Presidential hopeful Farid Khan shuts Facebook page after gaffe

A social media gaffe yesterday prompted presidential hopeful Farid Khan Kaim Khan to close his personal Facebook account.

A link to an online petition calling for the trial of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi for human rights violations over the Rohingya crisis had appeared on his personal Facebook page, and the incident was reported by local news blog All Singapore Stuff.

Mr Farid had submitted papers for a certificate of eligibility and Malay community certificate for the upcoming presidential electionon Aug 24.

Accompanied by screenshots, the article had said: "Presidential candidate Farid Khan has thrown his weight behind a petition calling on the European Court of Human Rights to try Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi for human rights violations over the 'ethnic cleansing' taking place against the Rohingya community in her country."

At 4.15pm yesterday, Mr Farid uploaded a statement to his campaign's Facebook account, which is still up.

Said Mr Farid: "The report is completely untrue. While managing my personal Facebook account, a member of my media team had accidentally shared several postings which appeared on my wall."

He said this happened due to the use of a touchscreen device.

His personal Facebook page was closed to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Mr Farid's campaign manager, Mr Borhan Saini, told The New Paper that the team member in question has been given a "warning".

He said: "It was an accident; the team member just tangan gatal (Malay for itchy hands)."