SINGAPORE - Building bridges and fostering understanding among the different racial and religious groups are vital to safeguarding Singapore's communal harmony, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim on Saturday (July 16).
This in turn helps to keep the country united in its fight against violent extremism, he said, adding that the Government cannot counter the terror threat alone.
He was speaking at a session about countering violent extremism organised by Taman Bacaan in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Aftercare Group and the Religious Rehabilitation Group.
Taman Bacaan, or Singapore Malay Youth Library Association, has been organising dialogue sessions to engage youth and get them involved in strengthening social cohesion.
Associate Professor Faishal said: "The Covid-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges to our security landscape, namely in changing how terrorist organisations operate globally.
"In Singapore, the pandemic has also deepened our racial and religious fault lines, following the spate of communal disputes that were precipitated by the stressors of Covid-19."
Such disputes underscore the fragility of Singapore's communal relations and the need to continually tend to social cohesion in peacetime, he added.
Prof Faishal also referred to the recent report released by the Internal Security Department assessing Singapore's terrorism threat.
"Based on the report, it is indeed worrying that the terrorism threat to Singapore remains high," he said.
He added: "While the report highlighted that there is no imminent terrorist threat to Singapore, we continue to feature as a target in terrorist propaganda.
"With the easing of the Covid-19 restrictions and resumption of overseas travel, terrorist groups may become more active and take the opportunity to reignite their attack plans that were previously put on hold."
The report also emphasised the threat from Islamist terrorist groups that continue to raise funds and plot attacks, as well as propagate their violent ideology online, he said.
"This is why the Government takes a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of extremist rhetoric and hate speech, to prevent their proliferation and acceptance here."
Since 2015, 45 self-radicalised individuals - comprising 33 Singaporeans and 12 foreigners - have been issued with orders of detention or restriction orders under the Internal Security Act, he noted.
Thirteen of them, including three Singaporeans, have been convicted of terrorism financing offences.
One way members of the community, including youth, can help the Government to counter the terror threat is by being the eyes and ears on the ground and reporting suspicious individuals before they go further down the path of radicalism, Prof Faishal said.
He added: "In addition, all of you can play an important role in building bridges and fostering understanding among the different racial and religious groups so as to safeguard Singapore's communal harmony.
"This is to ensure that our society can stand united in the event of a terrorist attack here."
Dr Jolene Jerard, executive director of public safety and management consultancy firm Centinel and adjunct senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), said at the dialogue held in Bedok that it is also important to recognise that cohesion is a choice.
Singapore is one of the most diverse places in the world and diversity does not have to be a source of division, she said. But diversity is also not an inevitable outcome.
"A lot of effort needs to go in. The art of cohesion is born out of a conscious choice. We make that conscious choice to embody a lot of these common values," she said.
RSIS researcher Ahmad Helmi Hasbi added that cohesion within the community and the whole of society will mean that terrorist groups cannot make use of crises like Covid-19 to destabilise and influence people to their cause.
