SINGAPORE: In Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 14), Workers’ Party MP Kenneth Tiong (Aljunied) asked if the Government would reject the Polish internet personality Michael Petraeus, whose blog “Critical Spectator” regularly contains commentary on Singapore politics.
Mr Tiong asked this question after a ministerial statement on the politicisation of race and religion delivered by Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.
Mr Shanmugam had argued for the immediate rejection of foreign interference and politicisation of race and religion. He said that during the run-up to the General Election earlier this year, the Workers’ Party’s statement regarding Islamic preacher Noor Deros and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) members had been delayed and “ambiguous”.
In response, WP chief and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh accepted that the party’s statement on Noor Deros could have been clearer, but he added that after the Government issued a statement warning against mixing religion and politics on the evening of April 25 and the WP had responded by the next morning.
The party has since issued a timeline on its response to Noor Deros.
What about Michael Petraeus?
When Mr Tiong stood to ask about Mr Petraeus, he noted the “clear bars” set in the ministerial statement for responding to foreign influence, including “immediacy, categorical rejection, and explicit disavowal”.
“Will the minister now apply the same standards to Michael Petraeus, the Polish national whose Critical Spectator platform has published racially-charged commentary on Singapore politics, including a piece titled ‘WP abandons Muslim voters, turns to the Chinese’?”
The MP noted that Mr Petraeus’ Facebook page had been taken down due to policy violations, which occurred during the 2020 General Election, but the blogger “continues to try to influence our politics from his foreign perch, this time favouring the PAP.”
Mr Tiong went on to ask if the ruling party would “categorically reject and disavow his support today, just ask the minister demanded that the Workers’ Party would do so within 24 hours?”
In his reply, the minister noted the number of people and publications with commentaries on Singapore, including The Economist, the New York Times, and the South China Morning Post, which “doesn’t amount to… interfering with our local politics”.
He added, however, that if Mr Petraeus put up a post interfering with the election, he would welcome Mr Tiong sending it in and he would look into the matter.
Mr Tiong posted the video of his exchange with the minister, which may be found here, and noted: “The Workers’ Party categorically rejects foreign interference in our politics, and especially that which introduces a charged racial or religious element.”
/TISG
Read also: MCI warns The Economist’s Singapore bureau chief against interfering in domestic politics
