{
  "id": 18310207,
  "title": "Ex-Singapore diplomat warns of racial undertones in Indonesian ex-minister's attacks on Singapore",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/05/ex-singapore-diplomat-warns-of-racial-undertones-in-indonesian-ex",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-05T12:00:39.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Independent Singapore",
    "slug": "the-independent-singapore",
    "url": "https://theindependent.sg/ex-singapore-diplomat-warns-of-racial-undertones-in-indonesian-ex-minister-s-attacks-on-singapore"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan has cautioned against the racial undertones in the attacks made by former Indonesian Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi on Singapore. Kausikan shared a video of Lutfi's allegations against Singapore that originated from a post by former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng on Facebook. Lutfi had directly addressed Singaporeans in his video, claiming that Singapore is looked down upon as \"a nation of beggars\" and accusing the country of employing \"dirty tricks\" such as tax treaties and transfer pricing schemes. The former diplomat pointed out that Lutfi, who had to resign due to corruption allegations, is attempting to rehabilitate his image by attacking Singapore as a means to target Indonesian Chinese. Calvin Cheng also criticized Lutfi's message, pointing out that if enough Indonesians believe Singapore stole their wealth, they would perceive Singaporeans as their enemy. Cheng also highlighted Indonesia's current economic difficulties and pointed out that instead of addressing those issues, their political elite is accusing Singapore of stealing their wealth. Lutfi's social media posts began in late October, criticizing Singapore's environmental and economic policies. His views have been met with backlash in both Indonesia and Singapore.",
  "summary": "SINGAPORE: In a social media post on Wednesday (Nov 4), the former diplomat Bilahari Kausikan took aim at Muhammad Lutfi , the Indonesian businessman who had served as Minister of Trade and who has also been releasing a series of nationalistic videos critical of Singapore and Malaysia. Mr Bilahari called out the former Indonesian minister’s tactics, sharing a video with allegations against…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}