All Singaporeans must stand together, or terrorists will win: Grace Fu

SINGAPORE — Singaporeans must stand united amid “challenging times”, said Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu on Monday (June 12), following news of the detention of infant care assistant Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari for radicalisation.

Noting Muslims here will be worried that fellow Singaporeans may fear and doubt them, Ms Fu wrote on Facebook: “If Singaporeans start to shun and reject one another, our society will fracture, and the terrorists will win.”

She added: “We must never let that happen. We must stand with them in these challenging times. As Singaporeans, if we stay united, we will prevail. Stay alert. Stay united. Stay strong.”

Stressing that she was “disturbed” by 22-year-old Izzah’s radicalisation through social media, Ms Fu noted that Izzah had come under the influence of extremists whom she met online, and she wanted to travel to Syria and marry a terror supporter. “Terrorists exploit the fears and aspirations of their targets by using religion as a cover,” she said. 

Reiterating calls for the community to stay vigilant and report individuals suspected of radicalisation, she added: “Muslim leaders here have consistently condemned these terrorists for wrongly using the name of Islam and rejected their ideology … (And) urged all in the community to seek help if they know of someone suspected of coming under extremist influences, because doing so is showing care for their loved ones and everyone in the community.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim reiterated that extremists who “abuse Islam for their own twisted agenda … belong to a small group”.

“It is important for us to recognise that the wider, vast majority of the Malay-Muslim community are peace-loving. We, like other communities want to be part of the nation,” said Dr Yaacob in a video posted on his Facebook page.

To receive this news during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is “heart-wrenching”, said Dr Yaacob, who is also Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs.

“For this to happen during this month of Ramadan is really very heart-wrenching for me, especially with all the efforts we have put in during this month (to) open our doors and our places of worship to invite our non-Muslim friends to break fast together so that we can … continue to strengthen the ties that bind us as a nation.”

He added: “I hope this incident in no way undermines the good efforts we have put in the last few years when this phenomenon emerged in our community.”