Community & family vigilance critical against self-radicalis
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Community & family vigilance critical against self-radicalisation: DPM Wong
By Saifulbahri Ismail | Posted: 11 July 2010 1720 hrsSINGAPORE : 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 -
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