Singapore — In a video that went viral over the weekend, a Chinese man was seen berating an Indian man for being in a relationship with a Chinese woman.
The 9-minute-video, taken by the woman herself and posted on the Indian man, Dave Parkash’s Facebook page, showed a Chinese man who said: “This has nothing to do with nationalism, it has all to do with race”.
Throughout the video, the man kept insisting that Dave, a Singaporean who is half-Indian and half-Filipino, should date an Indian, instead of his girlfriend who is half-Chinese and half-Thai.
Calling his girlfriend over, Dave said: “There’s a Chinese Singaporean man here, who’s upset with the person behind the phone, who’s recording, saying that she being a Chinese shouldn’t be with a person like me”.
At this point, the Chinese man interjected to clarify that he had nothing against Dave, but that he was referring to the Indian race.
“I’m saying Indian race. I’ve got nothing against you personally but I think it is racist that the Indians prey on Chinese girls,” he said.
“Prey?” Dave asked. To this, the man responded, “Ya, it is predatory”.
“If you are proud of your own race, marry an Indian”, the man added.
He told Dave that for him to be “preying” on Chinese girls, “the Chinese don’t like it”.
He then looked at the woman and told her that her parents were disgraced because she was dating an Indian man. He added that she was disgracing him as well, as the argument continued.
Throughout the clip, shared by Dave himself on Sunday (June 6), the Chinese man repeated that he was indeed a racist.
On Sunday, Mr Shanmugam wrote about the incident on his Facebook page, stating that the increasing number of such incidents involving open racism is “quite unacceptable, very worrying”.
“I don’t have the full facts, just what I see in the video. If it’s accurate — then it’s horrible. It seems like more people are finding it acceptable to make ‘in your face’ racist statements — openly. And some try to explain away, each time something like this happens,” he added.
“I used to believe that Singapore was moving in the right direction on racial tolerance and harmony. Based on recent events, I am not so sure anymore.”
In response to media queries, the police confirmed that reports have been lodged and investigations are ongoing. A 60-year-old man is currently assisting with police investigations.
In his own Facebook post, Dave wrote that he was “embarrassed, humiliated and hurt” by how he was treated.
He added that the man “humiliated us in public by shaming both her and I (sic) like as though we did something wrong. I come from a mixed race background and so is my gf. We both are mixed race but we are proud to be Singapoeans. I feel we shouldn’t be publicly shamed just because of our skin colour”. /TISG