The ministry said PAS’s remarks yesterday defending its leaders’ postings as “ordinary cross-border commentary” directly contradicted its earlier clarification in April, where the party distanced itself from the issue.
PAS’s remarks were made in response to Singapore’s coordinating minister for national security, K Shanmugam, who on Oct 14 delivered a parliamentary statement that mentioned PAS as among the several actors interfering in the city-state’s politics.
“What is PAS’s true position? As a Malaysian Islamist political party, PAS cannot have Singapore’s best interests at heart,” the republic’s home affairs ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said PAS’s claim that its earlier comments were unlikely to influence Singaporeans was inconsistent with its action.
“If that were true, why make these comments at all? Their clear intent was to influence Singaporean voters. That is unacceptable,” it contended.
It stressed that foreign parties did not get to tell Singaporeans how to vote, “least of all along racial and religious lines”, and described such conduct as “divisive and unacceptable”.
“It may be how politics and political parties are organised in other countries. But it is not how politics and political parties are organised in multiracial, multi-religious Singapore,” it added.
While foreigners may comment on Singapore’s policies, the ministry said the government “will not stand by” if any foreign actor attempts to influence Singaporeans or exploit race and religion during elections.
In April, Selangor PAS Youth chief Sukri Omar shared a post by Zulfikar Shariff, a former Singaporean citizen, who accused several Malay-Muslim MPs of failing to represent the Muslim community.
On the same day, PAS national treasurer Iskandar Abdul Samad also expressed support for a candidate in the Singapore election.
This led to the Singapore home ministry and elections department calling out the PAS leaders for allegedly trying to influence the country’s general election on May 3 with posts that could harm racial and religious harmony.