Singapore ride-hailing service suspends Chinese driver for racist comments at passenger
Singapore: A Singapore-based Chinese cab driver who allegedly hurled racist comments at a woman and her daughter assuming she was of Indian origin has been suspended by the ride-hailing platform Tada, the company has said.
A spokesperson for the company said the action was taken against the driver following a thorough investigation into the incident, which was recorded on video by the passenger and her young daughter.
Last Saturday, Facebook user Jan Hoeden uploaded two videos that captured an argument between her and the driver, as well as a screenshot of the Tada app that showed the driver's face and her travel route.
Hoeden, who is 46 years old and of Eurasian origin, said in her post that the argument started when the driver "accused" her of giving him wrong directions. The woman claimed that she did not even advise or say anything to him.
As the conversation got more heated, the driver can be heard telling the passenger that she should not be "hao lian", or Teochew for boastful.
When Hoeden replied in Mandarin that she was not "hao lian", the driver began raising his voice and said, "You are Indian, I am Chinese." He later told Hoeden that she was "the very worst" customer, even as she told him repeatedly that she was not Indian but Eurasian.
In its statement on Tuesday, Tada said the driver's remarks that insinuated racial differences are "completely unacceptable" with the platform's community guidelines and ethos.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
