Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Sex blogger Alvin Tan loses scholarship


PETALING JAYA: The National University of Singapore has terminated sex blogger Alvin Tan’s scholarship over his Internet sexploits.
The prestigious university, however, stopped short of expelling the 24-year-old from law school but he will have to pay full non-subsidised fees as a foreign student should he resume studies, reported Singapore Straits Times, quoting unnamed sources.
Tan was an Asean scholar and had been on “leave of absence” from his classes for almost a year when he started uploading pornographic pictures and videos of himself and his girlfriend Vivian Lee on a blog titled “Sumptuous Erotica”.
Tan has refused to comment on the university’s decision.
“I’m sorry but I can’t comment. I’m bound by a confidentiality agreement,” he said.
The university has also kept mum, with the spokesman stating that the school’s disciplinary proceedings were confidential.
An estimate shows that it may have cost the Singapore go­­­vernment – the benefactor of the Asean scholarship programme – at least RM275,000 to fund all of Tan’s seven years of study in the city state.
The highly prestigious scholarship is awarded to only 170 undergraduates from nine Asean countries annually. It covers tuition fees, accommodation and also provides an allowance for the recipients.
Last week, after deciding on the punishment, the university said Tan’s actions were “inappropriate and was detrimental to the reputation and dignity of the university”.
Singapore Education Minister Heng Swee Keat also told Parliament on Monday that Tan’s behaviour was “reprehensible and unbecoming of a scholar”.
Tan said he apologised to the university during the disciplinary hearing on Oct 31.
Meanwhile, both he and Lee have deleted all of their Facebook posts referring to the blog.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Jho Low A millionaire before graduating

KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman and Malaysia’s most famous socialite Jho Low made his first million – in US dollars – when he was barely 20 years old when he took a semester off from The Wharton School of Business to set up an investment fund that is today worth in excess of US$1bil (RM3.19bil).

In his first-ever interview with the media, Low said he was in the right place at the right time and also that he had gone to the right schools – Harrow School in England and The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, in the United States.

He tells of how at these schools he met and befriended Arab royalty, describing the relationship as being important since how they became friends at such a young age created a great amount of trust between them.

His private equity fund, called The Wyndon Group, started off with a capital of US$25mil (RM79.7mil) from his family and nine other investors made up of his schoolmates and their families. Low, 28, is the third and youngest child in the family of Datuk Larry Low, who founded the engineering company MWE.

Low Taek Jho or better known as Jho Low
Age: 28
Place of birth: Penang
Height: 1.7m
Weight: 88kg
Languages: English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Hokkien, Teo Chew and Basic Arabic

Education
Primary: Union Primary School
Secondary: Chung Ling High School/Uplands School (O-Levels) Harrow School, London (1998-2000) (A-Levels)
Tertiary: The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (2000-2005) (Bachelor of Science in Economics majoring in Finance)

Career

* At the age of 20, started an investment company called The Wynton Group with US$25mil from family and South-East Asian and Middle Eastern friends. The investment company in which he owns a stake is now worth in excess of US$1bil.

* Appointed to the board of UBG Bhd as group adviser and non-independent & non-executive director in 2008.

* Group adviser to several international corporations involved in global private equity, M&A and buyouts