Singapore struggles with growing youth radicalisation problem

By Bobbie Ysabelle Matias

In its recent 2024 report, Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) stated that it had dealt with 13 cases of youth radicalisation in the city-state under the auspices of the Internal Security Act (ISA) since 2015, noting that self-radicalisation cases were of particular concern.

The Singapore government has made efforts to address the growing trend of youth radicalisation in the island nation, with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) working with ISD, the Ministry of Education (MOE), schools, and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) on the implementation of its counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation outreach programmes.

Youths inspired by 2019 Christchurch massacre

Local authorities recently detained an 18-year-old student under ISA over his plans to carry out attacks against Muslims after being inspired by the 2019 Christchurch massacre in New Zealand.

In March 2019, white supremacist Brenton Tarrant went on a rampage and shot dead 51 worshippers while injuring 40 others at two mosques in Christchurch.

It was the country’s deadliest modern-day mass killing.

ISD, in a statement on February 10, said that Nick Lee Xing Qiu identified as an ‘East Asian Supremacist’ who believes in the superiority of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese ethnicities.

According to ISD, Lee began forming an antipathy towards Muslims in early 2023, and by early last year the teenager had developed a “strong enmity” towards Malays/Muslims, Jews, Mexicans, African-Americans, and Indians.

Lee believed that killing them was justified.

“He had come across these ethno-supremacist ideas in his online searches for far-right extremist content and resonated with them given his Chinese ethnicity and antipathy towards Muslims,” ISD stated.

“He was also supportive of white supremacy because he felt that Islam was a threat to white culture.”

Lee reportedly “idolized” Tarrant after watching live-streamed video footage of the Christchurch attack in June 2023.

He then started role-playing as Tarrant in a “violent simulation game” where Lee used video game modifications to make it appear that he was killing Muslims at one of the mosques attacked in Christchurch.

In September 2024, Lee decided to visibly show his allegiance to the far-right community by having a sonnenrad – a sun wheel symbol featured on Tarrant’s manifesto – tattooed on his right elbow.

Lee then aspired to do a Tarrant-style attack against Muslims in Singapore along with other far-right individuals he met online.

He also made a social media account last year to encourage others to carry out attacks against Malays/Muslims.

While Lee’s plans were primarily aspirational, he admitted that he would have participated in attacks together with his online contacts, said ISD.

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15-year-old student the youngest-ever ISA detainee

Lee is not the youngest student to be detained under ISA for terrorism-related activities, however.

In November last year, ISD revealed that a 15-year-old self-radicalised student was detained under ISA in December of the previous year.

According to ISD’s statement, the student considered conducting knife attacks and beheading non-Muslims in popular tourist areas in Singapore while also fantasising about being a suicide bomber.

The 15-year-old, along with a 16-year-old youth who was placed under a restriction order, were inspired by Islamic State and ISIS propaganda.

While the two teenagers became self-radicalised separately, The Straits Times reported that they both made contact with Muhammad Irfan Danyal Mohamad Nor, 18, through an extremist channel on messaging platform Discord.

Irfan was subsequently jailed in December 2023 for plans to carry out attacks in the city-state in order to declare Coney Island an ISIS province.

Meanwhile, in June 2024, a 14-year-old was issued with a restriction order, making him the youngest person to be dealt with in some form under ISA.

His radicalisation was brought on by the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to ISD’s 2024 report.

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Families and communities unaware of teens’ radical beliefs

According to ISD, families tend to be unaware of their children’s radicalisation.

In Lee’s case, the authority said “there is no indication that he tried to influence” his family members, teachers, and schoolmates “with his violent extremist views”.

The 15-year-old, on the other hand, reportedly tried to radicalise his classmates by sharing violent Al-Qaeda and ISIS videos with them, including footage of beheadings. 

However, none of his peers expressed interest in those materials.

Apart from strengthening the MHA’s counter-terrorism response and enhancing security at the country’s borders, the government urges Singaporeans to be vigilant and play an active role in protecting society from terrorism and extremism.

To achieve this, the SGSecure Movement entered a new phase in July 2023 with the updated tagline “What’s Your Role?”.

In partnership with other agencies, the movement seeks to continue developing new programs and boost existing initiatives so as to better engage and encourage the community to help prevent and respond to a terrorist attack.

ISD stated last year that the 15- and 16-year-old youths “will undergo a comprehensive and holistic rehabilitation program to counter the radical ideologies which they have imbibed and address their propensity for violence”.

Furthermore, MHA is also cooperating with ISD, MOE, schools, and IHLs in conducting counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation workshops to bring awareness to students, educators, and other school staff on terrorism threats, common signs of radicalisation, and the importance of early reporting.

In 2024, ISD organised nearly 50 outreach programmes for about 2,000 participants.

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