Muhamad Faisal Manap

Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap (Jawi: محمد فيصل بن عبد المناف‎; born 1975)[1] is a Singaporean politician. A member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), he has been serving as Vice-Chairman of the WP since 2016. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Kaki Bukit division of Aljunied GRC since 2011.

In this Malay name, there is no family name. The name Abdul Manap is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Faisal.
The Honourable
Faisal Manap
فيصل مناف‎
Faisal in 2021
Vice-Chairman of the Workers' Party
Assumed office
29 May 2016
ChairwomanSylvia Lim
(since 2003)
Secretary-GeneralLow Thia Khiang (2001–2018)
Pritam Singh
(since 2018)
Member of Parliament
for Aljunied GRC
(Kaki Bukit)
Assumed office
7 May 2011
Preceded byMuhammad Faishal Ibrahim
Personal details
Born1975[1]
Singapore
Political partyWorkers' Party
Alma materMonash University (BS)
OccupationPolitician

Education

Faisal attended Eunos Primary School and Telok Kurau Secondary School before graduating from Singapore Polytechnic in 1995 with a diploma in civil and structural engineering.

He subsequently went on to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology at Monash University in 2005.[2]

Career

Between 1998 and 2002, Faisal worked as a technical officer in the Housing and Development Board of Singapore. From 2006 to 2010, Faisal worked as a freelance counselor and counseled couples on marriage and divorce.[3]

Political career
Faisal on a walkabout

Faisal joined the Worker's Party in February 2006[4] and first entered politics during the 2011 general election as the ethnic minority candidate in a five-member Workers' Party team contesting in Aljunied GRC against the governing People's Action Party (PAP). The Workers' Party team won with 54.72% of the vote, making it the first time in Singapore's electoral history an opposition party had won a general election in a GRC. Faisal thus became a Member of Parliament representing the Kaki Bukit ward of Aljunied GRC in the 12th Parliament on 9 May 2011.[5] The Workers' Party has since retained its parliamentary seats in Aljunied GRC in the subsequent general elections and Faisal has continued serving as the Member of Parliament representing Kaki Bukit. Within the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, Faisal has served as chairman of the Estate and Liaison Committee (2013—2018), overall Council chairman (2018—2021), and Council vice-chairman (2021—2022).[6][7]

Faisal is one of the party's five-member Worker's Party team along with Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, Gerald Giam and Leon Perera contesting the Aljunied GRC in the 2020 general election and retain back with 59.95% of the votes.

Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act

During the debate over a parliamentary bill to amend the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, Faisal had a heated exchange with Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam over the separation of religion from politics.[8] Faisal stated that he did not fully agree with the principle of the separation of religion from politics. He argued that while people "shouldn't use religion for the benefit of politics", it is inevitable that religion and politics are intertwined in the formulation of policies.[9][10]

Tudong issue

Since he had been elected to Parliament in 2011, Faisal had persistently raised the issue of allowing Muslim nurses and women in uniformed services to don the tudong in the course of their duty. In 2017, Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli rebuked Faisal for "subtly and frequently needling" the Malay-Muslim community with this issue. Masagos said that such issues should not be discussed in Parliament since it has the potential to disrupt Singapore’s racial and religious harmony and that should be resolved behind closed doors instead.[11] In 2021, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that Muslim nurses in Singapore's public healthcare sector will be allowed to wear a tudung with their uniforms if they wish to.[12]

Repeal of Section 377A

In November 2022, the Parliament came to a vote on repealing Section 377A of the Penal Code, a law that criminalised sex between consenting adult males. Faisal though was absent due to a COVID-19 infection,[13] had conveyed through his party leader, Pritam Singh, in the first day of the parliamentary debate that he was in opposition of a repeal of the law as "a matter of religion and conscience".[14][15] He would also have voted against the repeal on the following day if he could be present.[16]

Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party

Faisal was elected Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party central executive committee (CEC) on 29 May 2016, taking over the position from Mohammed Rahizan Yaacob.[17][18] His two-year term has been continuously renewed in subsequent CEC elections, with the last election held on 27 December 2020.[19][20]

Personal life

Faisal is married and has three children (two sons and a daughter).[21]

On 24 July 2023, Faisal was admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital due to a cardiac condition. The Worker's Party stated that "His condition is stable and he is being monitored and cared for in the intensive care unit. Mr Faisal is conscious"[22] and that other party members from the Aljunied GRC would step in to take over his constituency duties for the time being.[23]

Views on homosexuality

In June 2014, Faisal was seen alongside campaign organisers and supporters at a Wear White campaign, an anti-LGBT movement in Singapore. Faisal clarified that he opposes homosexuality and Pink Dot SG and that he backed the movement in his personal capacity "as a Muslim individual".[24]

References
  1. "MP | Parliament of Singapore".
  2. http://www.parliament.gov.sg/mp/muhamad-faisal-bin-abdul-manap?viewcv=Muhamad%20Faisal%20Bin%20Abdul%20Manap Archived 2012-03-20 at the Wayback Machine Parliament of Singapore : Member's CV - Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap
  3. "Straits Times: Ready to take on a bigger role". Workers' Party Singapore News. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  4. "Straits Times: Ready to take on a bigger role". Workers' Party Singapore News. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  5. http://www.elections.gov.sg/gazette%5CG_ParE2011%5C2011-05-09%20Candidates%20declared%20to%20have%20been%20elected.pdf#zoom=100 Archived 2011-06-24 at the Wayback Machine Singapore Elections Department - Candidates declared to have been elected (2011 Singapore General Election)
  6. Ang, Matthias; Tan, Martino (25 September 2018). "Faisal Manap succeeds Pritam Singh as chairman of AHTC. Is he destined for bigger things at WP?". Mothership.sg. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  7. Tham, Yuen-C (17 August 2022). "Workers' Party MP Leon Perera is new AHTC vice-chairman as Faisal Manap steps down". The Straits Times. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  8. Tham, Yuen-C (8 October 2019). "Parliament: K. Shanmugam, WP's Faisal face off over separation of religion from politics". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  9. Ng, Jun Sen. "Workers' Party backs religious harmony law, raises questions on keeping politics, religion separate". TODAYonline. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  10. Lai, Linette (8 October 2019). "Parliament: Workers' Party flags concerns in separation of religion from politics". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  11. "WP's Faisal rebuked for 'divisive' remarks on tudung issue". TODAYonline. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  12. Osman, Danny. "Muslim nurses in public sector can wear tudung at work from November: PM Lee".
  13. "Day 1 of Section 377A debate: Which MPs support or disagree with the repeal, and what they say". TODAY. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  14. Yong, Clement (28 November 2022). "WP MPs take differing positions on repeal of S377A". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  15. "Pritam Singh lifts whip on Workers' Party MPs on 377A, as 3 oppose repeal". Yahoo News. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  16. "Singapore repeals 'humiliating' gay sex ban after years of public debate". South China Morning Post. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  17. Independent, The (5 August 2014). "Office Bearers of the Workers' Party for the Term of 2014 to 2016". The Independent Singapore News. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  18. "Office Bearers of The Workers' Party for the Term of 2016 to 2018". The Workers' Party. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  19. "Office Bearers of The Workers' Party for the Term of 2018 to 2020". The Workers' Party. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  20. "Workers' Party Sengkang MPs, plus Nicole Seah and Kenneth Foo, elected to party CEC". sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  21. "Straits Times: Ready to take on a bigger role". Workers' Party Singapore News. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  22. "Workers' Party MP Faisal Manap hospitalised in intensive care for cardiac condition". CNA. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  23. Iau, Jean (25 July 2023). "WP MP Faisal Manap in ICU for cardiac condition". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  24. "WP's Faisal supports Wear White". AsiaOne. 5 July 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
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