PUBLISHED ONApril 26, 2025 8:38 AMByYeo Shu HuiWorkers' Party (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh said they had no earlier indication that the religious leader Noor Deros would attend the meeting the party had with Malay/Muslim religious leaders.
Malay-language newspaper Berita Harian reported on Saturday (April 26) that Noor, who is based in Malaysia, had claimed in a series of Facebook posts that he had spoken to the Malay/Muslim candidates from WP about prioritising the rights and concerns of the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore.
Noor also claimed, among other things, that he had urged WP and other election candidates to reject the normalisation of LGBTQ+ issues, take a strong stance against Israel, and recognise the state of Palestine.
Speaking at a doorstop at Kovan Food Centre on Saturday, Singh said that Noor had come with a "list of demands".
He said: "There is no situation of if the WP pushes forward this agenda, I would support you. I'm sorry, we don't work politics like that in Singapore, we don't work politics like that in the Workers' Party."
When asked about his views on Malaysian politicians expressing their support for WP, especially towards the Malay/Muslim candidates, Singh said: "I think the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Elections Department Singapore (ELD) have put together a message, and I stand behind that message, our political scene is for our people.
"We persuade Singaporeans of our value proposition, and we urge all Singaporeans, regardless of race, language or religion, to judge us on our manifesto and our proposals and what we do in Parliament for all Singaporeans, not specific communities only.
"I think once we go down that road, you're going to have an unnecessary politicisation of the public space, and we don't want that. That's not healthy for Singapore, and that's not healthy for our minority communities as well."
He emphasised that WP "cannot be a successful political party if (they) play the race and religion card."
On Noor, he said: “If this gentleman thinks that his advocacy will lead to the issues being brought up by the Workers’ Party, I think he’s sadly mistaken.”
Singh's statement comes after MHA and ELD released a joint statement on Friday saying that foreigners must not direct, fund or in any way influence Singapore's election.
"Singapore's politics must be for Singaporeans alone to decide," the statement said.
Three foreigners were identified to be influencing the election in their Facebook posts and the Infocomm Media Development Authority has issued corrective directions to Meta to disable Singapore users' access to several of these posts by them during the election period.
WP said in a statement today: "At a meeting with other religious leaders where Noor Deros was present, the party confirms there were no promises, commitments or agreements made to any individual, including Noor Deros, in exchange for political support for WP candidates."
The statement also added that it “does not have control over foreign parties who express support for our candidates”.
“Any imputation of the same is wholly inaccurate,” the party added, saying it is firmly committed to “Singapore’s “secular, multiracial, multi-religious society, and to protecting the integrity of our electoral process”.
Pritam will lead the WP team comprising of incumbents Sylvia Lim and Gerald Giam, as well as Fadli Fawzi and Kenneth Tiong to contest Aljunied GRC against the People's Action Party's Dr Faisal Abdul Aziz, Chan Hui Yuh, Jagathishwaran Rajo, Daniel Liu and Dr Adrian Ang.
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