Local rapper Subhas Govin Prabhakar Nair, known as Subhas Nair, has been sentenced to six weeks in jail for attempting to promote ill will between different racial and religious groups in Singapore.
The 31-year-old musician was convicted of four charges related to his social media posts and a rap video.
Acording to The Straits Times one of the charges stemmed from a video by City Revival Church founder Jaime Wong and social media influencer Joanna Theng, in which they made comments linking the gay pride movement to Satan.
Nair responded with a message on Instagram, comparing the treatment of different religious groups in Singapore. This statement was later removed on November 2, 2020.
Subhas Nair’s controversial statement on Instagram in response to a video by City Revival Church founder Jaime Wong and social media influencer Joanna Theng read, “If two Malay Muslims made a video promoting Islam and saying the kinds of hateful things these Chinese Christians said, ISD (Internal Security Department) would have been at the door before they even hit ‘upload’.”
During his trial, Nair admitted to posting inflammatory comments on race and religion but denied trying to incite ill will. He argued that the video by the two women contained hate speech and needed to be addressed.
The prosecution, represented by Deputy Public Prosecutors Suhas Malhotra and Jordon Li, contended that Nair’s posts implied that Malay Muslims were targeted by authorities while Chinese Christians received preferential treatment.
Two other charges were related to an Instagram post in response to a news article about Mr. Chan Jia Xing, in which Nair commented on racism and Chinese privilege.
Nair claimed that his intent was not to create enmity between races but to comment on the state of journalism in Singapore.
The fourth charge was linked to a rap video posted on YouTube in 2019, featuring Nair, with lyrics deemed offensive to Chinese people. Nair defended the video as a response to an advertisement he believed was racist, with the intention of addressing instances of “brownface” in Singapore.
However, the DPP argued that Nair’s approach was offensive and insulting to Chinese people in general.
On Tuesday, in response to his conviction and sentence, Nair’s lawyer, Suang Wijaya, stated that his client maintains his innocence and intends to appeal the decision.
Image via Subhasmusic Instagram
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