Man makes racist remarks to interracial couple in viral video; Shanmugam says incident is 'very worrying'

SINGAPORE - A video has been circulating on social media of a Chinese man making racist remarks to an interracial couple.

Commenting on the video in a Facebook post on Sunday (June 6), Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said that while he does not have the full facts of the story, it seems like more people are finding it acceptable to make "in-your-face" racist statements openly.

Describing the incident as "quite unacceptable" and "very worrying", Mr Shanmugam said that he used to believe that Singapore was moving in the right direction in terms of racial tolerance and harmony, but in the light of recent events, he is "not so sure" anymore.

The video of the confrontation, which lasted over five minutes, was shared by Facebook user Dave Parkash, 23.

In it, a Chinese Singaporean man accused Mr Parkash of "preying on a Chinese girl". The video appears to be filmed by his girlfriend.

The man also added that a Chinese woman should not be with an Indian man.

In the video, Mr Parkash, also clarified that he is half-Indian and half-Filipino while his girlfriend is half-Singaporean Chinese and half-Thai.

In his post on Sunday morning, he said: "We both are mixed race but we are proud to be Singaporeans."

He added in his post on Sunday morning that he felt "embarrassed, humiliated and hurt" by the way he was being treated by another fellow Singaporean.

Mr Parkash said the man told them they should only date "people of our own race".

"He called himself a racist and even blamed us for being racist just because (we) are from different races," he said.

"Love is love. Love has no race, love has no religion. You and I should be able to love whoever we wanna love. Let's not become like this man in the video."

Mr Parkash's post added: "To this man who may end up watching this, I hope you learn to stop being a racist and let us all live in harmony."

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.