Congrats Prof Ridhuan Tee, You’re Now On Singapore’s “Terrorist Watch List”

With the wake of terror group ISIS running wild in the Middle East and the recent bombing in Jakarta, is there any major difference between an extremist and a terrorist? As far as the Government of Singapore is concerned, only a fine line separating these two groups of people. Both are not welcomed into Singapore, nonetheless.

While Western countries such as the United States and Europe may welcome extremist, racist and even terrorist into their countries in the name of human rights, democracy, freedom of movement and all sorts of policies and laws, the same cannot be said about Eastern and Asian countries – especially the non-Muslim countries.

Singapore, being the smallest non-Muslim country surrounded by Muslim neighbours Indonesia and Malaysia, understandably, is super sensitivetowards any extreme or racist policy practiced by these countries. Naturally, names such as Ibrahim Ali (President of Perkasa) and Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah (University lecturer) attracted Singapore’s attention.

In fact, Ibrahim Ali and Ridhuan Tee, both strong supporter of Malaysian government led by UMNO political party, were so extreme and racist that even Sarawak has banned both from entering the state. It would be bizarre if Malaysia’s own state saw it fit to put both names in “immigration blacklist”but not a foreign country Singapore.

Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem last year used the state’s autonomy on immigration to declare he would bar “extremists, religious bigots and troublemakers” from the state, after religious authorities in Selangor seized Bahasa and Iban language Bibles that contained the word “Allah” and the ensuing religious tensions fanned by right-wing Malay groups.

In his latest revelation, Mr. Ridhuan claimed he wanted to “test the waters” if the Singapore authorities would allow him to enter the island. Apparently, he invited his friend to join him on his little expedition but was stopped and denied entry. Now, the Malay-Muslim wannabe cries, whines, moans and bitchesabout how unfairly he had been treated by the Singapore authorities.

Ridhuan said the Singapore immigration had questioned him for 2 hours. He wrote about his misfortune in his column in a Malay daily Sinar Harian – “They took many mugshots of me and treated me like a terrorist. They did not only take my fingerprints, but took the prints from my whole hand … I was treated like a guilty person. They questioned me like I was a terrorist. What is my crime?”

Complaining what happened at Singapore’s Woodlands immigration checkpoint, Ridhuan said – “I have never bothered others. I do not have any criminal record in Malaysia. They say that they are a democratic country with freedom of expression but the truth is that the situation there is much worse than Malaysia. Our system of democracy and freedom of expression is farsuperior than Singapore.”

This beg the question of whether Mr. Ridhuan really wanted to test the waters as he claimed to be, or was he actually caught off guard by Singapore authorities’ handling of him as if he was really a terrorist. Based on his column titled “Know the true enemies of Islam”, obviously he was very angry and frustrated, suggesting he didn’t expect such treatment at all.

He may be untouchable in (Peninsula) Malaysia due to his extraordinary track record in blowing the air of racism and religious extremism, and get away with it because UMNO rejoices and endorses him. But Singapore knows the risk of having such religious bigot considering the fragility of the country in facing a terror attack.

Ridhuan (Chinese name: Tee Chuan Seng), a Muslim convert-turned-preacher with 5 children, also lied that he was given a letter by the Singapore authorities but without any reason why he was disallowed entry. Unlike Malaysian government, Singapore authorities will attach reason(s) for such case else Mr. Ridhuan can always sue the Government of Singapore.

The only explanation is the reason(s) given could be too embarrassing and damaging for the university professor to unveil. Therefore, he conveniently suggested it could be due to his calling the Singapore “ultra kiasu”. But it would take more than that for Singapore to put him in the same category as terrorist, as he himself has suggested.

Ridhuan did not only spew hatred towards Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese, he had also incited people to boycott Chinese businesses and products. Worse, he smeared his own late father, a sundry shop owner, describing how he cheated folks in a Malay kampung – an accusation that has never been proven.

Perhaps he doesn’t like being treated like a potential terrorist by the Singapore authorities since he’s being treated like a VIP in Malaysia. But the fact that he doesn’t dare to divulge the reason(s) stated in the letter goes to show the offence was quite serious. He is considered a preacher who “could radicalise” Muslims in Singapore. That’s why he was treated like a terrorist. -financetwitter