Fair Dinkum, My Foot!

While Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong were photographed flipping steaks at one of the '50 BBQs' hosted by Singapore's Australian High Commission, netizens were flipping their lids over the hijacking of the Australian generosity. Not that there was not enough meat to go around, about 10,000 beef and lamb steaks were provided free-of-charge at 23 sites across the island.

Recognizing something not exactly fair dinkum was going on, the Aussies tried to sound a warning on their Facebook page:

"Many locations are ticketed by the People's Association to ensure there's enough food for all. But we've been told some spare coupons are set aside for those who just show up."

The reality on the ground was uglier than anticipated.

• "We don't even know where to get the tickets because it wasn't stated we need to get the tickets. And now, like you said, tickets are all taken."
• "Why wasn't this announced earlier that those ticketless residents from neighbouring estates were only entitled to leftovers from 8.30pm onwards? Disappointing."
• "The idea was good but shame it ended up as an ugly spat between the haves and the haves-not."
• "A fantastic initiative undermined by the ruthlessly mechanical PA machine rejecting all non invitees."

All the heated accusations against the People's Association of hogging tickets to divert them to their own supporters and denying access to non-members were not published in the local media. You can read about such horrible truths only in foreign media like the Sydney Morning Herald. This is how Australians see it in print: a fiery spat between Singapore locals and the ruling party's grassroots supporter base.