SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has issued directions to Meta to block Singapore users’ access to several instances of online election advertising (OEA) posted on Facebook by foreigners.
These posts were made by two Malaysian politicians and a former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee who is now an Australian citizen. Among other things, they criticised the Singapore government’s handling of sensitive religious issues, and urged Singaporeans to vote along religious lines.
Stressing the importance of not mixing religion and politics, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Elections Department Singapore (ELD) said in a statement on Friday (Apr 25) that it had identified a “number of foreigners” attempting to influence this General Election (GE), which will see Singaporeans heading to the polls on May 3.
“We must not mix religion and politics. Singapore is a secular state,” the joint statement added.
“Bringing religion into politics will undermine social cohesion and harmony, as we have seen in other countries with race- or religion-based politics.”
They added that it is an offence under the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA) for foreigners to participate in elections activity or publish OEA.
Under the PEA, any material which is published online that can “reasonably” be regarded as intended to promote or prejudice the electoral success or standing of a political party or candidate is defined as OEA.
“Foreigners must not direct, fund or in any way influence Singapore’s elections,” said the statement.
“Singapore’s politics must be for Singaporeans alone to decide.”
In its statement, the authorities said the OEA it has directed Meta to block had been posted by:
- Parti Islam Se-Malaysia’s (PAS) national treasurer Iskandar Abdul Samad.
- Facebook user “Zai Nal”, identified as Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff.
- PAS Selangor youth chief Mohamed Sukri Omar, who reposted Mr Zulfikar’s post.
The posts, which can no longer be viewed by users in Singapore, expressed support for certain opposition candidates running in GE2025 and criticised decisions made by the ruling government.
MHA and ELD also pointed to two articles that ran in the PAS newsletter, one of which named several Malay opposition candidates running in GE2025, highlighting their educational and career backgrounds. The other criticised Singapore’s housing policies, linking them to immigration.
According to the authorities, Mr Zulfikar is an Australian citizen who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020.
In 2016, Mr Zulfikar had been detained under the ISA for his “promotion of terrorism” and glorification of the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) online, the statement said, adding that his actions “contributed to the radicalisation of at least two other Singaporeans”.
Mr Zulfikar had called on Muslims to “reject the constitutional, secular, democratic state in favour of an Islamic state governed by Syariah law” and apply violence to achieve this goal if necessary, said the statement.
For the post in question, Mr Zulfikar accused several of Singapore’s Malay-Muslim ex-Members of Parliament (MPs) of failing to represent the interest of the Muslim community, and said that the local Muslim community did not need another Malay MP who does not represent their views.
MHA and ELD said: “These posts have been targeted at Singaporeans. They interfere with our domestic politics, which are reserved for our citizens. They also urge Singaporeans to vote on racial and religious lines, and have led to more social media postings of a similar nature.”
Over the past few days, several posts on Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Threads have made the rounds online, discussing the GE while mixing religion and politics.
One Facebook post by Islamic religious teacher Noor Deros, for example, made a list of demands for political parties in Singapore. He claimed that the Workers’ Party (WP) was the only one that responded to him.
Subsequently, he said in another post that if the WP “does not respond to the widespread demands of the Muslim community to reject the normalisation of LGBTQ+ and address other major concerns, then I urge that we vote for the candidate, not the party”.
In yet another post, he claimed that Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli had failed to protect the rights and interests of the Malay-Muslim society.
There was also a Reddit thread started by netizen “queenkard” who shared a Facebook post, written by someone else, that called on Tampines GRC residents to support the WP candidate Faisal Manap to “fight for a strong Islamic community”.
In their joint statement, MHA and ELD noted that while public policy may sometimes involve “matters of religious concern”, the government will continue to “engage widely”. All institutions serve all Singaporeans equally, they reiterated.
They said: “We urge all political parties and their candidates, as well as religious organisations, leaders and members of the public to do our part to safeguard the precious harmony we have in Singapore today.”
RELIGION HAS TO BE KEPT OUT OF POLITICS: IRO
Mr Gurmit Singh, president of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO), said that religion has to be kept out of politics “for the common good”.
“In Singapore, we have witnessed the dangers of racial and religious conflicts in the past,” said Mr Singh in a statement posted on Facebook by IRO honorary secretary Lawrence Chong.
“This can come about when religion is mixed with politics, as witnessed in parts of the world.”
He added that in Singapore, religion has “always been kept separate from politics”, as religious harmony is an integral part of the country’s identity.
The peace in multiracial and multireligious Singapore did not come about by chance, he said.
“We work at it continuously. It is always (a) work in progress. It cannot be taken for granted. It is something that all Singaporeans are proud of.”
Work is being carried out “tirelessly” within Singapore’s diverse communities to cultivate trust and understanding, said Mr Singh, adding that people in Singapore do it not only by appreciating the differences but also by celebrating these differences.
“This is what makes us an oasis of harmony in a divided world. Let us continue to safeguard our cohesion and unity to keep us together,” he said.
