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SINGAPORE: Community leaders and MPs have voiced concern over the new trend of self-radicalisation highlighted by the latest terror arrests in Singapore.
And they say community and religious groups must continue to come together to battle the threat posed by new media like the internet.
Singaporeans got the sobering news about the latest arrests and detentions under the Internal Security Act on Friday night.
Among them, a 28-year-old former lawyer, Abdul Basheer Abdul Kader, who had made specific plans to pursue militant jihad in Afghanistan.
His views had been shaped by the radical discourses he had looked up on the Internet.
Says Ustaz Nazirudin Mohd Nasir, Office of the Mufti, MUIS, "This highlights to us the permeating influence of the internet, and the need for us to continuously advise our community to learn Islam from credible and recognised sources.
"We must begin learning Islam from the right sources, especially from our recognised teachers and we can consult the internet for extra information.
"If the internet becomes the starting point, and one does not have the moral values and the moral foundations of what Islam says, that would be troubling, because you would be easily misled and you would be in a very vulnerable position."
This is a concern shared by the GPC Chairman for Home Affairs and Law Dr Teo Ho Pin.
"When you surf the Net you must always remember that you are surfing a whole bunch of information and not all information is correct. You must always authenticate, check, to find whether the information is accurate or not," says Dr Teo.
"A more important thing to do is a self-check system because you cannot control the amount of information going to the web. The only way is self-control, self-filtering and your own auto-check mechanism.
"If you are not sure, check with your friends, your family members and your religious leaders, in this case."
Dr Teo believes enhancing racial and religious harmony will always continue to be an on-going process in Singapore.
And so the challenge, he says, for community and grassroots leaders is to continue organising more programmes to promote inter-racial harmony so that more Singaporeans better understand one another's religious beliefs.
Says Fatimah Lateef, MP, Marine Parade GRC, "It's also important for us to realise that people of high intellect, who are lonesome or who keep to themselves most of the time, can actually get easily influenced, and wanting to take on such big things and big ventures in the name of Jihad which is interpreted wrongly, really.
"Some people may see it in the narrow sense or claustrophobic sense, saying that if he, as a single individual wants to go out doing this so-called "wrong activity," and engage himself in all the negative activities, so be it, it may not directly affect us. But that is a wrong approach."
Ms Lateef adds that one important lesson from this is for parents to be more vigilant with their children.
And this includes being aware of the websites they are engaging in. - CNA/yy
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