Engaging youths on security threats and social cohesion

Minister for Social and Family Development & Second Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing

Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli

MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC Zaqy Mohamad 

Permanent Secretary Ms Yeoh Chee Yan

Colleagues, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen

1. It's very good to see all of you this morning at this dialogue where we will be discussing our security threats. The dialogues that we have been having on security issues confronting Singapore are not new. I know some of you may be here for the first time, but we have been having these dialogues for quite a number of years. We have been talking to community, grassroots and religious leaders regularly, particularly since 9/11.

2. 9/11 happened more than 13 years ago. It seems like a long time, and I'm not sure how many of you remember that incident, or whether you were old enough at that time to register in your mind the significance of what happened that day. But it was certainly an important milestone in history. It changed the world in many ways. It was not just a far-away event happening in America. It had implications all over the world, and it had implications for us.
   

3. Closer to home we were affected too because we were confronted with an immediate threat with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) operatives. In fact, when the coalition forces were in Afghanistan, they chanced on videotapes and handwritten notes in the rubble of an Al-Qaeda leader's house. The tape contained footages of Yishun MRT Station in Singapore. All the way in Afghanistan there were footages of Yishun MRT Station, done as part of a recce by JI operatives. So we knew we were a target, and we were not the only target in the region. In 2002, there was the Bali Bombing where more than 200 people were killed.  In fact in 2005 there was a subsequent bombing. So around the region there are also attacks. Some of you may remember, although these were in the past. There were real threats which happened to us. So that was the environment we were in more than 10 years ago.

4. So that's why we had dialogues with our community and religious leaders, and started one shortly after 9/11. We continue to have these dialogues to talk frankly amongst ourselves, to discuss our concerns, the concerns of the government, the concerns of the community, and to share what we are doing to confront and tackle these problems together. The dialogue sessions proved to be very useful because they were open and candid. They helped to build trust, they helped to calm down nerves, and they helped to bring our different communities closer together. And that's why we have been doing this regularly since then after 9/11. We've continued to have regular dialogues since then, to keep the community and religious leaders updated on how the terrorist threat is evolving, and to continue this discussion on what we can do together to counter this threat.

5. In fact, I recall being at that first security dialogue more than 13 years ago after 9/11. I was in the audience like you, and I've attended many of the subsequent dialogues. The latest dialogue was held just a few months ago in a similar setting. At that dialogue, several of the community leaders said that it was important to have more platforms to engage our young people like yourselves. Because these community leaders looked around the room and there didn't seem like there were many young people. Many were above 50 years old. They felt it was important to engage young people, particularly those who have not personally experienced what they went through in Singapore with the racial and communal strife. They were concerned that a young generation who had not gone through that difficult period of Singapore's history might not fully appreciate the extent of how extremist terrorism can cause harm to Singapore. And how it could easily damage the racial and religious harmony we've worked hard to build over the years. 

6. I wanted to tell them I did not go through the racial riots too. Now I may be older than some of you, but I'm not that old. I'm born in 1972, so I was also not of that generation who have lived through that traumatic period of Singapore's history either. What I know about the past comes from the stories I've heard from my parents, as well as from many of my seniors who lived through that period in Singapore's history. I'm sure this is the case for all of you as well. You have not experienced it first-hand but you have probably heard from your parents or you might have heard from it through your grandparents. You may be two generations removed. I'm sure all of us understand what we've gone through the in the past and I hope we appreciate what we have today is fragile and precious. And we should do what we can to maintain our state of harmony here in Singapore.

7. That is why we have brought you here today, starting our first security dialogue with young people like yourselves. We don't want this to be just a one-off event. We want this to be a regular series where we can engage young people like yourselves on how the terrorism threat continues to develop, and to discuss what we can do about this. Just as we have regular platforms to talk to our religious leaders, we think it is important to have a platform to engage young people like yourselves, and have conversations with you, to share candidly with each other so that we can confront the security threats we face in Singapore together.

8. Of course, a lot has changed over the past decade since 9/11. We know that Osama bin Laden has been killed. There have been successful counter-terrorism efforts and these have neutralised some of the groups. So things have changed but in many ways the terrorist threat has not lost its poisonous sting. In fact, in many ways it has worsened recently.

9. In the Middle East the conflict has worsened, ISIS has descended on Iraq and Syria. It has very polished propaganda which has drawn in more than 10,000 foreign recruits. Some recruits come from Indonesia, some from Malaysia and some from Singapore.

10. Some of you may have read that one Singaporean took her 18-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son to accompany her husband to Syria, where she worked as a cook while her daughter taught English to the children of ISIS fighters. Another Singaporean even brought his whole family there, with his wife and three young children, aged between 2 and 11.

11. All of these recruits who have joined the fight, support the terrorists who are there and they would be hardened by the violence they have seen and participated in. Their passions are likely to be worked up by extremist rhetoric. They would have exchanged contacts with other fighters and terrorists. And they may well return to the region, to Indonesia, to Malaysia and to Singapore. You will never know what consequences may arise when they come back.
    

12. Today, ISIS' efforts to destabilise the Middle East is already bringing even more people into the orbit of organised terrorism. And we see this happening in recent events too. In France for example you may have read in the news about what happened in the office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine. Terrorists went into the office of this publication and cold-bloodedly killed 12 people. These were trained terrorists who have probable links to ISIS.

13. The threat that we face does not come from organised groups alone. We also have the Internet and social media full of extremist propaganda. So when we have that out in the open, it becomes easy for individuals to be self-radicalised as well. They start to get worked up and you will never know what can happen. Again this does not only happen around the world, but we have also seen examples of this happening in Singapore.
    

14. In 2013, two Singaporean youth became fixated with radical videos and literature. One had studied media in a Polytechnic, while the other supposedly had a passion for Mixed Martial Arts. One of them tried to contact foreign militant groups so as to join them, while the other youth abetted these plans. Both were found out and placed on Restriction Orders.

15. So it's very possible that a lone wolf not linked to any organised groups, an individual may emerge, self-radicalised, and may come out from our society. This person could then have the motivation to start plotting his or her own violent acts.

16. This is not something made up but a very real threat because we saw something like this happening around us recently in December last year. In Sydney, an Australian citizen Man Haron Monis held 17 people hostage in a chocolate shop in Sydney. He most likely operated on his own, not linked to any particular organised groups, but a lone wolf causing a lot of trouble.

17. So we should not be naïve in thinking these threats are far away, they are in other countries, they don't affect us, and if we keep our heads low, the threats will pass us. Make no mistake, the security threats we face are real and serious. And we have to do whatever necessary to protect Singapore and Singaporeans. That means being vigilant, neutralising the threats to Singapore, getting community support to get our community close together if something were to happen in Singapore. It also means contributing to international efforts to tackle the threat at source, which we are doing by being part of the coalition against ISIS.

18. So these are the things that we have been doing and will continue to do. It is important to recognise that as we do all these things, we are responding from a position of strength. Our most powerful asset is the reservoir of goodwill between races and religions which we have built up over the years. These good relations between different races and religions came about neither by accident nor by good fortune. It is the fruit of a lot of hard work by our parents' generation and the people who came before us, our grandparents' generation, the pioneers. It is the result of their hard work, the fruit of all they have done to build trust and good relationships between the different communities.

19. We should also recognise that while we have this precious asset today, the reservoir of goodwill can be easily depleted. Should something happen in Singapore, that attack can easily undermine the trust we have been building up over the past 50 years. Of course we try very hard to prevent something from happening to begin with, but when something happens, when lives are lost, some people may start asking questions – can I trust somebody who looks different or dresses differently from me? How will our bonds come under strain, how will we be affected, how will our social fabric be affected?

20. And it is not just the day after the attack. Nowadays, with social media, the reactions come instantaneously. How will we respond hours, or minutes, or seconds after the attack? What will you do when we see Tweets and Facebook posts spreading, some of them perhaps conveying vengeance, revenge, suspicion, mistrust? And when these things happen on social media, how do we react, how will our reactions shape and affect social trust thereafter.

21. Again you can look at the experience of other countries to see what happened. Some countries have suffered terrorist attacks. In some instances, after the attack, there are certain individuals and groups that are quick to propagate messages of fear and hate. This is after an attack on your own home front, and yet you have groups that are very quick to pounce on it to spread negative messages of hate. There were vile remarks on social media that were spread. Mosques and Muslim businesses were vandalised days after the Charlie Hebdo gunnings. This has happened. To say that this will not happen, everything will be okay, is not realistic, because we see this happening in other countries. After something comes up, suspicion comes up, fear comes up, things are spread on social media and they get viral. And you get even more hatred built up, mistrust built up.

22. But this is not the only path that is available to us, because we have seen other responses. After the Sydney lone-wolf hostage crisis, an Australian noticed a fellow female commuter silently removing her hijab on the train. This Australian ran after the lady and said, “Put it back on. I'll walk with you.” This sparked a hashtag called #illridewithyou, assuring Muslims in Sydney that they would not be marginalised, and that the criminal act of one should not smear the faith of many. So #illridewithyou generated 150,000 Tweets in 4 hours. Very positive, very fast response. The community held together, people came together. They had solidarity as a society.

23. So we do have a choice, we can choose how to respond. The question we should ask ouselves: if an incident were to happen in Singapore, how will you react? If something were to happen, and things start spreading on social media, how will you react. I think that's something we should reflect on and something worth thinking about.

24. For the past 50 years, we have enjoyed considerable harmony and stability in Singapore. For that, we owe a big debt of gratitude to the people who walked this path before us, especially our pioneers. When faced with terrorist threats, they condemned the extremists very quickly; they acted rationally in the best interest of the nation, they upheld and maintained the trust among the different communities. Our pioneers did that. Our community leaders did that. Our religious leaders across all faiths did that resolutely. And because of their tremendous response, we have held our community together.

25. The challenge is going forward, all of us will be the ones who have to take up this responsibility to deal with the threats of extremism and terrorism. Our forefathers did it well, and now the responsibility lies with us. That's why we have asked the security agencies to brief you. They will share with you what's happening in the security environment. They will share with you the realities and risks that we face. They will be as frank as they can be, so they will share with you things which you may not read in the newspapers or at least help you appreciate and understand what you read in the newspapers. So that you can appreciate what you have to do together. This will be a closed-door session without media so that you can give your views candidly.

26. This will be a long-term fight. It's not something you can win in the short term. It will be difficult. But if we continue to uphold the spirit of our pioneers, if we continue to close ranks and work together, then I'm confident we will prevail. So let's listen to the briefing and after that, we will break up for smaller-group discussions, and then come together again for a candid discussion. Share your anxieties. Share respectfully.