Singapore's Acting Muslim Affairs Minister thanks quick-thinking bystander who put out fire started outside mosque

SINGAPORE: On Friday night (Sep 25), a man lit an undergarment on fire outside Masjid Moulana Mohamed Ali. Fortunately, a member of the public was alert enough to extinguish the fire quickly.

Afterward, Zaqy Mohamed, Singapore’s Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, expressed concern over the incident, as well as thankfulness that no one was injured. Neither did the mosque sustain any damage, he noted.

“I am thankful too to the member of public who acted quickly to put out the fire,” he wrote.

Mr Zaqy wrote in a Sep 26 social media post that the mosque “remains safe and continues to operate as usual.”

He added that the incident “is a timely reminder that the peace and harmony we enjoy in Singapore cannot be taken for granted,” especially in light of the tenth anniversary of SGSecure, the national movement designed to address terrorist threats, this week.

“Keeping our society safe and cohesive is a shared responsibility,” the Acting Minister wrote.

The incident

The mosque is located in the basement of UOB Plaza at 80 Raffles Place. 

At around 9:00 on Friday night, a 50-year-old man named Martin See Hock Leng had put a can of oil in front of the mosque. After setting an undergarment in the can on fire.

The Singapore Police Force was later able to identify See through enquiries on the ground and the use of cameras. He was arrested within three hours of the incident being reported. A lighter was also seized from See as a case exhibit.

He was charged in court on Sept 26 for causing or contributing to risk of dangerous fire, which means he may be jailed for a maximum of one year, be made to pay a fine, or both.

See also faces additional charges of using insulting words and two counts of theft, according to reporting from The Straits Times. He is accused of saying insulting words to a man praying at Novena Church on June 24, as well as having stolen an eyeglass frame worth S$249 and a silver necklace worth S$15 on separate occasions.

Upon an order from the judge, See has even remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for a medical examination, and his case will be mentioned next month. /TISG 

Read also: Singaporean to face 15 months’ imprisonment for mailing pork slices to mosques