Operation Awarah: The Entry of the Muslim Far-Right?

In Singapore, besides the Christian far-right, the Muslim far-right also exists. We understand that members of the Muslim far-right are working on Operation Awarah, which targets one of Mercury's LGBTQ Muslim victims as it is viewed by the Muslim far-right as an abhorrent contradiction to be simultaneously LGBTQ and Muslim. Operation Awarah is a subsidiary of the more widely known Operation Fitrah, which started in 2011 and has had various other subsidiary operations under it over the years.

Operation Awarah involves the cooperation of some police officers from Jurong Police Division and certain segments of the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).

We understand that the key individuals involved are:

• Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff ('Zulfikar')
• Associate Professor Syed Muhammad bin Khairudin Aljunied ('Prof Khairudin Aljunied')
• Workers' Party Member of Parliament Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap ('WP MP Faisal Manap')
• People's Action Party Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal bin Ibrahim Khan Surattee ('MOS Faishal Ibrahim')

Zulfikar is the brains of Operation Awarah and is working from Australia, where he is currently located. Zulfikar is connected to Islamic fundamentalist groups in Australia. We note that Zulfikar was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 2016 after making "numerous Facebook posts that promoted and glorified terror group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its violent actions such as beheadings", according to this The Straits Times article. We also note that TODAY Online has described Zulfikar as wanting "to start his own training programmes to socialise young Singaporeans into his extremist agenda of replacing Singapore’s secular, democratic system with an Islamic state, using violence if necessary". We further note that Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had to publish a Facebook statement about Zulfikar in 2016, and that the Ministry of Home Affairs in Singapore had to publish a press release about him in 2020.

Prof Khairudin Aljunied provides the technical and research support for Operation Awarah, and is essentially the main person executing it in Singapore. We note that Prof Khairudin Aljunied equated lesbianism with "cancers" in 2014, resulting in backlash from students. We also note that Prof Khairudin Aljunied was suspended from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2017 due to anti-Christian and anti-Semitic comments. We further note that Singapore's Minister of Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam had to speak out about this incident, and that the Ministry of Home Affairs in Singapore likewise had to publish a press release about his comments in 2017.

WP MP Faisal Manap is the liaison between Zulfikar and Prof Khairudin Aljunied. We note that WP MP Faisal Manap is not acting on behalf of the Workers' Party, as his party is not actually aware of Operation Awarah. Instead, he is working in his own personal capacity. We note that in 2014 he has expressed that he "supports the Wear White campaign that opposes homosexuality and the gay rights Pink Dot event".

Operation Awarah is currently preparing two charges against said LGBTQ Muslim victim, and is looking for more openings to bring as many charges as possible against said victim, so that the stack of charges arrive at one-go. The members of the Muslim far-right involved in this operation have reached out to their police contacts to look for more grounds to charge said victim, and are also in touch with MOS Faishal Ibrahim in a personal and not party capacity, so there is some form of backing via MOS Faishal Ibrahim. We understand that Attorney General (AG) Lucien Wong does not share their beliefs entirely, but sees that there are some overlapping interests that align – primarily against said victim. As such, AG Lucien Wong is not unaware of Operation Awarah.

We understand that there is unhappiness that said LGBTQ Muslim victim has allied with Harvey, who had been Jewish for a long time before she was baptised as Christian in April 2022, with Charles Yeo Yao Hui as her baptismal sponsor. Thus, there are also anti-Semitic sentiments involved in the resentment towards Harvey and, by association, said LGBTQ Muslim victim. This being said, the members of the Muslim far-right involved in Operation Awarah are leaving Harvey to the Christian far-right to deal with.

Regardless of whether the charges are related to something that said victim has previously done and that can be faulted, or are based on a fix-up (i.e. said victim is deliberately framed), Operation Awarah's intention is to get said victim charged and remanded to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). Two-thirds of the remand application document has already been filled by the police contact(s) involved in Operation Awarah, under the guidance of Prof Khairudin Aljunied, who has provided background, information and facts about said victim to get said victim remanded. 11 August 2023 has been suggested as a potential date to arraign said victim at the earliest.

We understand that the Muslim far-right involved in Operation Awarah operate out of Masjid Darul Ghufran. The mosque leadership is not known at the present time to be involved.