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SINGAPORE: In his strongest comment so far since the recent detention of a self radicalised Singaporean for terrorist activities, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng has said there must be no room for ambiguity about the nation's stand on terrorist violence and extremist ideology.
Speaking at an international seminar at Jamiyah Singapore, Mr Wong stressed that ultimately terrorism is defeated not by governments but by the people.
Terrorism, through its ideology, has infected vulnerable Singaporeans, and the Internet is making it impossible to shut out extremist ideology from Singapore society.
"Complete censorship is not possible. We cannot therefore insulate our people from the threat of extremist thinking and ideas. Faced with such a challenge, what we can and must do is to inoculate our people and build up our immune system," said Mr Wong.
What can be done is to inoculate the people and build up the country's immune system, he said.
For that, the role of the average man in the street cannot be underestimated.
The government has always emphasised the important role the citizen can play in its continuous fight against terrorism.
In fact in 2001, it was a lead from a member of the public that led to the unravelling of the Jemaah Islamiyah organisation and its activities in Singapore and the detention of several Singaporeans for their links with JI.
Mr Wong said the national community of vigilance also applies to detecting the threat of terrorist or extremist ideology.
To counter the threat of terrorist or extremist ideology, community and religious leaders must lead the way.
"Faith leaders, in particular, need to provide the ideological counter-force to terrorist ideas. They need to help inoculate the community from infection by virulent terrorist and extremist ideology, dressed in religious garb and framed within an emotional context of political conflict and struggle involving Muslim societies.
"We need religious leaders to challenge such terrorist messages wherever they occur, whether in the school-yard or on the Internet. Our religious leaders can and must, through the rigour of their scholarship and their moral standing as respected teachers in the community, unravel the distortions that terrorist ideologies employ to justify their agenda of violence and hatred," said Mr Wong.
He noted that in some societies, terrorists are able to recruit and train suicide bombers because there is an underlying sympathy or cultural approval among segments of their community for such activities.
Mr Wong said: "Some religious leaders feel reluctant to speak up and condemn such terrorist acts, rationalising that it is best left to God to punish or judge such acts of violence.
"This is sad because it is precisely the religious scholar who knows better, who must guide the general community and steer it away from violence and hatred.
"To firmly counter the extremists, any society that values peace and stability must firmly, and unequivocally, condemn their activities and propaganda of hatred and violence.
"If community leaders do not take the lead and strongly reject the agenda of the extremists, then by default they concede the public space to the rhetoric of the extremist.
"If we allow this to happen, we would be letting down those in our society who are impressionable and weak in religious knowledge. They will become prey to the shrill rhetoric of extremist agenda which is allowed to dominate their attention because it is unchallenged by those who know better."
Mr Wong believes communication and dialogue involving everyone and at every level are necessary to rise above these differences.
He also took the opportunity to emphasise to the international audience that Singapore provides the space for all religions through mutual respect and commitment to communal harmony.
He said: "Singapore is a secular state, but this does not mean that religions cannot flourish here. To be a secular state means that religion is not brought into the political realm.
"But we recognise that religion has an important role to play in the community, and it is often the bulwark of morality in many cultures. As a multicultural society, we embrace many different faiths in Singapore. We respect one another's freedom of religion.
"And instead of fighting over the differences, we seek unity in the diversity. We learnt this the hard way. Our society was not always as peaceful.
"We remember 21st July 1964 as a dark day for us when we saw death and bloodshed due to racial riots. We therefore commemorate this day every year as Racial Harmony Day to not only reflect upon our past and treasure our peace, but to also remind us of what we need to do to maintain our racial and religious harmony.
"We now celebrate our rich multiculturalism in schools where children of different races study and play alongside one another." - CNA/yy
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