PRIME MINISTER GOH CHOK TONG'S OPENING REMARKS AT DIALOGUE WITH
COMMUNITY LEADERS ON IMPACT OF ARREST OF JEMAAH ISLAMIAH OPERATIVES, ON
MONDAY, 28 JANUARY 2002, AT 8.00 PM AT THE KALLANG THEATRE

I was worried about the consequences of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, and the ensuing war in Afghanistan, on our social cohesion. Fortunately, Singaporeans of all races and religions reacted responsibly and maturely to the events. Though the attacks were committed by a group of people professing to be fighting for the interests of Islam, non-Muslim Singaporeans did not put the blame on
Islam or our Muslim community. They did not suspect our Muslims to be sympathisers of Osama bin Laden. Malay/Muslim Singaporeans came out strongly and unequivocally to condemn the attacks. They understood that the war in Afghanistan was against terrorism, not Islam.

We did not know then that Osama's Al Qaeda network had already penetrated Singapore. So Singaporeans were shocked when they learnt earlier this month, of the arrest of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) operatives.

The JI episode has worrying implications for our multi-racial and multi-religious society.

What will our Chinese and Indians now think of our Malay/Muslims, since the JI operatives carried out their activities in the name of Islam?

How will our Malay/Muslims react to such suspicions?

How do we prevent distrust between the different racial and religious communities from arising, should a terrorist act by some Malay/Muslim Singaporeans take place in the future?

These are questions I want to discuss tonight. We should do so openly and candidly. It does not matter if we see things differently. The primary objective is to get our irrational fears off our chest, and get to know each other better. In this spirit, we should not take offence if out of ignorance, questions or comments are made in an insensitive manner.

Reactions of Non-Muslims

First, the reactions of non-Muslim Singaporeans. We cannot deny that some non-Muslims may misunderstand and distrust our Malay/Muslim community as a result of this JI episode. They may wrongly associate the values and beliefs of the JI operatives with our Malay/Muslim community.

A Chinese senior civil servant told me that his mother, in her late sixties, called him immediately after news of the arrests broke out. She had discussed the issue with her friend, who proclaimed that henceforth, she would not get into the same lift with a Malay!

Such a reaction is irrational, and of course, wrong. But it is not totally unexpected. I know of others who felt that way. We have to check and correct such misgivings. Non-Muslim Singaporeans should not allow suspicion and distrust to infect our relations with our Malay/Muslim community just because of the acts of a few extremists.

Our Malay/Muslim community are good, loyal Singaporeans. They want to live in a peaceful and secure society. They are against terrorism and the evil deeds of the JI operatives, and have come out openly to condemn them. They have also criticised the wild and extreme views of Zulfikar, the ex-CEO of Fateha.

On the other hand, the JI operatives are a small, isolated group of misguided Muslims. They were made use of in subordinate jobs by foreign terrorists. They did only the reconnaissance work. The final hi-tech explosions were going to be carried out by foreign experts.

True, many of our Malay/Muslims are becoming more religious in their practice of Islam. This is a worldwide phenomenon among Muslims. It started from the Middle East and has now become global through personal interaction, travel, TV and the Internet. But this does not mean that our Malay/Muslims support violence and terrorism.

The Government will therefore not allow any Singaporean to discriminate against and blame our Malay/Muslim community for the acts of these few extremists. In fact, we must assure our Malay/Muslim
community of their security. They are safe in Singapore because the Government will not allow them to be made scapegoats. We must all work together to prevent any distrust from building up between the different races and religions.

For example, some Chinese companies may shun employing Malay/Muslims henceforth. This would be terribly wrong. It would only aggravate the matter and divide our society. That is why I have invited business leaders to tonight's dialogue as well. I would like them to make greater efforts than before to ensure that there are no such discriminatory attitudes among employers.

But non-Muslim Singaporeans must go beyond simply refraining from letting suspicion and distrust affect their relations with our Malay/Muslim community. We must pro-actively reach out to our Malay/Muslim community. We must get to know them better. This way, we will develop greater confidence, friendship and trust with each other. We can then better build a successful, multi-racial, multi-religious society.

Take the example of our Malay MPs, my Malay grassroots leaders in Marine Parade, and my old Malay school friends. I know them personally. I trust them. I respect their religious beliefs and practices. Because of my rapport and friendship with them, we have been able to discuss the implications of the JI episode and other racially sensitive issues openly and frankly.

Likewise, you must reach out to your Malay/Muslim neighbours. That may take a while to achieve, but you must make the effort. What we can also do is to establish mechanisms for MPs and grassroots leaders to get to know the mosque committees and the local leaders of Malay/Muslim organisations in their constituencies. This will be critical in the trauma after a terror attack. If the religious and local leaders of the various communities know and have strong rapport with each other, then they will be able to work together to manage the inevitable emotional outbursts from the ground. They will be able to quickly restore confidence among the communities. We cannot afford a repeat of the panic and irrational fear that led to segregation of the races after the two riots of 1964.

I hope Malay/Muslims will also make an effort to participate more actively in non-Malay/Muslim activities. Many Malay/Muslim leaders are very active in the mosque committees. They are less active in non-mosque grassroots activities. They should now be active in both spheres.

Reactions of Malay/Muslims
Next, the reactions of Malay/Muslims. Our Malay/Muslims may become more sensitive as to how the other communities now look at them. But they must not over-react and jump to the wrong conclusion, that
they are being watched with suspicion and discriminated against.

A Malay executive from MediaCorp recounted to me what his Malay friend had told him. His friend had observed that at a Police roadblock recently, it seemed that the Police pulled over only Malay motorists. Motorists of other races were allowed to go past. The Malay friend felt that the Police were now targeting Malays because of heightened suspicion of the community following the JI arrests.

I told the Mediacorp executive that there was probably a logical, operational reason for this. The Police were probably looking for a Malay suspect. As such, there was no reason for them to stop Chinese
and Indian motorists. I gave him an example of the Police looking for a stolen Honda car. They would not stop the Mercedes, BMWs, Suzukis or cars of other make.

Source: Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Singapore