On Sunday (16 June), Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Social and Family Development Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim took to his Facebook to pen a Father’s Day wish to all.
In his post, he posted a picture with Workers’ Party Secretary-General Pritam Singh and stated that the Opposition politician and his team paid a visit to Nee Soon on Father’s Day, something that was “very infrequent in the last year”.
Dr Faishal added that he bumped into Mr Singh during his walkabout where he was with his volunteers greeting residents and handing out Father’s Day cards to them.
“The last time we saw them (Mr Singh and team) in Nee Soon was more than eight months ago – Nov 2018. And before that, we them in February last year,” he wrote.
Just to note, Dr Faishal is the MP for Nee Soon GRC since 2011, whereas Mr Singh oversees the Eunos division in Aljunied GRC.
Following Dr Faishal’s post, many netizens slammed him for his “classless low blow” and questioned his intention of uploading this post. They said that he is politicising the whole incident of meeting Mr Singh for his gain, and “backstabbing” him by noting his lack of attendance at Nee Soon in recent times.
Facebook user Jennifer Lee noted that Dr Faishal’s post “speaks volumes about the character of the writer and the other one who shared it”. She added that Mr Singh definitely has more courage to stand up to speak against policies that PAP tried to pass as some of them were to the disadvantage of Singaporeans. As such, she asked Dr Faishal’s contribution on matters like this, indicating that she prefers a politician that fights for his/her people’s right rather than those who pose at social events.
A group of online users also highlighted that it is not fair for Dr Faishal to judge Mr Singh’s attendance at Nee Soon because he is not actually the MP to the area. In fact, it makes more sense to see Dr Faishal more frequently at Nee Soon as the area is under his care.
On the other hand, some online users said that they’ve never heard of Dr Faishal before until this post, whereas noting that they’re well-aware of Mr Singh due to all the work he has done in years. An user named Ah Long mentioned that he heard that Dr Faishal has one of the poorest attendance in Parliament in two years, but Mr Singh has always been seen in all Parliament seating since 2011.
James Quah wrote that discrediting another politician openly shows that Dr Faishal has very little class, adding that he shouldn’t use social media for his personal agenda. If that is not all, he also expressed that the politician leaves a lasting impression on him after hearing about him for the first time.
