Staying united against religious extremism

Chief Rabbi Mordechai Abergel,

Imam Habib Hassan Al-Attas,

Mr Nash Benjamin, President of the Jewish Welfare Board

Haji Alami Musa, President of Muis

Community Leaders,

1. I would like to thank the Muslim Kidney Action Association and Roses of Peace for organising this special gathering that brings us together in friendship and solidarity.

Strong inter-faith solidarity

2. Like many of you, I was very disturbed to hear of a young Singaporean Muslim who was radicalised and made plans to commit a terrorist attack against the Jewish community in Singapore. There is no place for such acts of violence that threatens the precious harmony we have built up over the decades in our multi-religious and multi-racial society.

3. I was therefore heartened by how our Muslim community, as well as other faith leaders, quickly rallied together to show their solidarity and send a message of peace to our Jewish community.

   1. Our Mufti Dr Nazirudin Nasir visited Chief Rabbi Mordechai Abergel at the Synagogue to reaffirm the strong bonds of friendship that keep us strong and united in the face of these threats.

   2. The Jewish Welfare Board responded with conviction not to allow this isolated incident affect the strong friendship and trust between the Jewish and Muslim communities.

4. Today’s gathering of 20 Malay/Muslim organisations with the Jewish community is a further testament to the solidarity among our religious communities. I thank our Malay/Muslim community leaders for your strong support.

Staying vigilant and united against religious extremism

5. The recent cases of self-radicalised youth remind us that the threats of terrorism and self-radicalisation continue to exist in pockets across Singapore, regardless of race and religion. Our connectivity with the world and the pervasiveness of social media requires us to remain vigilant against the threat of online self-radicalisation. We must also remain united and not let such threats or radicalised individuals pull us apart.

6. The Government will continue to ensure that extremist content that threatens our common space and social harmony does not proliferate online. But, with the Internet being what it is, it will not be possible to eradicate all such content.

7. Hence, we have to adopt a whole-of-society approach to counter extremist views that can be found online.

   1. Muis and other religious organisations provide their followers guidance when seeking out religious content online. They emphasise the need to be discerning and sensitive, and to unequivocally reject content laced with hate and that causes enmity with others.

   2. Our religious organisations also put out their own online content that promotes inter-faith understanding and is contexualised to our multi-religious society in Singapore. I encourage our religious organisations to keep up these important efforts.

   3. Our schools also teach students how to safely navigate online content and foster mutual trust and understanding among students of different races and religions.

   4. Equally important, parents and peers should also monitor their children’s and friends’ access to online content and observe any visible changes in behaviours or attitude that may raise concerns.

Strengthening inter-faith trust and understanding

8. Our efforts to counter religious extremism must continue to be undergirded by a strong foundation of trust and understanding among our religious and ethnic communities. We must continue to build this trust and understanding over successive generations of Singaporeans, and never take it for granted.

9. For example, there have been many community-led efforts to foster friendship between Muslims and Jews in Singapore. We just saw a video of how the Jewish Welfare Board hosted an Interfaith Iftar Gathering to break fast with religious and community leaders at the Maghain Aboth Synagogue in 2019. I also understand that community leaders from the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCC) have also toured the Synagogue, before discussing initiatives to work together on building social cohesion in the community.

10. The Government will continue to support these community-driven efforts and work closely with our religious and community organisations to build trust and mutual understanding among Singaporeans across religions and races.

    1. For instance, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth’s Harmony Fund has supported about 200 initiatives over the past 7 years that helped to strengthen racial and religious harmony and enabled our religious and community orgnisations to develop capabilities to undertake such efforts.

    2. Just a few months ago in December, MCCY organised a hackathon that brought together over 200 youth participants to propose projects that foster social cohesion. I look forward to these projects being implemented in the months ahead.

    3. Our IRCCs continue to work closely with religious and grassroots organisations to foster dialogue and collaboration across different religious and ethnic communities.

Conclusion

11. Singapore has thrived as a multicultural nation because of our steadfast efforts to foster mutual trust and understanding, which allows us to find strength in our diversity. We must never let divisive forces pull us apart. We draw lessons from events around the world that have divided societies. With the support of our religious and community leaders, we can and we will work together to build a stronger and more cohesive society.

12. Thank you.