Racist comments targeting Indians ‘shameful’ and cross the line, police looking into them: Shanmugam

Senior Minister K Shanmugam said he decided to call out people making such comments so that this behaviour does not become normalised.

ST PHOTO: JOHNBOY IYPE JOHN

Published Sep 05, 2026, 05:00 PM

Updated Sep 05, 2026, 05:00 PM

SINGAPORE — The police are looking into racist and xenophobic comments relating to the Nepal floods and Singapore Airlines’ investment in Air India, Senior Minister K Shanmugam said on Sept 5.

Speaking to the media at Social Space @ Chong Pang, Shanmugam noted that some online comments to these issues have been “shameful, nasty and totally unacceptable”, with references to snakes, curry, prata, black magic and other racist stereotypes.

The Coordinating Minister for National Security said he decided to call out people making such comments so that this behaviour does not become normalised, which then debases public discourse and affects social harmony.

“These people should be unmasked and dealt with, rather than be allowed to hide behind online anonymity,” he said.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Information will also ask platforms to take such comments down as they are in breach of guidelines, he added.

Noting that nine Singaporeans are among those missing from the Aug 26 flash floods in Nepal that have killed more than 1,200 people, Shanmugam called out comments that said the missing “are not our own”.

He also singled out a comment that said “all ABNNs look the same”, the abbreviation being a derogatory term for Indians.

“What kind of people are these, who will come out and say these things about missing persons?” he asked.

“It really requires a type of person (who is) very ugly. And I think we need to call it out.”

The minister also drew attention to the way Temasek’s chief executive officer, Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, and the investment giant’s senior management were attacked online after it was reported that Air India was seeking about US$1.5 billion (S$1.9 billion) of investment from its shareholders, which include SIA.

Temasek Holdings has a majority stake in Singapore’s flag carrier.

Shanmugam said the attacks were “vile”, and included comments that said the Temasek CEO would favour Air India because he is of Indian ethnicity.

“(This is) even though he is as Singaporean as any of us – he was born here, studied here.

“That is nasty and libellous,” he said.

Following his interview, the Ministry of Home Affairs followed-up with a list of 20 examples of racist comments it had come across. Most were posted in the comments sections of local news outlets’ social media feeds.

The comments used a variety of slurs to refer to people of Indian origin, including the term “CECA faces”. CECA is the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, a bilateral free trade pact signed between Singapore and India in June 2005.

Responding to media queries, SPH Media said it will work with the authorities to ensure regulatory compliance on its platforms.

SPH Media publishes nine newspaper titles, including The Straits Times.

“As the national news company, SPH Media and its titles are committed to responsible discourse, as reflected across our newsrooms’ editorial positions,” said its spokesman.

“We denounce inflammatory and denigratory remarks that run counter to our national core values.”

Noting that it is a small group that have made such remarks, Shanmugam said it is important that Singapore does not allow a minority to “poison the entire well” of community relations.

For example, Singaporeans across all races have been generous in donating to relief efforts in Nepal, with the Red Cross having raised over $3 million.

Even so, there has been noticeably more racist comments of late, particularly when it comes to Indians in Singapore, said the minister, adding that some of these have originated and been fanned from overseas.

This is despite the Republic having taken a tough line to protect its multi-racial, multi-religious fabric, and to keep social harmony.

“Today it’s Indians, tomorrow, it will be the Malays, another day it will be the Chinese. How are you going to be socially harmonious in this situation?” he said.

While there is always latent racism among some sections of the public, recent attacks against Indians online have emboldened some people, he noted.

“After a while, if people will start saying these same things in public, and then when politicians see profit in it, it’ll become part of the political and public and community discourse,” he said.

While Singapore has not gotten there, this has already happened in many countries, including developed ones, said Shanmugam.

“I have had to speak on this more frequently than I would have liked, and it’s a consequence of this (behaviour) becoming more frequent online,” he said.

Shanmugam said it is important to acknowledge that Singaporeans are not immune to racism, and that political and community leaders bear some responsibility for the tenor of discourse.

“Our duty is to acknowledge that and work to make sure that (such racism) doesn’t come out, rather than putting in hand grenades for it to come out,” he said.

If as a small, multi-racial, multi-ethnic country Singapore is divided along racial or religious lines, it will lose the unity that has made it strong.

“There will be feelings of ill will, suspicion, and we will all suffer,” he added.

“We should not tolerate this. This is not who we are as Singaporeans.”

Wong Pei Ting is a correspondent at The Straits Times. She covers politics and social affairs.

高级部长尚穆根表示，他决定公开谴责发表此类言论的人，以免这种行为变得正常化。

照片：约翰博伊·伊普·约翰

发布于2026年9月5日下午5:00

更新于2026年9月5日下午5:00

新加坡——高级部长尚穆根9月5日表示，警方正在调查与尼泊尔洪水和新加坡航空公司投资印度航空有关的种族主义和仇外言论。

尚穆根在崇邦社交空间接受媒体采访时指出，一些针对这些问题的网络评论“令人羞耻、恶劣且完全不可接受”，其中提到了蛇、咖喱、印度煎饼、黑魔法和其他种族主义刻板印象。

国家安全统筹部长表示，他决定公开谴责发表此类言论的人，以免这种行为正常化，从而败坏公共话语，影响社会和谐。

他说：“应该揭露这些人的身份并对他们进行惩处，而不是允许他们躲在网络匿名背后。”

他还补充说，数字发展和信息部也将要求平台删除此类评论，因为它们违反了相关准则。

尚穆根指出，在8月26日尼泊尔发生的山洪暴发中，有9名新加坡人失踪，这场山洪暴发已造成1200多人死亡。他谴责了那些称失踪者“不是我们自己人”的言论。

他还特别指出一条评论说“所有 ABNN 都长一个样”，其中 ABNN 是印度人的贬义词。

他问道：“这些人到底是什么样的人，竟然会出来对失踪人口说这些话？”

“这真的需要一种非常丑陋的人才会做。我认为我们应该谴责这种人。”

这位部长还注意到，有报道称印度航空正在寻求从包括新加坡航空在内的股东那里获得约 15 亿美元（19 亿新元）的投资，之后淡马锡首席执行官迪尔汉·皮莱·桑德拉塞加拉和这家投资巨头的高级管理层在网上遭到攻击。

淡马锡控股持有新加坡国家航空公司的大部分股份。

尚穆根称这些攻击“卑鄙无耻”，其中包括一些评论，称淡马锡首席执行官会偏袒印度航空，因为他是印度裔。

“（尽管）他和我们一样都是新加坡人——他出生在这里，在这里学习。

“这太恶劣、太诽谤了，”他说。

采访结束后，内政部随后列出了20条他们发现的种族歧视言论。这些言论大多发布在当地新闻媒体社交媒体账号的评论区。

这些评论使用了各种侮辱性词语来指代印度裔人士，包括“CECA脸”。CECA是《全面经济合作协定》，是新加坡和印度于2005年6月签署的双边自由贸易协定。

针对媒体的询问，新加坡报业控股媒体表示，将与有关部门合作，确保其平台符合监管规定。

新加坡报业控股媒体集团旗下拥有九份报纸，其中包括《海峡时报》。

“作为国家新闻公司，SPH Media及其旗下媒体致力于负责任的讨论，这体现在我们新闻编辑室的编辑立场中，”其发言人表示。

“我们谴责一切煽动性和诋毁性的言论，这些言论违背了我们的国家核心价值观。”

尚穆根指出，发表此类言论的只是一小部分人，新加坡必须避免让少数人“毒害”整个社区关系。

例如，新加坡各族人民慷慨解囊，为尼泊尔的救灾工作捐款，红十字会已筹集超过 300 万美元。

这位部长表示，即便如此，近来种族主义言论明显增多，尤其是在新加坡针对印度人的言论，并补充说，其中一些言论源自海外，并受到海外人士的煽动。

尽管共和国采取了强硬立场来保护其多种族、多宗教的结构，并维护社会和谐，但这种情况依然存在。

“今天是印度人，明天是马来人，后天又是华人。在这种情况下，你们如何才能实现社会和谐呢？”他说道。

他指出，虽然公众中总有一些人存在潜在的种族主义，但最近针对印度人的网络攻击助长了一些人的气焰。

他说：“过一段时间，如果人们开始在公共场合说这些话，当政客们从中看到利益时，它就会成为政治、公共和社区讨论的一部分。”

尚穆根表示，虽然新加坡还没有达到这种程度，但这在包括发达国家在内的许多国家已经发生了。

他说：“我不得不比我希望的更频繁地谈论这个问题，这是因为这种（行为）在网络上变得越来越频繁。”

尚穆根表示，必须承认新加坡人并非不会受到种族主义的影响，政治和社区领袖对舆论基调负有一定责任。

他说：“我们的责任是承认这一点，并努力确保（这种种族主义）不再出现​​，而不是埋下手榴弹让它出现。”

新加坡作为一个面积小、多种族、多民族的国家，如果因为种族或宗教分歧而分裂，就会失去使其强大的团结。

“人们会产生恶意和猜疑，我们都会因此受苦，”他补充道。

“我们绝不能容忍这种行为。这不符合新加坡人的价值观。”

黄佩婷是《海峡时报》的记者，主要报道政治和社会事务。