrote them two consecutive letters of complaint detailing his case in black and white. They replied, by tip-toeing around the issue, and tried diverting attention too.

Following that, the manufacturing plant was inspected by Petaling District Health Officers. The filthy plant was found to be an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and microbes, that Mr. Skading said could have been lingering in the air. Although the tins were sterilized, microbes and bacterias could still enter the can during the process of packaging. Spores thrive with oxygen, and luck had it that this can was dented and it had a hole, supplying the tin with oxygen, bringing mould to life.

Mr. Skading isn‘t interested in monetary compensation. He‘s not suing them. All he wants is for F&N to come forth, make a statement and apologize. But what Mr. Skading received were intimidations through F&N‘s own appointed lawyers. At one point, they even demanded Mr. Skading to pay RM1,000 for allegedly hurting their image. They even had the cheek to ask Mr. Skading give that money to F&N‘s choice of charity.

Why, of course, F&N couldn‘t take that money themselves. It wasn‘t a court order. So that‘s why they came up with a plan, by asking Mr. Skading to do ‘charity‘ instead.

The latest Mr. Skading received was a letter concerning a hearing session at the Shah Alam High Court. It seems F&N wants to bankrupt this old man.

Oh, not my words. Mr. Skading himself said that he‘s a poor old man.

I have to urge you on something. Please hold your opinions until you’ve read his blog through and through. The latest post didn’t sound convincing to me, for Mr. Skading wrote in a casual tone. Further readings proved Mr. Skading to be someone simple but streetwise. He also happened to be an ex-soldier who had served with the UN. His stand against the lawyers and intimidations are notable. Mr. Skading sounds calm in his blog, sometimes witty as well. Folks around his age are like that, huh?

If you’re familiar with my blog, you might recall the case of Pei Lee at SJMC, and the incidence when I almost drowned at the swimming pool. Recall the people who questioned and called names. The nitpickers on Mr. Skading’s blog sounded exactly like those who picked on me. They almost said the same things, same words, same style, same reasons. Their reasoning similarly hold that corporate companies are always right. You small consumer, small fly. You know nothing. You got it all wrong. Quit whining and go back into hiding.

That’s why when I read Brandon‘s email, I could not be so moved as to cry bloody murder. Not anymore, after being told to shut up so many times. But it is also for the same reason that I began identifying with Mr. Skading.

And I feel Mr. Skading’s case should stand alone, without being masked by the word, ‘blogger’. We don’t want people dismissing him as just another blogger playing up issues. Not that it’s true, but that’s the impression created by our traditional news media.

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So dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed Y&A Blogger Yvonne's post from yvonnefoong.com. If you have similar good writings on current events you want to share, please feel free to contact me. ~~ Wan Fadzrul, YouthSpeak Coordinator, via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..