Politics should stop at the water’s edge
For close to 90 minutes last week, Mr Pritam Singh, Secretary General of the Workers’ Party (WP) and Leader of the Opposition, gave his most comprehensive post-elections media interview.
Strangely, he chose to do so not on a local platform, but on a podcast hosted by Malaysians and recorded in Malaysia.
It seemed a deliberate decision on Mr Singh’s part. He had previously rejected invitations to appear on local podcasts.
Why would the Leader of the Opposition choose a foreign platform to air his views on Singapore’s domestic politics?
Surely Mr Singh will remember what Mr Chiam See Tong once said: “The Opposition must be truthful and not liars and cheats. Above all, in the Opposition, we must be good patriotic Singaporeans, we must not go around the world denouncing Singapore.”
Politicisation of race and religion
Shortly before GE2025, WP members led by Mr Faisal Manap met with Noor Deros, a self-styled religious teacher based in Malaysia. According to Deros, the WP had taken his list of demands seriously, including some of his extreme views which run counter to our multi-racial and multi-religious ethos. Deros subsequently endorsed and supported WP candidates on social media.
In the podcast, Pritam claims that he doesn’t “score political points based on a race or religion issue”.
But WP’s actions tell a different story.
To this day, we do not know what fully transpired in the meeting the WP held with Noor Deros. Was the meeting held in Malaysia? What did Mr Faisal Manap or the others from WP say to Deros? Did they forcefully and categorically object when Deros expressed his extremist views? If so, then why did Noor Deros come away thinking that they were taking his list of demands seriously?
During GE2025, Mr Harpreet Singh made false and dishonest attacks against the PAP, mis-stating the party’s position on minority Prime Ministers.
This publication had to debunk these baseless allegations with publicly available video clips of PAP leaders such as Prime Minster Lawrence Wong, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister K Shanmugam speaking on the issue.
During the election campaign, Malaysian politicians from Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) endorsed WP candidates on social media. Their messages contained racial and religious overtones, designed to encourage segments of Singaporean voters to vote along racial and religious lines.
Mr Pritam Singh chose to keep silent when these statements by PAS politicians were posted. He only responded after the Singapore Government exposed this blatant foreign influence in our domestic politics.
Even then, he left many critical questions unanswered; he just acknowledged that religion and politics should not mix, and that foreigners have no place in our politics.
In light of Mr Singh’s appearance on the Malaysian podcast, Singaporeans would be justified in asking:
Does Mr Singh truly believe in these fundamental principles?
Or are these principles conveniently applied only when politically expedient?
Does Mr Singh think it appropriate for outsiders to interfere in our domestic politics if it benefits the WP?
Mr Pritam Singh should know that although Singapore and Malaysia have a close relationship, given our history, we are careful about what we say about each other.
One of the lessons we learned from the dark days of racial unrest in the 1960s, was to maintain a respectful distance in commenting on each other’s politics, and to refrain from using each other’s media to influence public opinion.
For the most part, we have succeeded in maintaining cordial relations. We are mutually respectful. It takes politicians of integrity to continue this.
As a nation, we should be clear: Politics should stop at the water’s edge. And Singapore’s affairs are for Singaporeans to decide, based on what is best for our national interests.
