In this digital age, people often go to social media to air their grievances… even on the accounts of government officials.
The social media accounts of President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, along with other agencies and politicians, have been spammed with comments. Here’s what happened.
Extremist Preacher Denied Entry
On Monday (16 May), Indonesian preacher Abdul Somad Batubara and six of his travel companions were denied entry into Singapore, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The group of seven arrived at Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal from Batam.
According to MHA, Somad was interviewed. However, the group was denied entry into Singapore and placed on a ferry back to Batam on the same day.
Insulted Other Religions
This was because Somad has been known to preach extremist and segregationist teachings, both of which are unacceptable in Singapore’s multiracial and multi-religious society. You can read more about it here.
Even though Somad had attempted to enter Singapore for a social visit (or appeared to do so), the Singapore Government takes a serious view of any persons who advocate violence or espouse extremist and segregationist teachings.
Needless to say, Somad was not too happy about being rejected from Singapore. BTW, he was also denied entry to Hong Kong, Timor Leste, and other European countries in the past.
On Monday, he put up a post about being denied entry into Singapore on social media. His post included a photo and video of his holding area in Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.
And what do fans do when their idol expressed discontentment about a country?
Bombard its politicians and agencies with comments and hashtags, of course. That will surely magically make Singapore change its stance on extremist teachings.
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Spammed With #SaveUAS Comments
Comments bearing the hashtags #SaveUAS and #SaveUstadzAbdulSomad were found on Instagram posts by President Halimah and PM Lee.
Other accounts were also targeted, like Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean’s and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s Instagram accounts. The accounts of the ministries of law and foreign affairs, as well as the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority’s Instagram pages, were also targeted.
In fact, the ICA’s and PM Lee’s Twitter pages were filled with replies like these:
The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) confirmed on 18 May that the social media accounts of politicians and agencies were spammed. There were also calls for cyber attacks against these social media accounts on public Indonesian chat groups.
Additionally, two events management companies’ websites have also been defaced. The websites have been recovered, and the authorities will contact the companies to assist them.
Singapore organisations that have been affected by a cyberattack, or have evidence that their networks have been compromised, should report to the Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team (SingCert).
MCI further stated: “Organisations are advised to take active steps to strengthen their cyber security 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).”
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Featured Image: Facebook (Ustaz Abdul Somad), Twitter
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