Channel 5 actress Jade Rasif appears to have more sympathy for the JP Morgan employee who was seen berating a security guard with vulgarities than most others. In a Facebook comment, she emphatically agreed with the administrator of SMRT Feedback by the Vigilanteh that the senior JP Morgan staff is just like other Singaporeans.
On Friday night (25 Oct), a video of a man verbally abusing a hapless security officer went viral on social media. In the incident, which reportedly took place at the Eight Riversuites condominium in Bendemeer, the man hurled vulgarities at the elderly guard after being told that guests visiting his condominium unit needed to pay parking fees.
Despite the security guards’ explanation that they are simply enforcing the rules, the condo resident continued to berate the workers. In his expletive-ridden rant, the man bragged to the security officers that he bought his condominium unit for S$1.5 million. He exclaimed: “I buy your f****** property for S$1.5 million you know.”
Netizens subsequently identified the condo resident as Ramesh Erramalli, a foreign talent from India who works at global financial services company J.P. Morgan in Singapore and is now a naturalised Singapore citizen.
While Ramesh’s behaviour drew swift and severe backlash online, the administrator of the SMRT Feedback by The Vigilanteh Facebook group has a different take and compared his behaviour to that of other Singaporeans. In a post published yesterday (29 Oct), he wrote:
“The ironic thing about the whole Ramesh-Condo incident is that when I see Ramesh, I see a Singaporean. He is the Singaporean who would use cleaners and Grab drivers as a barometer of success. He is the Singaporean who wouldn’t share a MRT seat with a Bangladeshi construction worker. He is the Singaporean who lives in a studio flat but insists on having six kids and then expecting the Government to support them with handouts.
“He is the Singaporean that thinks just because they paid $2.00 for an MRT ride, a 1-min delay is unacceptable. He is the Singaporean who thinks that just because they pay tax, any public officers should be at their beck and call. He is the Singaporean who would look down on Malaysia because of their currency. He is a manifestation. He is you.”
The administrator of SMRT Feedback drew criticism for making unfair, sweeping generalisations about Singaporeans. Jade Rasif, though, expressed her support for the Facebook page manager’s view.
Jade Rasif is a Singaporean DJ who may be known to most for playing a role in Channel 5’s primetime soap opera ‘Tanglin’. In a comment on the SMRT Feedback Facebook post, Jade wrote “Exactly” with an emoji of two hands clapping.
While 41 others liked Jade’s comment, her agreement with SMRT Feedback drew flak from others. Replying to Jade’s comment, Facebook user Esther Tan wrote: “I have to respectfully disagree that this is quite the opposite of “exactly”. He is nothing like us and we are nothing like him. He adopted this country because it suited him. He joined when we are already an economic success.
“The majority of us including our parents / grandparents brought this country from its roots, grew our careers and families here and went though each and every development and policy change. We complain because we know things can be better or were better before, like when services deteriorate and costs increase without clear justifications or for the sake of pure profiteering.
“We give citizenship out by the thousands but we can never buy a person’s true loyalty.”
Incensed by Esther Tan’s comment, Jade responded: “How dare you. So much of our country was built on the backs of immigrants. My mom is an immigrant, would you dare to tell her to her face that she is nothing like us?”
Pointing out that Jade missed her point, Esther Tan said: “Jade Rasif you are not Greta Thunberg, no need for the “how dare you”. In the first place you have completely missed the point. Please go tell your mom that her nation building efforts of yesteryears is the same as these new citizens who come here because it is economically viable to do so. Don’t forget to film this and post video, ya.”
This is not the only instance where Jade has expressed sympathy for the JP Morgan employee. Sharing an old video from last year, in which a Singaporean was caught verbally abusing a security guard, Jade implied that the hate against Ramesh could be due to his race. She wrote:
“Where are all the “send him back to china” comments. No petition to get him fired? No doxxing? Then why so much vitriol directed to Ramesh? Or does the internet horde only care when an Indian guy starts yelling at a Chinese security guard”
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