Kenneth Tiong condemns racism in online comments regarding Nepal disaster and Air India deal, says his concerns are financial
Workers’ Party (WP) member Kenneth Tiong responded in agreement with Senior Minister K Shanmugam’s comments on racism involving the Nepal disaster and Air India deal.
Mr Tiong clarified that his concerns about the latter were entirely commercial. He expressed disappointment that it had become entangled with racist comments.
Minister Shanmugam criticises racism regarding Air India deal
In a media doorstop on Saturday (5 Sept), Mr Shanmugam highlighted online comments made about the nine Singaporeans missing in the Nepal floods.
Source: K Shanmugam Sc on Facebook
They included “No they are not our own” and “I only see Indian faces here. Skip. Rescue cut”. He described the comments as “nasty” and “shameful”.
“I have asked police to look into these comments,” he stated.
Mr Shanmugam then alleged similar anti-Indian racism regarding Air India seeking US$1.5 billion (S$1.9 billion) in funding from Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines (SIA).
They included accusations that the CEO of Temasek Holdings favoured Air India due to his Indian ethnicity.
Source: Air India on Facebook
Kenneth Tiong agrees with Shanmugam, calls racist comments ‘shameful’
In a Facebook post later that day, opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Kenneth Tiong responded in agreement.
The comments about the Singaporeans missing in Nepal are shameful, and so are the attacks on anyone’s motives because of their ethnicity. I condemn them without reservation.
Source: MDDI on YouTube
He stated that it was “unfortunate” that questions about the Air India deal were “entangled with racist comments”.
Mr Tiong once more condemned such remarks, adding: “My concerns were, and are, purely commercial.”
Air India financial questions to be raised on 8 Sept
He noted that Air India lost over S$3.5 billion in 2025 before it requested more funding.
The Air India CEO even reportedly claimed a turnaround could take 10 years.
Mr Tiong also highlighted that Temasek Holdings and the Singapore government have previously supported SIA during financial troubles in 2020.
Singaporeans are best served when we can hold two things at once: zero tolerance for racism, and hard questions about money. We should not let the two get mixed up.
He added that he would raise the financial questions to the government on 8 Sept.
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Featured image adapted from MDDI on YouTube and K Shanmugam Sc on Facebook.
