Singapore banned a book leading a 20-year-old man to be radicalized and plan a terrorist attack. He was part of the Singaporean military.
On June 24, the Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore said it banned a book because it promoted “armed jihad” containing “extremist views that promote enmity among different religious communities.” Authorities discovered the book as they investigated a planned attack against a Synagogue from a radicalized Singaporean.
A 20-year-old man was arrested under the Internal Security Act in February 2021 because he had planned to attack a Synagogue in Singapore with a knife. As he feared he couldn’t attain martyrdom – i.e. be arrested and not die fighting – he had also made plans to travel to Gaza. The man was a full-time national serviceman in the Singapore Armed Forces.
He was in fact radicalized over resentment he developed about the Palestine-Israel conflict. His hatred started when he watched online videos of bombing from Israel in 2014. He started supporting Hamas in 2015 after reading a book he had bought overseas about the actions of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. The book was edited in 2015 by a Malaysian publisher.
A book “encouraging armed jihad”
The government of Singapore therefore decided to ban the publication under the Undesirable Publications Act. This censorship tool, enforced since 1967, can restrict any content that includes pornography, horror, cruelty, hate speech, offenses against racial and religious harmony, or drug consumption that is “injurious to the public good.”
The freedom of speech is extremely limited in Singapore. The country is ranked 160 in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders.
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, which advises the President about the Singaporean Muslim Identity, says the book “carries problematic ideas by encouraging armed jihad.” “The promotion of extremist religious views and ideologies that promote violence, enmity and distrust are not the values of Islam or the Singapore Muslim Community,” the council stated. Appointed by the president of Singapore, the Council members had also approved the decision to ban nine books from an Islam preacher in 2017.
From June 25, it is an offense to import, publish, sell or offer to sell, supply or offer to supply, exhibit, distribute or reproduce any extract of the book. All those who already have the book must hand it over to the police.
Media sources and useful links:
- Prohibition of a Publication with Extremist Content under the Undesirable Publications Act, Ministry of Communications and Information, June 2021, Free access
- Reporters Without Borders, Free access
- Statement on Prohibited Publication, Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, June 2021, Free access
