Academic Director of SMU Executive Development Michael Netzley said that it is unclear if astroturfing, the buying of online support, was at work in the online petition posted on 12 October via avaaz.org, calling for hijabs to be allowed in the Singapore workforce. He added, “I do not know and cannot tell without looking at the collected data or talking with someone involved.” He noted that what makes astroturfing possible, tempting and unethical is the fact that it is hard to uncover. Astroturfing is a practice that will eventually become prevalent in Singapore but not yet as Dr Netzley explained that “Singapore is a conservative country and there are cultural disincentives for not doing so – for instance, the notion of protecting your name.”