Facebook page NUS Atheist Society has found itself in a crappy situation after a post on toilet humour landed them in trouble, in its attempt to compromise race and religion in Singapore.
Police are investigating after the page made a post suggesting the Bible and the Quran as toilet paper alternatives, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said in a Facebook post today (March 20).
A screengrab of NUS Atheist Society’s post showed a picture of the Bible and the Quran, along with the caption: “For use during toilet paper shortages.”
Religion in Singapore and discrimination by NUS Atheist Society. | Screengrab via K Shanmugam Sc / Facebook
NUS Atheist Society is not an official National University of Singapore (NUS) student organisation, according to the university’s directory of student organisations.
Slamming the post, Shanmugam said that “such offensive remarks have no place in multi-racial and multi-religious Singapore.”
Access to NUS Atheist Society’s original post has been disabled after the police and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) brought the post to Facebook’s attention, he added.
In response to its post being hidden from users in Singapore, NUS Atheist Society bit back, accusing critics of convicting them of “thoughtcrime”.
The page also doubled down on its original post, urging followers to use the religious texts “discreetly”.
In a statement released today, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it had received a number of complaints about the post.
MHA also urged members of the public to “be mindful when participating in online discussions and not post any remarks which are prejudicial to the maintenance of racial and religious harmony in Singapore”.
NUS reported the NUS Atheist Society page to Facebook on March 19, the university said today.
The university had first reported the page to Facebook last year.
“Facebook has responded to say that the content on the reported site does not appear likely to confuse people as to source, sponsorship or affiliation, and they are unable to act on our report at this time.
“We wish to clarify that NUS has no relationship with the NUS Atheist Society and the Facebook page is not affiliated to the University.”
The university said it would “continue pressing” Facebook to get the page to remove all references to NUS.
Police are investigating the matter.
Harmony To Racial And Religion in Singapore: What Netizens Say
Many netizens commented, applauding the Minister for upholding the peace and harmony in Singapore—one that has taken a long way to be where we are now.
There is a limit when it comes to disrupting the welfare and harmony of the community as said by Noor Juliana.
This post was first published on AsiaOne and was edited and republished on theAsianparent with permission.
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