Imagine this; It’s early morning. You’re at East Coast Park with a couple of your friends, having spent the night cycling. You’re in the carpark, lugging in your bikes into a waiting van when unprovoked, an Indian man (the alleged racist) approaches and harasses you with racial slurs. You tell him to stop, but he just escalates, punching and kicking you. It’s a racially motivated attack!
What do you do?
For many of us, the obvious answer would probably be to fight back. Being verbally abused is one thing but being attacked? That demands a response, right?
Not if you’re the dude in the example. Bro didn’t lift a finger to defend himself. It might seem cowardly but it’s actually very smart. Why would you escalate? You’d just get in trouble with the law!
Non-violent cause of action aside, Netizens are questioning why the guy’s friends are holed up in the van when the beating happened though.
It’s a really good question, methinks!
There were reportedly 3 others hiding out in the van, and nobody stepped in to help. I don’t mean help by beating up the attacker but by restraining the guy until the police arrived.
A select few Netizens defended those hiding out…with similarly good reasoning.
There’s certainly a case to be made that it won’t look good to have four young men beating the crap out of a single guy, even with valid reason.
It’s still incredibly weird that nobody came out to help though…and I certainly agree with some of the earlier comments that the guy who was beaten up might want to get better (or at least, braver) friends.
While most Netizens agree that the attacker should be punished, there’s one person who bucks the trend.
Win Wong thinks beating somebody up for and being racist isn’t a big deal. It’s incredulous to think that there actually are idiots out there with this line of thinking.
Thankfully, other Netizens do have the capability for rational thought. They argue that while the attack did undoubtedly happen, there also has to be a reason.
It’s definitely easy to pile in with the crowd but so far, all we know from what’s transpired comes from the account of the young men. Perhaps there’s more to the story that we don’t know? It’s definitely reasonable to want to know more.
Most Netizens are vocal about the alleged racist being punished, which range from the normal to the eclectic.
Racist attacks like this are steadily increasing over the last few months. Locals are starting to get fed up with Covid-19 restrictions, unresolved issues with CECA and more. Not surprising considering that some Singaporeans have always hated the idea of foreigners coming to Singapore.
These Netizens below are right to wonder about the rise of racism in recent months.
If it’s related to Covid-19 restrictions, this really does need some investigating. For now, these racially motivated incidents can be considered isolated. However, if Covid-19 restrictions are the cause, shouldn’t somebody look into it and find out how to address the issues that’s plaguing some in the community?
Changi Prison has a finite amount of space after all…