Explainer: How far-right, white supremacist beliefs originating in distant societies can radicalise Singaporean youths
- A 16-year-old Singaporean student, who identified as a white supremacist despite being ethnically Chinese, has been issued a restriction order under the Internal Security Act
- Experts say that white supremacists are able to attract followers from different races because of the many ideals under it, such as anti-Muslim, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBTQ+, among others
- Such ideology is sufficiently all-encompassing and generic to allow for youths to believe in them, even if they are contradictory, experts said
- In light of recent cases, Singapore also needs to evolve its anti-terrorism strategy to focus on extremism that is not necessarily fueled by religion
BY
JUSTIN ONG
@JustinOngTODAYPublished January 24, 2024
Updated January 24, 2024
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SINGAPORE — The case of a 16-year-old Singaporean student, an ethnic Chinese who was influenced by white supremacist ideologies and was issued a restriction order under the Internal Security Act (ISA), has brought to light how faraway beliefs can spread here as well.
On Wednesday (Jan 24), the Internal Security Department (ISD) sought to warn the public about the dangers of such ideologies and how they can take root here. The teenager is the second Singaporean who was radicalised by such far-right ideologies to be dealt with under the law.
This is even though such far-right extremism has yet to gain "a significant foothold" in Singapore, ISD said.
"Far-right ideologies, which often espouse white supremacist, anti-Islam, xenophobic and anti-immigration beliefs, can be adapted to fit the Singaporean landscape."
Defined as the belief that lighter-skinned people mostly of European ancestry are a superior race to all others, the ideology falsely espouses that this racial group should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups.
Radicalised by such notions, the 16-year-old Singaporean had aspired to carry out attacks against minority groups overseas. He was issued with a restriction order in November 2023.
His case came after the authorities revealed in 2021 that a Singaporean, who was a secondary school student then, had been radicalised by far-right extremism and was detained. A Protestant Christian of Indian ethnicity, the student was prepared to conduct terrorist attacks using a machete against Muslims at two mosques in Singapore.
He has been released from detention and issued with a suspension direction under the ISA. A suspension direction is a ministerial direction suspending an existing detention order, and the Minister for Home Affairs may revoke this such that the person will be re-detained if he does not comply with any of the conditions stipulated.
TODAY spoke to analysts to take a look at what far-right ideologies such as white supremacy are about, why it appeals to young people here even if they are not ethnically Caucasian.
HOW WHITE SUPREMACY CAME ABOUT
Far-right politics is a spectrum of politics that tends to be radically conservative, ultra-nationalist and authoritarian.A subset of far-right ideology, white supremacy has historic roots in the Atlantic slave trade and the subsequent racial segregation policies in America from the 1500s to the 1900s, Encyclopaedia Britannica states.
White supremacy also encompasses an umbrella of contemporary movements that include white nationalism, neo-Nazism, and the Christian Identity movement. The perceived “enemies” of white supremacists include African-Americans, indigenous peoples, Asians, Muslims, Jewish people and people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other gender identities (LGBTQ+).
Such ideology has led to extremist acts being carried out worldwide.
These included the 2011 Norway attacks by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik that led to 77 deaths, and the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019 by white supremacist Brenton Tarrant who killed 51 people in New Zealand.
More recently, white supremacy has had an increasing following among the young, one interfaith and multiculturalism expert said.
Mr Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib, founding director of Dialogue Centre, a non-profit organisation advocating for civic dialogue across differences, said that some radicalised youth “probably admire the ‘guts’ of the white supremacists to stand up to the ‘international order’ helmed by ‘corrupt elites’ and their ‘liberal, cosmopolitan values’”.
Such a sentiment borders on a global conspiracy, but white supremacy was "given respectability" through the mainstreaming of right-wing politics in many countries that saw a surge in populism, Mr Mohamed Imran added.
For instance, white supremacist ideology has been boosted by populist figures such as former United States president Donald Trump, whose right-wing and nativist policies aligned with the views of white supremacists.
WHY WOULD NON-CAUCASIANS BE DRAWN TO IT?
One reason could be the multiple threads and ideologies that are nestled within white supremacy, such as anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ+, for instance, that make it easy for youths of different backgrounds to latch onto, said Mr Kalicharan Veera Singam, a senior analyst at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).“These are strands of the white supremacist ideology that might also resonate with people who are not white,” said Mr Kalicharan, whose research area is on extreme right-wing ideologies.
Noting that both cases of far-right extremism in Singapore did not involve Caucasians, he said that such ideology is sufficiently all-encompassing and generic to allow for youths to believe in them while ignoring some contradictions.
Experts also said that youths, especially teenagers, is the most vulnerable to such radical beliefs out of all age groups here, even if these ideologies are incongruent with their identities.
Dr Kumar Ramakrishna, who is the Professor and Provost's Chair at the National Security Studies Programme at RSIS, said that teenagers are “still in the midst of seeking a stable self-identity", and that they often go through a time of "emotional turbulence when their personalities are still quite malleable”.
Thus, if they are dissatisfied with their ethnic, religious or national in-group, they may seek “alternative, supposedly high-prestige in-groups with leaders who have clear, black-and-white answers to societal problems, and who are able to mobilize followers against supposed out-groups that are seen as ‘evil’”, said Dr Ramakrishna, who is also Dean of RSIS.
On top of this, teens are more vulnerable to being seduced by extremist ideologies because of their easy access to such content online.
ISD said the youth in the latest case first chanced upon online videos in 2022 of American far-right political commentator and white supremacist Paul Nicholas Miller, who advocates for a race war.
By early 2023, the youth had developed an intense hatred of communities typically targeted by far-right extremists, including African Americans, Arabs and LGBTQ+ individuals.
Dr Shashi Jayakumar, who is the executive director at political and risk consultancy firm SJK Geostrategic Advisory, said that the speed of radicalisation is not surprising, given that access to these ideologies is just a click away.
“I'm not saying none of this would have happened without social media, but it helps you slide down the rabbit hole all that much more quickly, and it gives you all that much more quickly, the validation for what you take to be your own beliefs,” he said.
CAN FAR-RIGHT IDEOLOGY BECOMING PERVASIVE HERE?
Because radical ideologies can spread regardless of one's racial or religious affiliations, all communities, societies or countries are not immune to radicalisation, said experts.However, Mr Kalicharan believes that it remains to be seen if this is a trend in Singapore.
“Since we only have two data points in Singapore… it is still premature to say that it’s part of a wider trend, but these cases are sufficient to show that this space needs continued attention,” he said.
“The bigger point is that they also illustrate that extremism and extremists can come from any segment of our society, regardless of their racial and religious background.”
Dr Jayakumar said that Singapore appears to be following a worldwide trend, in which there appears to be more cases of radicalisation along social or ideological lines, rather than religion-based radicalisation.
“(Looking) at the history of Singapore's radicalisation, it's easy to say, ‘well, it's just about Islam’. It was, until it wasn't,” he said.
“But now you're starting to see in the West … other persuasions which are not necessarily religious, where they're firmly convinced that they are fighting for a cause which is righteous,” he said.
Agreeing, Mr Mohamed Imran said that if there is little avenue for discussions on issues affecting youths here, that some youths may be “tempted to identify with groups or causes that are far remote from their own reality here”.
“Some of these groups and causes may be extremist in nature... This is where the danger is,” he said.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Dr Jayakumar said that the strategy of rehabilitation through religious counsellors has to evolve as the avenues for radicalisation become more complex.He said that while the Religious Rehabilitation Group has seen success in rehabilitating those who had been influenced by Islamic extremism over the years, there has to be more avenues to help youths who have been radicalised outside of the religious context.
The Religious Rehabilitation Group is an organisation of voluntary Islamic scholars and teachers in Singapore who assist in the religious rehabilitation and counselling of radicalised individuals, and to correct their misinterpretation of Islamic concepts.
He was heartened to see that for the latest case, the teen will be engaged with mentors and community partners such as the Inter-Agency Aftercare Group (ACG).
“More attention is now being paid in the Singapore so-called model of de-radicalisation, to psychosocial skills, life skills, and coping skills for individuals, adolescents, young adults who are at a cusp of an important phase in their life,” he said.
Dr Ramakrishna said that for these cases, the authorities need to deal with the underlying issues faced by the youth over questions of emotional self-regulation, self-esteem and identity.
“With that as a foundation, one can then deal with the ways in which the extremist ideologies deviate from widely accepted societal norms of co-existence in a secular, multicultural society like Singapore,” he said.
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