Subhas Nair, brother of influencer Preetipls, charged after claiming govt treats Chinese people 'differently'
SINGAPORE — Subhas Nair, the brother of social media personality Preetipls, was charged in the State Courts on Monday (1 November) with four counts of attempting to promote feelings of ill-will between different groups on grounds of religion and race.
The charges relate to incidents that took place between 2019 and 2020. Subhas, 28, appeared in court with sister Preeti Nair. He donned a shirt with the face of Nagaenthran a/l K Dharmalingam, a convicted drug mule on death row for 10 November.
Subhas, whose full name is Subhas Govin Prabhakar Nair, was originally given a two-year conditional warning for a "racially-charged rap video" on 29 July 2019 which was said to have attempted to promote ill-will between the Chinese and other races. The video, titled “K. MUTHUSAMY – Preetipls & Subhas (F*** It Up – Iggy Azalea & Kash Doll Remix)”, was posted on YouTube and allegedly contained the spoken words “Chinese people always out here f***ing it up”.
The warning, given by the police on 14 August 2019, was issued on the condition that the 28-year-old did not reoffend within the next two years. However, Subhas is said to have offended thrice last year.
On 25 July 2020, Subhas allegedly posted remarks on his Instagram account in response to a video of Chinese Christians who had made hateful comments against another community. “He allegedly commented that Malay Muslims who make the same hateful comments would be treated differently by the authorities compared to the Chinese Christians,” according to a Singapore Police Force release.
According to Subhas' charge sheet, his comment was, “If two Malay Muslims made a video promoting Islam and saying the kind of hateful things these Chinese Christians said, ISD (Internal Security Department) would have been at the door before they even hit ‘upload’.”
On 15 October 2020, in relation to the alleged murder of an Indian man at Orchard Towers on 2 July 2019, Subhas purportedly claimed that one of the Chinese accused persons involved received lenient treatment by the authorities due to his race. He allegedly posted on Instagram, “Calling out racism and Chinese privilege = two year conditional warning and smear campaign in the media. Actually conspiring to murder an Indian man = Half the sentence and ‘You’re having a baby soon right? Boy or girl?’ Do you actually think a brown person would get asked these type of questions? This place is just not for us”
On 11 March this year, Subhas allegedly promoted ill-will between Chinese and Indians by exhibiting a cartoon drawing of his 15 October 2020 social media post during an indoor stage performance at The Substation.
His charge sheets states that between 8.30pm and 9.30pm, Subhas displayed a cartoon during a stage play titled, "TABULA RASA – ALBUM EXPLORATION", with the same words from his 15 October Instagram post.
In addition to these incidents, Subhas was charged over the 2019 video - which he made with his sister Preeti - as he had breached the conditions of his conditional warning.
Subhas was represented by lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, who asked for an adjournment to make representations. He was offered a plea deal by the prosecution but did not indicate if he would accept it.
He was released on bail and his case will be mentioned in court on 29 November.
A person who is convicted of the offence of promoting ill-will between different groups on grounds of religion or race faces a jail term of up to three years, or a fine, or both.
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