Community & family vigilance critical against
self-radicalisation: DPM Wong
By Saifulbahri Ismail | Posted: 11 July 2010 1720 hrs
SINGAPORE : Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs
Minister Wong Kan Seng on Sunday said the community and family have
a critical role to play in preventing individuals from being
self-radicalised.
He said this in response to questions from reporters at a community
event, on the latest action by Singapore's Internal Security
Department (ISD).
The job of detecting individuals who feed on content from websites
and end up becoming security threats does not lie with the
government or agencies alone. The community must also be
vigilant.
Families need to be alert, especially when members reveal what they
intend to do.
Mr Wong said that while it is difficult to detect self-radicalised
individuals, there are tell-tale signs.
He said: "For the few cases that we know now, really the family
members knew. They may not know the real intent, but hearing
comments from those individuals in the family, they should be
wondering why do they say such things.
"For some of these family members, they treat it as a joke or they
do not take it seriously, and therefore the individual continued
with the kind of conduct and behaviour that they did. So, that is
an important matter for family members to take note."
And it is not enough just to take note - families should also
report the cases and seek help.
Mr Wong's comments come in the wake of the detention of 20-year-old
National Serviceman Muhammad Fadil Abdul Hamid who had contacted
radical Muslim cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki over the Internet and
expressed a desire to join militant jihad overseas. Another two
were placed on Restriction Orders.
Mr Wong also reminded Singaporeans of the security threats that the
country faces.
He said: "Whatever measures we take, we will always be faced with
new threats, new imaginative methods by terrorists who may want to
do harm to Singapore, or even in other parts of the world."
Mr Wong said he will address the cases detected by the ISD when
Parliament sits on July 19. - CNA/ms
