Mr Tan Kin Lian has posted an apology regarding an insensitive comment he had earlier made on his Facebook account.
In his latest Facebook post, he said: “To my local Indian friends who feel offended about my posting on the SMRT bus 857, I extend my sincere apologies.”
He added that he was “actually surprised to see the entire bus full of one nationality. This was the first time that (he) encountered this situation.”
Mr Tan also said: “I intended my post to be a humour but it was badly taken by some quarters. Sorry, if it was in bad taste. I do not mean any disrespect to that nationality.”
A check of his Facebook account on Monday afternoon showed that he has removed the offending post originally published on Feb 1.
Netizens offended by Tan Kin Lian’s Facebook post by Stomp published on Feb 2
Netizens are outraged by ex-presidential elect Tan Kin Lian’s Facebook post.
In the post he wrote:
“I boarded SMRT 857 and found that I was in Mumbai. Hahaha”.
Stomp contributor JJ saw the post and alerted Stomp to it.
“The caption is appalling”, said the Stomp contributor, considering whom it was made by.
In the past, other people, some of them prominent figures, had found themselves in hot soup over posting they made on social media.
In 2012, NTUC assistant director, Amy Cheong was sacked after she made racist comments on Facebook.
She had complained about a Malay wedding that was being held at a void deck near her home.
In the post, she asked how society could “allow people to get married for $50 bucks and also wrote “void decks weddings should be banned. If you cant afford a proper wedding then you shouldn’t be getting married.”
Last year, a British expatriate, Anton Casey also came under fire for the offensive comments he made online.
On his Facebook profile he wrote:
“Daddy where is your car and who are all these poor people.”
Source: http://news.asiaone.com
