Subhas Nair, an Indian-origin rapper has been sentenced to six weeks in jail in Singapore for making racially-charged remarks. Nair began his jail term on 5th February after he lost a court appeal against his conviction. 32-year-old Singaporean resident Nair was reportedly convicted in 2023 for his remarks made between July 2019 and March 2021.
What is the case against Nair
Subhas Govin Prabhakar Nair has been quite vocal about racism against people of Indian and Malaysian origin in Singapore. He is currently facing four charges one of which relates to an Instagram post about a Chinese-origin man Chan Jia Xing, who was involved in the murder of an Indian-origin man called Satheesh Noel Gobidass. This case was infamously called the 2019 Orchard Towers murder. In this case, the accused Chan was initially charged with murder but later on, charges against him were diluted. It was alleged that Chan was allowed to get away because of his Chinese origin.
After he posted on his Instagram about the Orchid Towers murder, Nair was given a two-year conditional warning by the police. However, Nair did not comply and put out social media posts calling out racism and Chinese privilege in Singapore. In 2018, Nair released an album called ‘Not a Public Assembly’ in which he raised the issue of migrants and minorities in Singapore. Calling out the disparity in the treatment of Chinese people and the people of Indian and Malaysian origin in Singapore, he said, “Calling out racism and Chinese privilege = two-year conditional warning and media smear campaign. Conspiring to murder an Indian man = light sentence and media sympathy.”
Nair posted a YouTube video in 2019 which had an advertisement featuring a local actor named Dennis Chew, who portrayed multiple ethnicities in the video including an Indian man. The authorities claimed that the lyrics in his video were offensive to Chinese people. He was also charged for his 2021 performance at The Substation in Singapore where he reportedly displayed a hand-made replica of his Instagram post about the murder of Satheesh Noel Gobidass.
Nair’s lawyer defended his actions as emotive responses to racism
As per reports, the rapper filed an appeal before Justice Hoo Sheau Peng. Justice Peng rejected Nair’s appeal saying that she agreed with the lower court’s decision of convicting Nair and that the six-week jail term was not inappropriate. Too Xingh Ji, Nair’s advocate argued during his appeal that his actions were emotive responses to racism typical of social media discourse, not intended to incite racial hostility. However, Justice Peng upheld the conviction saying that the law did not require proof of malicious intent. She highlighted that Nair did not plead guilty and did not show any remorse for his actions. She added that Nair promoted ill will and displayed a disregard for the law despite receiving a conditional warning.
