The copy below is excerpted from Dave Avran’s article ‘Yes, Malaysia’s Red Bean Army does exist‘ in his blog Spanking DA Monkey on 12 June 2013. Dave sourced and collated his material from the article ‘Bean me up, Red Army‘ written by Hariati Azizan in The J-Star (9 June 2013).
Writes Dave:
“… most seasoned bloggers are aware that the Red Bean Army occupies an entire floor at the Wenworth Hotel in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur and Komtar in Penang. Yes they do indeed exist, despite the DAP’s repeated denials.
“The tag ‘Red Bean Army’ is said to be derived from Chairman Mao’s ‘Red Guards’ during China’s Cultural Revolution.”
Note by Helen:
The moniker Red Bean Army could be a corruption of 红 (hong) 头 (dou) 兵 (bing) which translates literally as Red Headed Soldiers but referring to Chairman Mao’s communist cadres wearing their uniform red caps or red berets.
头 pronounced dou meaning ‘head’ is a homophone of 豆 also pronounced dou meaning ‘bean’. In the Chinese language, words sound the same but are written in different script/characters and pronounced with different inflections/tones.
e.g.
妈 pronounced ma means mother
麻 pronounced ma means numb
马 pronounced ma means horse
骂 pronounced ma means scold
So 红 头 兵 (hong dou bing) Red Headed/Beret Army could have been corrupted/distorted to become 红 豆 兵 (hong dou bing) Red Bean Army in the context of the DAP’s cybertroopers.
Excerpts from Dave Avran/Hariati Azizan’s article below in point form
Dave (pix below) wrote:
“The Red Guards were a group of students in their teens and 20s who banded together in 1966 to overturn the ‘old order’ and fight to protect the revolution and preserve their Chairman’s Thoughts.
“They were also encouraged to criticize Mao’s enemies: anyone who was against Mao’s vision for China, from writers, economists, artists to anyone associated with Mao’s political opponent Liu Shao-chi.
“Malaysia’s RBA gained notoriety after one of its ‘generals’ made a confession in the China Press report. Li Shuang admitted to the existence of a Red Bean Army Facebook fanpage – Zheng Yi Zhi Sheng.
“Malaysian Youth Rights Movement (MYRM) president Shen Yee Aun – pix below – argues that the latest ‘outing’ by Li surely proves the existence of these cybertroopers who call themselves the Red Bean Army.”
Shen Yee Aun: They created lies about my friends, my family and me
“Shen, a former executive secretary of DAP Youth, was one of the first few to ‘expose’ the Red Bean Army in the mainstream media and unwaveringly stands by his allegations of these ‘ruthless cybertroopers’.
“I am fighting every day. It is a psychological war and they just want to break one’s spirit and discredit the person,” he says.
“Shen has no qualms admitting that it is a personal vendetta for him to expose the Red Bean Army as they have manipulated, slandered and created lies about his friends, family and himself. They have started to harass his brother who is now scared to use their surname Shen.
“He claims thousands and thousands of ‘hate mail’ have bombarded him since he came to the defense of a student and MYRM member who received rape threats after she made a YouTube video to declare her support for Barisan during the elections recently.
“ ‘They do not talk about facts or political ideas. They are driven by emotion, hatred and anger to assassinate my character, as they did with cyber attacks on film star Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh and model Leng Yein. My fb photos have been copied and manipulated to disparage and discredit me too’, [said Shen Yee Aun].”
RBAs gang up to relentlessly attack ordinary M’sians who support BN
“Shen describes the Red Bean soldiers as professional netizens who manipulate and misrepresent facts not only to attack the government, but also ordinary Malaysians who pledge support to the Barisan Nasional.
” ‘These cybertroopers will gang up against the chosen target and harp on selected issues, which they will do relentlessly until their goal is achieved.
” ‘Usually they have three days for their operation, says Shen, claiming that although many started out as volunteers, they now work full-time on a RM3,000 monthly pay’.”
Shen Yee Aun: “They bully anyone who is against them”
“ ‘Their main goal is to assassinate the character of anyone who supports Barisan. There are many young people who support Barisan but they are too scared to publicly say so because they do not want to be bullied and harassed online,’ [Shen Yee Aun] says.
” ‘No matter what issue you bring up, they will attack and discredit your source before attacking you personally by calling you a dog, loser, etc. When that fails, they will start to divert the issue.
” ‘They use the same tactics as the Communist Party of Malaya did during the Emergency. It is revolution style – you are either with them or against them, and they bully anyone who is against them.
” ‘They fight a dirty war and they threaten and harass people. Democracy is democracy, but it does not give you the freedom to create and spread lies. We don’t need people who disturb the peace in our country or threaten to rape or kill people. This will not bring any good’.”
Dave Avran: “Never accuse people of being guilty unless you have proof”
“Online activists NEED to be responsible, have a face and engage positively.
“Cyber activists should always cross check their facts with several sources, include real names and faces, allow for two-way conversations whether it’s positive or negative responses to promote intellectual discourse and to include hyperlinks of the sources quoted in the posting so that readers can confirm before forming their own opinions.
“Lastly observe some decorum and never accuse people of being guilty unless you have proof.” – Dave Avran
( source: http://avran.blogspot.com/2013/06/yes-malaysias-red-bean-army-does-exist.html )
Helen Ang 
I urge everyone here to actively counter RBA propaganda in their own fortresses. Take the offensive. I wanna see them shit in their pants for once.
I kinda feel that it’s too late now – the RBA is well organized and have meticulous SOPs.
They don’t engage in a drawn out war on cyberspace but once they receive orders, attack an individual or party just enough to get normal citizens to join in before pulling out, whereby the damage has been done.
While UMNO has been busy with 2.6 billion problems, DAP has begun their “ground assault” by hypocritically recruiting Malays into their folds while still maintaining an online presence but not too loud to attract BN to launch a full scale assault on them.
In this case, best we find the brains behind this operations because cutting down branches won’t kill the tree.
I’ve countered this people’s a lot of times when commented on the Malaysiakini or Malaysia Digest especially if my comment bias to supporting the government.
They will gang up and when I’m exposing their fb have no posting and openly call them RBA they will closed their account.
As per now, I’m started noticing that they using the Malay names to cover their activities but like Helen highlights a few times already there’s always a small mistake that make us notice them.
And a few complicated bahasa Malaysia words will make them losing their feet. And I loved doing it as part of my entertainment.
It’s small of me but then theirs attitudes of double standards irk me to the limit. So I thinks it’s fair I’m seeking some entertainment out of their falling to explain things for me hehhehheh
:osarah
‘I’m started noticing that they using the Malay names’
Yup, some siap bagi salam bagai! Memang sneaky bastards!
Their creation of red bean army is god given actually. The world get to see them in action.. Mana boleh dapat di Negara lain sehebat mereka ni?
I live among the Cina Dapster pekat area, in everyday life thats how they are. Yang tak kenal mereka tak tau pasai mereka sentiasa lempar senyuman manis depan. Belakang mereka menghina, memaki, menjijikan dan memperbodohkan the Bumiputras (esp men in uniforms) tanpa batasan.
Ego teramat tinggi and very suspiciois of one another, perasan diri pandai, rajin dan kaya. Tapi semua itu hayalan saja. Otak tak cerdik, pemalas dan berangan kaya (tiap hari main ekor).
Yes in short..telah memakan diri mereka sendiri. They will give rise to many youngsters like the Alvivi couple and Namawee. Today, these 3kids represent the proud new generations of Malaysian Chinese. They idolise them?
Teresa Kok, anak dara tua pun terikut cara Namawee buat video untuk menghina Negara sendiri. Sambil Alvin Tan show-off tatooed cross dan burung pendek dia melalui internet, Hannah nyanyi tweet tweet kata2 ‘berpenyakit’ memperkecilkan pemimpin2 Negara kita.
Itu cara mereka untuk memberi semangat kepada pengikut2 mereka, qualities of DAP Aduns and MPs that they offer? Do we need these types of people to bring our nation forward?
Lets compare video Alvivi couple, Namewee dan Teresa Kok dengan yang ini;
BN’s cyber machines in my opinion are a big joke, save for this one. They are loaded with those bandwidth craps (gay popups, flash videos, porn banners, unrelated ‘kantoi’ stories of artists) that even my grandma can walk faster to the kedai down the road before we can fully load their front page. That’s even worse on mobile phones. And most of them are in Malays. Lack of ‘mobility’ and quality. Those old schoolers at JASA should be sacked and be replaced with more qualified people that are technology-aware. They need aggressive information technologists who understand propaganda, counter-propaganda etc, not some old-school kedai kopi / majlis campaigners from the T-Rex era. (Sorry Helen, I know you are young either)
That’s the thing. If BN wants to engage in some dirty cyber warfare using dubious means, then don’t announce it to the whole world!
I’m also sick about BN politicians using the “we have facts on our side” excuse because we have seen time and time again that you can win the hearts and minds of the populace through perception without facts (kalau ada facts, better lah).
As politicians who are supposed to be good at politicking, they should know better.
Medaline Chang She Yun, National Publicity Secretary of Wanita DAP in an interview admitted to the existence of the RBA by specifically referring to its name instead of using another description for the group, but only denied that they were paid.
After the constant denial of its existence by DAP, why refer to the organization by its name if it does not exists as claimed? She could have just said “there was a group” instead of “the Red Bean Army was a group.” She indirectly exposed the RBA existence through this unintentional slip-up. This was during an interview with an ANU researcher on GE13 who later publish it in a peer-reviewed journal affiliated with the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GiGA). At the time Medaline was an EXCO of DAPSY Selangor.
Tapsell, Ross, Negotiating Media ‘Balance’ in Malaysia’s 2013 General Election, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2013, p. 46. “DAP’s Medaline Chang said the ‘Red Bean Army’ was a group of pro-oppositionists who were regularly active online and in political social media networks. Chang said they were not paid by the DAP and were mostly “angry Chinese young men who were active online, writing anti-government stuff on social media” (Interview, 18 June 2013).”
http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/699
Thanks Joanna.
No problem. I have been engaging in a cyber-battle for the past 3 days on an FMT article. Would appreciate your view on whether the comments I made there have any sense. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/08/08/najib-declares-war-against-red-bean-army-online/
I had seen your comments there earlier as you were a standout, and every patient in engaging them. It must be tiring, no?
How do you find those people (FMT commenters)?
Sorry for the delayed reply. Just got back home after getting stuck in traffic jam.
A bit tiring but still manageable. But my patience is definitely not infinite.
Most of the FMT commenters prefer to live in a bubble where their own version of reality reigns supreme, a sort of a pocket universe.
If you will excuse me, I have still have business to attend to on that FMT article.
kay, good luck.
Just noticed this thread.
The angry Chinese young men. Man, these men. They are mad at what ? Whom ? Or it’s because they are abject failure in real life ?
I have met some of these angry men both online and offline. Most of them cannot articulate what they think when you speak to them face to face. They are very vocal online, yes but that’s because someone or some folks are prodding them, the hidden hands.
You can try to engage them initially but after a while, you sigh. Joanna, you should spend your time and energy on something else. Your efforts in battling these thugs, though admirable, can only go so far. Can you reason with thugs ?
Obviously, you cant reason with thugs. But at the very least, you can let them have a taste of their own medicine. I only battle when I have the free time. When I don’t have the time. I usually disappear for a few weeks to months at a time. I only started battling in May 2015, and after a hiatus of two months, appear again in July 2015 until now.
I like the ‘karma’ exchange. Very persistent la you.
Thanks. Being persistent is the only way to make them back down.
Read your epic cyber-battle on FMT. You’re one brave soldier. Keep on fighting!
Thanks. But I’m more of a free agent than a regular soldier, since I only fight when I have the luxury of time.
Regarding your interpretation of Dr Ross Tapsell’s paper as proof of the existence of the ‘Red Bean Army’, I wrote to Dr Tapsell to seek clarification on the interpretation of the passage in his paper, requesting to know “exactly what Chang refered to during the interview, as a real organisation or just quoting an infamous label (in inverted commas)”. I also provided him the link to your comments above.
Here is his reply in full:
QUOTE
Dear Albert
I saw it as referring to an infamous label rather than proof of any organised group. That comment you refer to takes it out of context.
Thanks
Ross
UNQUOTE