Malaysian journalist gets slammed for “fat” comments

Being fat is bad for you. One would think it's a perfectly harmless expression of a columnist in sharing her views on body size and its links to successes in life.

Hardly harmless though, because Tee Lin Say, face shui expert of The Star was slammed by many readers since her column was published over the weekend.

Tee's column, No Benefit in Being Fat, talked about how being fat is never a good thing for face reading. While she agrees that the 'chubby' and 'meaty' face is linked to prosperity, she feels that “blobs of fat in other parts of the body are always bad news”.

This journalist is known for her work in face reading. She often provides analysis on whether a person is successful based on the features of the face. Tee had also done a reading for Yahoo!'s CEO Marissa Mayer earlier this year.

Tee has been a business journalist with the English daily for nearly a decade. The Economics graduate  embarked on face reading and was taught by Chinese metaphysics expert Joey Yap a few years ago. 

Her piece, available online and print, saw dozens, if not more, angry responses from the social media community.  Some of these people include journalists, from international and local organisations.

Earlier today, she posted the article online and wrote on her FB page, “Being Fat is Bad for Your Mian Xiang! No offence meant. Just saying it as it is.” Mian Xiang means a Chinese art of face reading, where Mian represents the face while Xiang represents the appearance.

“You see, when one is too whale-like, one simply cannot function properly. In the physical sense, how can one defend oneself? How can one be the most supreme especially in the competitive corporate world,” was one of her many observations about overweight individuals.

We called Tee for her reaction about how she was being criticised for her views, but she told us she didn't want to comment.

She may not have wanted to offend, but Facebook users certainly though otherwise, with some using profanities to express their opinions of her article and her journalistic skills. Here are some of the reactions we captured, but first we removed the rude words, of course:

Rubi Mahes:  I'm a fat person working as an activist. Everyday I work to make this place a better place for everyone. I work odd times and sometimes on the weekends while you write lazy, offensive articles such as this. Thank you for your article that contributes to an already hyper superficial world where kids and even adults get bullied and discriminated against for the way they look.  I am thankful that I do not have inherently flawed logic like you because based on you I might think all 'skinny' people are major “douchebags.”  Thank you and I do hope that if you ever become 'bigger' in size (evidently it's not possible for you to become bigger of heart) , you will be spared the same judgments you have so generously shared with us today.

CW Lee: Is this a ploy to incite a response from readers? It's so wrong on so many levels! You've successfully written an article discriminating people (AND animals) based purely on appearance, whilst trying to back it up with mostly nonsensical reasons no less associated with the superficial. It touches many aspects but covers none in-depth. And the "conclusion" inspires nothing other than to lead a person to think their financial well-being is in direct co-relation with their waistline, not good financial management.

Those in the journalism community had a thing or two to say, beginning with ex-colleague Purwaiz Alam. 

He wrote on his FB page, “Who the hell gives you the right to call overweight people all kinds of names? Such an insensitive brat!  These immature people (and there are many of them) are put on a pedestal and made so-called experts for some mysterious reason which i will never figure out."

Hazel Joanne: "You and your article are a disgrace to the journalism community and makes the rest of us credible, hardworking media people look bad. If you had done half as much research into your ridiculous hypothesis of fat = poor financial well being, your article would've been a better read. Instead, it is a superficial, shallow and poorly written article which is not only severely flawed, but it also exposes your prejudices against those who don't look a particular way. Shame on you."

Hazel Joanne went on to challenge Tee:

"I'd like to see her present her idiotic theory to successful people who are on the bigger side. Tony Fernandez anyone? Or Aretha Franklin? Gabourey Sidibe? Melissa McCarthy? Rebel Wilson? Amber Riley? Queen Latifah? Rosie O'Donnell? Oprah Winfrey? All solid proof that this prejudiced writer should reconsider writing stupid articles about one's destiny based on their face and size."

Tee did cover this aspect in her article, though, to which she said:

“I know many people will say that this rich person, or that CEO who has this feature and is very successfully.  Yes, perhaps for a fleeting while, but it will not last. The tide of lard will eventually come to sabotage the initial success.”

The writer does go on to explain her honest observations, “Not to be discriminatory, but this level of fat people are also lazier than usual. They aren’t doers. They are great talkers though. This is to mask the denial of their situation, and the great insecurity they have about their looks. They talk about anything else, to deflect attention from all that excessive weight.”

She justifies her observations about overweight people with health risks, saying that fat in the stomach and waist were the worst type of fat to have. “It is known as visceral fat, and too much of this fat gives a person a way higher chance of heart diseases, diabetes and even infertility.”

Journalistic practices were questioned in one Facebook response by user Xes Xes Loveseat, “Gotta blame the editor too people, how could this pass?” 

Another user, Marlina Azmi, reacted by saying to Tee, “Your article was just bloody rude and shame on your stupid editor who let the paper run this sad excuse of an article!”

We've seen how Facebook users reacted to it, how about you, what do you think of Tee's views?