prominent Islamic cleric likely banned from entering Singapore

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

A popular Muslim cleric’s absence at an Islamic conference led to speculation online that he was banned by the Singapore government from entering the country.

Many people on social media wondered who was responsible for the ban after the well-known Islamic cleric Mufti Menk from Harare, Zimbabwe, was forced to cancel his appearance as a guest speaker at an Islamic conference “Amazed by the Quran”, held at the Star Theatre last Saturday (28 November).

Mufti Menk is a well-known cleric within the Muslim community in Singapore and has been visiting the country to give talks since 2012. This is the first time he has cancelled an appearance in Singapore.
On Facebook, he has over a million fans and on Twitter, close to 700,000 followers. His typically positive quotes on life are shared by followers regularly.

Due to “reasons the authorities did not disclose”, his segment of the event was not approved, said organiser Pristine ILM.
“We'd like to clarify that Mufti Menk was never banned from Singapore. People are getting excited based on dirty comments made online by individuals who claim to have been the reason why Mufti Menk was supposedly banned from public speaking, “ said the non-profit organisation in a statement posted online.

“The reality is that one single event was not approved for reasons the authorities did not disclose. There has been no official word of any ban of Mufti Menk by the Singapore Government,”
While the organiser did not disclose details of specific individuals and the “dirty comments” that might have led to the speculation, many commenters mentioned a Terence Helikaon Nunis, who claimed he emailed the government over Mufti Menk, which led to the supposed “ban”. Nunis’ Facebook comment has been taken down but a screen capture of it has been posted in a blog post chronicling the incident.

Under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, “The Minister may make a restraining order against any priest, monk, pastor, imam, elder, office-bearer or any other person who is in a position of authority in any religious group or institution or any member thereof” for purposes that include acts “causing feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different religious groups”.

After the event, the organiser circulated a survey on Mufti Menk to gather the public’s thoughts on the cleric. A total of 53,145 people participated in the survey, with more than 90 per cent of them indicating that they followed the cleric on social media. The survey included questions such as “Do you think Mufti Menk preaches hatred?” and “Do you think Mufti Menk preaches disunity amongst Muslims?”

Yahoo Singapore has contacted the Ministry of Home Affairs for comment.


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