S'pore rapper Subhas Nair to be charged with trying to promote ill will between religious, ethnic groups , Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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S'pore rapper Subhas Nair to be charged with trying to promote ill will between religious, ethnic groups

This article is more than 12 months old

SINGAPORE - A local musician will be charged next Monday (Nov 1) with four counts of attempting to promote feelings of ill will between different religious and ethnic groups.

Mr Subhas Nair, 29, had breached a 24-month conditional warning he was given in 2019 after he allegedly published and produced "a racially charged rap video", the police said in a statement on Thursday night.

The police said that on July 25 last year, Mr Nair posted comments on social media in response to a video of Chinese Christians who had made hateful comments against another community.

He allegedly commented that Malay Muslims who make the same hateful comments would be treated differently by the authorities compared with the Chinese Christians, said the police.

Mr Nair is accused of trying to promote feelings of ill will between Chinese and Indians by claiming in a post on Oct 15 last year that one of the Chinese accused persons involved in the July 2, 2019 Orchard Towers murder of an Indian man received lenient treatment from the authorities by virtue of his race.

While under police investigations for the Oct 15, 2020 post, Mr Nair is said to have allegedly attempted to promote feelings of ill will between Chinese and Indians during an indoor stage performance on March 11, by exhibiting a cartoon drawing of his Oct 15, 2020 post.

He had on Aug 14, 2019 been given a 24-month conditional warning by the police after he allegedly published a racially charged rap video, which he had produced, on the Internet on July 29, 2019.

The video allegedly attempted to promote feelings of ill will between Chinese and other races, said the police.

One of the terms of the warning said that if he reoffends, he may be prosecuted for the offence for which he was warned, in addition to prosecution for the alleged fresh offences.

"As he breached the conditions of this warning by allegedly committing the offences on Jul 25, 2020,  Oct 15, 2020, and March 11, 2021, he is now being charged for this July 29, 2019 offence," said the police on Thursday.

According to Mr Nair's website, he is "a rap/hip-hop artist from Singapore who seeks to share perspectives of the world around him and engage people through his music and lyricism".

Those convicted of attempting to promote feelings of ill will between different groups on grounds of religion or race face a jail term of up to three years, a fine, or both.

RACE ISSUESCOURT & CRIME