The Singapore Police Force (SPF) reported yesterday that it has issued a stern warning to the former DBS employee who shared an image of the Singapore flag being defaced on Facebook two months ago.
Revealing that the decision to issue a warning was made in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the SPF said that a stern warning was administered earlier this month on 3 Oct: “Following investigations, the police, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, has administered a stern warning.”
The SPF’s stern warning to former DBS Singapore’s Consumer Banking Operations Team member Avijit Das Patnaik comes about two months after a police report was made against him for disrespecting the Singapore flag.
The India-born permanent resident came under intense fire for posting an image of a Singapore flag being ripped up to reveal an Indian flag to 11,000 member-strong Facebook group ‘Singapore Indians & Expats’ on the occasion of India’s 72nd Independence Day on 15 Aug 2018.
In his post, Patnaik wrote “Phir bhi dil hai…” – a term which refers to the title of a 2000 Hindi movie, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, which translates into “Still my heart is Indian”.
The backlash against Patnaik was so severe that the DBS employee had to delete his social media and online networking accounts.
DBS Singapore also responded to public outrage and revealed that it had “counselled” Patnaik. DBS Singapore earned widespread criticism from Singaporeans for not taking harsher action against Patnaik, with several locals threatening to close their bank accounts, that the Singapore lender later said that Patnaik has left the organisation.
https://theindependent.sg.sg/granddaughter-of-pioneer-singaporean-blasts-ft-banker-who-posted-image-of-singapore-flag-being-ripped-up/