Thanks to the viral video of 44-year-old Ramesh Erramali, the JP Morgan banker and Whampo condo owner, Singapore has been asking itself questions as to how such atrocious behaviour towards a blue-collar worker should be answered.
What did Ramesh Erramali say about the security guard?
One of these Singaporeans is 44-year-old actor Tay Ping Hui of Stepping Out fame, where he questions just what kind of person Erramalli is, exhibiting such crass behaviour towards a security guard at the condo he lives in.
In a Facebook post, the actor said that,
There’s a recent event that been weighing on my mind.
It’s about a certain Ramesh Erramalli who is making his living in my country, but thought it was ok to not only verbally abuse a poor old local uncle who was just doing his job as a security guard, but also had the pompousness to disparage 80% of my people who lived in HDB flats.
Since then, many things have been revealed about him, some even pointing to a possibility that he may have faked his qualifications.
I do not understand why he behaved the way he did. Maybe it’s just poor upbringing, maybe he does feel a sense of entitlement, or maybe because Singaporeans are just too nice and letting him getting his way most of the time by being louder.
One thing I learnt about decency, is that when you stay in someone’s house as a guest, you respect the host, you respect the children, and you even respect their domestic worker and whatever else is in the house. Even if you THINK you are richer or better, you do not have a right to display your arrogance.
Yes Ramesh Erramalli, I know you bought “your f**king property for S$1.5 million…”. But really, So What?
Here is the Facebook post:
The actor’s post went up before the first police statement on the matter was published to the media. Before that, online forums and social media was rife with information on Ramesh. Netizens informally investigated his social media and even his school and work credentials.
One netizen even went so far as to apply for a diploma at Ramesh’s alleged school in India, in a bid to criticize the latter’s qualifications as a high official in international banking firm JP Morgan.
JP Morgan, on the other hand, was inundated with comments and messages through social media, making the video and Ramesh’s alleged behaviour known to the firm. Some comments called for outright dismissal from the man’s job, while others called for a thorough investigation and some sanctions.
The bank spoke to the media, and said that they were “looking into” the matter
His thoughts echo a lot of the sentiments online along with the institutions and organizations concerned with the welfare of security guards and even the condominium management.
Ramesh Erramali was named in a police report as the man who harassed a security guard in Whampoa. He has since apologized to the guard, saying that they allegedy had a good relationship prior to the argument.
Ramesh was allegedly upset about the $10 parking fee, which sparked his outrage.
He’s not the only one. Gallup Consulting in Singapore – full of Indian FT salespersons who treat singaporeans the same way. Standard Chartered, almost every bank in Singapore – the same thing – underqualified Indian workers who hire each other and will not consider Singaporeans.