GE2025: Race, religion should never be political tools, don't let disagreement on global issues divide Singapore, says Masagos

SINGAPORE: Singapore must never allow race or religion to be used as political tools, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli said on Saturday (Apr 26).

“It's even more dangerous when foreign elements interfere during our GE and use divisive language. It chips away at the trust we've worked so hard to build,” he said.

“Of course, Singaporeans will always have different views, especially on global issues. But disagreement must never become division. If we are not careful, those cracks can deepen."

The minister, who is also the People's Action Party's (PAP) anchor for its five-member Tampines GRC team, did not take questions. His comments came after the government identified foreign interference attempts in Singapore’s election and directed Meta to block these efforts.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong welcomed the "clear consensus" from opposition parties rejecting foreign interference in Singapore's elections. He also raised concerns about social media posts attempting to bring race and religion into politics – including one by a local activist calling for Muslims to vote for candidates who are willing to advance a religious agenda.

The post was related to Singaporean Noor Deros, who is not an accredited ustaz in Singapore and is now based in Malaysia.

Mr Noor made a series of election-related social media posts over the past few days, sparking debates about the mixing of religion and politics. 

In one of his posts, for example, he made a list of demands to Singapore's politicians and claimed to have met Workers' Party (WP) Malay candidates.

Mr Noor also called on his followers to vote for WP candidates such as former Aljunied GRC MP Faisal Manap, who is anchoring the WP team going up against the PAP slate led by Mr Masagos in Tampines GRC.

Mr Noor had previously made multiple posts criticising Mr Masagos on matters related to Malay-Muslim affairs.

In a 2017 Facebook post, he said Mr Masagos was "unprofessional" in how the minister responded to Mr Faisal in a parliamentary debate involving the issue of allowing Muslim nurses and uniformed officers in the Home Team to be allowed to wear the tudung or headscarf.

Mr Masagos said then that he found Mr Faisal's approach "worrisome", as he had used a motion on supporting the aspirations of women in Singapore "to focus on differences instead of rallying people to be united".

"We demand a higher quality than this from our ministers," Mr Noor wrote.

In another more recent post on Apr 23, Mr Noor brought up the tudung debate again and called on Tampines residents to "do the right thing".

"By making it sound like Faisal is starting a dangerous religious fight, Masagos is avoiding the real topic and blaming the person raising a valid concern," he wrote.

Responding to the revelation that online election advertisements had been posted by foreigners urging Singaporeans to vote along religious lines, WP chief Pritam Singh said on Saturday that Mr Noor would be "sadly mistaken" if he thought his advocacy would compel the WP to raise his issues.

Mr Singh said his party was not aware that Mr Noor would be present at its meeting with Malay-Muslim religious and community leaders, and that the party did not agree to Mr Noor's list of demands in exchange for political support.

Singapore's Asatizah Recognition Board (ARB) said in a statement on Saturday that recent public references identifying Mr Noor as a Singapore Islamic teacher were "inaccurate and misleading".

"Mr Mohammed Noor has never received recognition under the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS) and is therefore not permitted to preach in Singapore," it said.

Mr Noor had applied for recognition in 2017, but was unsuccessful as he refused to comply with a code of ethics under the ARS despite counselling by the board, ARB said without elaborating further.

HARMONY IN SINGAPORE "DID NOT COME EASY"

Mr Masagos, who is also Minister for Social and Family Development, said on Saturday that foreigners who interfere with Singapore's election by encouraging people to vote along racial or religious lines "chips away at the trust we've worked so hard to build".

Harmony in Singapore “did not come easy” and was built over decades through mutual respect and a shared will to move forward together, he said.

“Harmony is precious and rare. We must never take it for granted. It takes constant effort to protect our unity and keep at it at the heart of our identity," he said.

"Our shared identity as Singaporeans must always come first - multi-racialism, mutual respect, particularly. They are the reason why we have peace, stability and progress, not just ideals."

In some countries where trust between different races or religions is absent, “minorities struggle to worship freely - even Muslims, mosques are opposed, even cemeteries are contested”, Mr Masagos said.

“In Singapore, the trust between communities means Singaporeans - including Muslims - can live and worship with confidence,” he added.