Singapore’s political leaders are warning against foreign attempts to influence voters in an election campaign, under measures introduced four years ago to guard against external meddling.
Lawrence Wong, leader of the city-state’s ruling People’s Action Party, said at a rally on Saturday that foreign actors, including a political party in Malaysia, had tried to influence the outcome of Singapore’s elections. He warned that the mixing of religion and politics, as well as calls to support candidates based on race or religion, were “very dangerous”.
Pritam Singh, who leads the largest opposition Workers’ Party, said his team categorically rejects any involvement of foreign elements in domestic politics. “Singapore is our business — nobody else’s,” Singh said at a rally the same day.
The warnings followed a government order issued to Meta Platforms Inc to take down several Facebook advertisements published by foreigners during the election period, according to a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Elections Department on Friday.
This is the first parliamentary election since the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act was passed in 2021, which gives officials power to curb foreign efforts to influence Singapore’s political affairs.
Authorities identified two members of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia — a conservative Islamist party and the largest opposition group in Malaysia — among the Facebook posts. The list also included an Australian citizen who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020 and had previously been detained under Singapore’s Internal Security Act for promotion of the terrorist group ISIS, according to the statement.
Paul Tambyah, chairman of opposition Singapore Democratic Party, raised concerns about foreign bots on Facebook spreading misinformation about candidates. Tambyah urged the Ministry of Digital Development and Information to take action, stressing that the impact of such influences may persist beyond elections.
The country’s election campaign started on Wednesday, and will last nine days — making it one of the world’s shortest — before voters head to the polls on May 3.