SINGAPORE, Sept 6 — Singapore will never be entirely insulated from racial division, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong has warned, as he condemned racist abuse directed at the Indian community following the Nepal flood tragedy and urged Singaporeans to “reject hatred”.
In a Facebook post today, Lee said the episode was a reminder that race and religion remained enduring fault lines even in a society that had spent decades trying to foster tolerance and mutual respect.
“Human beings are not race blind, and race and religion will always be a fault line in society,” he said.
Lee described the hateful remarks that emerged after the disaster as “deeply troubling”, saying moments of tragedy should instead bring out compassion and solidarity.
Singaporeans should stand by one another regardless of race, language or religion, he said, warning that the country would remain vulnerable to “visceral and divisive pulls”, including the temptation to stir racial prejudices and animosities.
The response, Lee said, had to go beyond simply hoping such sentiments would fade.
“When incidents like this happen, leaders must speak up with force and conviction, to call out what is happening, condemn the manipulation of base emotions, and call on all Singaporeans to stand together,” he said.
His comments followed remarks a day earlier by Senior Minister K Shanmugam, who said police were looking into racist and xenophobic online posts linked to both the Nepal floods and Singapore Airlines’ investment in Air India, The Straits Times reported.
Shanmugam said some of the comments had been “shameful, nasty and totally unacceptable”, including references to snakes, curry, prata and black magic.
He said such behaviour had to be challenged before it became normalised and further degraded public discourse.
Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information would also ask social media platforms to remove comments found to breach their guidelines, he said.
The abuse had also extended to Temasek chief executive Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara after reports that Air India was seeking about US$1.5 billion (RM4.5 billion) in fresh funding from shareholders, including Singapore Airlines.
Shanmugam described some of those attacks as “vile”, including “nasty and libellous” claims that Pillay would favour Air India because of his Indian ethnicity.
Lee said Singapore had faced similar moments before.
As prime minister in 2021, he spoke out against anti-Indian sentiment that surfaced during the Covid-19 pandemic. He also pointed to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s intervention during the 2025 general election against attempts to use religion to mobilise Muslim voters against the government.
Such episodes showed why racial harmony could never be taken for granted, Lee said.
“It is at times like this that we realise the full meaning of the words of the National Pledge, and how important it is for us to make every effort to live up to these ideals,” he said.
