Stunned, Hashwini clicked on the link provided by Daxue and was redirected to the official website of the Media Development Authority of Singapore. True enough, Teen RV was listed along with 27 other websites and blogs which had been singled out for devoting at least forty per cent of their postings to political topics and content over the last 12 months. MDA announced that it would issue all 28 of them notification letters soon. They would be required to put up the performance bond within thirty days, failing which MDA would require them to shut down their website or blog.

So that was the reason for the stampede. The online viewers were rushing in to pay their last respects. It was unlikely that any of the bloggers would be able or willing to fork out the required $50,000.

“This sucks!” Euu Ki exclaimed when he received the update. “Just when Teen RV is starting to make money!”

“I know, right?” Hashwini whined. “But I imagine it is worse for established bloggers like Daxue. They stand to lose ad income possibly in the thousands!”

“Wait a minute,” Euu Ki said over the phone. “I am looking at the list on MDA’s website now, and I don’t see Daxue listed.”

“Are you sure?”

“Check it out yourself.”

Hashwini logged on to MDA’s website again. It was true. The Tornado headed the list, but Daxue was conspicuously missing. Unable to contain her curiosity, Hashwini dropped Daxue an email to enquire. How did she escape the persecution?

The magic figure was forty per cent, Daxue explained. Hers was primarily a lifestyle blog. Prior to the Little India riot three months ago, she had been posting about make-up tips and celebrity gossip. As MDA was looking at a 12-month horizon, Daxue’s political content came up to a precarious 37 per cent. It was pure luck that she had flown under the radar. But Daxue had learnt her lesson. She was determined to stay away from any hot topic that carried the slightest political association. It was simply not worth the risk.

“It looks like we have no choice but to shut down Teen RV,” Hashwini lamented when Euu Ki showed up the following day to discuss the matter.

“Not without a fight!”

Hashwini was taken aback; she had never seen Euu Ki so bitter. She failed to understand that Euu Ki had been, owing to his sexual orientation, at the receiving end of varying degrees of oppression throughout his formative years. This despotic decree issued by MDA was yet another familiar clampdown by the authorities. He knew there was no way he could slay the giant, but he was determined not to succumb without a fight.

“But what can we do?”

The answer to Hashwini’s query came, not from Euu Ki, but from The Tornado. Omala Subramaniam had dispatched an email to the other 27 websites and bloggers on the infamous list to invite them to a protest she was organising.

“We must go.”