With Islamic State (IS) losing ground in Iraq and Syria, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Tuesday (April 4) underscored the growing terrorist threat in Singapore’s backyard, and warned that an area less than a four-hour flight away is becoming a sanctuary for returning fighters from the Middle East and where attacks could be launched on South-east Asia. And he stressed that this could become a problem not just for the region but for the rest of the world as well.
“The potential locus of the threat could move to Southern Philippines, which is becoming an area that is difficult to control, despite the best efforts of the government … It can be a place where would-be terrorists, and those who are radicalised from this region, can go to get trained,” said Mr Shanmugam, who was speaking at an international exhibition on homeland security held at Marina Bay Sands.
“Arms seem to move fairly easily into that region, and from there as a base, they can spread out again to attack this region. So, newly radicalised, would-be fighters, battle-hardened, veterans from the Middle East, and people who are released from prisons, who have not yet been rehabilitated, can all gravitate there. At the right time and opportunity, they may well attack.”
In August last year, Mr Ahmad El-Muhammady, an adviser to the Royal Malaysia Police on terrorist detainees, said the area controlled by IS is shrinking, and in order to maintain support among its fighters, the terrorist organisation is growing its presence in “the second ring of conflict, that is their neighbouring countries, or the third ring of conflict, that is South-east Asia”.
Referring to Mr Ahmad’s remarks, Mr Shanmugam reiterated that the people who come back to the region will be “hardened ideologues, hardened fighters and willing to give up their lives”. He added: “This region is not very far from any other region, so it doesn’t take very long to get anywhere else. It’s not a local problem, it’s not a regional problem. It’s a problem for all of us.”
Mr Shanmugam noted that South-east Asia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, has been of “considerable interest” to IS, which has set up a Malay Archipelago Unit in Syria and Iraq, called Katibah Nusantara. The unit is actively reaching out to the Malay-speaking population in this region, using propaganda videos and newspapers in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malayu to recruit new members.
Across the Causeway, Malaysia has made several arrests of IS supporters in recent months. IS’ worldview consists of “Malaysia, Indonesia and obviously Singapore, which is in the middle of it, Southern Philippines, as part of a larger caliphate ruled by a caliph, it cannot be by a system of governance, governed by anything other than the rule of God”, Mr Shanmugam said.
“So there cannot be elections, there cannot be a democratic system. If you have instability along these lines, in this region, it leads up to the rest of South-east Asia and all the way to China, and of course South Asia. So it’s a pan-Asian problem, and given the connectivity, no region is really very far from any other region. Then that is an issue for the rest of the world as well, with a strong centre here.”
Mr Shanmugam also spoke on the changing nature of terror attacks. Citing recent incidents in Nice, Berlin and London, he noted that “anything can become a weapon” today. Referring to the case of a young man who was nabbed after he wanted to “take a knife and kill our President and Prime Minister”, Mr Shanmugam noted that Singapore’s laws allow the authorities to “move in very early and we can detain people”. “A terror attack can take place any time, any place, and they can attack and impact on anyone — with a possibility of a loss of lives, within a short period of time, with little or no warning,” he said.
However, he stressed that terrorists will not prevail. “Because I think the nature of human beings is that we look for progress, and I do not believe that any culture, or system, or people or civilisation can be held back … progress is inevitable, a better life is inevitable,” he said.
Source: www.todayonline.com
