A former Ngee Ann Polytechnic lecturer, who was seen in a viral video confronting an inter-ethnic couple and making racist remarks about them last year, was charged on Tuesday (May 17) over the incident.
Tan Boon Lee, 61, faces one count of making racist remarks and two counts of making insensitive comments about religion, including once during a lecture at the polytechnic.
He also faces one count of possessing 64 obscene films on his mobile phone.
On Tuesday, the prosecution asked for a three-week adjournment and said that a plea offer was pending. Tan’s lawyer Johannes Hadi did not object to the adjournment.
District Judge Lorraine Ho granted the postponement and set his bail amount for S$5,000. She ordered Tan not to contact the victim or any of the prosecution's witnesses, whether directly or indirectly.
WHAT HAPPENED
Court documents said that the the alleged incident happened on June 5 near Angullia Park in the Orchard Road area.
A viral video of the confrontation between Tan and the couple was first uploaded on Facebook by Mr Dave Parkash the next day.
In his post, Mr Parkash — a Singaporean who is half-Indian and half-Filipino — alleged that he was confronted by Tan about his girlfriend, who is half-Chinese and half-Thai.
Tan, who is seen wearing a red sports jersey with the word “Singapore” across his chest, admits on camera to being a racist and tells Mr Parkash that he is also being racist for not “marrying” an Indian girl.
Tan is heard on video saying: “I have nothing against Indians, but I think it is racist for an Indian to marry a Chinese girl.”
Court documents also stated that Tan allegedly told Mr Parkash not to "come in... and disturb the race" and that he thinks "it's racist that the Indian prey on Chinese girl".
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