As expected, RI's principal Aaron Loh spoke to his students about the FoodPanda cosplay incident. Principal Aaron Loh took up his post as RI's principal in Feb 2024.
Principal Loh had some wise words to guide Singapore's next-generation elites, talking about discrimination, and also forgiveness.
But I said to you all on Racial Harmony Day, the reason why people laugh along with you is not because they feel it's okay.
It's not just about putting on ethnic dress and even learning about the real culture.
And the reason I highlighted this is because I said, if you remember, I said explicitly, sometimes in your interaction with each other, playfulness or in whatever you wanna call it, are you all throwing in some casually racist terms?
You kinda joke around one another about things, it doesn't have to be just about race.
You can also be sort of, you know, making a joke out of fact that somebody else is maybe less financially well off than the average Rafflesian.
And you may find, you think it's fine because the person laughs along with you and the joke and all that.
But I said to you all on Racial Harmony Day, the reason why people laugh along with you is not because they feel it's okay.
They laugh along with you because you are the majority, I'm the minority and I don't feel safe, I don't feel free to object to you and to express my offence.
They laugh along with you because you are the majority, I'm the minority and I don't feel safe, I don't feel free to object to you and to express my offence.
So I'd love to just to get that moment to pass so that we can get on with life.
But that doesn't mean hurt has not been done, offence has not been made.
So I said, it is not okay, we don't tolerate that here in this school.
Rafflesians should be held to a higher standard than that.
be a bit more empathetic, be a bit more self aware, before you cast a first stone.
We all have thoughtless moments, myself included, teachers included, we're all human beings, we've all made bad calls.
There are moments where we are not at our best.
So other, be a bit more empathetic, be a bit more self aware, before you are, before you cast a first stone.
Alright, so please don't make life harder for them already, or we've already dealt with it.
Principal Aaron Loh - tough but fair?
Mr Aaron Loh, the new Principal of Raffles Institution, has been an educator for more than 20 years and was most recently the Divisional Director of Educational Technology in MOE. Mr Loh is an alumni of the school, having been a student from 1988-1991 in RI and from 1992-1993 in RJC.
He first taught in RJC as an English teacher and has been the vice principal of two secondary schools before his current appointment. He has served in the Ministry of Law and Ministry of Education.
To us, Principal Loh seems like a true educator. He turned the incident into a learning lesson and was tough but fair on his students. He managed to unite the school and advised them to exercise restraint both towards each other and towards outsiders. What do you think?
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