Appreciation Iftar for Qaryah Volunteers – Opening Remarks by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Mr Mohamed Sa’at Abdul Rahman, President of MUIS, Mr Kadir Maideen, Chief Executive of MUIS, Dr Ariffin Kawaja, Chairman, Khalid Mosque, MUIS and Mosque leaders,

My colleagues:

Minister Masagos,

MOS Faishal,

MOS Rahayu,

Community Volunteers,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Good evening to all of you.

2. We come here today to recognise and honour the very important contributions of the Qaryah community.

3. We come here to reflect, through gratitude, and unity, as we break fast together.

4. I would like to thank Khalid Mosque for continuing to host this very special, very significant event for the third year running.

Remembering Haji Alauddin Mohd

5. Now I think all of us, there is a presence that looms large, even though he is no long here. In 2023, then-Chairman of Khalid Mosque, Haji Alla'udin – he started this Appreciation Iftar to bring together all the Qaryah leaders and recognise the important social, religious roles that all of you play.

6. Haji Alla’udin, I think to all of you – certainly for me, was an extremely close friend and a really exceptional community leader. I mean, you know, the goodness of the man just comes through each time you see him.

7. He contributed more than 25 years as Chairman of Khalid Mosque.

8. He’s very humble, unassuming, but through his conduct, he showed the leadership that really touched and uplifted thousands of families.

9. His wisdom, his dedication, the way he did community work, I think, is an inspiration to all of us. So, I think we really take a moment to think about him, thank him, and just reflect on what he did.

Security Landscape

10. Moving on to a second topic. Last year, I talked about the developments around the world, the geopolitical developments, the Israel-Hamas Conflict and the Russia-Ukraine War.

11. Today, I would like to focus on three areas: (i) radicalisation, (ii) maintaining social cohesion even as things happen outside, and (iii) the role that all of you play in strengthening harmony between faiths.

12. First , on radicalisation. I’ve said this before, but it is worth thinking about over and over again.

13. We are seeing a growing number of Singaporeans, especially young people, becoming radicalised through online platforms.

14. And this can pose a very serious threat to us and social harmony.

15. A year ago, we dealt with seven Singaporeans under the Internal Security Act. They are aged as young as 14 , going up all the way to 56 . 14 to 56. And they were radicalised by extremist ideologies and wanted to be involved in terrorism-related activities.

16. One example, which I mentioned, was a 17-year-old ISIS supporter. He was arrested by the ISD in August last year.

17. There were only a few weeks left – he was going to go out and attack non-Muslims during the September school holidays. He was arrested in August.

18. He wanted to do suicide knife attacks.

19. So, he chose a crowded area in the HDB heartlands, Tampines West Community Centre. And he wanted to kill non-Muslims.

20. It was a very close [shave].

21. We have also, on the other hand, seen very unfortunately, the far-right extremist, even in Singapore.

22. Since 2020, in the last five years, we have arrested three young people on the far-right, and they are all boys, 16 to 18 years old, and they hate Muslims and other minority communities.

23. In December of last year, just two months ago, we detained an 18-year-old Chinese boy who wanted to carry out attacks against Muslims and he wanted to start a “race war”. He wouldn’t be able to start a race war, but you can imagine – if he goes into a mosque and kills Muslims – what that is going to do.

24. He followed the Christchurch attacker; he wanted to do the same. He had identified the mosque, he wanted to use guns – homemade, knives, even Molotov cocktails. And he wanted to livestream the attack.

25. Again, we arrested him before he could do anything serious.

26. So, on both sides, we are getting young people doing, getting into these crazy ideas, and it is extremely serious. Whether a Muslim attacks a Chinese in the heartlands, or whether a Chinese or an Indian. One of the three we arrested was an Indian boy, a far-right extremist, (if he) attacks a Muslim in the mosque - It is a serious damage to our inter-faith racial harmony.

27. So, we have to continue to remain vigilant, educate our young, and important that we engage our young people, give them the proper guidance and really create safe spaces for dialogue and understanding, so that they do not get into this. You know in a way, we’ve done better than others, relatively small number, and so far, keep your fingers crossed, we haven't had an attack, but as I always say, it's not a question of whether, but when. So, we just have to be careful.

28. The majority of Singaporeans are peace-loving. They love each other,as races, you know, we don't have a problem.

29. So far, we have been doing well.

30. I think the Qaryah leaders can also help in that interfaith, interracial understanding.

Qaryah Groups – Serving the Community

31. Now, I will talk about the Qaryah groups.

32. Many of you work tirelessly. All of you are working quietly behind the scenes to ensure that residents get easy access to comfortable prayer spaces.

33. You connect with the community beyond the mosques, aiding those in need.

34. You have also served the broader community, for example, there’s a project in Bukit Panjang, promoting volunteerism, like home repairs and community support, and there’s a “make over brigade”, where members and volunteers come together to do painting, plumbing, cleaning, and minor repair work to homes of needy families whether Muslim or non-Muslim, regardless of race.

35. Every Ramadan, my constituency, Faishal, I, or the other MPs – we visit the Qaryah groups to meet with them, to thank them for the work they are doing. The work that they are doing with MUIS, to care for welfare. Really, you can see the ‘kampung spirit’ and I think it is extremely important that we continue with this tradition of Qaryah. It is a real ground-up initiative, and we will give it every support.

36. If you face any challenges or difficulties on the ground, you can raise it with MUIS, you can raise it with any of us. And you know that the Government supports ground-up initiatives and will give it every possible support. So, continue to build the bonds of trust and faith between communities and ethnic groups.

37. Now, in the context of the security challenges I spoke about, it’s all the more important that we reach out across races and build meaningful connections.

38. So let us be ambassadors of peace, spreading the message of love and understanding.

Conclusion

39. In conclusion, let me thank every one of you for the work that you do. And really, today is a reminder of the power of unity, coming together to continue to work for a better future together.

40. Thank you very much