Racist, hateful comments towards Indians are deeply troubling; S’poreans must reject hatred: SM Lee
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Singapore must continue to work hard to strengthen its cohesion and protect its racial harmony, says Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
SINGAPORE – It is deeply troubling to see racist comments and hateful remarks directed at the Indian community in the wake of the Nepal flood tragedy, said Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sept 6 as he called on Singaporeans to “reject hatred”.
At times like this, the response should be compassion and solidarity, he said, adding that Singaporeans should stand by one another regardless of race, language or religion.
In a Facebook post, he said that Singapore will always be vulnerable to visceral and divisive pulls, like the temptation to stir up racial prejudices and animosities.
While the country strives for interracial tolerance and respect, human beings are not race-blind, and race and religion will always be a fault line in society, he added.
Singapore must then continue to work hard to strengthen its cohesion and protect its racial harmony, said Lee.
“When incidents like this happen, leaders must speak up with force and conviction to call out what is happening, condemn the manipulation of base emotions, and call on all Singaporeans to stand together,” he said.
He noted that Senior Minister K. Shanmugam had made a statement on Sept 5 to lay out the issues.
Shanmugam had told media that the police are looking into racist and xenophobic comments relating to the Nepal floods and Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) investment in Air India.
Shanmugam said some online comments on these issues have been “shameful, nasty and totally unacceptable”, with references to snakes, curry, prata, black magic and other racist stereotypes.
He said he decided to call out people making such comments so that this behaviour does not become normalised, which then debases public discourse and affects social harmony.
The Ministry of Digital Development and Information will also ask platforms to take such comments down as they are in breach of guidelines, Shanmugam said.
He also noted how Temasek chief executive officer Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara and the investment giant’s senior management were attacked online after it was reported that Air India was seeking about US$1.5 billion (S$1.9 billion) of investment from its shareholders, which include SIA.
Shanmugam said the attacks were vile and included “nasty and libellous” comments that said the Temasek CEO would favour Air India as he is of Indian ethnicity.
Lee noted that Singapore’s leaders had spoken about similar incidents related to race and religion in recent years.
In his National Day Rally speech in 2021 when he was prime minister, he addressed anti-Indian sentiments linked to the Covid-19 virus.
During the general election in 2025, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had to call out attempts to use religion to work up Muslim voters against the Government, added Lee.
“It is at times like this that we realise the full meaning of the words of the National Pledge, and how important it is for us to make every effort to live up to these ideals,” Lee said.
