Children will be children, right?
A video circulating on social media showing three presumably Indian boys climbing on a car to play triggers a slew of racist comments from netizens.
The video, shared by Facebook user Augusts Sim saw almost 1000 shares and about 200 reactions.
The three Indian boys, who looked to be about 7 or 8 years of age were playing with toy guys around a car, when one threw a plastic bottle at the car. The videos uploaded also show the boys climbing onto the hood of the car.
The netizen who shared the videos and photos from the camera of his car captioned his post saying, “Beware of this 3 kids from India.. see them must avoid, they may burn ur car or take knife to kill anyone.”
The car was parked at the open-space carpark of Parkview Apartments, a condominium located at 2 Bukit Batok Street 25.
The owner of the car said, “I had just returned home from polishing my car in Malaysia.”
After parking his car, he returned about thirty minutes later to find that his car was no longer in the same pristine state.
“There were numerous marks, scratches and fingerprints on many corners, both windscreens, on the sides, the front and back bonnet, as well as the windows,” he added.
After checking the in-vehicle camera footage from his car, he said, “It showed that about a few minutes after I had parked and left my vehicle, three kids came towards my vehicle.”
He also told the media that, “They had used their water guns to scratch the front bonnet of my vehicle. The boy in white was also seen to have thrown his water bottle onto the front windscreen.”
The car owner also said,” “Later on, the video had sounds which I believe are from the kids trying to pry open my car door open. I think they damaged the car door’s sensor as my vehicle handle system is not working anymore”.
His comment and videos brought about an onslaught of comments about racism, however, there are some who urge the netizen to look beyond race, at the fact that the boys were just children and that it was the parents who should take responsibility for their kids.
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obbana@theindependent.sg