Who's the real offender?

Are we practising double standards here when it comes to foreigners?

Are we quick to condemn them when they are out of line, but slow to check our own behaviour?

On July 7, a teenager boarded the train at Bishan station around 11pm with a T-shirt proudly proclaiming "I'm F****** Special".

An older man, obviously offended by the T-shirt, loudly berated the youth, challenged him to a fight and threatened to throw him out of the train at Ang Mo Kio station.

Video footage of the incident has him saying: "Are you getting off? If not, I'm going to throw you off."

Yes, his rude and aggressive behaviour cannot be condoned.

T-SHIRT OFFENSIVE?

Section 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act 2014 states that it is an offence to cause harassment, alarm or distress to another person through the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or make any threatening, abusive or insulting communication.

Yes, the man's threat is an offence under the Act. But so could wearing a T-shirt with a vulgarity in public. Other people could find it offensive and insulting.

So why did most people jump at how the older man reacted and not at what the youth wore?

Is it because they perceive the bully, who is light-skinned and has blond hair, to be a foreigner?

In the video, some passengers could be heard telling him to go back to his country and some of the online criticism also focused on him being a foreigner.

I'm not taking credit away from Mr Muhammad Hanafie, 25, who chided the bully and told him to get off the train. Mr Hanafie, who is unemployed, later told reporters why he intervened.

"It just doesn't make sense. The man kept scolding the victim about his T-shirt," he said.

His girlfriend, Ms Nabilah Nasser, 23, filmed the exchange.

Mr Hanafie said that throughout the incident, the teen kept quiet and avoided eye contact with the aggressor so as to not provoke him further.

But if we are going to label Mr Hanafie a hero and the older man a bully, would the youth be an instigator?

If others are to stand up to bullies, it may be useful to remember that idiocy is also a local affliction.

In June, a commuter uploaded a picture of a South Indian worker who had made himself as small as possible on a train from Jurong East to Marina South Pier.

A minute earlier, an elderly man next to him had yelled vulgarities at the foreigner for brushing against his arm. The older man proudly proclaimed himself a Singaporean and continued shouting at the migrant worker who sat quietly throughout the tirade.

Nobody intervened.

If you put on a T-shirt calling for a reaction, you should expect one - though that's no excuse for the older man's behaviour.

Perhaps an apt punishment would be to parade the two on a train wearing T-shirts saying "I'm with Stupid".

Share your views with Melvin at melvin@sph.com.sg