SINGAPORE, Sept 6 — Singapore’s prime minister, Lawrence Wong, has warned that racist and anti-foreigner abuse online cannot be dismissed as harmless chatter, saying prejudice risks becoming normalised and driving communities apart if left unchecked.
In a Facebook post today, Wong said there would always be people seeking to exploit Singapore’s racial and religious differences, but that Singaporeans could choose not to give such views “more space or legitimacy”.
“These views do not represent Singapore. But neither can we dismiss them as harmless online chatter,” he wrote.
“If such behaviour goes unchecked, it can become normalised, deepen mistrust between communities, and pull us apart.”
His comments came after anti-Indian remarks appeared online in the wake of devastating floods in Nepal, where nine Singaporeans remain missing, as well as during discussions over Singapore Airlines’ investment in Air India.
Wong said Singapore should continue to allow robust debate, but warned against using legitimate arguments as cover for prejudice against particular communities or hostility towards foreigners.
“We should be clear about the distinction,” he said.
While it would not be possible to stop every hateful comment online, Wong said Singaporeans could reject such views and refuse to amplify them.
He said Singapore had remained cohesive because it had repeatedly resisted attempts to divide people along racial or religious lines and instead chosen to see one another as fellow Singaporeans.
“We must keep making that choice,” he said, invoking the National Pledge and its commitment to unity “regardless of race, language or religion”.
Wong said he had discussed the issue with Cabinet colleagues, after Senior Minister K. Shanmugam said on Saturday that police were looking into racist and xenophobic comments made online.
Shanmugam described some of the remarks as “shameful, nasty and totally unacceptable”, including comments invoking racist stereotypes about snakes, curry, prata and black magic.
He also said Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information would ask social media platforms to remove comments that breached their guidelines.
Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong separately condemned the remarks today, calling them deeply troubling and urging Singaporeans to “reject hatred”.
Wong said such tensions were not new, pointing to anti-foreigner and racial sentiment during the Covid-19 pandemic, debates over the Singapore-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, and the 2025 general election, when he had also warned against bringing race and religion into politics.
Singapore’s national identity, he said, must remain open and inclusive.
“Whatever our background, if we embrace our values and way of life, we are part of this nation. This is what our National Pledge stands for, and I believe the vast majority of Singaporeans share this view,” he wrote.
“We must never allow prejudice against any community to become accepted or normal in Singapore.”
