A Singaporean religious teacher based in Malaysia, Mr Noor Deros, has claimed he engaged with Workers’ Party (WP) candidates contesting in GE2025, urging them to prioritise the rights and concerns of the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore.
According to a report by Berita Harian on April 26, Mr Noor said via Facebook posts that he had spoken with all Malay candidates from the WP and that the party had taken seriously concerns about issues such as the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) and the role of institutions like the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS).
He also claimed to have urged WP candidates, as well as others contesting the election, to:
- Reject the normalisation of LGBTQ+ issues,
- Take a strong stance against Israel, and
- Recognise the state of Palestine.
In a separate post, Mr Noor criticised Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli, claiming he had failed to defend the community’s rights, and praised WP vice-chairman Faisal Manap for his role in advancing the issue of allowing the tudung (headscarf) in healthcare settings.
Mr Noor called on his followers, particularly in Tampines GRC — where Mr Faisal is contesting — to support the WP candidate in the May 3 election.
Authorities responded quickly to concerns about online content with racial and religious undertones. On April 25, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Elections Department (ELD) reiterated that foreigners must not interfere in Singapore’s elections.
“Singapore’s politics must be for Singaporeans alone to decide,” the joint statement said.
This warning came after three foreigners were identified as attempting to influence the elections online. Among them:
- Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, an Australian citizen who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020 and was previously detained under the Internal Security Act in 2016 for promoting terrorism.
- Mohamed Sukri Omar, Selangor Youth Chief of Malaysia’s Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).
- Iskandar Abdul Samad, PAS’s national treasurer.
Posts by Zulfikar, which criticised Malay/Muslim MPs and called for more hardline representation, were reshared by Malaysian politicians, raising concerns about foreign influence.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has since issued a correction direction to Meta, requiring Facebook to disable access to several of the posts for users in Singapore.
Authorities stressed that political discourse must be kept free from foreign influence, and that Singapore’s unity must be preserved throughout the election period.
