Nepal floods: Singapore probes racist online comments against Indians

Singapore has launched an investigation into racist and xenophobic online comments directed at Indian-origin people in response to the recent Nepal-Tibet flash floods disaster and the Singapore Airlines-Air India partnership.

Singapore’s senior Minister K Shanmugam said police are investigating "shameful" and "totally unacceptable" comments posted online.

Singapore PM reacts

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also reacted and said on Sunday (September 6) that Singapore must never allow prejudice against any community to become accepted or normalised.

Also read: Nepal floods: Death toll climbs to 1,355 as search continues; nearly 5,000 still missing

"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," Channel News Asia quoted Wong as saying.

In a Facebook post, Wong said that "an uglier side" had emerged in online discussions about the two matters.

Racist comments surfaced online targeting some of the nine Singaporeans missing in the Nepal-Tibet disaster, while questions about Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) investment in Air India were "accompanied by anti-Indian abuse", he said.

While such views do not represent Singapore, they should not be dismissed as "harmless online chatter", he said.

Similar tensions in past

"If such behaviour goes unchecked, it can become normalised, deepen mistrust between communities, and pull us apart," Wong said, adding that he had discussed the developments with his Cabinet colleagues and that this was why Shanmugam had spoken about it.

Also read: First images from Gyirong reveal flash-flood devastation at Tibet-Nepal border

Singapore has an overall population of over six million – of which 75 per cent are Chinese, 15 per cent Malays, about nine per cent Indians and the rest from other countries.

Wong said that Singapore had encountered similar tensions before, pointing to how “anti-foreigner” and “racial sentiments” were stirred up during the COVID-19 pandemic and surfaced during debates over the Singapore-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

Such sentiments also surfaced during the 2025 general election, when Wong spoke out against attempts to bring race and religion into politics.

"There will always be people who seek to exploit our differences," Wong said.

While it is impossible to prevent every hateful comment from appearing online, Singaporeans could choose how they respond to them, he said. "We can reject such views, and refuse to give them more space or legitimacy.” "Singapore has held together because we have consistently rejected attempts to divide us along racial or religious lines, and chosen instead to recognise one another as fellow Singaporeans," said the prime minister.

(With agency inputs)