Singapore bakery fires employee for discriminatory remarks

SINGAPORE – A halal bakery chain in Singapore has fired an employee for making discriminatory remarks against a Malay job seeker.

PrimaDeli, which has 40 outlets across the island nation, apologized Friday and said it had dismissed the employee.

Authorities in Singapore have routinely clamped down on those who stir anti-foreign and racial hatred in the predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state. Singapore’s population is 74.3 per cent Chinese, 13.3 per cent Malay and 9.1 per cent Indian, according to official statistics.

Reaction to a Facebook posting by the job seeker detailing the incident sparked an uproar, with reaction continuing to stream in on Saturday.

In her post, Sarah Carmariah said she had interviewed for the position of cake decorator earlier in the week. The process involved meeting the head of the baking department to demonstrate coating a cake, she said.

Gesturing at her, the department head allegedly said: “From what I see, and the way you look, and not trying to be racist ah (sic), but you Malay, I think you cannot la (sic).”

According to the post, he added: “You know ah (sic), Malays ah (sic) they over promise, promise I can do this I can do that, in the end, cannot make it, after two days disappear.”

He also allegedly asked if she spoke Mandarin as it was the language preferred by co-workers.

Carmariah stopped short of naming the company, referring to it only as a “well-known halal bakery,” before PrimaDeli took the rap.

“How can anyone judge another based on general racial stereotypes? In Singapore, of all places, a supposedly racially harmonious and fair country?” Carmariah wrote.

“Nobody should ever be told that they can’t do something based on the colour of their skin, but the sad reality is that this is real, and this is really happening.”

In March, an Australian woman in Singapore was found guilty of sedition and sentenced to 10 months in jail for posting fictitious accounts of obnoxious foreigners on her website.