Singapore represents a bastion of general stability amid low intensity conflicts in Southeast Asia. It has not suffered a terrorist attack on its soil in almost two decades. Nevertheless, Singapore’s counterterrorism community believes that the country could face a terrorist attack at any moment in the future, and by facing this reality it constantly attempts to respond to rapidly emerging terrorism trends. [1]
In the last year, for example, Asia has experienced two major terrorist attacks targeting hotels in Mumbai and Jakarta, both signifying an upward trend in sophistication and scale[3] of terrorist operations. To adequately respond to these threats, Singapore has adopted social resilience as a key counterterrorism strategy. Singapore’s government considers race and religion the country’s “most visceral and dangerous fault line.”[3] It believes that reducing racial and religion tension [4] in this multi-ethnic and multi-religious country is critical in preventing future acts of terrorist violence in Singapore.[5]
This article will first provide background on the history of terrorism in Singapore, including how the country has foiled a number of recent plots. It will then identify the Singapore government’s various programs to establish social resiliency and reduce jihadist radicalization within its society. Finally, the article will show the steps Singapore has taken most recently to stir the public’s imagination to the threat of terrorism to maintain public vigilance.
Singapore’s Experience with Terrorism
The last bombings to strike Singapore occurred in November-December 1987, targeting the American International Assurance building and Shell Tower. Before 1987, Singapore faced a number of other small-scale bombings, some involving Palestinian terrorists.[6] Then, in 1991, Singapore’s counterterrorism apparatus received international attention when it successfully stormed a hijacked airliner and killed four terrorists claiming to be members of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party. Terrorist violence in Singapore faded out thereafter.[7]
In the months after the 9/11 attacks, however, the threat of terrorism returned. Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) prevented Singapore’s JI branch from launching a series of bomb attacks targeting foreign embassies and U.S. interests in the country in December 2001. The ISD detained a total of 13 JI members, including their spiritual leader, Ibrahim Maidin. Maidin trained in Afghanistan in 1993, and wrote several letters to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and al-Qa`ida leader Usama bin Ladin.[8] Upon his return to Singapore, Maidin arranged for JI members to receive training in Afghanistan.[9] Subsequent arrests ensued in September 2004 and July 2006, crippling JI’s network in Singapore.
Singapore has also faced a threat from homegrown radicalization. This was most vividly seen through the case of Abdul Basheer Kader, a 28-year-old Singaporean lecturer with a background in law.[10] Abdul Basheer was about to make contact with Lashkar-i-Tayyiba in Pakistan to train for “militant jihad” at the time of his arrest in Singapore in February 2007.[11] According to Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Abdul Basheer was affected by radical jihadist discourse read on the internet.[12]
In January 2008, Singapore authorities arrested three young men under the Internal Security Act for involvement in activities that posed a potential terrorist threat, including attempts to make improvised explosive devices and to join foreign “mujahidin networks” to wage armed jihad in Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya.[13]
Luckily, however, vigilance by Singapore’s authorities managed to prevent these plots from actualization.
In February 2008, however, Singapore faced a major security breach when JI operative Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from a jail in the country. Kastari remained on the loose for more than a year until he was recaptured in Malaysia in May 2009 with the help of Singapore’s intelligence services. Nevertheless, the escape dealt a major blow to Singapore’s counterterrorism reputation.
Kastari’s escape raised the possibility of fissures developing within racial and religious harmony in Singapore. After his escape, Singaporean authorities considered the possible scenario of Kastari being harbored by jihadist sympathizers in the country, which would heighten sensitivities between Muslim and non-Muslim communities.[14] Minister Lim Swee Say described the Kastari escape as a “test in inter-racial cohesion” as certain communities might “take a position based on their racial or religious groups and draw the line.”[15] Fortunately, Singaporeans passed the test without creating any racial or religious tension.
The Kastari incident also presented a useful test for social resilience in Singapore. There was a period of public outrage and confusion about the escape directed at the government and expressed on various online blogs and forums[16], but there were also concerted efforts made by various communities to “[put] up posters, [share] information on possible sightings and even offering rewards from their own pockets.”[17]
Building Social Resilience to Terrorism
As a result of Singapore’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious population, its leaders consistently stress the importance of social harmony. Inherent in speeches is the concern that a “single flashpoint” such as a terrorist attack could destroy decades of harmony building efforts.[18] Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew presented the public audience with a wildcard scenario:
If a Malay-Muslim Jemaah Islamiya member blew up a bomb in a Mass Rapid Transit station and the blast killed more Chinese and Indians than Malays, it would lead to non-Muslims distancing themselves from Muslims out of fear [such as in the aftermath of the London 7/7 bomb attacks in 2005].[19]
Singapore made early investments in building social resilience, an effort that would yield high dividends in the long run. One month after the Singapore JI network was exposed in December 2001, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong proposed the concept of “Inter-Racial Confidence