RIS Low is not the right person to promote safe sex. She should not be promoting anything at all, with the exception of the Yellow Ribbon project.

There is nothing personal in my saying this. I will say the same about anyone else in the same position.

Ris has been given too much attention for the wrong reasons.

I am sad and disgusted that a company related to CNN has named her an influential person.

I see this as nothing but an insult to Singapore and Singaporeans. She has committed a crime – credit-card fraud – and speaks bad English. How does that qualify her to be such an influential person?

What is it supposed to mean? That teenagers who want to be famous should follow in her footsteps and commit a crime, then join a beauty contest and speak badly?

I am not condemning Ris. I believe she can contribute as a spokesman for the Yellow Ribbon Project.

But for anything else, her past can provide only a bad example for others.

She has to show that she has changed and can contribute to society. Only then will I support her as a spokesman for anything else.

This article was first published in The New Paper.