Several Singaporeans have signed a petition to ban prominent social media influencer Nuseir Yassin – also called Nas Daily after his highly popular daily 1-minute video series – from entering Singapore, hours after it was announced that Nas and his team are moving to Singapore.
Nas received backlash 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, calling 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.
This morning, Nas’ partner Alyne Tamir announced that Nas is moving them and his entire company to Singapore. She wrote on social media:
“Singapore is the hub of Asia, and arguably a major hub of the world. That’s why @nasdaily is moving us, and his company there…Their airport is insane (it has a movie theatre and a butterfly garden), there’s almost no traffic (a blessing for an LA girl) and the people are amazingly nice (and smart!). We could be there two months or two years, but no matter how long it is it’s going to be SICK! See you soon, SINGAPORE!”
While some Singaporeans welcomed Nas to Singapore, several others are not so happy with his decision. One unhappy Singaporean even started a petition on Change.org to ban Nas from entering Singapore and has attracted over 100 signatories in the span of a few hours.
Addressed to the IMDA, the Government and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the petition states that Nas is not welcome in Singapore due to his videos which purportedly contain “brainwashing elements and subliminal messages”.
The person who started the petition, Azman Samsudin, wrote:
“Nas Daily has been documenting videos for 3 years with his final one being on the fifth of January, 2019. Due to the fact that his videos do contain stereotypical and also brainwashing elements and subliminal messages, we therefore wish to not have him here in Singapore to make matters worst.
“He is a Muslim, but intended to have his own religion for his own benefits. What does that make him as a Muslim? Please support me by signing this petition to have him banned in Singapore, as he will be coming over and settle here starting from next month!”
Netizens on other social media platforms have also been unwelcoming of Nas. Some said that his decision to move to Singapore proves speculation that he was so effusive in his praise for Singapore during his first trip here due to an ulterior motive:
