Singapore PM Wong warns against normalising racism after anti-Indian abuse online

Singapore must never allow prejudice against any community to become accepted or normalised, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Sunday, days after racist and xenophobic comments appeared online about the Nepal-Tibet flash floods disaster and the Singapore Airlines-Air India partnership.

"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 Channel News Asia quoted Wong as saying.

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 SIA's 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”

"If such behaviour goes unchecked, it can become normalised, deepen mistrust between communities, and pull us apart," PM Wong said.

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 Mr. 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.

“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.

Former Prime Minister and now a Senior Minister in the Cabinet, Lee Hsien Loong, on Sunday (September 6) also called on Singaporeans to "stand by one another regardless of race, language or religion".

In a Facebook post, Lee described racist comments directed at the Indian community in Singapore following the recent floods in Nepal as "deeply troubling".

He added that it was "equally troubling" when issues such as SIA's investment in Air India were "distorted or exploited to stir vicious racial, anti-Indian resentment".

The Prime Minister’s remarks come a day after Singapore Senior Minister K. Shanmugam said police are investigating “shameful” and “totally unacceptable” racist and xenophobic comments posted online about the Nepal-Tibet flood disaster and Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) investment in Air India.