Singapore orders foreigners' Facebook posts removed under election law
Singapore has ordered Facebook parent Meta to block Singaporeans' access to posts made by foreigners ahead of a national election, under rules restricting their social media posts.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority issued the orders after some posts by foreigners were deemed as "intended to promote or prejudice the electoral success or standing of a political party or candidate".
The South-East Asian
The rules bar foreigners from publishing online election advertising, which it defines as online materials that could help or hurt any political parties or candidates.
The Ministry of Home Affairs identified the foreigners as Iskandar Abdul Samad, national treasurer of the Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia and Mohamed Sukri Omar, the party's youth chief in the Malaysian state of Selangor.
It also identified Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff, an Australian who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020.
Mr Samad had expressed support for the opposition Workers' Party's Faisal Manap in a social media post.
Supporters of the Workers' Party attend a rally in Singapore.
(
Reuters: Edgar Su
)
The authorities said Mr Shariff had accused Malay-Muslim members of parliament of failing to represent Muslim interests, saying Singapore did not need another Malay MP who did not represent their views.
The government said the posts interfered with domestic politics and influenced citizens to vote on racial and religious lines.
Malays, who are recognised as the indigenous population of ethnic Chinese-majority Singapore, account for 13.5 per cent of the population.
Mr Shariff, responding to the takedown request, posted on Facebook that the action showed the ruling PAP and its supporters were "scared" and that "desperation reeks".
He said he was creating a WhatsApp channel and another website to advocate for issues.
The opposition Workers' Party said in a statement it did not have control over foreign parties who expressed support for its candidates.
It said Mr Manap had spoken about how religion needed to be "kept aside, or apart from politics, so that religion will not be used to gain personal benefit or to benefit any political party".
Singapore's general election will be held on Saturday May 3.
While Singapore has flourished as one of the world's wealthiest nations, it has also become one of the most expensive cities to live in.
The PAP has been criticised for tight government control and a government-knows-best stance, media censorship and the use of oppressive laws against dissidents.
Issues like widening income disparity, increasingly unaffordable housing, overcrowding caused by immigration and restrictions on free speech have also loosened the PAP's grip on power.
Reuters/AP
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Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 An Islamist preacher's speeches that allegedly painted Jewish people as "vile and treacherous" were not racist but formed part of a robust discussion, his lawyer has argued. Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric Wissam Haddad has been accused of racial discrimination after a series of fiery sermons from November 2023, which have racked up thousands of views online. In one of his speeches, he appears to blame the roots of "the enmity that we see today" on "none other than the Jews ... because their forefathers had shown the same enmity to the Prophet (Mohammed)." Mr Haddad is being sued by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, who are seeking the removal of the allegedly racist speeches. They also want Mr Haddad to be barred from making similar comments again. Mr Wertheim told the Federal Court on Tuesday the speeches used "overtly dehumanising" language. "Making derogatory generalisations, calling Jews a vile and treacherous people, calling them rats and cowards ... are things which I think would be experienced by most Jews as dehumanising," he said. His barrister Peter Braham SC told the court the speeches drew on a large range of offensive tropes and were designed to threaten, humiliate and denigrate all Jewish people. The court was told Mr Haddad, who is also known as Abu Ousayd, addressed a camera and engaged with media coverage of his commentary. But his barrister Andrew Boe argued the preacher's speeches were intended for a private Muslim audience of 40 people and he was not responsible for publishing them online. He said it was unlikely any Jewish people would have come across the speeches if they had not received coverage by media organisations. "It would be analogous to a person of a prudish sensitivity seeking out pornography on the web and then complaining about being offended by it," Mr Boe said. Mr Haddad denies breaching anti-discrimination laws and claims he was delivering historical and religious lectures on historical events from the Koran and the war in Gaza. The speeches occurred in the context of a vigorous political debate characterised by an intensity of feeling on both sides and set against the background of a long religious history, Mr Boe said. He advocated for the preservation of free speech and argued the boundaries of debate couldn't be set so narrow as to exclude views which were not polite, bland or balanced. Mr Wertheim said being exposed to challenging ideas in robust conversations did not insult him "as long as they don't cross the boundary into vilification". His lawyer told the court that the Jewish community lived with "a communal memory of past persecution and which remains conscious of threats to its safety by reason of race". The hearing continues. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 An Islamist preacher's speeches that allegedly painted Jewish people as "vile and treacherous" were not racist but formed part of a robust discussion, his lawyer has argued. Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric Wissam Haddad has been accused of racial discrimination after a series of fiery sermons from November 2023, which have racked up thousands of views online. In one of his speeches, he appears to blame the roots of "the enmity that we see today" on "none other than the Jews ... because their forefathers had shown the same enmity to the Prophet (Mohammed)." Mr Haddad is being sued by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, who are seeking the removal of the allegedly racist speeches. They also want Mr Haddad to be barred from making similar comments again. Mr Wertheim told the Federal Court on Tuesday the speeches used "overtly dehumanising" language. "Making derogatory generalisations, calling Jews a vile and treacherous people, calling them rats and cowards ... are things which I think would be experienced by most Jews as dehumanising," he said. His barrister Peter Braham SC told the court the speeches drew on a large range of offensive tropes and were designed to threaten, humiliate and denigrate all Jewish people. The court was told Mr Haddad, who is also known as Abu Ousayd, addressed a camera and engaged with media coverage of his commentary. But his barrister Andrew Boe argued the preacher's speeches were intended for a private Muslim audience of 40 people and he was not responsible for publishing them online. He said it was unlikely any Jewish people would have come across the speeches if they had not received coverage by media organisations. "It would be analogous to a person of a prudish sensitivity seeking out pornography on the web and then complaining about being offended by it," Mr Boe said. Mr Haddad denies breaching anti-discrimination laws and claims he was delivering historical and religious lectures on historical events from the Koran and the war in Gaza. The speeches occurred in the context of a vigorous political debate characterised by an intensity of feeling on both sides and set against the background of a long religious history, Mr Boe said. He advocated for the preservation of free speech and argued the boundaries of debate couldn't be set so narrow as to exclude views which were not polite, bland or balanced. Mr Wertheim said being exposed to challenging ideas in robust conversations did not insult him "as long as they don't cross the boundary into vilification". His lawyer told the court that the Jewish community lived with "a communal memory of past persecution and which remains conscious of threats to its safety by reason of race". The hearing continues. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 An Islamist preacher's speeches that allegedly painted Jewish people as "vile and treacherous" were not racist but formed part of a robust discussion, his lawyer has argued. Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric Wissam Haddad has been accused of racial discrimination after a series of fiery sermons from November 2023, which have racked up thousands of views online. In one of his speeches, he appears to blame the roots of "the enmity that we see today" on "none other than the Jews ... because their forefathers had shown the same enmity to the Prophet (Mohammed)." Mr Haddad is being sued by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, who are seeking the removal of the allegedly racist speeches. They also want Mr Haddad to be barred from making similar comments again. Mr Wertheim told the Federal Court on Tuesday the speeches used "overtly dehumanising" language. "Making derogatory generalisations, calling Jews a vile and treacherous people, calling them rats and cowards ... are things which I think would be experienced by most Jews as dehumanising," he said. His barrister Peter Braham SC told the court the speeches drew on a large range of offensive tropes and were designed to threaten, humiliate and denigrate all Jewish people. The court was told Mr Haddad, who is also known as Abu Ousayd, addressed a camera and engaged with media coverage of his commentary. But his barrister Andrew Boe argued the preacher's speeches were intended for a private Muslim audience of 40 people and he was not responsible for publishing them online. He said it was unlikely any Jewish people would have come across the speeches if they had not received coverage by media organisations. "It would be analogous to a person of a prudish sensitivity seeking out pornography on the web and then complaining about being offended by it," Mr Boe said. Mr Haddad denies breaching anti-discrimination laws and claims he was delivering historical and religious lectures on historical events from the Koran and the war in Gaza. The speeches occurred in the context of a vigorous political debate characterised by an intensity of feeling on both sides and set against the background of a long religious history, Mr Boe said. He advocated for the preservation of free speech and argued the boundaries of debate couldn't be set so narrow as to exclude views which were not polite, bland or balanced. Mr Wertheim said being exposed to challenging ideas in robust conversations did not insult him "as long as they don't cross the boundary into vilification". His lawyer told the court that the Jewish community lived with "a communal memory of past persecution and which remains conscious of threats to its safety by reason of race". The hearing continues. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636
