SINGAPORE: Some first-time visitors to Singapore had a rather unpleasant encounter with a fellow tourist, who endeavoured to insert himself into their photos.
When they refused, however, the man started bad-mouthing them instead of apologising.
In a post on Threads on Oct 10, Alex Punzalan (@_alexpunzalan), an architect from the Philippines, wrote that he and his companion had set up their phone on a tripod to take pictures of themselves against the backdrop of Marina Bay Sands “when this white guy decided to grab it, as if he owned the place.”
Mr Punzalan added that when they told the Caucasian man “no,” he then put himself into their pictures, putting his arm around the post author at one point, which he had not consented to.
A person who was with the man, whom Mr Punzalan was uncertain was a local, attempted to stop him.
“But apparently, that bruised his ego because he started badmouthing us,” he added.
And sure enough, in the photo Mr Punzalan posted, a man had his arm around the post author, while another man is seen trying to pull the Caucasian man away.
“Sir, we were literally just trying to take pictures,” he wrote, adding that they decided to leave a while later as the encounter was beginning to frighten them. As visitors to Singapore, they did not want the situation to get any worse.
Worryingly, he added, “There’s actually so much more to what he did to us, but this post is already getting long.”
Threads users commenting on his post naturally took Mr Punzalan’s side and advised him as to what he can do if such a thing might happen in the future.
“I’m sorry you had to experience that. If I were you, I would have told him off. The Singapore police are very reliable, and if it escalates to violence, you can phone the police for help. They usually come within 10 minutes,” wrote one.
“What you experienced is not local and hardly the norm. Next time pls simply call the police for help,” another added.
“I'm extremely sorry you experienced that… If that happens again, please report to the police! If you can't see them out and about, you can call them at 999 and get them over,” a third chimed in.
Others guessed that alcohol may have likely played a part in the encounter.
Some, however, drew attention to the Caucasity of it all.
“Caucasians inserting themselves in places they shouldn’t? Sounds about White,” a commenter observed.
“White people think Southeast Asia is a playground,” added another. /TISG
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