Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on Singaporeans on Sept 6 to reject hatred and condemned racist and hateful comments targeting the Indian community after the Nepal flood tragedy. He said leaders must speak with "force and conviction" to call out such behavior and "call on all Singaporeans to stand together" [1, 2].
Senior Minister K. Shanmugam addressed the issue a day earlier, on Sept 5, saying police are investigating racist and xenophobic online comments linked to the Nepal floods and Singapore Airlines’ planned US$1.5 billion investment in Air India. He described some remarks as "shameful, nasty and totally unacceptable," citing racist stereotypes involving "snakes, curry, prata, black magic" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
Shanmugam added that the Ministry of Digital Development and Information will ask online platforms to remove racist comments that breach guidelines [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Temasek CEO Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara and senior management have faced libellous and racist attacks online accusing them of favoritism toward Air India because of his Indian ethnicity [1, 2].
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also condemned hateful comments on Facebook on Sept 6. He urged Singaporeans to reject such views, saying, "While not every hateful comment online can be stopped, we can reject such views, and refuse to give them more space or legitimacy." He added, "We can and should have robust debates. But we should never use seemingly legitimate arguments as a cover to fuel prejudice against any community or hostility towards foreigners" [3, 4, 5, 6].
Wong warned that unchecked hateful behavior "can become normalised, deepen mistrust between communities, and pull us apart." He recalled similar anti-foreigner and racial sentiments surfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic and debates over the Singapore-India CECA agreement [3, 4, 5, 6].
Nine Singaporeans remain missing due to the Nepal floods, which triggered some of the anti-Indian online sentiments. The public statements by senior leaders followed these developments to unite the country against hate [3, 4, 5, 6].
