Police looking into reports against author of xenophobic blog post

Police have confirmed that they are investigating multiple reports made against a xenophobic blog post that expressed hatred toward Filipinos in Singapore, after the Philippine embassy requested action to be taken by Singapore’s government against its author.

The blog, called “Blood Stained Singapore”, was written by an unnamed author. The person put up a profile photograph of a person with cube-shaped cuts on his right cheek.

In the post, published in May this year, the blogger listed five ways for xenophobic Singaporeans to express their displeasure at the presence of Filipinos in Singapore, one of which was refusing to be served by Filipino waitresses at restaurants.

Many who read the post shared it on social media, expressing their anger at the sentiments expressed in it.

On Tuesday, the Philippine embassy here posted a statement in Filipino on its website that urged Filipinos here to exercise restraint in posting public responses to the blogger. The embassy shared that it has expressed its concerns over the post to the Singapore government and called for action to be taken in accordance with the law here.

“The Embassy of the Philippines in Singapore believes that the opinions expressed by the blogger are his personal views and do not reflect the views of all Singaporeans,” it said, while encouraging Filipinos to ignore the author instead of stooping to the same level.

“In this instance, it is better to ignore the blogger responsible for this post because it is clear that his goal is to create strife and misunderstanding,” the statement added. “We also encourage Filipinos to be careful and to co-operate with authorities in Singapore if there are any threats to their personal safety and security.”

A check by Yahoo Singapore showed that the blog was removed by Blogger, its host, by Wednesday morning, even though it was still accessible earlier in the week. As part of Blogger’s regulations, “material that promotes hatred toward groups based on race or ethnic origin” is not permitted.

Singapore police said that reports were lodged with regard to the blog post and investigations are ongoing.