KUALA LUMPUR — Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it denied re-entry to Malaysian human rights lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri because of her political activism in the republic.
Fadiah had encouraged youth in Singapore to “adopt her brand of radical advocacy”, The Straits Times (ST) reported MHA saying.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) alumna, whose completed her PhD there, had urged youths to mobilise students and communities in Singapore, and to “undertake disruptive and violent actions to support specific causes”.
“We will not tolerate foreigners getting involved in our domestic politics, nor the promotion of unlawful, violent and disruptive methods of civil protest.
“Fadiah is an undesirable visitor, and we have thus denied her entry into our country,” MHA said according to ST’s report.
Fadiah had posted on X about Singapore refusal to let her enter the city state on March 22, adding that authorities did not explain the reason for the ban.
“It’s stunning (because) I stayed there for 5 years and was conferred a doctoral degree on 31 January,” she said in her post.
ST said her recent attempt to enter Singapore was to meet her former supervisor and to deliver a guest lecture. She had also planned to take care of her friend’s cat and collect her degree certificate and books.
She has been a member of Malaysian legal rights advocacy group, Lawyers for Liberty (LFL), and the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).
In October last year, Fadiah, a strong supporter of Palestinian freedom and whose research interests include de-colonisation, participated in an anti-Trump rally and was quoted in Malaysian media speaking out against US President Donald Trump’s visit to Kuala Lumpur.
In 2018, she was investigated over an allegedly seditious article she wrote, “Don’t kiss the hand that beat you”. In 2020, she was questioned by police over a demonstration against then Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s government. – March 27, 2026