ASEAN Beat | Society | Southeast Asia

Why Have Indians Become a Regular Target of Hate in Singapore?

Popular resentment toward the city-state’s Indian community and Indian nationals has been building for some time.

Shops on Serangoon Road in Singapore’s Little India quarter, Apr. 3, 2016.

When Lee Kuan Yew took Singapore out of the Malaysian Federation on August 9, 1965, he made English the new nation’s primary language of government and education, rather than Chinese, despite the fact that 75 percent of the population was ethnic Chinese. Ensuring that other ethnic minorities did not feel alienated, he also gave Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil official status.

After the race riots in 1964 that left 36 people dead, Lee dismantled the city’s deeply segregated colonial setup, where different ethnic groups lived in isolated enclaves, and introduced the Ethnic Integration Policy. This ensured that every building must have a mix of Chinese, Malay, and Indian residents that matches the country’s actual population.

These steps played a major role in remaking Singapore from a colonial city-state into a developed nation. For more than 50 years, the edifice Lee erected remained intact.

Given this background, the rise in racial attacks and derogatory slurs against the Indian community in the last few years look surprising, but the discontent against them has been simmering for a long time. The internet and social media have merely brought it to the fore. Suddenly, videos going viral about Indians littering beaches, misbehaving in public, or clashing with locals have circulated widely, sparking outrage and fueling stereotypes. For a country that prides itself on racial harmony, the intensity of this reaction is both striking and concerning.

A number of recent incidents show that things have gone a bit too far. When reports came about nine Singaporeans missing in the recent Nepal flash floods, some social media posts started that they were “not our own” because most of those missing were ethnic Indians. One post even referred to them as “ABNN,” a derogatory term for Indians.

Temasek chief executive Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, who is of Indian origin, was similarly attacked after Air India announced that it was seeking fresh capital from its shareholders. Singapore Airlines (SIA) owns about 25 percent of Air India. Social media posts claimed that since Sandrasegara is of Indian origin, he will favor Air India and put SIA money into the loss-making airline.

SIA’s net profit fell 57.4 per cent to S$1.2 billion in the year ended March 2026. Its annual report attributed the decline partly to its share of Air India’s full-year losses. This is an important issue on which the government should be questioned, not the city’s Indian population, who have no role in........

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