I’m a true blue Singaporean & am thankful to be born here. Singapore is where it is today due to Good Leadership, Hardworking Singaporeans & most importantly Unity amongst the various races.
So, I was a bit surprised when the Government designated the 2017 Presidential Election to be a Reserve Election for the Malays only. Although the Government’s intention is noble to ensure multi-racialism enshrined in the Elected Presidency, many Singaporeans I’ve known are not in favour of it. The Head of State should be a unifying figure commanding the respect of all Singaporeans. This could only be done through free and unregulated elections. Too many requirements should not be imposed thereby limiting the aspirations of Ordinary Singaporeans that one day they could be Presidents as well.
My humble request to the Government is to make the 2017 Presidential Election an open one for all races. Give the choice to Singaporeans to decide who they want their President to be & who will make Singapore Proud.
Majulah Singapura.
Nallakaruppan S started this petition with a single signature, and now has 383 supporters. Start a petition today to change something you care about.
Hope to meet Minister Masagos outside of parliament so that I can ask him point blank about what he thinks about the gov who discriminate against people who wear the tudung.
Apparently, if someone raises the issue in parliament, it is sowing discord and divisiveness.
Parliament is the place you raise issues brought up by the citizen. If raising sensitive issues in parliament is trying to sow discord, then where else? Coffeeshop?
I don’t blame Masagos. He is the mouthpiece of the PAP and the gov. He isn’t the representative of the community. On that role, he has done wonderfully well to serve his employers and collecting a hefty paycheck.
He has conveniently forgotten that his ticket to parliament was through minority representation in a GRC. He joins Minister Ng Eng Hen who tried to insinuate in parliament that Faisal Manap only brought up minority issues.
A motion on the achievements of Singapore women took a drastic turn when Minister Masagos had an intense exchange with WP MP Faisal Manap in Parliament over the tudung issue yesterday.
The exchange took place in a middle of a debate on supporting the aspirations of women in Singapore, after Faisal Manap had raised the tudung issue in an earlier speech.
In a nut shell, Masagos was taking Faisal Manap to task for constantly raising “divisive” issues such as the tudung issue, role of Malays in the SAF, and Palestine etc. You get the drift. Difficult issues that tend to put the government in a spot. That might drive a wedge by making these issues into what Masagos called a “state vs religion” matter.
Why keep focusing on such issues, Masagos asked, instead of focusing on issues that matter most to the Malay-Muslim community – education, housing, jobs. Why not focus on issues that are more important and constructive?
Now, Faisal Manap is a politician at the end of the day. While I’m sure that issues such as tudung, role of Malays in the SAF and Palestine do matter to many Malay-Muslims, I am also sure that Faisal Manap specifically raised these issues precisely because these were tough issues that would put the government in a spot. And to gain some political mileage out of it too by playing to the gallery. i.e. Faisal Manap is just being a politician.
E.g. remember the photo of him praying before a GE rally in 2015, which appeared on social media?
Like what many other politicians do actually. Including PAP ones. Just that sometimes they are lousier at it – e.g remember. Koh Poh Koon helping an old auntie to carrying 32kg of old newspapers.
Yet, three points in defense of Faisal Manap:
1) Sole Malay Opposition MP
Now, the PAP is accusing Faisal Manap of raising “divisive” issues on a regular basis. The thing is, if not him, then who? There aren’t any other Malay-Muslim opposition MPs, so the onus is on him to raise certain issues that members of the Malay-Muslims want answers to.
Perhaps Faisal Manap wouldn’t need to raise such issues if Malay-Muslim PAP MPs have the guts to raise them in Parliament in the first place.
2) If not in Parliament, then where?
Masagos said that the government does not discuss such issues in public forums, such as Parliament, as they are sensitive and potentially divisive, and can be easily misunderstood because they are complex and difficult to resolve. Instead, Masagos said, the government addresses these issues behind closed doors with community leaders.
Not that we can’t discuss behind closed doors at times, but honestly, what’s so wrong about an elected representative raising issues that matter to his constituents in Parliament? And if we can’t have an open debate in Parliament, then where is a right platform for law makers to debate sensitive, but important stuff?
At least Parliament is a public forum where everything that’s said is recorded into the Hansard – so we know what exactly is said. As opposed to doing things behind closed doors all the time, where the public wouldn’t know what’s going on.
When can this society have an honest conversation about things, rather than sweep them under the rug?
3) Point about Zulfikar was a red herring
In his speech, Masagos raised the point about Zulfikar (remember the dude who was detained under the ISA last year for promoting violence and ISIS?) and Faisal Manap being at an event at the same time.
That was a classic red herring that is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand:
Somewhat insinuating something else also. Which is an ad hominem:
So Masagos Zulkifli came out with all guns blazing accusing WP’s Faisal Manap of playing to the gallery to score political points. What did Faisal Manap do to earn the ire of Masagos? Well, once again, Faisal brought up an issue dear to the Muslim community which is the hijab issue. This, according to Masagos, was tantamount to being divisive. From Masagos’ point of view, the correct way to bring the issue forward was to discuss it behind closed doors.
Excuse me Mr Masagos, Faisal Manap, as an MP representing the minority Malay community in his ward, was just doing his job. If as an MP he cannot voice out such issues in Parliament, where else can he voice out? Does he have to resort to speaking to nobody at the Speaker’s Corner? Why the need for minority representation in a GRC if matters like this cannot be raised in Parliament?
You, as a Minister, was also being disrespectful by attacking him like this. Why didn’t you use the parliamentary platform to address the issues? Where is your patience, a virtue of Prophet Muhammad SAW which is encouraged in Islam?
How many times has the government engaged the Malay/Muslim community, as well as the wider community, on the topic of hijab and discrimination in NS? These are matters that not only affect our community but also the wider Singaporean community?
Why the need to discuss behind closed doors all the time? Has there been any improvements using this approach? Yes this is a sensitive and emotive issue but don’t forget that Malays are now more integrated than ever and are more educated. We can accept decisions based on sound reasoning and if they are not in conflict with our religious tenets. We understand that there are other issues that need to be considered. We are not myopic and narrow minded.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli criticised an opposition MP’s tendency to raise divisive issues relating to the Malay/Muslim community in Parliament on Tuesday (Apr 4).
At the debate on supporting the aspirations of women in Singapore, Workers’ Party MP Faisal Manap (Aljunied GRC) called for Muslim nurses and uniformed officers in the Home Team and armed forces to be allowed to wear the tudung, or headscarf, at work.
He said countries like Australia and the United Kingdom had allowed this, and asked when Singapore would take a similar step.
Responding, Mr Masagos said he found Mr Faisal’s approach “worrisome”, as he had used the motion “to focus on differences instead of rallying people to be united”.
“He dwells on issues that can injure or hurt the feelings of the community rather than inspire them. In fact, Mr Manap has used many occasions to raise potentially discordant issues in this House,” he added.
The minister cited issues Mr Faisal raised in past sittings, such as the need for halal kitchens in Navy ships and the perceived discrimination of Malays in the armed forces.
He asked: “Is it his or his party’s position that these issues are the top concerns of the community?”
The minister said Mr Faisal’s approach needled the community’s sensitivity “subtly and frequently”.
“It leaves a lingering feeling of (something) unsolved and unsolvable, and impatience that one day I believe will explode. Is that what Mr Faisal wants?” he asked.
Mr Masagos noted the Government had responded to Mr Faisal’s queries before, and said he would not elaborate except to emphasise “we are in a multiracial society and we all have a role to play to enlarge our common space”.
Religion is important, he said. “I too want to see progress in the tudung issue and religious matters that are dear to Muslims,” he added.
But he noted that Government and community leaders of all races and religions had been discussing such deeply emotive matters behind closed doors.
“There is a right time, a right place and right way to discuss this.”
“The way to make progress is gradually and quietly, working under the radar to strengthen mutual trust and understanding among Singaporeans so that we can move forward step by step,” he added.
In contrast, championing issues “in a higher-profile way like the member always does once in a while, using them to score political points, will not strengthen trust.”
“It will only raise the temperature and actually make the problems harder to solve,” Mr Masagos said.
He cited an old social media post by Mr Faisal, in which he posed for a photo during the Wear White campaign in 2014 with Zulfikar Shariff, who was arrested under the Internal Security Act last year for his support for ISIS. Mr Masagos said: “It makes us wonder whether it is Mr Faisal who is supporting Mr Zulfikar or Mr Zulfikar supporting Mr Faisal, or are they together in this because of a common cause.”
Mr Faisal replied he was there only to support Wear White, which opposes homosexuality: “I’m not so sure what’s behind minister’s mind when he tried to link me to Zulfikar and I’m a bit distraught by his effort to paint me negatively.”
He also disagreed he was sowing discord and said as an elected MP, he had the right to voice concerns of his community in Parliament.
Mr Masagos said Mr Faisal was “not repentant or apologetic”, and “insists his strident approach is the correct way”, although it puts Singapore’s multiracial harmony at risk.
“If each community pushes its own claims aggressively, there will be pushback, there will be animosity,” said the minister.
Mr Faisal replied all he had been asking since he was elected was for the Government to address the issue: “How does that cause divisiveness and discord?”
Mr Masagos pointed to his “practice of subtly and frequently bringing issues that are sensitive to the community, knowing (they are) not easy to resolve and cleverly turning it into a state versus religion issue.”
“These are all very dangerous moves. I actually wonder whether the WP and its leadership are committed to the racial and religious harmony which underpins the security of this country,” he added.
“Do you want to go back to the politics of race and religion of the 1960s, the politics we wanted to avoid when we left Malaysia? If we don’t want that, why do we let a member constantly raise these issues to stir the community?”
