‘This is not who we are’: Singapore senior minister condemns racist abuse over Nepal disaster, Air India amid police probe

Singapore's Senior Minister K Shanmugam condemned racist and xenophobic online comments made about the Nepal disaster and Singapore Airlines' investment in Air India, as police started investigating the matter. Shanmugam, who is also the Home Affairs Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, urged social media platforms to remove such comments that breach their guidelines.

He noted the comments as "shameful, nasty, totally unacceptable" and stressed that they did not represent most Singaporeans, who have been generous in raising funds for relief efforts. Shanmugam warned that such racist rhetoric could become normalized, leading to a debasement of public discourse and social harmony. He also highlighted reports of an "online mob" targeting Temasek chief executive Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara and other senior figures for their ethnicity.

Shanmugam emphasized that racist comments, particularly against Indians, had become more frequent and could originate overseas, fanned from overseas sources. He urged the country to remain united, as a small multiracial, multi-ethnic nation, and warned against allowing a minority to poison the well. He stressed that any decision regarding SIA's potential investment in Air India would be up to SIA and its shareholders, and not influenced by political considerations.