‘Find woman of your race’: Mixed race couple abused in the street in viral Singapore video

Stranger accuses Dave Parkash of ‘preying on a Chinese girl’ in a video that has now gone viral

Screengrab from the video shared by Dave Parkash of the confrontation. (Screengrab/Dave Parkash)

A mixed race couple in Singapore has shared a video in which a man can be seen racially abusing them and telling them to date people of their “own race”.

The video posted to Facebook by Dave Parkash on Sunday showed him in a verbal confrontation with a man who says that it’s “racism” if an Indian-origin person marries someone of Chinese origin.

In the caption, Mr Parkash said: “Today I feel embarrassed, humiliated and hurt by how I was treated by another fellow Singaporean. My girlfriend and I were confronted by a man who told us that we should only be dating people of our own race.”

In the video, the Chinese-Singaporean man can be seen saying that he has nothing against Mr Parkash personally, but “I think it’s racist that Indians prey on Chinese girls. It’s predatory.”

He tells Mr Parkash that if he is proud of his own race, he should marry an Indian.

Mr Parkash says in the video that while he is half-Indian and half-Filipino, his girlfriend is half-Singaporean Chinese and half-Thai. “We are the walking example of love is love. Colour doesn’t matter,” he says.

He said in the video’s caption that both he and his girlfriend “are mixed race but we are proud to be Singaporeans. I feel we shouldn't be publicly shamed just because of our skin colour. Love is love.”

When he points it out in the video, the man says: “Love is not love. There is a race and you should not come in and disturb the race.”

Admitting that he is racist, the man also accuses Mr Parkash of being one. “You don’t see a Chinese guy preying on an Indian girl,” he says, before turning to the woman who was filming the confrontation and asking her if her parents were happy with her dating an Indian.

The video has now gone viral and has already been shared 16,000 times since it was posted on Sunday.

The police are now investigating the incident after it drew a sharp reaction from the Singapore government.

Home affairs and law minister K Shanmugam called the incident “quite unacceptable” and “very worrying.”

In a Facebook post, he said that while he doesn’t have the full facts about the incident, if the video is accurate then “it’s horrible”.

He said: “It seems like more people are finding it acceptable, to make 'in your face' racist statements - openly. And some try to explain away, each time something like this happens.”

The minister also said that he used to believe that “Singapore was moving in the right direction on racial tolerance and harmony. Based on recent events, I am not so sure anymore.”

Senior minister of state for communications, information and health Janil Puthucheary also said in a post that “this is blatant racism and bigotry. Caused by ignorance, intolerance and anger.”

He said such behaviour is unacceptable and should not be happening.