SINGAPORE, April 26 – Singapore’s Workers’ Party (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh today said the party would not succeed if it resorted to playing the race and religion cards in the republic.

CNA quoted Singh saying Islamic teacher Mohammed Noor Deros, who had met with WP candidates before, was “sadly mistaken” in thinking that WP had agreed to his racial and religious demands in return for political support.

“I’m sorry – we don’t work politics like that in Singapore. We don’t work politics like that in the Workers Party,” he reportedly said.

“People have views. I think government officials, even ministers, meet with various members of religious groups in Singapore – so do we.

“And if this gentleman thinks that his advocacy will lead to the issues being brought up by the Workers Party. I think he’s sadly mistaken,” he added.

Singh explained that the meeting was arranged after a Muslim community member at a mosque in Aljunied requested to speak with former Aljunied GRC MP Faisal Manap and other WP Malay members.

They were also not aware that Noor would attend.

Earlier, WP had reiterated its commitment to Singapore’s secular principles following reports linking its Malay-Muslim candidates to foreign influence and religious figures.

Responding to a joint statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Elections Department on the takedown of foreign online election advertising, WP said it cannot control if any external parties express support for its candidates.

This comes as preacher Noor listed several of his demands for Singaporean political parties, allegedly on behalf of some in the Malay-Muslim community, which also included the rejection of support for the LGBT community.

Yesterday, Singapore told Meta to block local access to several Facebook posts by foreigners allegedly attempting to influence the city-state’s upcoming election.

The posts were made by two leaders from the Malaysian Islamist party PAS, and an ex-Singaporean who is now an Australian citizen.