Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong warned against a recent spat of racist comments being made online, saying prejudice must not be allowed to become normalized in the multiracial city-state.
Wong said in a Facebook post Sunday that an “uglier side” had emerged in recent online discussions, including remarks about Singaporeans caught in deadly floods in Nepal and debate over Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s potential investment in Air India Ltd.
“We can and should have robust debates,” he said. “But we should never use seemingly legitimate arguments as a cover to fuel prejudice against any community or hostility towards foreigners.”
The prime minister said racist views expressed online did not represent Singapore as a whole and warned against dismissing them as harmless. “If such behavior goes unchecked, it can become normalized, deepen mistrust between communities, and pull us apart,” he said.
Wong’s comments followed remarks by Senior Minister K Shanmugam on Saturday, who said police had been asked to look into the matter and will ask online platforms to remove comments that breach rules. In June, authorities ordered social media platforms to block access to 14 online posts that target the Indian community in Singapore.
Shanmugam said there had been more racist remarks directed at Indians in Singapore recently, including attacks on senior executives at Temasek Holdings Pte. over their ethnicity.
The senior minister said the state-owned investor, which is a majority owner of Singapore Air, does not account to the government for its individual investments. The government would not interfere in any decision to invest in Air India, saying such decisions should be made on commercial grounds, Shanmugam added.
Air India is close to securing 100 billion rupees ($1.06 billion) in aid from its owners Tata Sons Pvt. and Singapore Air, as the carrier grapples with the fallout from a turbulent year, people familiar with the matter recently told Bloomberg. The money is conditional on reaching certain performance milestones and will be paid out in installments, said the people.
The support would be proportional to shareholding, the people said, with Tata Sons owning 74.9% of Air India and Singapore Air the remainder.
