Racist comments targeting Indians ‘shameful’ and cross the line, police looking into them: Shanmugam

Senior Minister K Shanmugam expressed his disapproval on September 5th regarding racist and xenophobic comments targeting Indians in the context of the Nepal floods and Singapore Airlines' investment in Air India. He deemed such remarks as "shameful, nasty, and totally unacceptable," with references to snakes, curry, prata, black magic, and other slurs.

Shanmugam believes that these comments should be exposed and dealt with, rather than allowed to hide behind online anonymity. The Ministry of Digital Development and Information will also request platforms to remove such comments, as they breach guidelines. Nine Singaporeans were among the missing in the Nepal floods that claimed over 1,200 lives.

Shanmugam addressed comments that said the missing people "are not our own" and singled out a derogatory term for Indians, "ABNNs." Temasek Holdings, under its CEO Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, faced online attacks after the news of Air India seeking $1.5 billion in investment, citing the CEO's Indian ethnicity. The Ministry of Home Affairs released a list of 20 racist comments found on local news outlets' social media feeds using slurs like "Ceca faces."

SPH Media, which publishes nine newspapers, including The Straits Times, vowed to uphold responsible discourse and denounce inflammatory remarks. Shanmugam emphasized that Singapore must not tolerate a minority attempting to "poison the entire well" of community relations, warning that such racism could spread to other ethnic groups.