Youth radicalisation a worrying trend: Shanmugam

SINGAPORE – Youth radicalisation is now a feature of the terror threat in Singapore, with recent detentions by the Internal Security Department (ISD) showing the timeline to self-radicalisation, with plans for violence, is now shorter.

Senior Minister K. Shanmugam said this at the Home Team National Day Observance Ceremony held at the Home Team Academy on July 29.

In his speech, the Coordinating Minister for National Security also noted that self-radicalised individuals dealt with under the Internal Security Act (ISA) are getting younger.

“In 2020, ISD picked up a 16-year-old, a Christian boy. He wanted to use a machete against Muslims at our mosques, the Assyafaah Mosque and the Yusof Ishak Mosque.

“At that time in 2020, he was the youngest person dealt with under the ISA for terrorism-related activities. Now, we are looking at 14- and 15-year-olds,” added Shanmugam.

The 14- and 15-year-olds were among three young people, including a 19-year-old, who the ISD announced on July 27 were issued with detention orders under the ISA between April and June for terrorism-related activities.

The 14-year-old and the 19-year-old had plans to target schools they attended.

Shanmugam, who is also the Minister for Home Affairs, described developments in the youth radicalisation landscape as worrying. “In the context of schools, parents will worry whether their children are safe and whether they should avoid schools with Muslim children.

“That is not the solution because attacks can take place anywhere, in malls and in other public places,” he said.

He said that since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the Muslim population in some countries has been looked at with suspicion and fear.

Shanmugam added: “In Singapore, our approach has been for the last 25 years that those who want to do us harm, those who want to do these things, are a very small minority.

“We don’t ostracise or ringfence entire communities or treat them like they are guilty based on the actions of a very small extremist minority.

“It is just not right. The vast majority of our Malay Muslim community are law-abiding Singaporeans.”

He said the Home Team will continue to stay on top of things, work with stakeholders to encourage understanding between different communities and push on with the SgSecure initiative, which is the national movement that calls for community vigilance, unity and resilience against terrorism.

“We (Home Team) protect our racial and religious harmony with very strong laws… We set out what conduct will not be allowed when it comes to race and religion.

“If anyone attacks or even speaks ill of another community, we go in and we take firm action. Over the years, we have strengthened and modernised these laws.”

Shanmugam said a critical task is for the Home Team to work with stakeholders to encourage understanding between communities to strengthen community relations.

“The laws can tell you what you can’t do, but the laws cannot make you like each other.

“So, organisations, particularly the People’s Association, play a huge role with our resident networks and our grassroots,” he said, adding that hundreds of events are held across different constituencies every weekend to bring people of different ethnicities together.

He described such events as “the secret sauce”. “That is the glue that holds Singapore together,” Shanmugam said.

Received award

Over 140 Home Team officers, volunteers, organisations and 23 members of the public were presented Home Affairs National Day Awards at the event.

The recipients for the public spirit award included Lutfi Lu’ay Yazid and Muhammad Yousuf Akram, residents of Block 641 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 who had reacted quickly when they saw a personal mobility aid catch fire at their block.

SCDF volunteer, Muhammad Azfar Mazlan (left) and Superintendent of Police, Jereld Xu, Deputy Head, Organised Crime Branch Specialised Crime Division, Criminal Investigation Department at the Home Team National Day Observance Ceremony 2026, on July 29.

ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

After making sure his family was safe, Lutfi helped evacuate other residents, while Yousuf rushed to the fire with two extinguishers.

“Together, they helped to contain the fire, directing the residents away from danger, risking their own safety so that everyone got out safely,” said Shanmugam.

Jereld Xu Jinwei, deputy head of the Organised Crime Branch, received an award on behalf of his team at the Criminal Investigation Department.

They had worked in September 2025 with the Cambodian National Police to disrupt a Phnom Penh-based organised criminal group comprising Singaporeans who carried out government official impersonation scams.

The group was responsible for at least 535 scam cases involving Singapore victims, causing reported losses exceeding $53 million.

The joint operation led to the arrest of 15 suspects and the publication of 34 INTERPOL Red Notices to facilitate the arrest of additional syndicate members.

Six other suspects were arrested later through subsequent collaboration with the Royal Malaysian Police, the Royal Thai Police, Singapore embassies and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.

Said Xu, 40: “This award recognises the analysts, financial investigators, international partners who trusted us, investigation officers and colleagues who worked on this case in the months leading up to the execution of the operations, and are still working tirelessly to ensure justice is served.”

Muhammad Azfar Mazlan received an award for his work as an SCDF volunteer. The 28-year-old, who works as an industrial firefighter, responded to 16 Community First Responder calls – 12 involving fires and the rest involving medical emergencies.

Azfar said: “If you have the heart (to volunteer), take it from there. I think you should just take the first step. Maybe people don’t know that SCDF has volunteers.”

In his speech, Shanmugam also paid tribute to Lim Soo Peng, who had served on the Board of Visiting Justices and Board of Inspection for 55 years. The former MP for Havelock died on July 27. He was 97.

Lim had also served as a member of the Drug Rehabilitation Centres Review Committee from 1991 to 2015.

“His lifelong commitment to public service demonstrates the very best of what it means to be a Home Team volunteer and a Singapore citizen,” said Shanmugam.

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