Singapore is known for many things: our love for food
Our love for deals
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And racial harmony.
Unfortunately, not everybody subscribes to this school of thought.
Like this one man who decided that his unwarranted comments were important enough to be aired.
What Happened
On 3 Aug 2018, 47-year-old William Aw Chin Chai was in a lift at Changi Airport Terminal 2.
Then, 33-year-old construction worker, Indian national Ramachandiran Umapathy entered the lift.
Upon entering, Aw started muttering:
“You f****** dirty people, go out”, “F*** off” and “I don’t like to take with Indian, you smelly.”
Cue angry man.
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Ramachandiran scolded Aw for his words and filmed him on his mobile phone.
Later, he uploaded the video onto the Singapore Police Force Facebook page where it went viral.
And this is just one of three incidents.
Aw Generally Unkind
A month later in September, Aw was eating Singtel Comcentre when he suddenly picked up a bowl of noodle soup and walked towards two men.
Then, he splashed them with the noodle soup.
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Not much is elaborated on the incident except that all his actions were captured on CCTV.
In January 2018, Aw also decided to repay a stranger’s kindness with unkindness. Think Grinch, just not on Christmas only.
The incident happened at NUH Medical Centre.
A lady saw Aw going for the lift and decided to hold it open for him.
Any normal person will mutter thanks and go back to their own lives, but not Aw.
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He decided to repay her by stepping on her left foot.
The lady, 49-year-old Wahida Abdullah, got medical treatment for her injury before lodging a police report.
Evoked Amos Yee’s Name To No Avail
His defence lawyer, Siraj Shaik Aziz, asked for a week’s jail for his charge of wounding racial feelings.
He argued that it wasn’t premeditated and Aw was “remorseful”.
It was kept contained within “two individuals” and even Amos Yee (who got us onto the world map) was only given three weeks jail time.
Unfortunately, even Amos Yee’s name couldn’t save Aw.
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For one, Aw’s actions were all captured on the video, including his violent behaviour during the incident.
And two, this happened at Changi Airport where people of different nationalities and race frequent.
Imagine how bad Singapore will look to tourists if we exhibit xenophobic behaviour there.
And so.
Sentenced To Four Weeks Jail & Fined $1,000
On 23 July 2019, Aw was sentenced to four weeks of jail time and fined $1,000.
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Yes, higher than Amos Yee.
For the charge of wounding racial feelings, he could’ve been:
- Jailed for up to three years
- Fined
- Both
For using criminal force on the two men, he could’ve been:
- Jailed for up to three months
- Fined up to $1,500
- Both
And for voluntarily causing hurt to the woman, he could’ve been:
- Jailed two years
- Fined up to $5,000
- Both
In other words, he got off pretty light. Agree?
Here’s what NCMPs are, and what to expect after GE2025:
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