Oh snap, someone’s getting into pretty deep shit for this. After being called an “Islamophobic bigot” in a long tirade on Facebook by renowned anti-racism activist Sangeetha Thanapal, Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam announced his intention to file a police report about the “seditious” remarks.
It all started yesterday afternoon when Sangeetha posted on Facebook, alleging how the minister had made racist comments against the Malay-Muslim community in a recent speech — in particular his quote about schools becoming more Malay and Muslim.
“Who are you, an Indian, to be deciding what is that acceptable enough way to be Malay-Muslim?” Sangeetha remarked about Shanmugam in a post which has since been taken down last night.
Folks would know Sangeetha from her work as a social media activist who coined the term ‘Chinese Privilege’, and the independent scholar has wrote and curated multiple articles about the issue of race in Singapore. It is also believed that she runs the ‘This Is Chinese Privilege’ Tumblr site raising awareness of the little sad but true slights faced by the minority races from the majority Chinese community. The blog has since been set to private.
Shanmugam hit back against her allegations the same day, claiming that Sangeetha had “unfortunately twisted” his words, and that she attributed him sentiments that he never held.
I have been asked about a Facebook post by Ms Thanapal regarding my comments at a Singapore Press Club event on 27…
Posted by K Shanmugam Sc on Friday, 28 August 2015
Channel NewsAsia reports that both parties have since made contact on Facebook last night, with Shanmugam stating that he holds no personal grudges and would be happy to speak with Sangeetha. She thanked him and noted that she would call him today.
Photo: Facebook
