Passenger allegedly uses racial slur “Melayu babi” against PHV driver

The driver of a Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) claims that a would-be passenger hurled racial abuse slurs at him, and asked via social media whether he should seek a lawyer’s advice on the matter.

The incident occurred last Saturday (Mar 19) at Prinsep Street. A video was posted on the SG Road Vigilante (SGRV) Facebook group page, where it’s been viewed over 34,000 times. 

It’s also posted on SGRV’s YouTube account, where it received almost as many views. 

The caption reads, “driver cancel booking after passenger get upset after told car is expensive.”

The driver wrote that he had gotten a booking at Princep Street. 

As the group of would-be passengers approached the car, one or more of them loudly banged the vehicle’s rear window.

The driver then requested this to stop.

But one of the passengers, who was in the front of the vehicles, “got agitated.”

The PHV driver then chose to cancel the booking.

At that point, the passenger “started racially abusing me,” the driver wrote, and he filed a police report about the incident.

In the video, the word “Melayu babi” can be heard.

Addressing his fellow PHV drivers, he asked, “what would you do if you were in my shoes? I need your advice what is the next course of action that I should take.Should I engage a lawyer?”

Adding that “any advice would be great,” he thanked them in advance.

Some netizens wrote that the driver should have made “a big fuss” right then and there, as the police were nearby. 

“Create a scene is the best solution,” one added.

Other netizens supported the driver’s actions.

Conversely, other commenters told him that this is just “the nature of the business” and that he should bear the situation silently.

Others took exception to the use of the word “babi.”

On YouTube, one commenter directed the driver to Section 298 of the Penal Code, which “makes it an offence to utter a word within hearing distance of a person, with the deliberate intention to wound that person’s religious or racial feelings.”

Others encouraged him to hire a lawyer.

 /TISG

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