Singapore City:
Authorities in Singapore have launched an investigation after “racist and xenophobic” remarks, directed at people of Indian origin, surfaced on social media last week. Racist comments surfaced online in response to the August 26 flash floods near Nepal-Tibet, in which nine Singaporeans are among the missing, while comments about Singapore Airlines’ investment in Air India were “accompanied by anti-Indian abuse,” Singapore Senior Minister K Shanmugam said.
Shanmugam said police are investigating “shameful” and “totally unacceptable” comments posted online.
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also reacted to the online abuse against Indians, saying the country must never allow prejudice against any community to become accepted or normalised.
“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,” the Channel News Asia quoted Wong as saying.
In a Facebook post, Wong said that “an uglier side” had emerged in online discussions about the two matters. While such views do not represent Singapore, the Prime Minister said they should not be dismissed as “harmless online chatter.”
“If such behaviour goes unchecked, it can become normalised, deepen mistrust between communities, and pull us apart,” Wong said, adding that he had discussed the developments with his Cabinet colleagues and that this was why Shanmugam had spoken about it.
Singapore’s Demography
Singapore has an overall population of over six million — of which 75 per cent are Chinese, 15 per cent Malays, about nine per cent Indians and the rest from other countries.
The prosperous city-state is trying to manage a declining population due to a low local birth rate and depends on foreign talent to maintain its high-performance economic activities as part of the global network, which has already been badly hit by the conflict in the Middle East, a diplomatic observer told news agency PTI.
Past Tensions
The Prime Minister noted that Singapore had encountered similar tensions in the past, pointing to how “anti-foreigner” and “racial sentiments” were stirred during the COVID-19 pandemic and surfaced during debates over the Singapore-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.
Such sentiments also surfaced during the 2025 general election, when Wong spoke out against attempts to bring race and religion into politics.
“There will always be people who seek to exploit our differences,” he said.
While it is impossible to prevent every hateful comment from appearing online, Singaporeans could choose how they respond to them, he said.
“We can reject such views and refuse to give them more space or legitimacy…Singapore has held together because we have consistently rejected attempts to divide us along racial or religious lines, and chosen instead to recognise one another as fellow Singaporeans,” said the prime minister.
Singaporeans Missing in Nepal
At least nine Singaporeans are uncontactable since flash floods swept through parts of Tibet and Nepal. The missing Singaporeans have been identified as Rengarajan Prabu, Shalinny Deavy Elan Sozan, Subramaniam Diraviam, Rajesvaran Ayyavoo, Estee Loeh, Ghosh Aditi, Ng Kit Kuen, Shubakshi Rawla, and Sumit Rawla, according to a report by The Straits Times.
Speaking to the media, Shanmugam pointed to some social media posts that surfaced after the tragedy suggesting those missing were “not our own.” He also singled out a post that used ABNN, a derogatory term for Indians.
Later, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs also highlighted around 20 racist comments, most of which appeared in the comments sections of local news outlets’ social media pages. Some of the posts used slurs like “CECA faces,” which refers to the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, signed between New Delhi and Singapore in June 2005, which has long been a point of contention for those against the immigration push in the country.
The Air India Issue
The minister also noted that Temasek chief executive Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, who is of Indian origin, was subjected to cyberbullying. Temasek is the majority shareholder in Singapore Airlines, which holds a 25.1 per cent stake in Tata-owned Air India.
Comments referred to a Reuters report from last month that claimed the airline had asked both shareholders for roughly 1.5 billion dollars in fresh equity.
Shanmugam noted that comments on social media claimed Sandrasegara would favour Air India because he is ethnically Indian. He called the attacks “vile” and said the suggestion was “nasty” and “libellous.”
