SINGAPORE Prime Minister Lawrence Wong condemned foreign interference in the upcoming May 3, 2025, general election, specifically targeting posts by PAS leaders and Australian citizen Zulfikar Shariff urging voting along racial and religious lines.
Was Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s sharp rebuke of PAS leaders’ provocative posts truly necessary?
By publicly condemning their attempts to sway Singapore’s May 3, 2025, election along racial and religious lines, Wong may have inadvertently elevated PAS’s influence.
This high-profile response risks handing PAS a perceived moral victory, allowing them to frame themselves as defenders of Malay-Muslim interests.
In Singapore’s sensitive and finely-tuned electoral landscape, amplifying a foreign party’s narrative could backfire, potentially undermining the secular harmony Wong seeks to protect.
Furthermore, the Singapore government ordered Meta to block these posts, citing risks to racial and religious harmony. This led to rejections of interference by the PAS members.
Selangor PAS Youth chief Sukri Omar and PAS treasurer Iskandar Abdul Samad were called out for supporting or posting content concerning the elections in Singapore.
Wong praised opposition parties’ rejection of foreign endorsements, emphasising national interest.
He said Singapore’s politics must be for Singaporeans alone to decide and urged leaders to reject overseas endorsements.
“Foreigners who urge Singaporeans to vote along religious lines have crossed the line,” he said. —Apr 27, 2025
Main image: Bloomberg
