Today/CNA-Sept 5
Singaporean rapper Subhas Nair, 31, was sentenced to six weeks’ jail on Tuesday (Sept 5) for attempting to promote ill will among racial and religious groups through online posts. Nair, whose full name is Subhas Govin Prabhakar Nair, was convicted in July of four such charges over statements he made between July 2019 and March 2021, comparing races and religions. He intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence, and maintains his innocence, his lawyer Mr Suang Wijaya told the court. District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan agreed with the prosecution that deterrence for such offences “takes on a greater significance in the age of social media and the internet”, as ill-intended racist messages can be disseminated to a larger audience almost instantaneously. He added that such messages cause harm not only to the targeted racial or religious groups, but society in general. The four charges that Nair was convicted of relate to a YouTube video where he and his sister Preeti Nair, known as Preetipls, performed a song containing the lyrics: “Chinese people always out here f***ing it up”. The penalties for attempting to promote feelings of ill will between racial or religious groups are a jail term of up to three years, a fine or both. Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/rapper-subhas-nair-sentenced-jail-attempting-promote-ill-will-between-races-and-religions-2247221
