Grabcar dispute shows how polarised Indians and Chinese in Singapore are

Facebook user Eswari Balan shared about an unpleasant incident which happened to her on 15 Oct at about 9.30pm. She had booked a Grabcar to take her family from the taxi stand in Tekka market to Jalan Kayu. She alleged that the female Grabcar driver not only did not stop at the taxi stand to pick them up, but also rolled down the windows in her car claiming that the oil Eswari’s family had on them was smelly. Eswari claimed that she only applied Vicks (a popular decongesting ointment) to her baby.

Eswari’s family eventually decided to alight from the Grabcar claiming that the driver was racist and lodged a complaint with Grabcar. Eswari was offended that a representative from Grabcar who promised action had not taken any after 3-days. She released the Grabcar driver’s car license number to shame her and to alert others to be wary of the woman.

Eswari’s Facebook post has been shared over 350 times since yesterday. Many who responded to her post agreed that the Grabcar’s actions were offensive as well as racist. Several of these were Indians like Eswari.

An online publication, All Singapore Stuff, reported on Eswari’s Facebook post and linked their article to their Facebook. The comments on All Singapore Stuff’s post were markedly different from Eswari’s. Many who responded, argued that there was nothing offensive in what the Grabcar driver did and that her actions were not racist as well. Most of these were Chinese.