SINGAPORE — The police on Thursday (June 10) said that they are investigating an incident seen in a viral video where a woman started hitting a gong as her neighbour carried out his Hindu prayer routine. 

The police also confirmed with TODAY that a 48-year woman is currently assisting them with investigations.

In the video posted on Wednesday night, Facebook user Livanesh Ramu can be seen ringing a prayer bell outside his home when his neighbour, a woman, appears behind him with a small gong that she begins hitting loudly and repeatedly.

“Like many other Hindus this has been a part of our family’s five-minute, twice-a-week prayer routine. Having lived in this home for more than 20 years we never had any issues,” Mr Livanesh wrote in his post.

When contacted, he told TODAY that the police had reached out to him and he is “coordinating with them at the moment”. He declined to comment further.

President Halimah Yacob also took to Facebook on Thursday to weigh in on racial and religious harmony in Singapore and alluded to recent incidents.

“It is agonising to read about the incidents of hatred and chauvinism perpetrated by Singaporeans against each other. Such displays are so hurtful because we thought that we had done so much to protect our cohesion until we are shaken from our belief,” she said. 

“Our greatest fear is how such prejudice will affect our young and influence their minds. We wonder whether these are one-off incidents or reflective of a larger problem.”

Last Sunday, a video went viral depicting a confrontation between a self-proclaimed racist and an inter-ethnic couple.

Mr Dave Parkash, a Singaporean who is half-Indian and half-Filipino, said that he was confronted by a man when he was with his girlfriend, who is half-Chinese and half-Thai.

The man, who has been identified as Mr Tan Boon Lee, a senior lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic's School of Engineering, has since been suspended from his teaching duties at the polytechnic.