I have asked for this dialogue to discuss a very sensitive issue and a very grave one at that. When the terrorist attacks took place on the World Trade Centre on September 11th, I was worried about the consequences it would have on our social cohesion. Fortunately, Singaporeans of all races and religions reacted responsibly and maturely to the tragedy. 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 in Singapore. 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.

At that time, 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 implications of the JI episode are worrying for our multi-racial and multi-religious society.

First, the reactions of non-Muslim Singaporeans. We cannot deny that some non-Muslims may misunderstand and distrust our Malay/Muslim friends 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 this story, that the day the news broke about the arrest of the JI operatives, his mother, in her late sixties, rang him up. She had discussed the issue with her friend, another woman also in her late 60s, who told her that, 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 feel that way and if you know of others who feel that way, please later on let us know. So that we know what is happening to emotions on the ground.

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 like all of us here. 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, foreign handlers. 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. In other words, make a distincition between Muslims who are pious and want to practice their faith and terrorism. The two should not be equated.

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.

Take the example of our Malay MPs, my Malay grassroots leaders in Marine Parade, and my old Malay school friends. I trust them. I know them. I respect their religious practices but because I know them, life carries on as before, I have no problems and this has led to a better understanding between us of the issues. 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 and this has led to a better understanding between on the issues concerned.

Likewise, you, the Chinese and the Indians, must reach out to your Malay/Muslim neighbours. That may take a while to achieve, but you must make the effort to reach out to your Muslim neighbours. 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.

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 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. So I laughed because I knew 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. But this incident shows how sensitive the matter is.

These two incidents, the reactions of the elderly Chinese woman and the Malay friend of the Mediacorp executive, highlight the problems the JI episode poses to our inter-racial and inter-religious relations. If we do not check such attitudes, mutual suspicion and distrust will soon set in.

I am especially concerned about inter-racial and inter-religious relations at the ground level. At the leadership level, I am confident that good sense will prevail when dealing with racial and religious incidents. Reactions will be calm, considered, and based on facts. People on the ground, however, tend to react emotionally based on rumours, hearsay and prejudices. Their reactions could well be rational, but from the gut. A grave consequence of this is a minor incident could blow up because of rumour mongering and gut reaction. We must prevent this.

I do not want to alarm you, because there is no immediate intelligence that a bomb is about to go off sometime this year, but I think it is prudent for us to assume that one day, somewhere in Singapore, the terrorists could strike again.

Should a bomb go off, and dozens of Chinese and Indians are killed or injured, I dare not imagine the anger of the Chinese and Indians against our Malay/Muslims. But if community leaders know one another well, and we have already developed confidence, friendship and trust among the different races and religions, then we will be able to move in together and contain the emotional ground reaction immediately.

I intend, therefore, to take immediate steps to enhance interaction among the different communities at the ground level. I have asked the People's Association to get the CCCs to set up "Inter-Racial Confidence Circles" or "IRCCs" in every constituency.

That may not be the final name we settle on but it will have different races, churches the different leaders of the various communities, mosque chairman and other Muslim leaders so that we get to know one another.

Let us turn this JI episode into something positive. Let us use the opportunity to strengthen inter-racial and inter-religious relations in Singapore. Let us have a heart-to-heart exchange on any unease and concerns we may have. I want all of us to establish rapport and understanding before we leave this place tonight.