S’pore Kindness Movement Responds to Claims That They’re ‘Racial Profiling’

In recent years, racial sensitivity has certainly appeared to be at an all-time high.

First, local celebrity Dennis Chew was chewed out for portraying a ‘blackface’ in a commercial.

And then there was the case of the infamous blackface image from 2016, for which the ‘perpetrator’ has since been made to apologise.

For the record, they’re far from being the only ones.

And now, it seems that the Singapore Kindness Movement has also gotten caught up in the whole ‘Racial Profiling’ witch hunt, as apparently…

Their use of a caricature of an Indian cleaner was deemed to be a racially sensitive one.

‘Controversial’ Poster

According to TODAYonline, the Singapore Kindness Movement has had its “clean toilet project” poster, which utilised the image of an Indian cleaner, panned by online critics as guilty of racial profiling.

Lest you’re unaware, the poster featured the illustration of a man named Siva pointing to litter on the floor.

“Is it people think the floor is rubbish bin?” he asked in the poster.

And at the bottom, a message went: “Please throw your litter in the bin. Be kind to Siva, and everyone else using the toilet.”

You can view the poster down below:

After the poster was released, Netizens raised the issue of racial profiling, with one reportedly saying: “Hello, why would you even need a person or name for this publicity?”

Singapore People’s Party (SPP) chairman Jose Raymond also participated in the conversation, condemning the “racial stereotyping and prejudice” that was present in the poster.

“What’s with the racial stereotyping and prejudice with this poster? Shocking,” he said.

S’pore Kindness Movement Responds to Claims That They’re ‘Racial Profiling’

Singapore Kindness Movement has since responded.

And it seems that they are not going down without a fight.

For starters, the organisation clarified that the depiction of Siva is just one of a series of posters featuring different ethnicities in the same frontline tier.

The series also includes Rosnah, a female Malay cleaner, and Florence, a female Chinese cleaner.

All three appeared in the fourth poster in the series.

As such, the Singapore Kindness Movement stressed that the posters were meant to be seen as a series and not individually.

And the organisation even flipped the argument on its head, stating that the residents’ flawed depiction of the poster may have been malicious intent to “deliberately propagate misunderstanding and negative feelings in our society”.

“These malicious acts can erode the precious harmony that we have built over the years. Civic-minded Singaporeans who truly want a stronger, kinder and more inclusive society would encourage healthy civil discourse among us, and would not sow such discord in this manner,” it added.

To end off, the Singapore Kindness Movement thanked the cleaners of Singapore for their contribution.

“It is not a profession that we should look down on, contrary to what some of the posts seem to imply. Instead, we should uphold and appreciate the important role of cleaners in society who provide us a clean environment to live, work and play in.

“The Singapore Kindness Movement thanks our cleaners for keeping us all safe and giving us peace of mind, especially during Covid-19.”

Racial Sensitivity 

Racial sensitivity has been present in recent years, but it has become especially prevalent after the tragic death of George Floyd in the United States.

A white police officer had knelt on Floyd’s neck despite the latter’s pleas that he couldn’t “breathe”.

Floyd was eventually sent to a nearby hospital, where he died shortly after.

After the incident was revealed to the public, mass protests began to occur in various parts of the nation.

A #BlackoutTuesday movement also spread throughout multiple social media platforms in tribute to the deceased man.

The incident ultimately opened the world’s eyes to racism, and it caused numerous public figures to come under fire for previous instances of such ‘racism’.

One such instance was popular local Youtuber Jianhao Tan, who retired fan favourite character Peter Papadum in light of the event.

In another instance, a former RI student was made to apologise after a ‘blackface’ image from 2016 resurfaced in 2020.