Many back action against offensive post on NUS Atheist Society Facebook page

Singapore – The online community has backed Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam for promptly addressing a Facebook post offensive to Christians and Muslims.

The minister had shared on social media on Friday (March 20) that the police were investigating the “very offensive post” of a Facebook page called NUS Atheist Society. The post consisted of a photo of a Bible and a Quran, the holy texts of Christianity and Islam, with the caption: “For use during toilet paper shortages.”

“We take a serious view of these type of statements,” said Mr Shanmugam. He added that both the police and the Infocomm Media Development Authority had requested Facebook to disable access to the offensive post in Singapore.

“We highlighted how such offensive remarks have no place in multi-racial and multi-religious Singapore.” Mr Shanmugam confirmed that Facebook had disabled access to the post.

“I have blurred the photo. My post was to point out that we will take action, and should not have put out the photo, to make that point,” he said.

According to a straitstimes.com report, the insensitive post was initially published on Wednesday (March 18). On Friday, the page posted a screenshot showing that access to the photo in Singapore had been limited due to local legal restrictions.

Those online have posted comments on the Facebook pages of both the NUS Atheist Society and Mr Shanmugam.

Many people online praised Mr Shanmugam for dealing with the page promptly.

Photo: FB screengrab / K Shanmugam Sc