Singapore Probes 'Shameful' Xenophobic Posts on Nepal-Tibet Flood, Air India

Singapore: Singapore police are investigating "shameful" and "totally unacceptable" racist and xenophobic comments posted online about the Nepal-Tibet flood disaster and Singapore Airlines' investment in Air India, Senior Minister K Shanmugam said on Saturday. Shanmugam, who is also Home Affairs Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, said the Ministry of Digital Development and Information would also ask social media platforms to remove comments that breach their guidelines.

"I have asked police to look into these comments," Channel News Asia (CNA) quoted Shanmugam as saying.

Calling the comments "shameful, nasty, totally unacceptable", Shanmugam said some media outlets had removed comments because they were particularly offensive.

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

He cited several racist remarks targeting Indians and Singaporeans missing in the Nepal flash floods, including "I only see Indian faces here. Skip. Rescue cut." He said "ABNN", a derogatory term for Indians, was also used in one of the comments.

Shanmugam said the comments had surfaced even as more than 1,000 people had died in Nepal and many Singaporeans remained unaccounted for.

Nine Singaporeans remained missing after Nepal's deadly flash floods, CNA reported on Friday.

The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal. At least 589 foreign nationals, remain missing as of Saturday.

Shanmugam stressed that such derogatory online comments did not represent the majority of Singaporeans, pointing to more than SGD 3 million (USD 2.4 million) raised by the Singapore Red Cross for relief efforts in Nepal.

"Singaporeans are generous, across all races. And it is important that we don't allow a minority to poison the entire well," he said.

The minister also linked the online abuse to renewed criticism of Air India after reports that the airline was seeking additional capital from its shareholders, including Singapore Airlines (SIA).

He said the debate had triggered "anti-Indian, racist ranting" online.

An online group had also targeted Temasek CEO Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, who is of Indian origin, over the company's links with SIA and Air India.

SIA is majority-owned by Temasek Holdings -- a Singapore government-owned investment firm. Critics and opposition leaders have questioned whether Singaporean taxpayer funds should indirectly shoulder the protracted, costly turnaround of Air India, which is currently suffering heavy financial losses.

Shanmugam warned against allowing racism to become normalised in Singapore, saying authorities would take a tough line to protect the country's multiracial and multi-religious social fabric.

"I've decided to call out these people because you see what is happening in other countries. First, a minority says these nasty things; slowly it becomes normalised; then it becomes mainstream," he said.

"Public discourse is then debased. Social harmony is affected. Violence against people of a different skin colour and different religion becomes acceptable."

The city-state of Singapore has a population of more than six million, with ethnic Chinese making up about 75 per cent, Malays about 15 per cent and Indians about 9 per cent.