Former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng has settled his claim for defamation against former Singapore Democratic Party chairman Jufrie Mahmood.

Cheng sued Mahmood over a Facebook post made in March this year about Cheng's comments on activists who disrupted a Meet-the-People Session in Chong Pang.

Mahmood had said that Cheng, who proposed sending the activists to Gaza as long as they did not return, was an Islamophobe and a threat to racial and religious harmony to Singapore.

Cheng has since apologised for his comments and said he should have been more sensitive.

On Mahmood's accusations, Cheng said in April that they were "factual inaccuracies" and "outright lies", and took legal action against him.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Aug 12), Mahmood said that he has met with Cheng to "speak to each other frankly and civilly". 

He added that he has retracted all of his statements against Cheng after accepting he is "neither a racist nor an Islamophobe".

"While I thought Mr Cheng was insensitive, which he accepts, I now recognise that I was too harsh in some of my other comments," he said. "In light of our meeting and further information made available to me, we both agreed to resolve our differences amicably and the court case."

Separately, Cheng confirmed in a Facebook post the same day that Mahmood had retracted all of the statements made against him.

“Gaza is a divisive and emotive issue. But as Singaporeans, we can agree to disagree,” he said. “I met up with Mr Jufrie at my lawyers’ offices. We agreed we both want the best for Singapore.”

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Chingshijie@asiaone.com