Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

29-year-old Singaporean rapper, Subhas Nair, will be charged on Nov. 1 for attempting to promote feelings of ill-will between different groups on grounds of religion and race.

Four counts

The police news release on Oct. 28 detailed the alleged attempts and they are as follows:

Jul. 29, 2019

The first attempt was in relation to a rap video produced by Subhas and was subsequently published online. The video was described to be "racially-charged", and attempted to promote feelings of ill-will between Chinese and other races, according to the police.

For this, Subhas was given a 24-month conditional warning on Aug. 14, 2019, and one of the warning terms stipulates that should he reoffend, he may be prosecuted for the original offence for which he was warned, on top of the prosecution for the new offences.

The police said that Subhas breached this warning with his subsequent three offences, and will now be charged for this Jul. 29, 2019 offence.

Jul. 25, 2020

In Subhas' response to a video of Chinese Christians who had made hateful comments against another community on Jul. 25, 2020, he allegedly commented that Malay Muslims who make the same hateful comments would be treated differently by the authorities, as compared to the Chinese Christians.

Oct. 15, 2020

On Oct. 15, 2020, Subhas allegedly attempted to promote feelings of ill-will between Chinese and Indians.

In relation to the alleged murder at Orchard Towers on Jul. 2, 2019, Subhas claimed that one of the Chinese accused persons involved in the murder of an Indian man received lenient treatment by the authorities by virtue of his race.

Mar. 11, 2021

In his most recent incident on Mar. 11, 2021, Subhas allegedly attempted to promote feelings of ill-will between Chinese and Indians during an indoor stage performance.

The police said that he did this by exhibiting a cartoon drawing of his Oct. 15, 2020 social media post when he was already under police investigations back then for that post.

The police said that 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.

If found guilty, the offence of attempting to promote feelings of ill-will between different groups on grounds of religion or race carries an imprisonment term of up to three years, or a fine, or both.

Related stories

Follow and listen to our podcast here

Top image via video screengrab