Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Problem solution essay draft 3

Terrorism remains a global issue that nations are facing today. Islamic States extremist groups have taken advantage of the anonymity of the online platform to execute their operations, such as propagation of their ideology, terrorist recruitments, fund raising and training-i.e. how to build a bomb. (UNODC, 2012) It is challenging to trace and crack down on all these terrorist activities with the rapid sharing of terrorist related materials that are easily accessible on social media websites. (Maura C., 2007)

Number of terrorist related websites has increased tremendously, from 12 in 1998 to nearly 10,000 today. (Gabriel W., 2007) In addition, online forums and chatrooms have allowed these terrorist group to dissimilate terrorist related information such as agenda and operation of the terrorist groups and answer queries that sympathizers of terrorist group had virally. (Marie W., 2015)

High internet penetration of 73% (We Are Social, 2015) in Singapore has allows for the rapid dissimilation of terrorists materials to majority of the nation. Furthermore, Malay population attribute to a total of 13.3% of the total ethnic group in Singapore (Statistics Singapore, 2010). It is vital that Islamic practitioners of the Malay population have receive proper preaching to prevent being self-radicalised by the vast amount of terrorist material online.

In order to keep terrorism on social media on bay, Singapore have taken a proactive and preventive measures, which includes, regional dialogues, community engagement, internet surveillance and censorship.

Extensive social presents of terrorists on the social media have required nations to discuss and devise strategic counter terrorism measures to keep terrorism under control. Singapore have organise and participate in various regional dialogues on terrorisms. A dialogue that Singapore has attend is, ’EU-Asia Dialogue, 2015’. Information sharing between terrorist experts and regional leaders through the conferences have promote a more comprehensive counter terrorism measures with the cooperation between the nations.

Community engagement is also a counter measure that the Singapore’s government have devised to counter against terrorism on social media.  The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), which is in charge of the welfare of the Muslim community in Singapore, ensures that the Muslim community Singapore have received accurate and proper Islamic teaching. MUIS has set up various websites to educate the general public about Islam and its practices. These websites include, www.iask.com.sg, www.invoke.sg, www.radical.mosque.sg. In addition, Religious Rehabilitation Group (RPG), headed by a group of Islamic scholars and teachers, allows vulnerable teenagers that are taken in by false belief by the extremist on the social media to seek counselling helps. (Ustaz A., n.d.)

Internet surveillance and censorship also acts as deterrence against propagation of terrorist ideology. As part of an initiative to counter against terrorism, the Internal Security Department Counter-Terrorism Centre (ISD CTC) was established in April 98. The ISD CTC is mainly involved in the monitoring and investigation of terrorist activities or incident, including terrorist threats online. A 24 hours incident response centre was even set up to provide immediate response to security incidents. Intelligence gathered from cases of security incidents will be collected and stored by the ISD CTC for further evaluation and analysis of traces of terrorist activities. In addition as a means to identify and assess new emerging threat to national security, the Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning (RAHS) was developed and launched by the National Security Coordination Secretariat in 2004. Analytical tools such as SKAN and Vanguard are part of the software that RAHS had developed, enabling the modelling and monitoring of emerging strategic solutions.

Apart from the various control measures that Singapore’s government have devise to deter against terrorism, personal initiative from the publics can aid in the fast identification of potential targets of people radicalised by terrorism. Furthermore, regular roadshows and educational talks about terrorism can be conducted in schools and cooperation. This can help to educate the public of the significance of terrorism and how they can contribute to deter against terrorism.

In conclusion, it may be impossible to stop the propagation of terrorist related materials on social media due to their abundancy. Nevertheless, coupled with counter terrorism measures such as regional dialogues, community engagement, internet surveillance and censorship and personal initiative, we can limit the operations of terrorist activities and casualties brought by terrorist attacks.

References


·         ·         Bryna S. The Straits Times. (2013, Mar). Budget 2013: Self-radicalised individual re-detained. Retrieved from: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/budget-2013-self-radicalised-individual-re-detained-20130307
·         ·         Win Kwang S. Home Team News.(2013, Mar ) Maintaining vigilance against terrorism and sharpening cyber enforcers to counter online threats. Retrieved from:http://www.hometeam.sg/article.aspx?news_sid=201303078WLmFeUoaLxV
·         ·         Rob L. Yahoo! News. (2014, May) Social media a key element for terror groups. Retrieved from: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/social-media-key-element-terror-groups-203545974.html
·         ·         Zakir H.The Straits Times. (2015,Jan). PM Lee: Greatest damage from a terror attack would be to trust and confidence.Retrieved from :http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/pm-lee-greatest-damage-terror-attack-would-be-trust-and-
·         ·         Jian Yue X. Channel News Asia. (2015, Mar). Masagos urges Singaporeans to be eyes and ears in fight against terrorism. Retrieved from:http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/masagos-urges/1693232.html
·         ·         Internal security Department. (n,d). ISD Counter-Terrorism Centre (CTC).Retrieved from: http://www.mha.gov.sg/isd/abt-isd.htm
·         ·         RAHS .(n,d) RAHS Programme: Origin and Progress .Retrieved from: http://www.rahs.gov.sg/public/www/content.aspx?sid=2952
·         ·         Rachel C. The Straits Times. (2015, Jan) Terrorism: How prepared is Singapore?. pp D2-D3



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