Rapper starts jail term for trying to promote ill will between groups after appeal dismissed

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SINGAPORE – Local rapper Subhas Nair started serving a six-week prison sentence on Feb 5 after the High Court dismissed his appeal over four counts of trying to promote feelings of ill will between different racial and religious groups in Singapore.

His sister, Ms Preeti Nair, a YouTuber better known as Preetipls, was among a handful of supporters who were in court for the verdict.

The musician, whose full name is Subhas Govin Prabhakar Nair, 32, had claimed trial to the four charges in March 2023. He was convicted and sentenced by a district court later that year.

The first charge centred on a video by City Revival Church founder Jaime Wong and social media influencer Joanna Theng.

The two women had made remarks linking the gay pride movement to Satan.

Nair responded to the video, posting a message on Instagram on July 25, 2020, stating: “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’.”

He removed the post on Nov 2, 2020.

Nair’s second charge involved another Instagram post which was his response to a news article about a Mr Chan Jia Xing, then 27.

Mr Chan was initially charged with murdering Mr Satheesh Noel Gobidass, 31, at Orchard Towers in July 2019.

Mr Chan’s murder charge was later reduced to that of consorting with a person carrying an offensive weapon in a public place, and he was given a conditional warning in October 2020.

Among other things, Nair had stated in his Instagram post: “Calling out racism and Chinese privilege, two-year conditional warning and smear campaign in the media.”

The man who actually killed Mr Satheesh, Tan Sen Yang, was sentenced to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for murder in April 2024.

The third charge concerned a stage play Nair performed at the Substation, where he displayed a hand-drawn replica of the post relating to Mr Chan.

The fourth charge ...

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