Social media accounts of political officials, government agencies spammed by supporters of Indonesian preacher who was denied entry

SINGAPORE: The social media accounts of a number of political holders and government agencies have been spammed by supporters of an Indonesian preacher who was denied entry into Singapore on Monday (May 16), said a Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) spokesperson on Wednesday.

Abdul Somad Batubara had arrived at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and was placed on a ferry back to Batam on the same day.

Responding to media queries, the MCI spokesperson said there were calls for cyberattacks against Singapore Government social media accounts on public Indonesian chat groups.

CNA understands that the Instagram accounts of President Halimah Yacob, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan were among those that were affected, as was Mr Lee's Twitter account..

The Instagram accounts of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and Singapore Tourism Board were also spammed. 

“In addition, two events management companies have had their websites defaced. The websites have since been recovered and SingCERT will reach out to the companies to extend our assistance,” said the spokesperson.

“Organisations are advised to take active steps to strengthen their cybersecurity posture, heighten vigilance, and bolster their online defences to protect their organisation against possible cyberattacks, such as web defacement and distributed denial of service,” the spokesperson added.

Local organisations who are affected by a cyberattack or have evidence of any suspicious compromise of their networks should report to SingCERT, MCI said, adding that a report can be made online.

Six people who travelled with Somad were also not allowed to enter Singapore, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday night. 

Somad has been known to preach "extremist and segregationist" teachings, which are "unacceptable in Singapore’s multi-racial and multi-religious society", MHA said in a statement.

"While Somad had attempted to enter Singapore ostensibly for a social visit, the Singapore Government takes a serious view of any persons who advocate violence and/or espouse extremist and segregationist teachings," said MHA.