IT seems like “1Singapore” has rallied behind their Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for barring entry to Malaysian lawyer and activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri for promoting violent and disruptive protests as well as for engaging in the Lion Republic’s domestic politics.
Apparently, the MHA had stated clearly yesterday (March 27) that Fadiah was denied entry as an undesirable visitor.
Citing the MHA, Mothership which is Singapore’s highest-penetration digital-only news outlets reported that while studying in Singapore, she had encouraged youths to adopt her brand of radical advocacy.
This includes instigating them to go beyond protests to mobilise students and communities in the country as well as to undertake disruptive and violent actions for specific causes.
“We will not tolerate foreigners getting involved in our domestic politics or promoting unlawful, violent protest,” warned the MHA in a statement..
This came about as the human rights lawyer had recently described as “stunning” that she was banned from entering Singapore and was just deported to Malaysia despite having lived in the country for five years and earned a doctorate from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
As per a recent FocusM article, Malaysians have reacted to her barred entry disgruntlement on the X platform by wondering if she has been running her mouth especially in expressing political views that may be undesirable by the Singaporean authorities.
Deserving the boot?
This was when Mothership revealed that Fadiah had in a series of retweets also shared tweets of other X users linking her denial of entry to her views on the conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinians.
Reacting to their government’s action, a citizen merely reminded the Malaysian that “the word kaypoh was recently included in the Oxford Dictionary”. Another remarked” “Golden rule of life whether a lawyer or kaypoh: Don’t meddle in your neighbour’s biz, mind own!! [sic]”.
Recall that some Malay and Hokkien words/slangs such as “agak-agak”, “assam laksa”, “boleh”, “ice kacang”, “jialat”, “kaypoh”, “Mat Salleh”, “play play” and “wayang” have officially been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in its latest update.
Oxford Languages said a word is considered for inclusion in the OED after independent examples are gathered from various sources along with evidence that it has been in use for a reasonable amount of time.
Elsewhere, one commenter reminded his compatriots that “Singapore is where we’re today because of strong and effective governance”.
“We don’t need external influence to shape our Singapore direction,” he asserted to the ‘jeer’ of a rightist Malaysian who accused the Singaporean government to be “racist and anti-Malay” till “the Malays in Singapore feel they are silenced and discriminated”.
Another Singaporean praised the MHA for its “good work” by alluding to “don’t bring a war 10,000km away to Singapore”
“Fire is through sparks … Don’t under-estimate what an ‘idea’ can separate the community,” he opined.
Well, there is a slew of ‘spicy’ feedback for Fadiah to ponder but perhaps none is as powerful as this sort of “charity should start from one’s home” call – “Kudos to her and I hope she’ll fight for the minority communities in Malaysia and seek justice for them, too”.
“Try advocating for equal rights for all Malaysians first,” added a stinging view from a Malay Singaporean himself who further elaborated:
Malaysia has the opportunity to be a great nation surpassing even Singapore if it plays on a more even field to harness the entire rakyat.
In my 30 years of working in the oil & gas industry, I’ve personally hired brilliant non-Bumi PETRONAS scholars who left because of these policies which hindered their corporate climb.
Meritocracy is not a monster to be feared. More than half a century of protectionist policies is now a genie which can’t be bottled back. Even the East Malaysians are advocating for more equitable policies.
Ouch. – Focus Malaysia
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