Last Friday night (25 Oct), a man was caught on video yelling and hurling vulgarities at security guards after being told he needed to pay parking fees for guests visiting his condominium.
The footage of the incident – which reportedly took place at Eight Riversuites condominium in Bendemeer – was first posted on YouTube, and has been circulating across social media, making headlines.
In the video, a man dressed in a sleeveless shirt and shorts can be seen expressing his displeasure virulently towards the security guards.
The man, a resident at that place, told the security officers that he had bought his condominium unit for S$1.5 million, and subsequently started uttering profanities.
“I buy your f****** property for S$1.5 million you know,” exclaimed the man.
As the video progresses, the security guards were constantly explaining that they are just “enforcing the rules”, yet the man was adamant to his stance as he continued to berate them.
Watch the full video here:
In a statement on Sunday (27 Oct), the USE said that it is working with the police on the case, and that it has been handing out notices about respecting security officers who are performing their duties.
“While we empathise with the resident on his unhappiness with the rules of the estate, his right of recourse should be through his management committee,” noted USE’s general secretary Raymond Chin.
“We strongly condemn any form of abuse of our security officers… The union stands united with our officers,” he added.
Moreover, the union and both associations commended the security officers for being restrained and calm throughout the incident, and stressed that they were just enforcing the rules set by the condominium management – Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST).
The man in the video was later identified as a staff at J.P. Morgan Singapore
Once the video went viral, the ill-tempered man was identified as Mr Ramesh Erramalli, a foreign talent from India who works at global financial services company J.P. Morgan in Singapore.
According to ST, J.P. Morgan is “aware of the video and is looking into the matter”.
But, the esteemed company declined to comment on whether it paid for Mr Ramesh’s alleged S$1.5 million accommodation and for how long he has been an employee.
Netizens took to J.P. Morgan’s Facebook page to slam the company for its integrity
Following the incident, J.P. Morgan’s Facebook page was flooded with angry comments by Singaporean online users.
One particular Facebook post on 26 October was targeted by netizens as they penned their thoughts on the incident which not only highlights the crude personality and behaviour of Mr Ramesh – reflecting on the company’s image – but also transcends to the bigger picture of foreign talent influx in Singapore.
At the time of writing, the post has garnered just over 2,000 comments.
The comments were almost entirely hostile towards J.P. Morgan, condemning its integrity for the nature of its employees – in this case, exclusively on Mr Ramesh – while speaking up against the company’s policy of hiring foreign talents whereas Singaporeans would have been a much better fit.
Additionally, a handful of comments were ridiculing J.P. Morgan for not screening their employees properly prior to hiring them, hinting that Mr Ramesh actually provided false credentials in his professional profile.
The very implication even sparked an extensive conversation in a thread on Singapore Hardware Zone forum, which many of the comments actually cited.
Besides that, a number of users also called for the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to investigate this matter further, with many pointing out that this practice is fairly common in multi-national companies.
Online petition created to get Ramesh Erramalli fired from J.P. Morgan Singapore
What’s more, online users even went as far as to create an online petition at change.org to relieve Mr Ramesh of his duties at J.P. Morgan Singapore.
At the time of writing, the petition has just surpassed 10,000 signatures, and is still amassing more signatures.
Angry comments from netizens hidden on J.P. Morgan’s Facebook post
Besides the many talks of racial and foreign conspiracies in the aforementioned forum as well as the petition to get Mr Ramesh fired, what’s even more interesting is the fact that netizens are claiming that J.P. Morgan had concealed heaps of angry comments on its Facebook post.
As mentioned earlier, the post has chalked up more than 2,000 comments, yet close to 800 of those comments were allegedly either hidden or removed – or perhaps even reported as spam.
A couple of online users turned the spotlight on this very matter, as a few comments were insinuating that J.P. Morgan selectively removed those comments.
