Shanmugam not making police report against sisters who disrupted Meet-The-People Session
Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam urged everyone to "move on" from the incident.
Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam (third from left) speaking to the media on Mar 27, 2025. (From left) Former NMP Syed Harun Alhabsyi, Nee Soon GRC MP Derrick Tan, Minister of State Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim. (Photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)
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SINGAPORE: Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam said on Thursday (Mar 27) that he will not file a police report over the behaviour of two sisters who disrupted his Meet-The-People Session (MPS) on Mar 12.
He also urged everyone to move on from the incident at a doorstop interview during a visit to a temporary prayer site at the former North View Secondary School.
The two women had confronted Mr Shanmugam at an MPS outside the Chong Pang branch office two weeks ago. The minister then posted a seven-minute video of his conversation with them on his Facebook page on Mar 13.
The sisters had approached Mr Shanmugam to talk about the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA). However, the interaction turned confrontational and they shouted “coward” at the minister after he tried to end the conversation with them.
When asked about the video on Thursday, Mr Shanmugam said that what happened is potentially a criminal offence but he will not take action against the sisters.
“I haven’t filed a police report and I’m not filing a police report. From what I understand, the two sisters, amongst others, are under investigations for other offences,” he said.
“They have been under investigations previously and those investigations are continuing. But as to what happened at my MPS in Chong Pang … I’m not intending to file any police report.”
When asked for more details about the offences the sisters were under investigation for, Mr Shanmugam said he was aware they were for some offences that took place before the incident at his MPS.
“That has nothing to do with what happened at MPS … what they have done elsewhere, it’s not within my hands, the law has got to take its course,” he said.
In response to CNA's queries about the alleged offences, the Singapore Police Force said on Apr 1 that it is unable to comment further as investigations are ongoing.
Mr Shanmugam also said he wants to “move on” from the incident and focus on building community by having engagements to “discuss issues, including difficult ones”.
“We can do it (in a) constructive way. If you look at Singapore, all our cultures, that’s the approach,” said Mr Shanmugam.
“That message is even stronger in this month of Ramadan … so let’s focus on building a stronger, better community together.”
Mr Shanmugam added that the sisters are both young and he hopes they learn from this.
“I’m like their parents’ generation, and really I hope that they will have the space to learn and grow from this incident,” he said.
Mr Shanmugam had said earlier that there was a trend of disturbances at Meet-The-People Sessions. A PAP spokesperson said a group that calls itself Monday of Palestine Solidarity had disrupted more than 10 Meet-The-People Sessions over the past few months.
A reporter then asked Mr Shanmugam about online suggestions that the incident was staged, apparently because his voice was captured very clearly on the video he shared on social media.
Mr Shanmugam said: “Staged means the whole thing was planned, which means I made the sisters behave in the way they did and I got everybody to act and shout ‘coward’ and do everything else.
“I think the sisters will be the last to agree that they are part of a programme by the PAP.”
He explained that his voice was clear because he had been miked up for a community event before the MPS. His volunteers had been filming him at the event, as well as greeting the residents at the MPS when he encountered the sisters, he said.
“Certainly it wasn’t planned … I think to suggest that would be an extreme conspiracy theory.”
FORMER NMP SPOTTED IN NEE SOON GRC
Before speaking to the media, Mr Shanmugam and four Nee Soon GRC grassroots advisers met the chairmen of Darul Makmur Mosque to break fast. The former North View Secondary School is serving as a temporary prayer site for the mosque while it is being refurbished.
Mr Shanmugam updated that the mosque should reopen by the end of the year.
Mr Shanmugam was accompanied by Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and their fellow Nee Soon MPs Ms Carrie Tan and Mr Derrick Tan.
Spotted with them was former Nominated MP Syed Harun Alhabsyi, who resigned from his NMP post on Feb 14, saying that he intends to “explore opportunity for political service”.
