PAS’ lack of strategic thinking has blown up in its face once again—this time, giving Singaporean politicians the perfect chance to weaponise their rhetoric to drum up support at home, much to Malaysia’s expense.
The latest diplomatic tiff between PAS and Singapore kicked off after remarks from Singapore’s Minister for Law and Home Affairs, K. Shanmugam. He warned against foreign interference in Singapore’s politics. While Shanmugam didn’t name PAS outright, it didn’t take much to connect the dots between his comments and the rhetoric from Malaysian Islamic figures and PAS-connected personalities during Singapore’s 2025 general election in May.
The latest diplomatic friction between PAS and Singapore didn’t emerge from a vacuum. It was sparked by a Facebook post from PAS treasurer-general Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad, who in April endorsed Muslim candidates contesting in Singapore’s opposition during their 2025 general election.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan wasn’t having it, calling the accusation a “political shortcut” and accusing Singapore of using PAS as a scapegoat to distract from its own internal issues. He argued that Singapore, as a global city, should be mature enough to handle cross-border political chatter without resorting to censorship or paranoia.
Here’s the problem: PAS set the stage for this. Over the years, it’s repeatedly blurred the line between local religious messaging and regional political commentary. Whether it’s pushing for moral governance, or even commenting on how people should dress, PAS has rarely thought about how its words might be spun—or exploited— not just domestically, but beyond Malaysia’s borders.
This isn’t just a diplomatic slip-up. It reflects Malaysia’s broader political maturity and standing in the region. Singapore’s criticism, while arguably opportunistic, taps into a larger concern about PAS’ growing influence and its tendency to inject religious identity into political debates.
In a region that values multiracial harmony and secular governance, PAS’ tone can seem provocative—even when it’s not intended to be.
And this leads to a deeper concern: PAS’ vision of governing Malaysia through a theocratic lens is a terrible idea to begin with. It undermines the foundation of our nation, alienates multiracial and religious communities, and risks entrenching sectarian divisions.
This isn’t just about Singapore. It’s about PAS’ chronic lack of foresight on many fronts. The party seems more interested in governing morality than governing Malaysia. Case in point: recent remarks by a PAS MP in criticising Malaysia Airlines for serving alcohol and their long history of skewering the “revealing” attire of flight attendants—who, by the way, wear the traditional baju kebaya, a cultural icon shared across Southeast Asia.
If PAS is so concerned about alcohol on flights and the moral fibre of flight attendants’ kebayas, maybe they, on their own dime, should revive Rayani Air—Malaysia’s first shariah-compliant airline that famously crashed and burned without ever leaving the runway of competence. No booze, no kebaya, no operational reliability. It’s classic PAS: obsessed with virtue signalling, allergic to actual governance.
This fixation on personal conduct — policing what you wear, who you sleep with, what you eat and drink, what concerts you can attend — comes at the expense of real policy. Never mind the economy, education, battling graft, or poverty alleviation. It’s as if PAS believes virtue alone can build roads, balance budgets, attract foreign investments, create job opportunities, and feed families. Perhaps the media and the nation's technocrats have amplified this image, but PAS isn’t doing itself any favours either. Almost every time it speaks, it reinforces the perception that it’s more interested in moral purity than national progress.
Moreover, Singapore has never in recent polls demanded that Malaysians vote a certain way, and it shouldn't, ever.
The idea that PAS-linked figures might be seen as influencing Singapore’s electorate—even indirectly—is both ironic and troubling. It opens the door for Singaporean politicians to frame Malaysia as a source of destabilising influence, which is not only unfair but strategically damaging.
Shanmugam’s comments may have seemed a bit unexpected, but they didn’t come out of nowhere. They’ve been building for a while, fuelled by a history of statements that Singapore’s political class is now more than happy to shine a spotlight on. PAS’ failure to think ahead has handed Singapore a convenient narrative to run with.
Takiyuddin’s defence of free speech and sovereignty is fair enough, but it misses the bigger issue: PAS needs to learn to anticipate the regional fallout of its words.
In today’s ultra-connected world, domestic rhetoric doesn’t stay within national borders. If a party keeps failing to read the room, it risks becoming a liability—not just to itself, but to the country it represents.
So now that PAS has found itself in this awkward mess of its own making—it deserves every bit of it. You lit the fire, now hold the torch. Deal with it.
If PAS wants to be taken seriously on the national and regional stage, it needs to grow up and stop making knee-jerk statements. It needs a communications strategy that considers both local values and international sensitivities.
Otherwise, Malaysia will keep paying the price for its political parties’ lack of foresight. - October 16, 2025
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