SINGAPORE — The best defence against extremism is to ensure that no community feels marginalised or disadvantaged, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.

Once that has been achieved, he noted that tools such as the Internal Security Act - which provides authorities with the power to detain radicalised individuals, among other things - can be used.

Mr Shanmugam made these points in an interview with TODAY and The Straits Times on Tuesday (July 30), when he spoke about the challenges presented by terrorism and extremism.

He stressed that underlying the Government’s efforts to stamp out extremism is the battle for the hearts and minds of Singaporeans across all communities.

“(We have) got to keep community tolerance between communities, between religions and work hard, making sure that no community feels left out. And no community feels that they are going to be prejudiced or racially targeted,” he said.

Mr Shanmugam continued: “They need to feel that the Government is fair, the Government is committed to their well-being and will treat everyone equally. That is critical. Because if they feel as a community, any community feels that they are marginalised or disadvantaged, then that will be a problem. So that's a broader issue.

“It is only when you can assure the majority in each community that we are fair and we will treat everyone equally, then all the other tools can be used with the small minority. But if the majority in our community feels that they are disadvantaged, then these tools won’t be effective.”

ISA REMAINS RELEVANT

In the interview, Mr Shanmugam emphasised the importance of the ISA, having said previously that there is substantial support for the law. “The ISA, I think to me that's highly critical, essential and (the) single most important tool that we have. And it allows us to detain early,” he added.

The ISA allows for preventive detention, the prevention of subversion and the suppression of organised violence against individuals and property in order to ensure internal security.

But human rights activists have long called for the ISA to be abolished, accusing the Government of having used it against political opponents in the past. The calls grew louder after Malaysia repealed its own ISA in 2012, introducing a replacement law called the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act or Sosma. It took effect in July that year.

The new law, however, has been criticised by security analysts as a weak instrument that does not tackle the rising threat of terrorism. And this led the Malaysian government to pass another law, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota), in 2015 to deal specifically with terrorism.

Mr Shanmugam said it is not appropriate to try radicalised individuals or extremists in open court, as doing so “could make things worse”. There is also the issue of revealing national intelligence, he added.

In the United States, some terrorists are detained in the detention camp Guantanamo Bay – located in Cuba – a move which has been criticised by some for flouting human rights.

Campaigning before he took office in 2009, former US President Barack Obama promised to close the camp, but at the end of his two terms, his administration conceded that it had been unable to fulfil the pledge. In 2018, the new US President Donald Trump issued an executive order to keep the camp open.

Mr Shanmugam said the US has argued that detainees at the camp do not have the same rights as those on US soil as the camp is not located within US territory.

“So, it's detention without trial. But they satisfy themselves that that's because it’s not US territory. And they find it very difficult to bring them to trial and at the same time, obviously, they don't want to let them go either,” he said.

“I think it's better to be upfront about it, have such a law and the detainees are better treated here because there's a process. It's not lock you up and the keys are thrown away.”

EXTREMIST IDEOLOGY SINKING IN

In Singapore, when radicalised individuals are arrested, they are either placed on restriction or detention orders depending on the extent of their radicalisation. Many have been rehabilitated and released, Mr Shanmugam pointed out.

He said: “So we have a clear process, detention, rehabilitate and release. You detain them and you don't do anything else with them and you put them away, then their lives are not going to get better. And you're not doing anything to deal with the situation really.”

Though the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) is today a shadow of its once-formidable self in the Middle East, Mr Shanmugam warned that its ideology is still very much alive.

The number of individuals detained for radicalisation went up sharply when Isis was at its peak, he noted. While the group’s ideology does not have as much effect as it used to, some individuals continue to embrace it.

Mr Shanmugam cited the examples of four Singaporeans, including three who took their families to Iraq and Syria. One of them was 39-year-old Megat Shahdan Abdul Samad, who had appeared in an Isis propaganda video. In January this year, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that local authorities said that he is believed to have been killed. However, Mr Shanmugam said that he “has been reputed to be killed but we can’t confirm that”.

The minister said that Megat had also encouraged his friends to do damage in Singapore, which include asking one of them specifically to drive a lorry into a Thaipusam procession.

In a follow-up email to TODAY, the MHA said that the other three – Haja Fakkurudeen Usman Ali, Maimunah binte Abdul Kadir and Fauziah Begum binte Khamal Bacha – travelled there with their respective families.  

Fauziah has also been reportedly killed in Syria, the ministry said, adding that it was reported in the media in June 2019 that Fauziah’s three surviving children, all Australian citizens, were evacuated from Syria by Australian authorities.  

The MHA said it was unable to comment further on the whereabouts of Haja, Maimunah and their family members.

Just a few weeks ago, authorities revealed that two individuals had been detained under the ISA for terrorism-related conduct, including a man who had been regularly contacting the mastermind behind the Sri Lanka Easter bomb attacks in April. Mr Shanmugam said this reflects the fact that the fight against extremism is not completely over.

MAINTAINING HARMONY

Recently, the Government said that it will update the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA), which was introduced in 1992.

Asked how the upcoming changes fit into the broader legal framework to counter hate speech, Mr Shanmugam said that there is a need for one law to segue into the other.

Hate speech deepens divisions, creating a “coarseness in public discourse” and eventually leads to a “greater gulf”, he stressed.

He added: “One sort of language lead to another sort of language and the incitement of violence would naturally follow in songs and in speech. And that would then lead to actual violence, as is the case in many countries in the world. And we cannot allow that to happen.”

The ISA, Mr Shanmugam pointed out, allows the Government to deal with immediate security threats. And when it comes to tackling individuals trying to sow discord, there is a need for other legal tools – beyond the ISA – which have lesser levels of power.

At a recent forum on extremism, former diplomat Bilahari Kausikan said that the three factors – the Arabisation of Islam, foreign interference by countries wanting to assert their identity and the rise of evangelical Christianity – could pose a threat to social cohesion.

Asked to comment, Mr Shanmugam said that foreign interference, for instance, is not unique or new to Singapore.

“... their intention behind the attempts is clear. But the means have now multiplied because of online possibilities,” he said.

“And it allows a foreign country to permanently keep your population in a tense situation, creates trouble. So, more challenges.”