Earlier today, a Facebook user by the name of Siddharth Karthik, shared this photo onto his profile, alleging discriminatory biases from a homeowner looking to rent his HDB unit out.
He claimed that him and his friends, 2 Singaporeans and 1 Foreigner, are local professionals in the marketing and finance industry, working in the Central Business District (CBD) and are looking to rent a unit on a 1 year lease.
They seem like decent respectable people working in a reputable industry, surely there’s shouldn’t be a problem for even a viewing?
Well not exactly…
The owner then asked if they are Indians, to which they replied yes.
Here comes the zinger, ladies and gentlemen.
The agent (I’m assuming the person on the other end of the Whatsapp chat is the agent) said: “The owner doesn’t prefer Indians.”
Which is an outright slap across the face to minorities facing racial descrimination not just in Singapore but all around the world.
Siddharth posted a screenshot of the Whatsapp messages, claiming that he is a “Singaporean who served two years of National Service only for this s**t.”
Isn’t it sad that we were able to put a man on the moon more than 50 years ago as a statement of intent as humanity collectively but today, with all our technological advances and seemingly evolved ideologies, we still can’t look past the skin colours and pigmentation of our fellow people.
It isn’t enough to NOT be racist anymore, we need to be ANTI racist.
Call out people who are showing racial discrimination, even if they are your friends or family.
Martin Luther King once said, “There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal.”
The time is now, we need to change the way we live and the way we think.