An Indonesian preacher has been denied entry to Singapore over extremist teachings.
One spokesperson from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Tuesday (17 May) that this guy, Abdul Somad Batubara, who is a prominent Muslim preacher from Indonesia, was denied entry into Singapore, together with his six other travel companions.
The group of seven arrived at Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal on Monday (16 May) from Batam but was denied entry into Singapore and placed on a ferry back to Batam on the same day.
Indonesian preacher is known to preach extremist and segregationist teachings
According to the MHA spokesperson, this Somad dude hor had previously preached that suicide bombings are legitimate in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and considered “martyrdom” operations leh!
Not only that. This Somad dude has also made comments denigrating members of other faiths, such as Christians, by describing the Christian crucifix as the dwelling place of an “infidel jinn (spirit/demon)”.
He has also publicly referred to non-Muslims as kafirs or infidels.
Entry into Singapore is neither automatic nor a right
The MHA spokesperson also added that a visitor’s entry into Singapore is neither automatic nor a right and each case is assessed on its own merits.
While this guy had attempted to enter Singapore for a social visit, but the Singapore Government takes a serious view of any persons who advocate violence and/or espouse extremist and segregationist teachings, added the spokesperson.
Multiple government & politicians’ social media pages tio spammed by supporters of Indonesian preacher
After the news of this Somad guy’s entry into Singapore was denied came out, the social media accounts of some of our political office holders and government agencies were spammed by his supporters sia.
Including the social media pages of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Halimah Yacob leh!
A Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) spokesperson confirmed that other than PM Lee and President Halimah’s social media pages, social media accounts of Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, and a few other political office-holders were affected too.
The messages were accompanied by the #SaveUAS and #SaveUstadzAbdulSomad hashtags.
Gov.sg and Ministry of Law’s Twitter accounts, and the Instagram accounts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Singapore Tourism Board, and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, were spammed too.
The spokesperson also noted that there were calls for cyber-attacks against Singapore Government social media accounts on public Indonesian chat groups.
Organisations advised to strengthen cybersecurity posture
In addition, two events management companies have had their websites defaced. MCI said that the websites have since been recovered and SingCERT will reach out to the companies to extend their assistance.
MCI also advises organisations to take active steps to strengthen their cybersecurity posture, heighten vigilance, and bolster their online defences to protect their organisation against possible cyber-attacks, such as web defacement and distributed denial of service (DDoS).
Singapore organisations that are affected by a cyber-attack or have evidence of any suspicious compromise of their networks are also encouraged to report to SingCERT.
Not the first time Singapore stood its ground regarding race & religious matters
This Somad dude and his supporters need to do more homework sia. Singapore takes such a matter very seriously one leh. And hor, it is not the first time Singapore banned someone from entering the country what.
In 2017, two Christian preachers were banned from speaking in Singapore for denigrating other religions. In that same year, Imam Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, an Islamic religious leader from India, who made offensive remarks about Jews and Christians asked to leave Singapore.
Then hor, in 2019, MHA also banned an American pastor Lou Engle, who made negative Muslim remarks in Singapore in 2018.
IMDA also cancelled a concert by Swedish metal band Watain in 2019 after assessing the band’s history of denigrating religions and promoting violence, which has the potential to cause enmity and disrupt Singapore’s social harmony.
As recent as this year, Singapore also banned a publication due to its offensive religious content. Reportedly, the publication contained several cartoons and drawings of the Prophet, as well as cartoons that incite discrimination against Muslims, mock the Holy Quran, and demean Islam.
The Kashmir Files movie was also banned in Singapore for its provocative and one-sided portrayal of Muslims.
So hor, please ah. Somad and fans, please ah. Singapore did not ban you because Singapore is islamophobic. Singapore banned you because of your extremist teachings that are unacceptable here ok?
Still got what #SaveUAS and #SaveUstadzAbdulSomad hashtags lei. He kena ferry back to Batam in one piece leh. He is not in danger of any sort whatsoever!
So #YouDunSiao, lao niang also want to trend this.
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