I have moved to mokyingren.com :)

This is really one of the most memorable days of my life. We are still very saddened that this story was unfortunately leaked to the press despite promising it to be an internal investigation. What an irony! The article was well written by fellow triathlete Jeanette Wang and I must say she got many of the facts right and it was a fair article. I would also like to say that TAS and SSC carried out a fair inquiry into the issue and the punishment (friends, sms me 91597760 if you wanna noe how long the ban is. haha) was decided after considering many factors. We would also like to thank Andrew from our sponsor NIKE for being a great listening ear and advisor. Thanks to our sponsors James from First Endurance Nutrition, Scott bicycles, Smith Optics for being behind us all the way. Thanks to everyone who have communicated with us in anyway to express their support and encouragement.

To sum up, I was just being a helpful team mate who allowed my team mate who so happens to be a female to sleep in my room (2 single beds) because she could not sleep well for several reasons. 1. We were warned of bomb threats upon arrival at bali.(it was the day after the Indon gov. announced that whey will hang the bali bombers) 2. we were not in a hotel – it was a resort and she happen to be placed in a block of 4 units all by herself with the other units occupied by nonathletes caucasian holiday makers. Our blocks were separated by a couple of blocks.(in contrast, teams from other nations were housed in the same block) Imagine if something happens, she would be practically be alone. Put yourself in her shoes guys. Its not like a hotel where our rooms are just next door. So she couldnt sleep after 2 hours and came to my room at 11.30pm to ask if she can sleep there. I thought why not? And i think many of you guys will think likewise.  At the same time, we broke a unwritten rule. I am very happy however that the board of inquiry took these factors into consideration when deciding on the punishment.

Below are the comments by readers of ST online (All you see here are all you get from ST online, nothing omitted or added). I would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement. We are not affected by this and will be as usual training and studying hard.

“Firstly, there is no evidence that Mr Mok and Ms Dinah Chan have committed something unacceptable in the room though the door was closed. Could it be that they have some matters to discuss and wanted to do it in private??
We laughed and commented how silly and rediculous the authority is when we read of news about couple got caught and charged in court for holding hands while strolling in the park in broad daylight (this actually happened in a neighbouring country). But now, the TAS is doing the same silly and rediculous thing. I really cant believe that this is happening in our Singapore. Is the chief of TAS Teliban trained???”

“But they were found 'not in a compromising position'. Also, it was because 'the athletes had allegedly been informed of bomb threats'. (quoting from the article)
Sometimes before a big event (having enough rest makes it all the more important) early the next morning, I have trouble falling asleep the night before. (excitement? nervousness?) I am sure many have experienced this. If going to another room allows me to fall asleep, why not? As an athlete, proper sleep is of utmost importance and with the responsibility of performing her best for the nation on her shoulders, I am sure Miss Chan has enough going through her mind, without the addition of more worries about bombings and such.
I do believe she went over to her ONLY fellow countryman's room just so to catch a few hours of decent sleep (with one less worry) and not otherwise.”

"“This rule of athletes of the opposite sex not being allowed in the same room together with the door close makes some sense... if they were CHILDREN. It applies even if the athletes are married? Which planet are these people on?
Sports Council, well done to you. You have just shown how narrow minded, insensitive and illogical you can be at times. For an organisation trying to do its best to promote a sporting culture, you sure make a mess of things.
1. This particular rule in this golden "Code of Conduct" has not been thought through properly. Speaks volumes of your professionalism.
2. You can't even appreciate that blindly applying this rule and throwing the book at these two shows how stupid you can be - damaging your reputation, the athletes' reputation and desire to excel, displaying your total lack of common sense. Why does such a minor issue warrant an external disciplinary committee? Its as if they committed some crime.
Oon Jin Teik, if you ever read this, you need to realise that your organisation needs to take a more grown up view of the world and move with the times.
Andrew Fang”

“Fully agree with stompKING!
It’d be excusable if the involved parties are ignorant of the rule but if they’d known about it, then disciplinary actions must be taken. Otherwise, rules would be taken lightly by more athletes in future.
Didn’t many posters in this DB complained of too many spoilt brats in our society? So, why so much support for these young ppl who had no respect for rules? Whether they’re adults or kids, disciplinary rules must always be respected! What they did in the room is another matter.
Just imagine, if our children in their teens or youth are involved in overseas sports tournaments, won’t we, as parents be worried that such incidents would happen to our kids in our absence?
So, I think it’s an absolutely correct decision by the TAS to ban the sportsman & woman regardless of what good results they’d achieved for Sg. [Mok: First place, if there was a bomb threat, you wun let your children go to bali. Secondly, there was no rules stated anywhere]”

“Going by the letter of the law, the TAS has a code of conduct prohibiting athletes of the opposite sex from being in the same room when the door is closed.
Mok Ying Ren & Dinah Chan infringed upon this code, so going by the letter of the law (if not the spirit), the 2 triathletes knowingly broke a rule.” [Mok’s reply: there is nothing written about this in the code of conduct]

"“for a second i thought it's some story in Malaysia! And this is Singapore ..what's next? Charged for breathing the same air? I also question the national coach's Guo Weidong's motivation in this. True there ought to be discipline but the question is is the ban fair outcome? I am sure this incident will leave a big mark in both their sporting and personal lives now - so much talks abt developing local talent! This is one sure way to drive them out .... no wonder we need more PRs.”

“Sounds like pretty bad PR and man management to me...
First the coach (whose name sounds like a chinaman) sees this, then he just reports the incident, then TAS shoots themselves in the foot by releasing this info...
They have banned a defending Southeast Asian champion because his girl went into his room.
That's just damn smart of TAS. I think they would do better running primary schools...
Well, the governing bodies of Singapore sports are just screwed up... As if the STTA ain't bad enough...
can't keep a table tennis coach that won us a silver medal, and talking about sacking him back then when we just won the medal, what a dampener on our celebratory moods.. (and btw, this new table tennis coach may have been the ex-coach of the beijing team but you know something, the beijing team ≠ the china national team!)”

"“This is stupid. I mean, if this stuff happen 20 years ago, everyone can understand the decision. But what's the rationale now? Singapore is no longer conservative. Nothing wrong for a guy and a girl (adults) to be out late at night, or for that matter in a room together.”

“Well ... as disciplined sportsman/woman who cannot even obey simple rules - what else can you say ?
They knew the rules before hand....
They should be punished and face up to the consequence.” [Mok’s reply: no rules stated before hand as written in the papers I quote “no specific rule pertaining to the Games that athletes of the opposite sex could not be in the same room.”]

“See the article by former British Olympic table tennis player Matthew Syed which was published in in The Times (British newspaper) during the Olympics 2008. It refers to numerous examples of athletes making whoopie in the Olympic Village!”

“I also am in full support of the athletes. If the TAS really needs to enforce its authority, just a verbal / written reminder would do. A ban sounds too harsh. These athletes are adults for all intents and purposes. This banning action does not promote sporting excellence or family- baby- friendly policies in Singapore.”

“I think it is ridiculous to assume what goes on behind the doors when there was no proper investigation done and to slap the triathletes with a ban. The coach and authority should attempt to understand why the triathletes are together. It would be extremely narrow-minded to ***-U-ME.
Shouldn't everyone be innocent until proven guilty? TAS needs to be more reasonable. How would you feel if you are the one who is being maligned? Narrow-mindedness can lead to lots of misunderstand and unfair judgement.”

“judge them just because they were in the room together. not as if it's a crime for a girl and a guy to be in room. they are clearly old enough and i'm sure they are sensible to know what's right and wrong. putting a ban on them is just crazy. such a punishment is uncalled for. being in a room together is not a serious offence, so why ban them as if they were caught taking drugs together or something?
sometimes people amaze me with their ridiculousness.”

"“I think the national coach Guo Weidong was so disappointed that he did not get to see Yong Ren & Dinah in a 'compromising position', when he visited the room, that he had to report the matter! LOL!
Guo Weidong reminds me of those Syariah court officials/religious police in Malaysia, who behave like peeping toms as they make their rounds to check out couples in their own bedrooms.”

"“When was ST so gossipy? In the first place, they werent even caught in a compromising position.and hello. It's people's private life you know. And dont you need sports talent?”

“A sledgehammer to crack a nut
Hello,
I am appalled by the manner the authorities have handled this matter, and sunday times' decision to deem fit to feature the pictures of the athletes involved so prominently. (not to mention to take personal photos of their facebook.com account, are the parties involved aware of this?)
What does it say to the masses? No mistakes will be tolerated?
I'm not sure whether the Sunday Times will agree, will this incident serve as an impetus for our youngsters to engage in sports as the career of their choice? And why would Singapore spend so much money and effort to bid for the Youth Olympics in 2010, when such a minor gaffe involving the personal lives of athletes makes it to national media?
What I feel is, this incident will only serve to erode the confidence of our 2 athletes. We need more local talent to grace our stadiums and arenas, not spending more money on foreign talent who have no real inclination except monetary rewards to serve Singapore in the long run. Why are we lionizing foreign born talent, and yet making a mountain out of a molehill over this incident?
Thank you.
Edgar Lim”

“Would Mok Ying Ren & Dinah Chan be in breach of the TAS' code of conduct if they were 'making whoppie' with the door open? Just wondering.........................”

“Is national coach Guo Weidong from China?”

“Many great athletes feel it benefits there performance to have sex before an event. I don't know if this was before or after but maybe it helped them...??????? The guy is a medical student so maybe he was just giving her a check-up??????? Good luck to the two of them :-)”

“I am appalled. In Kelantan, they would only fine the couple.”

“it is unfortunate that the ban was imposed. what is even more unfortunate was the leak. well, this is sillypore but stand tall and you always have my support.”

“For goodness sake stop embarrassing our country, TAS (triathlon association of Singapore)!”

“The person who discovered them is being nosey parker.”

“Why all the fuss? The NUS and NTU dorm are not so decent anyway so why so strict in the beach games? Give them some room..in this case..a room to talk private perhaps. People always assume the worse when a couple enters a room. Shows our prehistoric mentality in dealing with incident. Bah!”

“why should they be banned for just this thing? That does not mean that they did anything wrong. So i thing that they should not be banned.”

“OK, maybe he was giving her a post-race massage or the other way round, but it is none of TAS's business. Dinah rightly stood her ground and is now taken to task because the petty official lost face.”

“Wait a minute, let us go out and check. Oh! It is a bottomless pit.”

“At least here in Aussie land, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, we know how to LIVE!
Alas, in Singapore, most people just chase their tail, and pretend to live.”

“Is being in the same room going to affect their sporting performance? Is this worse than having CMI FTs abscounding?”

“Mr Mok & Miss Chan are said to have infringed the TAS' code of conduct prohibiting athletes of the opposite sex to be in the same room when the door is closed. Are we still living in the Dark Ages?
Since S'pore's chef-de-mission to the Games, confirmed that there is no rule pertaining to the competition that forbids male & female athletes being in the same room, no rule was actually broken. Then why the necessity to ban them?
What I find ridiculous is that most of our NSAs still have codes of conduct like that of TAS' which forbids even married athletes i.e. husband & wife from being in the same room with the door closed, even if they are just watching TV or chatting, & not 'making whoppie'.”

“You gotta be kidding me! Sorry, but I just need to go outside and check what century we are living in. Be back in a minute.”

“Singapore claims to be a cosmopolitan society, and I believe many of us Singaporeans out there do believe we ARE part of that society, which is why news like that infuriates me.
We take 3 steps forward by hosting International events such as the upcoming Youth Olympics to show the world how sophisticated our country is, only to slip 2 steps back by rules such as this which I personally feel is a joke.
Mr Mok and Miss Chan are both adults and were not caught in a compromising position. I am sure they did their best at their race and achieved good results for themselves and their country. A reprimand should do the job, a ban is too harsh. Does this rule apply to any other sports associations in the world?
Get out of the well, keep your cane in its box and hop aboard the train into the 21st century already!”

“Leave the door opened when there's a member of the opposite sex in your room? Seems like our national athletes are being treated like kids.”

“There should be no issues if both of them are above 16 years old. Studies have shown that athletes/sport men or women perform better if they can release the tension (sexual or otherwise) both before and after their events. In this case it's better and safer than going to GLCC (Geylang Country Club)Further more it's not done in full view of the public.”

“Crazy! What century is this already huh?”

“Our officials need to grow up. Unless of course, the Talibans are in charge of our sports. Another important feature to note is the stupidity of people in Singapore, starting with our local media, which goes around snapping pictures of young couples making out. It's really none of your business. There's something truly infantile and childish about our officials and our leaders when they make a big deal of young couples being intimate. Time to stop”

“isn't all this (article/ reaction to ban) against everything MCYS is spending to encourage Singaporeans to get married, create family, make babies?
why did this have to come to the press/ media?
now that this is out. what happens to the lives of these two individuals?”

“well no doubt they did break the rule, there is code of conduct and yes technically they should all be stood by. I dont know if they finished their events at the time of incident, but if they have, and they are two adults, well the lady is, the guy almost is.
And at 18 at least, being a medicine student, RJ alumn, national athlete, i would like to believe he would know better than to do what they shouldnt do.
Been proven athletes perform with their loved ones or people who care or support is given to them. Be it from teammates or what not, so why the harshness. i am very tempted to say to the sports authorities, "take a chill pill mate" we dont live under a rock, the things our youths get exposed to, our lives and our generation differs. A different standard of care applies here, so really do they deserve the ban ? Seeing they are the best we got, how useful is that in the sea games year and their development to reach the asian standard?
well ask the folks in the tower up there!”

Please also visit the triathlon family forums to discuss about this issue:

http://www.triathlonfamily.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=6831&hl=