In a multiracial society like Singapore, we should respect people of different ethnicities and religions. For those who violate this rule, the punishment can often be severe.
This was the case for an ex-Ngee Ann Poly lecturer, Tan Boon Lee, who made racist remarks to an interracial couple last year.
A video that captured the incident went viral on 6 Jun 2021, with police opening an investigation into the matter.
Authorities then discovered previous incidents of Tan making insensitive comments about religion as a lecturer. He also possessed obscene films, which is illegal in Singapore.
For his crimes, he was sentenced to five weeks’ jail and fined S$6,000.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA) on Thursday (29 Dec), 61-year-old Tan pleaded guilty to two charges of wounding a person’s racial feelings and possessing obscene films in November.
Tan’s crimes were brought under the spotlight when he was filmed making racist remarks against an interracial couple in Orchard last year.
Source: Dave Park Ash on Facebook
On 6 Jun 2021, a five-minute video of Tan arguing with an interracial couple went viral.
Tan accused Dave Parkash of “preying on a Chinese girl” in the video. He told Parkash and his girlfriend that they should date people of their race. Parkash’s girlfriend took a video of the confrontation.
Police quickly investigated the incident after the video went viral. Ngee Ann Polytechnic also fired Tan, taking a zero-tolerance stance over teaching staff holding such views.
Source: Google Maps
Tan then seemingly issued an apology for the incident. Using a new Facebook account, he acknowledged the insensitivity of his remarks and actions.
Prior to that, he had allegedly made insensitive comments about religion during a lecture at Ngee Ann Polytechnic on 28 Jul 2017.
Between 10 Aug 2020 and 13 Sep 2020, he also provided insensitive answers about religion to questions on an online forum.
During investigations, Tan had 64 obscene videos on his phone depicting women engaging in sexual acts. Some of them were downloaded online, while some were sent to him by friends.
He maintained that the videos were filmed with the individuals’ consent and merely kept them for personal enjoyment.
The Straits Times reports that the deputy public prosecutor sought at least four weeks’ jail as his racist comments were described as vile and sustained.
However, Tan’s counsel asked for a community-based sentence instead, stressing that Tan had spent over 30 years teaching at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. He was also said to have never discriminated against anyone based on race or religion.
Defence lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam sought a community-based sentence for his client. He told the court in November that his client had taught at Ngee Ann Polytechnic for more than 30 years and had never discriminated against anyone based on race and religion.
For his crimes, Tan could have been jailed for up to three years, fined up to S$40,000, or both.
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Featured image adapted from Dave Parkash on Facebook and Google Maps.
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