SPF issues directions to disable social media of Australian man, 54, for inciting enmity between S'pore Malay-Muslim & Chinese community

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has issued directions to TikTok and Meta to disable the social media pages of Australian national Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a Nov. 26 press release.

Zulfikar's posts on TikTok and Facebook aimed to stir up discontent within the Malay/Muslim community against the Chinese community in Singapore, MHA said.

The directions were issued under the Online Criminal Harms Act.

Radicalised two other Singaporeans

Zulfikar was previously detained under the Internal Security Act in 2016 for his promotion of terrorism and online glorification of terrorist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

"His actions had contributed to the radicalisation of at least two other Singaporeans," MHA said.

Zulfikar had also called on Muslims to reject the constitutional, secular, democratic state in favour of an Islamic state governed by Syariah law, the ministry added.

He also believed violence should be used to achieve this.

Zulfikar, who was born in 1971, renounced his Singaporean citizenship in 2020.

According to a 2020 MHA press release, Zulfikar resettled with his family in Australia in0 2002.

Zulfikar's LinkedIn page indicates that he is currently a teacher at Ilim College, an Islamic co-ed school in Melbourne, Australia.

Repeatedly stirred up discontent

Describing Zulfikar as a "foreigner", MHA said that he has repeatedly continued to stir up discontent within the local Malay/Muslim community against the Chinese community in Singapore.

"He has incited feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will and hostility against, contempt for and ridicule of different racial and religious groups in Singapore," MHA said.

As an example, the ministry pointed to a TikTok video posted on Jun. 19, 2025, in which Zulfikar falsely alleged that Malay/Muslims were forced to move away from Islam and assimilate into the Chinese community in Singapore.

MHA stated that he has posted other videos which are "similarly inflammatory".

Zulfikar runs a page called "The Inquiry" on both Facebook and TikTok.

On Facebook, the page's introduction reads: "Podcasts and interviews on Islam and politics".

On TikTok, its description reads: "We will be decolonized".

Numerous public feedback and police reports received

MHA also said that the Singapore government has received numerous public feedback, including several police reports, about Zulfikar's posts.

His posts, MHA said, "threaten racial and religious harmony in Singapore".

MHA and SPF assessed that overall, Zulfikar’s online content are offences under Section 17F(3) of the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act 1990.

As such, SPF has issued an account restriction direction to TikTok to disable Zulfikar's account and a disabling direction to Meta to disable his Facebook account.

SPF has also initiated police investigations into Zulfikar.

"The Singapore Government takes a very serious view of threats to our racial and religious harmony, including from foreigners, and will not hesitate to act against them," MHA said.

Top image via Facebook, TikTok