Radical ideas online must be countered: Chun Sing
Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Prime Minister’s Office and Ms Joan Pereira, Adviser to Tanjong Pagar GRC Grassroots Organisations, joined 300 Muslim residents and families from the rental units at Henderson Road in a communal breaking of fast and present them with festive rations on June 11, 2017.Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Physical activities such as the breaking of fast during Ramadan as a multi-ethnic community are significant, but because social cohesion can also be destroyed in cyberspace, radical ideas online must be countered, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing said yesterday.
He was responding to a question from reporters on why events overseas, such as the siege of Marawi in southern Philippines, are important to Singapore. “Geographical distances are no longer an insulation, if you like, or necessarily a defence against such radical ideas,” he said before breaking fast with 300 Muslim residents from rental flats in Henderson Road.
“We must make sure that we stay together as a community to help defend this sense of common space, this sense of unity that we have.
“And we must do this not just through physical activities and physical space, we must also make sure that we stand up and counter such radical ideas that threaten to split us in cyberspace and beyond.”
Challenges to Singapore include self-radicalisation, which can happen through many channels and to anyone, said Mr Chan, who called on individuals to sound the alert should someone show signs of being self-radicalised.
No society is fully prepared for the threat of terrorism and people should not get complacent, he said to the residents in Malay and English.
“I’m more confident today than yesterday (of how prepared we are) because of the hard work by all the community partners. But if you ask me, ‘Are we there yet?’, then I’d say we must never be complacent because every day is one more step forward (in building social cohesion).”
At another iftar, at Masjid Al-Amin in Telok Blangah, the Mufti of Singapore Mohamed Fatris Bakaram said a lack of rahmah (compassion) is partly causing the tremendous challenges in today’s Muslim world and in understanding diversity.
It has fuelled absolutism, where one considers the teachings one follows as the only absolute truth, or an extreme or exclusivist understanding of Islam and its texts, he said to attendees. This has led some to distance themselves from others who are different.
“Ramadan has always been a month of blessings and mercy, compassion and love,” he told reporters.
“That’s very much needed in this day when there’s a lot of conflict, lots of hatred, when we should be able to address with full conviction ... that Islam is a religion that promotes heavily the need to have compassion and love within the community for each other.”
He called on the Muslim community to teach their children to fully understand the purposes and beauty of Islam, beyond its rituals. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TAN WEIZHEN
