PUBLISHED ONOctober 14, 2025 9:30 AMBYLim KeweiThe Workers' Party (WP) statement on foreigners attempting to influence the General Election 2025 (GE2025) was "ambiguous", Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam told Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 14).
Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, said in a ministerial statement that race and religion must not be brought into Singapore politics.
He touched on several "troubling incidents" of foreign interferences during GE2025 and attempts to canvass votes from the Malay/Muslim community.
One case involved Singaporean religious preacher Noor Deros, who said on April 19 he would campaign for any political party who could meet his demands for the rights of the Malay/Muslim community to be prioritised.
@asiaone In a Ministerial Statement on Race and Religion, Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam pointed to "troubling incidents" during the recent #GE2025 and went on to explain why such actions could be troubling for Singapore. #sgnews#Singapore#Parliament ♬ original sound - AsiaOne
On April 23 and 24, the Malaysia-based preacher claimed that he had spoken to the WP Malay candidates, and his requests, including making Muis independent and ending "race-based demographic engineering" were "accepted", though not agreed to.
In another Facebook post, Deros called for support for WP's Tampines GRC candidate Faisal Manap, bringing up the former MP's earlier parliamentary debates with then Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli, over wearing tudung in certain professions.
"[Deros] was comparing two Malay-Muslim candidates and saying, vote for Mr Faisal Manap because he has been a more vocal champion on race and religion for Malay/Muslims," noted Shanmugam, who said that the WP had addressed this matter in a statement only on April 26.
"Deros was saying all these things, and the WP was silent. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Elections Department (ELD) had to step in and say this was unacceptable."
Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam said in his Ministerial Statement on Race and Religion that he hopes "political parties will immediately reject" any attempt by foreign parties to intervene in Singapore's political process in a clear and unequivocal manner. #sgnews #Singapore #Parliament
Shanmugam also called the statement "ambiguous", as WP "did not categorically reject Deros' call on Muslims in Singapore to vote along racial, religious lines", or reject the preacher's support for Faisal.
The Home Minister warned that asking Singaporeans to vote for political parties and candidates on racial and religious basis is “reckless” and sets a “dangerous precedent” for other racial and religious groups to make similar demands.
Additionally, Shanmugam said that it was "obvious" the Malay/Muslim vote was being "targeted" in GE2025.
He noted that in the recent election, Chinese voters in Tampines appeared to have observed the appeals to the Malay voters.
Canvassing for support based on identity politics will provoke suspicion and resentment between communities, "dividing" and "ruining" Singapore, he added.
MHA and ELD identified in their statement on April 25 that two members of Malaysia's Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) are among the three foreigners trying to influence the elections.
The WP had said in its April 26 statement that the party does not have control over foreign parties expressing support for their candidates.
On this matter, Shanmugam reiterated in his speech that it would have been "better" if the WP had issued its statement on foreign interference immediately after the PAS members showed support.
He added: "The WP statement did not clearly reject foreign influence, or the foreign endorsement of its candidates. What it said was that the WP had no control over what others said."
Nonetheless, he acknowledged that WP chief Pritam Singh's subsequent media interviews had made clear that the party categorically rejected the involvement of any foreign elements in Singapore politics, and it did not need the support of any foreign elements.
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"It would have been better if the WP had said this right from the start — responding directly and promptly to what the PAS leaders had said," Shanmugam said.
"We hope that in future, political parties will immediately reject any such foreign attempt to intervene in our political process. If this is not done immediately, clearly, and unequivocally, it will give rise to questions, and confusion."
In response to the ministerial statement, Singh stated that the April 25 MHA-ELD statement did not outrightly mention Deros, and he disagreed that the WP had taken "too long" to issue its statement.
The Leader of the Opposition suggested that the Government could have communicated with political parties on issues "heading into dangerous territory", so it can be resolved collaboratively.
He also queried about the considerations of the Government, given that Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had called a press conference on April 26 to ask leaders of political parties to make clear their position on foreign interference and the mixing of race and religion with politics.
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Replying to the WP chief, Shanmugam repeated that the opposition party's statement did not clearly and unequivocally reject Deros' position that he would ask Muslims in Singapore to vote along racial and religious lines, or reject his support for Faisal.
"A vague response must have been a deliberate choice based on a calculation of interest... there is some benefit in keeping it less clear, that Deros can swing some votes," the minister said.
"We don't need to refer to the government... it's really what each of us is responsible for, and what responsible conduct means."
Singh replied that Deros said in later Facebook posts that he accepted that WP had not agreed to his demands and had congratulated PM Wong after the election.
He said he accepts the WP's statement could have been clearer on Deros, but pointed to how the Deros case was only officially mentioned during PM Wong's conference.
"[That] same night, we made our position very clear on needing support from individuals on racial and religious grounds — we don't need that sort of support."
After some back and forth, Shanmugam stated that the WP had clearly rejected the endorsement of PAS members after PM Wong's press conference but had not clearly rejected Deros' endorsement in the same manner.
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lim.kewei@asiaone.com
