Singapore police question five over racist posts on floods and Air India

Singapore police have questioned five people over alleged racist comments tied to the flash floods and SIA's Air India investment. The case has prompted senior leaders to warn against normalising prejudice and xenophobia.

In Short

• Police identified suspects aged 29 to 66 after multiple public reports
• K Shanmugam called the remarks shameful, nasty and totally unacceptable
• Some posts mocked missing flood victims and used slurs against Indians

Singapore police have questioned five people over alleged racist online comments linked to the Nepal-Tibet flash floods and Singapore Airlines' investment in Air India. The police said they had received reports and were investigating comments related to both matters.

The move follows Senior Minister K Shanmugam's statement on Saturday that the police were looking into what he called "shameful" racist and xenophobic remarks online. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also spoke about the issue, saying Singapore must not allow prejudice against any community to become accepted or normalised.

According to Channel News Asia, police said on Wednesday that five people, aged between 29 and 66, had been identified and interviewed in connection with the comments. "We will continue to investigate and identify those responsible for these online comments," the police said. They added that they took a serious view of conduct that may hurt racial feelings or incite hostility and ill will between different racial groups. As investigations are ongoing, they said they were unable to comment further on the specifics of individual cases.

Shanmugam, who is also the Home Affairs Minister, had cited several examples of remarks made online about missing Singaporeans in the floods, including "No they are not our own", "I only see Indian faces here. Skip. Rescue cut", and "All ABNNs look the same, how to AI?" He noted that "ABNN" is a derogatory term for Indians. He said that even though more than a thousand people had died and Singaporeans remained unaccounted for, such remarks were still being circulated online.

Shanmugam also said that news of Air India seeking fresh equity from shareholders, including SIA, had triggered a new wave of "anti-Indian, racist ranting". SIA holds a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India through a partnership with the Tata Group. He said the Ministry of Digital Development and Information would ask social media platforms to remove comments that breach guidelines. "The media tells me that they had to remove several comments because they were so nasty. I don't know if all the comments are all made by Singaporeans. But, I will say this – the comments are shameful, nasty, totally unacceptable," he added.

Wong said on Sunday: "We can and should have robust debates. But we should never use seemingly legitimate arguments as a cover to fuel prejudice against any community or hostility towards foreigners." The police investigation now covers comments linked to both the floods and SIA's Air India investment, after public criticism from Singapore's leaders over the racist posts.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends