POSITION PAPER

Committee : United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO)

Country : Singapore

Topic : Extremism vs Violent Extremism vs Radicalization

Everyone has faith that he/she believes can bring pleasure and tranquility in his/her
life. But sometimes the flow becomes too 'dominant' so that it no longer wants to
listen to the aspirations and beliefs of others so that extremism occurs. Extremism
can make confusion so that there is such a thing as violence extremism and causes
some people to believe the subject and follow the wrong ideology and is called
radicalization.

Usually this is associated with developing countries which are usually poorly
governed, lack the importance of education, unemployment, etc. But it does not
prevent the developed countries from being affected, like Singapore.A country that
has a diversity of religions and cultures makes it a 'soft' attack for a group that wants
to divide Singapore like a group Daesh and also Al Qaeda (AQ), which remains
active and committed to global jihad, Singapore has adopted a raft of kinetic and
non-kinetic measures, ranging from pre-emptive arrests and detention to protective
security and counter-violent extremism (CVE) program.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)’s terrorism threat as-

sessment report released in June 2017, the terror threat level in Singapore was at its
highest level in recent years. To prevent radicalisation and counter the spread of
extremist ideas, Singapore has developed a wide range of policies and
programmes that began in 2002 after the 9/11 terror attacks in the US by AQ and
the discov-ery of a local branch of the regional terrorist organisation and AQ affiliate
– the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) – in Singapore in December 2001. JI operatives had
planned to execute multiple bombing operations against Western targets in
Singapore before they were apprehended. CVE initiatives were intensified as
the terror threat persisted in and outside the region, espe-cially after the
establishment of Daesh in Iraq and Syria in 2014 and the aggressive
exploitation of social media to disseminate more false and distorted Islamic
doctrines.

Understanding the issues about extremism and radicalization, Singapore proposes 2

main solutions, which are :

1. This method should not always apply a coercive approach or imprison citizens
who are suspected in terrorism, but through a humanized de-radicalization
approach to direct them back to the right path by establishing the Religious
Rehabilitation Group. This program is seen as effective to overcome and
 counteract the seeds of extremism and terrorism in Singapore. Involving
Muslim scholars and scholars, the RRG is in the form of counseling services
for residents who have problems while helping their families.
2. The Singapore Islamic Ulema Council (SIUC) has also formed a network to
train religious teachers and young people in providing counseling and
deradicalization. Counselors straighten religious values that are
misinterpreted by spreaders of extremism. Then they included a correct
understanding of the teachings of the religion, and then promoted integration
and harmonious life in this multi-racial and multi-faith society.