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Zulfikar known for radical views over a decade ago

SINGAPORE — Before he crossed the line by glorifying the Islamic State and influencing people to fight overseas, fresh Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, 44, had made headlines here and abroad more than a decade ago with a rash of contentious views.

Zulfikar Shariff. TODAY file photo

Zulfikar Shariff. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE —  Before he crossed the line by glorifying the Islamic State and influencing people to fight overseas, fresh Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, 44, had made headlines here and abroad more than a decade ago with a rash of contentious views.

He once described Osama bin Laden as a better Muslim than some of Singapore’s Malay leaders, and suggested that Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plotters were motivated by the presence of the United States military in Singapore.

He also thrust Fateha, a fringe civil society group he was heading at one point, into the spotlight some 15 years ago by alleging that the Singapore Government does not consider the sensitivities of the Muslim community, and his radical views prompted rebuttals from several government ministers.

On Friday (July 29), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that Zulfikar was detained under the ISA earlier this month.

As far back as 2001, Zulfikar was in the news over the controversial way in which he championed issues such as allowing Muslim schoolgirls to wear a tudung. In October that year, Fateha — now defunct — sent a petition to the Prime Minister’s Office asking for Muslim students to be allowed to, for girls, cover their bodies other than their hands and faces, and for boys, from their navels to their knees. Following arrests of members of the JI terrorist group for plotting terror attacks in Singapore, Zulfikar circulated an email suggesting that the plotters were motivated by the presence of the US military in Singapore.

After resigning from Fateha, Zulfikar continued his activism and helped some Muslim parents contest the no-tudung rule in government schools. In June 2002, Fateha began publishing editorials on its website attacking former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, and Mdm Ho Ching. Zulfikar signed at least one of the editorials. The following month, Zulfikar resettled his family in Australia while the police investigated him for defamation.

His activities since 2004 are not known but the MHA said he set up a Facebook page called “Al-Makhazin Singapore” in 2013, which he used as a platform to agitate on Muslim issues in Singapore. The ministry said Zulfikar’s real agenda for setting up the page was to provoke Muslims in Singapore into pushing for an Islamic state in Singapore.

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