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SINGAPORE: Religious teacher Noor Deros did not “gatecrash” an April meeting attended by Workers’ Party (WP) candidates, including its vice-chair Faisal Manap, Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh clarified in parliament on Tuesday (Nov 4).<\/p>\n
Referencing a comment he made in parliament last month, Mr Singh said: “In using the word ‘gatecrashed’, I may have created an impression that Mr Noor Deros was not invited by anyone.<\/p>\n
“This would be an incorrect impression, since I had confirmed later in the course of my response in this House \u2026 that Mr Noor Deros’ presence at the meeting was at the invitation of an ustaz delegated by Mr Faisal.”<\/p>\n
Prior to Mr Singh’s statement, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, delivered a ministerial statement seeking clarification on his characterisation of the meeting.<\/p>\n
Ms Indranee noted that Mr Noor had released a YouTube video on Oct 18 stating he “did not gatecrash the meeting” and that this could be verified with Mr Faisal. She pointed out that Mr Noor claimed the names of religious teachers attending had been sent to Mr Faisal beforehand.<\/p>\n
“On the face of things, it would appear that either one, Mr Faisal has told an untruth which has been repeated by Mr Singh during the (General Election) and now in parliament, or two, Mr Deros is lying,” said Ms Indranee, describing the matter as “serious”.<\/p>\n
The meeting on Apr 20 took place ahead of the General Election on May 3. Mr Noor, a Singaporean self-styled religious teacher, had publicly made demands of political parties in exchange for his support and claimed to have met all of the WP’s Malay candidates.<\/p>\n
At the time, Mr Noor urged voters in Tampines GRC to support Mr Faisal over the People’s Action Party’s anchor candidate, then Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli. The incident drew attention when two politicians from Malaysian Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, or PAS, also publicly backed Mr Faisal, claiming that the People’s Action Party’s Malay-Muslim legislators could not be trusted.<\/p>\n
The WP issued a statement on Apr 26 confirming that “no promises, commitments or agreements” were made in exchange for political support at the meeting with religious leaders where Mr Noor was present.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media on the same day, Mr Singh said the meeting was arranged after a member of the Muslim community asked to meet former WP Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament Faisal Manap and other Malay members of the party.<\/p>\n
He added that there was no indication that Mr Noor would be among the attendees at this meeting and that he would arrive with a list of demands.<\/p>\n
The topic came up in parliament last month during a ministerial statement by Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on the politicisation of race and religion, and Mr Singh said that Mr Noor had “gatecrashed” the meeting.<\/p>\n
The opposition leader reiterated that “there was no indication that this individual would be joining in the meeting”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n