Tan Boon Lee. Ex-Senior Lecturer at Ngee Ann Poly and self-proclaimed racist.
His antics earned him the scorn of thousands (if not millions) of Singaporeans when he proclaimed that he (along with many other Chinese) are strongly against the idea of Indians dating or marrying Chinese.
The unhinged tirade was caught on video, with him proudly claiming that he is a racist.
To this day, I still wonder who in the right mind would admit that on video? I doubt a even beggar would be stupid enough to do it, yet here’s a former teacher who unashamedly does.
Well…that outburst cost him his job (and also probably his professional reputation) and soon, will probably result criminal charges.
So what does a racist do when confronted with potential prosecution in court?
Take to social media and say he’s sorry.
Right.
Predictably, Netizens are divided on this.
Those tired with grinding their axe are accepting Tan’s word at face value. Some are saying that the apology is enough and we should all be moving on from this episode.
After all, Tan’s been fired and he’s due to appear in court soon for his outburst. Justice has been served and the matter’s considered closed.
Interestingly, among those who are saying this are Indians, the very people that Tan Boon Lee’s ire was directed at. While these are just individuals, it’s still heartening to see that they’re able to forgive and move on.
Quite a few are on the fence, with them saying that words are cheap and it’s how Tan acts in the future that will show whether he’s truly sorry or just lying.
Though I doubt we’ll be hearing from Tan after his punishment, perhaps he’ll pop up in the future doing volunteer work alongside SINDA to show his repentance.
One can hope, right?
Not all are going along with the forgive and forget mentality however. There are a lot more voices saying that the apology reeks of insincerity.
A LOT of people think this is just a publicity stunt, with Tan hoping to get off with a lighter sentence by showing fake contrition.
It doesn’t help matters for Tan that the statement on his Facebook page was likely prepared with the help of his attorney. In fact, it was the law firm that Tan hired to represent him that spread word of his new Facebook page and the post on it.
Yeah, you can see how that doesn’t pass muster, right?
Also, those blasting Tan Boon Lee for his apology do bring up a good point; why isn’t he apologizing for the way he allegedly acted while in class?
I guess his defence attorney probably didn’t think giving more examples of Tan being a racist would do his case any favours. By only taking responsibility for his tirade on video, Tan can claim innocence with regards to his behaviour in class.
After all, it’s just the word of the student against him.
Who would you believe? An ex-student or an ex-Senior Lecturer who’s caught on camera saying he’s racist and harassing people?
Despite all the evidence pointing to Tan being a racist, there are still idiots out there defending him.
Not surprising to anybody, his defenders are Chinese.
That reminds me of a totally apt saying that applies here; birds of a feather flock together.
Are these two fools closet racists? Perhaps we’ll find out soon enough when they too pop like Tan did.
Sure, Tan didn’t physically assault the couple, but his words are still hurtful and are considered emotional abuse. Not being physical doesn’t mean a damn thing when his words are doing all the hurting for him.
It’s honestly amazing to me that there are people like this in Singapore. If they can overlook such outright racism, what more are they capable of?
Let’s hope we never find out.