Singapore mustn’t ever enable prejudice in opposition to any group to change into accepted or normalised, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong stated on Sunday (September 6, 2026), days after racist and xenophobic feedback appeared on-line concerning the Nepal-Tibet flash floods catastrophe and the Singapore Airways-Air India partnership.
“We are able to and will have strong debates. However we must always by no means use seemingly reputable arguments as a canopy to gasoline prejudice in opposition to any group or hostility in the direction of foreigners,” the Channel Information Asia quoted Mr. Wong as saying.
The Prime Minister’s remarks come a day after Singapore Senior Minister Okay. Shanmugam stated police are investigating “shameful” and “completely unacceptable” racist and xenophobic feedback posted on-line concerning the Nepal-Tibet flood catastrophe and Singapore Airways’ (SIA) funding in Air India.
In a Fb put up, Mr. Wong stated that “an uglier aspect” had emerged in on-line discussions concerning the two issues.
Racist feedback surfaced on-line concentrating on a few of the 9 Singaporeans lacking within the Nepal-Tibet catastrophe, whereas questions on SIA’s funding in Air India had been “accompanied by anti-Indian abuse”, he stated.
Whereas such views don’t characterize Singapore, they shouldn’t be dismissed as “innocent on-line chatter”, he stated.
“If such behaviour goes unchecked, it could possibly change into normalised, deepen distrust between communities, and pull us aside,” PM Wong stated, including that he had mentioned the developments together with his Cupboard colleagues and that this was why Mr. Shanmugam had spoken about it.
Singapore has an general inhabitants of over six million — of which 75% are Chinese language, 15% Malays, about 9% Indians and the remaining from different nations.
The affluent city-state is attempting to handle a declining inhabitants as a result of a low native start price and is determined by overseas expertise to take care of its high-performance financial actions as a part of the worldwide community, which has already been badly hit by the West Asian battle, a diplomatic observer stated.
Mr. Wong stated that Singapore had encountered related tensions earlier than, pointing to how “anti-foreigner” and “racial sentiments” had been stirred up throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and surfaced throughout debates over the Singapore-India Complete Financial Cooperation Settlement.
Such sentiments additionally surfaced throughout the 2025 common election, when Mr. Wong spoke out in opposition to makes an attempt to carry race and faith into politics.
“There’ll all the time be individuals who search to take advantage of our variations,” Mr. Wong stated.
Whereas it’s inconceivable to forestall each hateful remark from showing on-line, Singaporeans might select how they reply to them, he stated. “We are able to reject such views, and refuse to offer them more room or legitimacy.” “Singapore has held collectively as a result of we’ve persistently rejected makes an attempt to divide us alongside racial or spiritual strains, and chosen as a substitute to recognise each other as fellow Singaporeans,” stated the Prime Minister.
Former Prime Minister and now a Senior Minister within the Cupboard, Lee Hsien Loong, on Sunday (September 6) additionally known as on Singaporeans to “stand by each other no matter race, language or faith”.
In a Fb put up, Mr. Lee described racist feedback directed on the Indian group in Singapore following the latest floods in Nepal as “deeply troubling”.
He added that it was “equally troubling” when points corresponding to SIA’s funding in Air India had been “distorted or exploited to stir vicious racial, anti-Indian resentment”.
Expressing his condolences to these affected by the floods, Mr. Lee stated the tragedy had left many households grieving and that the response needs to be one in all “compassion and solidarity”.
He additionally famous that Mr. Shanmugam had “laid out the problems clearly” in his assertion on Saturday (September 5).
“When incidents like this occur, leaders should communicate up with drive and conviction, to name out what is occurring, condemn the manipulation of base feelings, and name on all Singaporeans to face collectively,” the Channel quoted Mr. Lee as saying.
Revealed – September 07, 2026 06:42 am IST
