IN some photographs, he placed his arm around his fans' shoulders.

In another, a female fan sit on his lap, so that she wouldn't be left out of the picture.

Now Tay Ping Hui has been criticised by some netizens for being 'indecent' with fans.

On Chinese news and entertainment web portal omy.sg, one of them, angleang, wrote: 'You're an actor. How can you allow yourself to have such unorthodox relationships with and actions towards fans?

'It seems like you intentionally get close to your fans... thus proving your charm.'

Was the 38-year-old actor too liberal?

Ping Hui doesn't think so. He also claims the fans he was photographed with didn't think it was a big deal.

He told The New Paper: ' You don't say that Santa Claus is a paedophile for having a little girl sit on his lap, right?'

At the centre of this incident are three Taiwanese fans with whom Ping Hui had dinner when they visited Singapore early this year. He said he has known them casually for about two years through his blog.

He added that a mutual friend who used to work at MediaCorp was also present, but was not shown in the photos which are in an online album.

The actor said this is the second time he has met with fans. The other occasion was a brief meeting with a group of Malaysian fans.

His manager was present then.

Ping Hui said: 'I will never meet a fan one-on-one. I agreed to get together (with these Taiwanese fans) because I'm familiar with them, having corresponded for some time. Besides, we have a common friend.

'After dinner, they asked if we could take photos and so we did.'

To fit everyone into the photo, Ping Hui had asked one of them to sit on his lap so that 'everyone would be within the frame'.

He added: 'Look at the photos. My hands are nowhere near any sensitive areas.'

Inappropriate

Ping Hui was also criticised for addressing his fans as 'mei mei' (Mandarin for little sister).

One netizen, joanne100, felt it was inappropriate.

Said Ping Hui: 'My fans refer to me as 'da ge' (Mandarin for big brother) and I use 'mei mei' or 'di di' (little brother) to address someone younger - it's a very Chinese practice.'

He said to insinuate that the terms meant something more would be 'an insult to the respect my fans and I have for each other'.

Will he now keep a distance from his fans?

No. There are better things to worry about in this world, said the actor.

'In this case, I don't think I should or need to reflect on what I did, as suggested by the netizens. You should learn not to look at things beyond what they are.'

This article was first published in The New Paper