SINGAPORE: A statement issued by YouTube performer Preetipls and her brother Subhas Nair contained "a mock, insincere apology" spoofing an earlier apology issued by Havas Worldwide for the E-Pay advertisement, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Aug 2).
"This spoofing is a pretence of an apology, and in fact shows contempt for the many Singaporeans who expressed concern at their blatantly racist rap video," said the ministry in a statement on Friday evening.
AdvertisementAdvertisementEarlier on Friday, the siblings, who put out an expletive-laden video responding to the E-Pay ad featuring actor Dennis Chew, had issued a statement via Instagram saying they were "sorry for any hurt that was intentionally caused."
"The message behind this music video is that opportunities must be for everyone. For that reason, K Muthusamy, well known for his ability to address privilege, power and censorship in a single production in a light-hearted way, was selected as the face of this music video.
"He speaks to characters from all walks of life in Singapore, bringing home the point that only some people truly pay.
"We're sorry for any hurt that was unintentionally caused. Behind the music video is an initiative to provide greater consciousness to consumers, corporations and the many faces of Singapore," the statement read in full.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"This is not the first time Ms and Mr Nair have expressed racist sentiments," MHA pointed out. "About a year ago, Ms Nair published a video where she acted as a Chinese and mocked the Chinese community’s practices, culture and traditions. She portrayed Chinese as money-minded gamblers."
"Mr Nair wrote a song recently that says that Singapore condones systemic discrimination. This song was written for Mediacorp as part of this year’s National Day celebrations.
"Among the lyrics in the song: 'We live in a system that has normalised us ... to walk oblivious to a brown man stopped and ID checked'. This is blatantly false," the ministry added.
MHA said it "takes action whenever there are offensive statements which breach the law, regardless of the race of the offender".
"In 2018, a 36-year-old Chinese lady published comments that made racial insinuations. The police investigated her. She issued a sincere apology, and police in consultation with AGC issued her a stern warning.
"In January this year, the Police charged a Chinese man in court under the Penal Code for deliberate intent to wound the racial feelings of the Malay population. The man had scrawled racist messages about Malays on walls in void decks and sheltered walkways.
"His messages had been seen by far fewer people than the videos issued by Ms and Mr Nair," said the ministry.
MHA said the police will continue their investigations and taking advice from the Attorney-General's Chambers.
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