‘Very close shave’: Teen detained under ISA could have rampaged through crowded Tampines area, says Shanmugam

SINGAPORE: The arrest of a 17-year-old self-radicalised Singaporean less than a month before a planned terror attack in Tampines was a “very close shave” as he could have easily gone on a rampage, said Singapore’s Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam.
He was speaking to reporters on Friday (Oct 18) at an open area between Housing Board flats at Tampines Street 81, which the student had chosen as the location for his attack. 
The Internal Security Department (ISD) said in a press release on Friday that the youth was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in August before his planned attack during the school holidays in September.
He had planned to attack non-Muslim males near Tampines West Community Centre using either a kitchen knife or a pair of scissors from his home.
Following the arrest, the teen was subsequently issued a two-year detention order in September.
Responding to CNA’s queries on the duration between the arrest and the planned attack, Mr Shanmugam said: “I would say this is one of the ones where it was quite close, fairly close.
“In the past, (in) many of the cases that I recall, the plans were still some way away.”
Mr Shanmugam pointed out that the area that the teen had intended for the attack was frequented by “thousands of people” every day, including senior citizens and young children, and that it would be even more crowded during the school holidays.
“They are not coming here expecting to be attacked. People go around in Singapore feeling safe. So, he could easily have gone on a rampage and killed a lot of people around here.”
Senior citizens and children are “easy targets for such an attacker” and given his radicalisation and closeness to the fruition of his plans, the ISD decided it was safer to detain him, the minister said.
He reiterated: “Just imagine if he had gone on a rampage here. It’s a normal typical heartlands neighbourhood. What could have been the consequences?
“It could have been any of you. It could have been any of them. It could be your daughter, your son, your child, your parents.”
Mr Shanmugam also referenced other public cases of armed violence by self-radicalised young people around the world. 
In July, a 14-year-old boy was arrested after stabbing a 22-year-old at the University of Sydney.
While the boy’s motive or ideology was not determined, Australian authorities had expressed concern at increasing evidence that young people were being radicalised online.
In a separate incident that also took place in Sydney, a 16-year-old boy was charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly stabbing a church bishop in April.
The 17-year-old’s case also shows how terrorist groups, including those like Islamic State, which are not directly involved in the Israel-Hamas war, “can and will” take advantage of the conflict to recruit and radicalise others. 
It is thus important to make sure people in Singapore remain vigilant against imbibing radical materials or becoming radicalised themselves, he added. 
“We cannot allow extremist narratives to take root in our society, threaten our security and social harmony.”
Society, too, has to work to make sure people do not feel marginalised as this may give “greater room for radicalisation”, said the minister.
While Singapore is doing this “reasonably better” than many other places, he urged people not to take the country’s safety for granted. 
On the public’s role in dealing with threats of radicalisation, Mr Shanmugam said that in the case of the 17-year-old, his parents could have alerted the authorities when the youth disregarded their advice against watching videos of foreign preachers. 
“It really would be good if family members and friends reported to the authorities quickly if they suspect that someone they know is being radicalised. 
“This helps us to stop them from killing themselves, because they will die in the process. It allows us to try and rehabilitate them.”
He added that the cases picked up by authorities are often reported by parents, family members and teachers, and “quite often” when they are alerted, the “person will not even be detained”.
“If the person is very young, in the early stage of radicalisation, ISD can arrange for other interventions such as religious counselling without arresting or detaining them,” Mr Shanmugam said.
“So the community is a very important line of defence.”