New Delhi: A 29-year-old India Indian-origin rapper in Singapore will be charged on Monday for promoting ‘feelings of ill will’ between different communities on the basis of religion.
According to reports, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has listed four incidents in which rapper Subhas Nair is promoting hostility between Chinese and other races.
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One of the incidents cited by the police are comments he made on social media on July 25, 2020, in response to a video of Chinese Christians who had made hateful remarks against another community. He had claimed that the authorities would have treated Malay Muslims differently for making the same comments as Chinese Christians.
In another incident on October 15, 2020, Nair had commented about the Chinese suspect involved in the July 2, 2019 murder of an Indian man at Orchard Towers. He had alleged that the authorities had behaved leniently with the perpetrator because of his race.
During an indoor stage performance, he had also exhibited a cartoon regarding the same which the authorities have claimed, “promote feelings of ill will between Chinese and Indians.” At the time he was already under police investigation.
“Allegations that the law or law enforcement agencies accord differential treatment based on religion or race are baseless and have the potential to damage religious and racial harmony in Singapore and erode public trust in our law enforcement agencies,” said the police, in the report.
In 2019, Nair had been conditionally warned for his “racially-charged” rap video which was a response to a controversial advertisement by NETS promoting E-Pay.
In the ad Chinese actor, Dennis Chew was dressed up as four characters of different ethnicities including Malays and Indians. The advertisement received backlash as the actor’s skin was darkened for portraying the characters.
If convicted Nair faces a jail term of up to three years, a fine, or both.