Real Estate Agency Fires Agent After Twitter Claim Of Racist Remark To Potential Tenant

The company terminated his contract after the racist interaction was highlighted on Twitter.

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Stories of Malaysian Indians being discriminated against in real estate matters often emerge on social media.

The common claim is that some landlords and property agents often refuse to rent out their properties to Malaysian Indians.

A local woman’s recent experience is an unfortunate example of such an occurrence.

As explained in her Tweet, @kalvinderks_ had contacted one Alan Chia, a property agent as she was looking for a place to rent.

He was pleasant and professional during their initial interaction. But she claimed that upon finding out her name and race, he quickly shifted his tone towards her.

She alleged he was rude and condescending when she told him that she had wanted to move in this coming March or April.

“You could have answered that nicely. Not by being rude. So arrogant but without reason,” replied Kalvin in the WhatsApp conversation of which the screenshot she shared on her Twitter account.

In the screenshot, he replied by saying that he had no intentions of renting out to Indians and Punjabis.

“And from beginning, I also don’t want to do Indian and Punjabi business,” he said and then proceeded to block her after that.

Kalvin was rightfully surprised and furious over the agent’s racism, which prompted her to share the interaction on X (formerly known as Twitter).

She noted that this was also to prevent the agent and others from doing this again to non-Chinese tenants.

Demanding apology

Netizens, as expected, were put off by the racism that was displayed by the property agent. Many users were demanding that the government regulate this field of profession and make this habit illegal to prevent this from happening again.

Other users shared their experiences dealing with racist landlords and property agents, noting how rude and racist some of them were.

Official apology from the company

The real estate agency, IQI Global, has since issued an official apology to Kalvin, explaining that Chia’s behaviour was not a representation of their values as a company.

“IQI is an international company with a management team from diverse backgrounds, races, and religions. Our staff and agents come from all walks of life and backgrounds, we do not condone nor tolerate any form of discrimination.

Dear Kalvin. Firstly, please accept our apologies for the completely unacceptable behaviour from Alan Chia. IQI is an international company with a management team from diverse backgrounds, race and religions. Our staff and agents come from all walks of life and background, we do…
— IQI Global (@IQIGlobal) January 10, 2024

“We have zero tolerance towards discrimination and racism and will act in the strongest manner against it,” wrote the company in their tweet.

In a separate tweet, IQI Global officially announced that they have terminated Chia’s contract with the company and that he will no longer be representing and serving the company from now on.

Apology Twitter video

Chia has also since made a public apology for his mistakes. In the apology video on Twitter, Chia expressed regret for insulting Kalvin and other Malaysian Indians in the country.

“What I did today was totally wrong and I realised my attitude and behaviour were totally wrong. Again, I want to say sorry to everyone,” Chia can be heard saying in the clip.

He then concluded his apology by informing netizens that he would only resume work until he learns to be a better individual.

For all the malaysian especially indian friend, punjabi friend and Ms Kalvin. Please accept my apologise and i will be responsible on what i have did today. I’m very regret and feeling stress now. Sincerely apologise from me Alan Chia pic.twitter.com/2D9jMJZyP1
— Alanchia (@alanchia1993) January 10, 2024