SINGAPORE: Former Member of Parliament (MP) Amrin Amin weighed in on the recent online hate campaign in Singapore, which resulted in the Ministry of Home Affairs ordering YouTube, Facebook, and X to block content targeting the Indian community.

Mr Amrin wrote that the issue was “deeply troubling” and added that he was glad that the Government took action swiftly. However, he warned against the “deeper damage” that it tried to cause, which is “the weakening of trust between Singaporeans.” This damage does not disappear just because posts are taken down, he argued.

“A range of unrelated issues and anxieties were woven into a larger narrative that Singapore is somehow being ‘overrun’ and that our multiracial model is no longer working. That must be rejected,” he wrote in a June 7 Facebook post.

Mr Amrin, who also served as Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs during his years in politics, went on to explain that divisive narratives rarely depend on outright falsehoods, but instead use real images and genuine concerns. But these are removed from their context and then woven into a misleading story.

He gave the examples of photos of Little India and Hindu religious gatherings as proof that Singapore was being overrun. “The images were real. What was manufactured was the story connecting them into a threat. That is how division is made. Not from nothing, but from something real that has been deliberately misread,” he wrote.

Mr Amrin warned that this type of manipulative narrative can turn ordinary issues into ethnic tensions: with local events becoming signs of cultural displacement, immigration debates turning into racial conflicts, and policy discussions ending up as contests between communities. If this is allowed to happen, they result in distrust and suspicion.

However, he underlined that Singaporeans have legitimate concerns over immigration, integration, and fairness, and that these issues should not be dismissed just because bad actors exploit them. And while Singapore has long valued “openness” as a part of society, taken alone, it cannot guarantee against divisions, and may even cause them to deepen.

Therefore, there must be channels for difficult issues to be raised and fairly addressed, “rather than left to grievance merchants and opportunists.”

He also added that the manufactured story doesn’t go away just because the posts are no longer accessible.

“It lingers in the mind, shaping how people read the next headline, the next crowd, the next policy debate,” wrote Mr Amrin, adding that the issue was never just about what happened at a temple or even a particular community under attack.

Instead, Mr Amrin believes that the manipulated story was an attempt to portray fellow Singaporeans as a threat. Falsehoods can be corrected, he wrote, but the suspicion they create can endure long after the facts are set straight. /TISG 

Read also: MHA: 3 social media platforms have been ordered to block content targeting Indian community and undermining Singapore’s multiculturalism; suspected from China-based platform

This article (Ex-PAP MP: Underlying racial issues are real; damage doesn’t disappear when posts are taken down) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.