Assessing emergence of composite violent extremism and other personalised forms of online radicalisation

Question:

Dr Choo Pei Ling: To ask the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) how does the Government assess the emergence of Composite Violent Extremism and other increasingly personalised forms of online radicalisation; (b) how prevention and intervention approaches are evolving in response to such trends; and (c) what broader implications these developments have for Singapore’s efforts to strengthen social cohesion and societal resilience.


Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:

1. In the past year, the Internal Security Department (ISD) issued Restriction Orders under the Internal Security Act against two youths who were self-radicalised online by Composite Violent Extremism (CoVE). Individuals radicalised by CoVE subscribe to multiple extremist ideologies to form their worldview. For example, they may combine Islamist extremism, far-right neo-Nazism, incel misogyny, and other grievance-fuelled narratives in a highly personalised and seemingly contradictory manner. Their understanding of the ideologies may be shallow and disorganised. Their support for the different ideologies may also be flexible and fluid.

2. However, the lack of a clear and coherent ideology does not diminish the severity of the CoVE threat. Individuals motivated by CoVE have perpetrated deadly attacks overseas. In fact, it may be harder to detect such individuals, as the threat they pose may be dismissed given the absence of a standard or predictable ideological footprint. Furthermore, the more ideologies and grievances they harbour, the more potential triggers for violence they possess, which means that they can escalate quickly from radicalised beliefs to violent actions.

3. Public education and community vigilance remain critical to tackling the radicalisation threat upstream, including those involving CoVE. ISD works with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to conduct counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation outreach for youths, educators and school counsellors, to sensitise them to the threat and possible indicators of radicalisation, and the importance of early reporting of suspected radicalisation cases. The outreach materials have been updated with CoVE cases, to enhance understanding of these threat profiles. ISD and MOE have also jointly produced an online guide for parents and guardians on protecting their children from radicalisation. In schools, secondary students learn about the impact of transnational terrorism on countries and how it has led to some individuals becoming self-radicalised through exposure to extreme ideologies. They also learn to develop empathy and respect for one another, discern the reliability of information from different sources, and be vigilant against harmful online content. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also launched the SGSecure Instagram and TikTok accounts in 2024 to share key advisories on radicalisation using bite-sized videos and posts. Community partners such as the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) and the Inter-Agency Aftercare Group (ACG) are upgrading their skillsets to deal with CoVE cases and conduct regular outreach to youths and families, which will strengthen the community’s resilience to extremist ideas. In addition, ISD has worked with community partners to tailor the rehabilitation programme for individuals radicalised by CoVE. The interventions are aimed at addressing not just their ideological misconceptions, but also personal vulnerabilities, grievances and psychological factors that contribute to their radicalisation.