Police Not Taking Action Against ‘SMRT Feedback by The Vigilanteh’ FB Page

By
Shawn Ambrose
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In multiracial, multireligious, and multicultural country like Singapore, you have to be careful about the things you say about others.

The last thing you’d want to do is stir up tensions between the races, which could lead to riots like the ones witnessed in the 1960s.

One popular Facebook page, SMRT Feedback by The Vigilanteh, seemed to have missed this memo, however, as they published a post in May about Muslims that could at best be described as irreverent.

Several police reports were made, but no action will be taken.

Police Not Taking Action Against ‘SMRT Feedback by The Vigilanteh’ FB Page

The Singapore Police Force said that they would be taking no further action over reports made about the online post, after consulting with the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).

“(We) have looked into the matter and consulted the Attorney-General’s Chambers, which directed no further action to be taken as the elements of an offence have not been established beyond reasonable doubt,” the police said.

One of the police reports was made by Syazana Yahya, who called the post “seditious”.

“It casts aspersions on a Singaporean Muslim’s loyalty to its nation,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

So, what did the post say?

Questioned Loyalties of Muslims During Conflict

The author of the post starts out by saying he “understands” why former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew did not allow Muslims to serve in sensitive military positions, with a few exceptions.

“You have to understand, when it comes to religion, Muslims are steadfast compared to any other religion. It’s religion first, everything else is second,” it said.

It added that if Palestine is attacked, “99.99% of Muslims would side with Palestinian people”.

He then put forward a hypothetical scenario in which a Muslim in a sensitive military position had to deal with military technology from Israel, which has had a longstanding conflict with Palestine.

Given that Palestine is predominantly Muslim, and that Singapore has a relationship with Israel in matters of defence, the author questioned if a Muslim would prioritise his duties as a Singaporean over that of being a Muslim.

The post was later taken down, and the author apologised for causing any offence to the Muslim community.

The author claimed that he was not questioning the loyalty of Muslims but “reaffirming a Muslim’s commitment to his religion”.

This claim is questionable, however, given the tone of the post and the statement that a Muslim would “bin laden” with guilt over using Israeli tech in combat against Palestine.

Here are pictures of the now deleted post:

Image: Facebook (Syazana Yahya)
Image: Facebook (Syazana Yahya)

Here’s the Page’s apology:

The Page hasn’t posted anything since the incident.

Featured Image: Facebook (Syazana Yahya)

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]