It is deeply troubling to see racist comments and hateful remarks directed at the Indian community in the wake of the Nepal flood tragedy, said Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sept 6 as he called on Singaporeans to “reject hatred”.
At times like this, the response should be compassion and solidarity, he said, adding that Singaporeans should stand by one another regardless of race, language or religion.
In a Facebook post, he said that Singapore will always be vulnerable to visceral and divisive pulls, like the temptation to stir up racial prejudices and animosities.
While the country strives for inter-racial tolerance and respect, human beings are not race blind, and race and religion will always be a fault line in society, he added.
Singapore must then continue to work hard to strengthen its cohesion and protect its racial harmony, said Lee.
“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.
He noted that Senior Minister K. Shanmugam had made a statement on Sept 5 to lay out the issues.
SM Lee noted that Singapore’s leaders had spoken about similar incidents related to race and religion in recent years.
In his National Day Rally speech in 2021 when he was prime minister, he addressed anti-Indian sentiments linked to the Covid-19 virus.
During the general election in 2025, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had to call out attempts to use religion to work up Muslim voters against the Government, added SM Lee.
“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,” SM Lee said.
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