SINGAPORE: The arrest of a 17-year-old self-radicalised Singaporean less than a month before a planned terror attack in Tampines was a “very close shave” as he may have simply gone on a rampage, stated Singapore’s Minister for Law and Home Affairs Ok Shanmugam.
He was chatting with reporters on Friday (Oct 18) at an open space between Housing Board flats at Tampines Street 81, which the coed had chosen as the situation for his assault.
The Internal Security Department (ISD) stated in a press launch on Friday that the youth was arrested underneath the Internal Security Act (ISA) in August earlier than his deliberate assault throughout the college holidays in September.
He had deliberate to assault non-Muslim males close to Tampines West Community Centre utilizing both a kitchen knife or a pair of scissors from his dwelling.
Following the arrest, the teenager was subsequently issued a two-year detention order in September.
Responding to CNA’s queries on the length between the arrest and the deliberate assault, Mr Shanmugam stated: “I would say this is one of the ones where it was quite close, fairly close.
“In the previous, (in) most of the circumstances that I recall, the plans have been nonetheless a way away.”
Mr Shanmugam pointed out that the area that the teen had intended for the attack was frequented by “1000’s of individuals” every day, including senior citizens and young children, and that it would be even more crowded during the school holidays.
“They will not be coming right here anticipating to be attacked. People go round in Singapore feeling protected. So, he may simply have gone on a rampage and killed lots of people round right here.”
Senior residents and kids are “easy targets for such an attacker” and given his radicalisation and closeness to the fruition of his plans, the ISD determined it was safer to detain him, the minister stated.
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He reiterated: “Just imagine if he had gone on a rampage here. It’s a normal typical heartlands neighbourhood. What could have been the consequences?
“It may have been any of you. It may have been any of them. It might be your daughter, your son, your little one, your dad and mom.”
Mr Shanmugam also referenced other public cases of armed violence by self-radicalised young people around the world.
In July, a 14-year-old boy was arrested after stabbing a 22-year-old at the University of Sydney.
While the boy’s motive or ideology was not determined, Australian authorities had expressed concern at increasing evidence that young people were being radicalised online.
In a separate incident that also took place in Sydney, a 16-year-old boy was charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly stabbing a church bishop in April.
“CANNOT ALLOW EXTREMIST NARRATIVES TO TAKE ROOT”
The 17-year-old’s case additionally exhibits how terrorist teams, together with these like Islamic State, which aren’t immediately concerned within the Israel-Hamas conflict, “can and will” make the most of the battle to recruit and radicalise others.
It is thus vital to verify individuals in Singapore stay vigilant in opposition to imbibing radical supplies or turning into radicalised themselves, he added.
“We cannot allow extremist narratives to take root in our society, threaten our security and social harmony.”
Society, too, has to work to verify individuals don’t really feel marginalised as this may increasingly give “greater room for radicalisation”, stated the minister.
While Singapore is doing this “reasonably better” than many different locations, he urged individuals to not take the nation’s security as a right.
On the general public’s function in coping with threats of radicalisation, Mr Shanmugam stated that within the case of the 17-year-old, his dad and mom may have alerted the authorities when the youth disregarded their recommendation in opposition to watching movies of international preachers.
“It really would be good if family members and friends reported to the authorities quickly if they suspect that someone they know is being radicalised.
“This helps us to cease them from killing themselves, as a result of they’ll die within the course of. It permits us to try to rehabilitate them.”
He added that the cases picked up by authorities are often reported by parents, family members and teachers, and “very often” when they are alerted, the “particular person is not going to even be detained”.
“If the particular person may be very younger, within the early stage of radicalisation, ISD can organize for different interventions resembling non secular counselling with out arresting or detaining them,” Mr Shanmugam said.
“So the group is a vital line of defence.”