SINGAPORE: While all opposition parties have declared their stance against foreign interference in domestic politics, they only did so after the People's Action Party (PAP) government took firm action, "even though this has been going on for some time", Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday (Apr 27).

Said Mr Lee: "But now, after the PAP government stood up and put its position out clearly, and acted to block the foreign sites, all the other parties straight away, within days, say, 'I also agree, I also agree, I also agree.'"

"Day before yesterday, where were you? You didn't notice, you didn't know or buat bodoh?" added Mr Lee, using a Malay term to describe being ignorant on purpose.

Mr Lee urged Singaporeans to vote for a party and candidates that stand for multi-racialism, "really and truly and from the bottom of your heart".

"And if you do that, this system can work. Many, many Singaporeans are convinced that this is the right way for Singapore - multi-racialism, give and take, meritocracy, one Singapore," he said.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) had on Friday directed Facebook parent Meta to block Singapore users’ access to several posts by foreigners. 

These posts, made by two Malaysian politicians and a former Internal Security Act detainee who is now an Australian citizen, criticised the Singapore government's handling of sensitive religious issues and urged voters to cast ballots along religious lines.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Saturday that external actors must not be allowed to exploit divisions within Singapore, as he called on all political parties to “clearly and categorically reject endorsements" from foreign entities.

On the same day, several opposition party leaders spoke against foreign interference in Singapore's election, saying that Singaporeans can represent themselves.

Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh said his party cannot be successful politically if it played the "race and religion card", stressing that the WP did not give any agreement to Islamic religious teacher Noor Deros in return for his political support.

Mr Noor, a Singaporean based in Malaysia, had made a series of election-related social media posts over the past few days, sparking debates about the mixing of religion and politics. He also claimed to have met WP's Malay candidates.

On Sunday, Mr Lee gave speeches in Malay, Mandarin and English. He was the last to speak at the rally, which featured 10 speakers, including fellow Ang Mo Kio GRC candidates Darryl David, Jasmin Lau, Victor Lye and Nadia Samdin.

In his Chinese speech, Mr Lee brought up Tang Liang Hong, a 1997 General Election candidate who "stirred Chinese chauvinism sentiments".

Tang was part of a five-member WP team that contested Cheng San GRC in 1997. During the hustings, the PAP had accused Tang of being an anti-Christian Chinese chauvinist.

Tang then filed police reports against several PAP members, accusing them of making false statements and inciting religious groups to hate him.

After the WP team lost Cheng San in a tight contest - garnering 45.18 per cent of the vote - Tang was served with multiple lawsuits alleging he had defamed the PAP members through the police reports.

Tang eventually left the country and a judge found him liable for defamation.

Mr Lee said on Sunday that the government "went all out" to take Tang on, without mentioning Tang's association with the WP.

In his English speech, Mr Lee called on Singaporeans of all races and religion to "stand with" the ideals of multi-racialism.

"It serves us well. It's good for minority communities. It's good for the majority community too. If you clash, if politics becomes race-based - Chinese party, Indian party, Malay party, Muslim party, Christian party, Hindu party - there are a lot of such things all over, not very far away," he said.

"And we fight, we all lose. Don't do that. Know it seriously. And consider that when you vote."