S'pore blocks Facebook posts by 2 Malaysian politicians and ex-ISA detainee that attempt to influence election

ELD and MHA say foreigners must not direct, fund or influence Republic's polls

- Hariz Baharudin Correspondent and Harith Mustaffa

Singapore has moved to block access for users here to several Facebook posts by several foreigners, for attempting to interfere in the ongoing general election.

Acting as Assistant Returning Officer, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has directed Meta, which owns Facebook, to take action — just over a week before Singaporeans head to the polls on May 3.

A joint statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Elections Department (ELD) on April 25 said that the Government has identified a number of foreigners attempting to influence this general election.

Under the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA), it is an offence for foreigners to participate in elections activity or publish online election advertising.

The posts belong to Mr Iskandar Abdul Samad, the national treasurer of Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), and the Islamist party's Selangor Youth chief Mohamed Sukri Omar.

The third person identified is Facebook user "Zai Nal", identified as Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, an Australian citizen who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020.

"Foreigners must not direct, fund or in any way influence Singapore's elections," ELD and MHA warned.

The statement added: "Singapore's politics must be for Singaporeans alone to decide."