Agree, I lived in Singapore for 3 years studying (I'm Indian btw) and all the caucasian students I knew found the term, at best, mildly amusing, but most found it annoying or demeaning, a couple were REALLY upset when called it by strangers or friends.  But what they all had in common was an understanding of it's origins and they all saw it as an inherently racist term, even if the speakers were not using it in that context.