SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has reiterated its call for friends and family members of self-radicalised individuals to alert the authorities, saying this would save them from harming themselves and those around them.

The ministry noted that there had been cases of self-radicalisation here, where friends and family members noticed something amiss, but chose not to raise the alarm “either out of denial (that there is a problem), or because they believe misguidedly that they are protecting their loved ones”.

“The opposite is true — by alerting the authorities to signs of radicalisation early, friends and family members are in fact helping to save them from harming themselves and those around them,” the MHA said.

In the first-ever national terrorism threat assessment report the Government has released, the MHA flagged homegrown, self-radicalised lone actors as one of the sources of potential attacks.

The ministry added that family and friends are often the first to spot behavioural changes when those around them have possibly been influenced by radical material.

“They are thus best-placed to counsel the possibly self-radicalised individuals before they step off the precipice, or to alert the authorities if they are unable to rein in the individuals,” it added.

The readiness to report friends or family members is a microcosm of the vigilance the community in general has to be imbued with, in light of the “high likelihood of an attack” in Singapore, said MHA.

The dangers of a community staying silent when things are amiss were evident in attacks abroad that happened recently.

For instance, several months before Said and Cherif Kouachi went on a shooting rampage at the office of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and killed a dozen people in January 2015, the brothers’ neighbours broke into their home once and found a cache of arms, but did not go to the authorities.

The MHA stressed that even as the security agencies do what it takes to detect and prevent terrorist attacks, the “amorphous nature of the enemy we face today” means that they cannot do so alone.

“What is at stake is not just property and lives, but our way of life and our identity as a multiracial, multi-religious society,” the ministry added.

“Each one of us has a part to play in keeping Singapore safe.”