A poll conducted by Yahoo Singapore shows that 56 per cent of 3,961 respondents do not welcome prominent social media Nas Daily’s impending move to Singapore.
The results of Yahoo’s poll comes as a petition calling on the Government to ban Nas (whose real name is Nuseir Yassin) from entering Singapore. It has garnered over 4,000 signatures in a matter of days.
Earlier this month, Nas revealed that he is moving to Singapore, along with his partner and his entire company. While some Singaporeans welcomed Nas to Singapore, several others are not so happy with his decision.
Backlash against Nas arose during his first trip to Singapore last year when some Singaporeans felt that the upbeat videos he made about the nation do not capture the reality of living here.
Nas sparked a massive uproar when he lashed out at Singaporeans and called them “crybabies,” after he was criticised for calling Singapore an “almost perfect country” in one such video.
Interestingly, Nas’ videos during his last trip here led some to believe that he is sponsored by the Government to come to the country and make videos praising the nation. An impassioned Nas responded to the speculation then and rebutted that his Singapore videos “are 100% not sponsored by anyone”.
Revealing that he “came here by myself, spent my own money, to make my own videos about your country”, Nas added that it is “disheartening to see people discredit my work because of unfounded allegations”. He firmly emphasised then that his videos were not made for “any government, company or tourism board”.
Then, a few weeks later, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) – a statutory board under the Singapore Government’s Ministry of Communications and Information – announced that Nas will be partnering them for the Singapore Media Festival, where he will speak and “mentor some videomakers in Singapore”.
Days later, Nas partnered with yet another Government-linked agency and fronted NTUC Income’s retirement campaign, helping the labour movement-linked organisation promote the company’s insurance products.
Nas’ latest decision to move to Singapore has led some netizens online to assert that this proves speculation that he was so effusive in his praise for Singapore during his first trip here due to an ulterior motive:
https://theindependent.sg.sg/singaporeans-circulate-petition-to-ban-nas-daily-from-entering-singapore/