Free speech rules must apply equally to all groups: Shanmugam

Singaporeans are free to express their opinions on race and religion, though this cannot come at the expense of denigrating other groups, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said yesterday.

Addressing the recent "brownface" controversy, he said: "If they had done a video that expressed what they felt without having to attack the Chinese, there's nothing wrong."

He was referring to a parody rap video by YouTube artist Preeti Nair and her brother Subhas, who were given a conditional warning by police last month after the clip, aimed at calling out racism by Chinese Singaporeans, was itself deemed to be racist.

Mr Shanmugam said then that the Government had ordered the video to be taken down as leaving it up would mean that other videos with racially offensive speech would also have to be permitted.

The siblings had made the video in response to a controversial advertisement promoting e-payments that showed Mediacorp actor Dennis Chew portraying four characters, including a Malay woman wearing a tudung and a man with visibly darker skin named K. Muthusamy.

Yesterday, Mr Shanmugam said of the video: "As a policymaker... I have to ask myself: If we let this go, then what are the consequences not for the Chinese... (but) for Malays and Indians?"

The blowback might not be direct, but over time the tone of the discourse in society would change if such videos were permitted, he added.

During the session, Mr Shanmugam fielded questions on issues such as creating safe spaces for open discourse. He was also asked why the rap video was the subject of a police investigation but not the ad that had triggered it.

He replied: "Whether (the ad was) in good or bad taste, that's a matter for advertising standards. As far as the police are concerned, it's a question of whether it crosses the line to become offensive in a way that can create more trouble eventually."

Mr Shanmugam asked the audience whether it would be similarly offensive if an Indian person were to dress up as a Chinese person for entertainment purposes, to which an audience member raised the factor of power dynamics between majority and minority races.

The minister responded that the Government cannot apply different rules around free speech to different groups.

"It cannot be when the Chinese do it, you intervene but only allow it when the Indians and Malays do it. Either we intervene for all, or we intervene for no one," he said.