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Ex-SDP chairman Jufrie Mahmood files police report against Ex-NMP Calvin Cheng, who says allegations are defamatory
The Minister for Law and Home Affairs, K Shanmugam, also commented on the matter and said Cheng's views on Israel and Palestine are "quite different" from his own.
April 02, 2025, 06:23 PM
The former chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), Jufrie Mahmood, has filed a police report against former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Calvin Cheng.
According to a Facebook post by Jufrie on Mar. 28, the report was filed at the Bedok Police Division and contained a screenshot of Cheng's post about two pro-Palestinian activists who disrupted multiple Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS).
In his post, Cheng said he would like to sponsor the two activists' relocation to Gaza, as long as they did not come back.
Jufrie alleged that Cheng was an Islamophobe and a threat to racial and religious harmony in Singapore.
Jufrie also said he re-submitted his police report after being informed of a factual error in it.
Cheng responds, alleges defamation
In response, Cheng said in a post on Apr. 2 that the accusations by Jufrie are false and are based on "factual inaccuracies" and "outright lies".
He also noted that views similar to that of Jufrie have been echoed by Kenneth Jeyaretnam from the Reform Party and activist Martyn See while The Online Citizen and another individual called Mohamed Khair have republished Jufrie's views.
Cheng said:
"I am deeply disappointed that they have chosen to make such inflammatory comments.
Let me make this clear: I am not Islamophobic. I have never said, and did not say anything prejudicial towards any race or religion."
Cheng then addressed two allegations against him.
Remarks about the pro-Palestine activists
Cheng wrote: "Another allegation is that I called for all pro-Palestinian activists to be sent to Gaza. That too is untrue."
He added that his comments were in response to the disruptive actions of a specific group of three activists, one of whom was a Chinese man, who interrupted the MPS of Law and Home Affairs minister K Shanmugam.
Cheng said, "I expressed frustration—like many others—and used sarcasm to criticise them. I did not generalise these remarks to all activists, nor did I mention race or religion."
The former NMP also said he believed "deeply" in the justness of helping Palestinians who are suffering in the current conflict.
"But activism should be expressed constructively, without disrupting vital community processes such as MPS sessions where residents seek urgent help," he wrote.
Derogatory remarks about local students were made by someone else
Cheng also addressed the allegation that he made derogatory remarks about a group of Madrasah students.
To this, he said:
"This is completely false.
These remarks were made by another individual, in a widely reported incident in 2011.
Unfortunately, this false attribution was repeated by Jufrie Mahmood. I wish to make it clear that I had absolutely no involvement in that incident."
Jufrie appears to have conflated two separate incidents.
The first was in 2011, where a man named Jason Neo referred to a group of students on a bus as "terrorist trainees?"
The second incident was in 2016, where a police report was filed against Cheng about a comment he made in the discussion on another person's Facebook post.
The police investigated and in consultation with the Attorney-General's Chambers, decided not to take further action.
This could possibly be the factual error in the police report that Jufrie mentioned in his post, that led him to amend his police report and re-submit it.
"Highly defamatory"
Cheng then concluded his post by stating that he has sought advice from Senior Counsel who have advised him that such statements are "highly defamatory".
"I have instructed my lawyers to write to Mohamed Khair, Jufrie Mahmood, Martyn See, Kenneth Jeyeratnam and The Online Citizen, to require them to retract the statements they have made and apologise," he wrote.
Shanmugam: Cheng's views on Israel and Palestine are "quite different" from mine
When asked about the back and forth between Cheng and Jufrie, while speaking to the media at Masjid Maarof on Apr. 2, Shanmugam replied that he had not been following it very closely.
The minister said, "Mr Calvin Cheng comments on a variety of matters - I don’t see all of them. Those that I come across: I can say some I agree with, and some I clearly disagree with."
On the Israel-Palestine conflict, Shanmugam said Cheng's views are "quite different" from his own.
"I have a very sharply different view on Israel/Palestine from Mr Calvin Cheng. Specific to this post that I think you’re referring to, there is a police report, and from what I hear, Mr Cheng has said that he is going to start legal action. So I have to avoid commenting in detail."
Addressing the allegations and claims by both men, Shanmugam said:
"What the facts really are: I don’t know. As I said, I haven’t seen the blow by blow responses. But I would suggest it is best to keep to the truth, and also be sensitive in making comments on the Israel/Palestine situation. I will leave aside whether Mr Jufrie has put out falsehoods - and if he has, then that can be serious."
Shanmugam then clarified his own stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict: "I have previously said in Nov 2023 that Israel's actions are illegal and oppressive to Palestinians, and that remains my view."
Top images via Jufrie Mahmood/Facebook and Calvin Cheng/Facebook
