Muis’ online efforts to address youth radicalisation

Response to parliamentary question on how Muis is utilising digital platforms to combat youth radicalisation

1. SalamSG TV is a faith-inspired YouTube channel developed by Muis during the circuit breaker in 2020, and is now part of the SalamSG Movement, a nationwide community movement driven by all mosques in Singapore with the aim of spreading good within and beyond the community. MuslimSG is a one-stop online media platform by Muis that provides Islamic religious content.
   
   
2. Muis leverages SalamSG TV and MuslimSG, as well as collaborates with key influencers to promote mainstream, contextualised Islam. This includes disseminating positive and religiously accurate, and context-appropriate narratives that inoculate Muslim youth in Singapore against inappropriate, divisive and exclusivist religious content.
   
   
3. SalamSG TV and MuslimSG have achieved substantial reach and engagement, including with the youth. A significant portion of this reach is to youth – for SalamSG TV, 63.2% of its Facebook audience in 2022 were between the ages of 13 to 44 years old, and for MuslimSG, 70.9% of its Facebook audience in 2022 were between the ages of 13 to 44 years old.
   
   
4. The Honourable Member raised mysafespace.sg, which is a chat portal that connects asatizah to those who wish to seek guidance on religious matters anonymously. This is a ground-up initiative by a group of asatizah and Muis is not directly involved. However, most of the asatizah on mysafespace.sg are from the Asatizah Youth Network (AYN), which was formed by Muis to engage youth in our community via social media. Muis supports the AYN, by funding training in areas such as developing positive counter-narratives, curating digital content, as well as youth-specific counselling skills. 
   
   
5. Muis will continue to support the development of our asatizah, so that they may provide religious guidance to the community, including reaching out through different and innovative ways such as mysafespace.sg. In 2019, the Committee on Future Asatizah (COFA) was formed to develop a vision for the asatizah of the future. In line with their recommendations to achieve this vision, Muis remains committed to professionalise the asatizah sector, strengthen our religious institutions, and nurture inspiring religious graduates.