Singapore Pm Mixing Politics With Religion Unacceptable In Island State

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Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong stressed that the country will not allow the mixing of politics with religion.
“We have always taken a firm stance against this. First, it fractures the common space we share as Singaporeans.
“Second, once elections become contests of faith, all communities in our society will end up worse off.
“Third, external powers will seek to exploit these fault lines to advance their own agendas. And as we have already seen, these challenges and threats are very real,” he said at a press conference today.
Earlier today, Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry and Elections Department, in a joint statement, said they have “identified a number of foreigners attempting to influence the nation’s general election and issued “corrective directions” to Meta to disable access to their postings.
They mentioned three names - PAS treasurer Iskandar Abdul Samad, Selangor PAS Youth chief Sukri Omar and a Facebook user identified as Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, who is a former Singaporean citizen who now lives in Australia.
PAS treasurer Iskandar Abdul SamadThey said Zulfikar, who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020, “had accused several Malay-Muslim MPs of failing to represent the interests of the Muslim community, and said that the local Muslim community did not need another Malay MP who did not represent their views.”
Sukri, the authorities said, had reposted Zulfikar’s post. Iskandar was blocked for expressing support for a candidate in the election.
Subsequently, Iskandar and Sukri denied trying to meddle in Singapore’s affairs.
Selangor PAS Youth chief Sukri OmarHowever, Sukri said he was merely speaking out as a concerned human being.
No to identity politics
Speaking out against identity politics, Wong said it was dangerous because when one group jostles aggressively to assert its identity, others will organise and retaliate.
ADSThe finance minister also said it is happening in many other countries, where one fuels their worst tendencies across society.
“No one wins when this happens. The minority groups will fail to get what they want because the majority group will push back strongly, and the minorities will find their space constricted.
“At the same time, the majority group will also live in the most unhappy society, where every issue comes down to race and religion.
“So, no one is happy, no one wins. And in the end, we will be more divided than before. And Singaporeans - all of us - will pay the price,” Wong added.
Make your stand
The premier also reminded his citizens that Singapore’s unity was not accidental but resulted from “painstaking hard work and patient effort by generations of Singaporeans”.
As such, Wong urged leaders of all political parties in the country to make their stand clear on the matter.
“This is not just on foreign interference but on two fundamental principles.
“First, identity politics has no place in Singapore. Second, we should never mix religion and politics.” - Mkini

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