A Facebook post by a Joel Tan is making its rounds and is causing a bit of an online ruckus.
In a Facebook post published Friday (Nov 24), Tan shared a photo of a Chinese man in Indian dress-up.
The photo was of a senior ranking official from government agency Sport Singapore.
See post here.
Tan had received the photo from a source who told him that the picture was taken during a recent Deepavali celebration at Sport Singapore.
The story has also been shared by The Observer.
Sport Singapore is a statutory board of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) set up to “inspire the Singapore spirit and transform Singapore through sport“.
According to Tan, he alleges that the Sikh-wannabe is a high-ranking officer from Sport Singapore.
Excerpts from his post as follows.
“People like to think racism doesn’t exist in Singapore, but it really does. Not even badly disguised racism: just flat out, balls to the wall insensitivity and grotesque tone-deafness.”
“This is what happens when we collectively agree that “race” is not a Singaporean concept. Or that our multi-racial harmony is well and alive because we don’t talk about race, don’t acknowledge the racist behaviour of Chinese people, and dismiss those who call out this kind of behaviour as snowflakes, shit-stirrers, and ‘racists’ themselves.”
“Seriously we Chinese Singaporeans are some of the most consistently racist, racism-denying, and racism-defending people I’ve ever met.”
“Please nobody come to me saying their intentions were good and this was good natured fun in the spirit of cross cultural exchange; or that it’s an act of endearment. And please let’s take a good hard look at this photo and try to square it with the society we think we live in.”