Greater effort must be made to engage minority groups, says PM Wong

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SINGAPORE - Greater effort must be made to engage different communities, including those of different races and causes, and MPs should continue to highlight their concerns in Parliament where necessary, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Such concerns are legitimate and MPs should make them known, but this is very different from identity politics, which means championing one group’s interests at the price of shrinking the common space, he said at a press conference on April 26.

If Singapore allows identity politics to happen, there could be pushback from the majority. Such examples of divided societies have already been seen elsewhere, said PM Wong.

“Yes, we are in an election contest. Yes, every party would like to win and gain more seats, but victory should not come at the price of our unity. That is too high a cost,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters at the National Press Centre a day after the Singapore authorities announced that they had found several foreigners attempting to influence the upcoming general election, and had

moved to block Singapore users’ access to Facebook posts

that sought to do so.

A joint statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Elections Department on April 25 said the posts were targeted at Singaporeans and urged them to vote along racial and religious lines.

Asked where the line should be drawn when it comes to minority MPs raising concerns of the community in Parliament, versus mixing race and religion with politics, PM Wong acknowledged that in a multiracial and multi-religious community like Singapore, it is harder to be in the minority.

Thus, greater effort needs to be made to engage minority groups, he said.

MPs engage ethnic communities and others who advocate specific causes, and it is legitimate for such elected representatives to listen to such concerns and, where necessary, raise them in Parliament, said PM Wong.

But that is different from identity politics, which means championing the interests of one specific group over everything else, even at the price of shrinking the common space, harming social harmony and even national interest, he said.

“Let’s not harm Singapore’s cohesion. Let’s have a care, let’s have a good and fair contest, and then beyond the elections, we will continue with the engagements.

“We will continue listening, hearing all the different groups, and seeing how best to address the concerns of each community while making sure we strengthen our society and our shared Singaporean identity at the same time.”

The foreigners on the authorities’ radar flagged on April 25 include Mr Iskandar Abdul Samad, the national treasurer of Parti Islam SeMalaysia, and the Islamist party’s Selangor Youth chief Mohamed Sukri Omar.

Mr Iskandar had expressed support for a candidate in the 2025 General Election, said the authorities. Online checks found that he had posted about his support for several WP members, such as Mr Faisal Manap, and other opposition candidates.

Asked if minority groups might be deterred from speaking up during the election period about their concerns for fear of crossing the line, PM Wong said that while there might be such concerns, the issue he has raised is not a new one.

“And whenever individuals do cross the line, sometimes it doesn’t even require the Government to act, because online, there will be moderating voices telling them, please have a care. And then because of that, individuals will say, ‘I understand, I will exercise some restraint.’”

He noted that during the Covid-19 pandemic, issues of race and religion had also come up.

“So, these issues are always there – they can be stirred up in the midst of an election, they can come up during a crisis or a challenge, and then somebody fingers or blames a particular ethnic group for something wrong, and then emotions get riled up.”

This does not mean that citizens cannot talk about race and religion, but that they must be careful, sensible and reasonable in doing so, stressed PM Wong.

“And this is something that is ongoing, it cannot be, you cannot do this by implementing laws or rules only; it is a mindset.”

PM Wong was asked about

the case of Mr Noor Deros

, a Singaporean religious teacher based in Malaysia.

Mr Noor had claimed that he had spoken to all the Malay candidates from the WP. He also claimed the WP had agreed to take up the concerns raised by asatizah, or religious teachers, regarding the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore.

PM Wong noted that Mr Noor had taken some very extreme positions on foreign policy in his online posts, such as saying the US and Israel were masterminds of terrorism.

“He calls for the expansion of Islamic principles at the expense of shrinking the common space that other faiths and other communities share in our multiracial society. These are positions that will go against our national interests.”

If the PAP’s leaders were to interact with people like him, they would make it clear that they do not agree with or support his positions.

“We would state that position clearly with people like that privately and also publicly. And, likewise, I would encourage and call on all political parties to do the same,” said PM Wong.