problem solution essay draft 4

Up to date, 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 recruitment, fund raising and training-i.e. how to build a bomb. (UNODC, 2012).  It is challenging to trace and eliminate all these terrorist activities with the rapid sharing of terrorist related materials that are easily accessible on social media websites (Conway M., 2007).

 Number of terrorist related websites has increased tremendously, from 12 in 1998 to nearly 10,000 today. (Weimann G., 2007). In addition, online forums and chat rooms have allowed these terrorist groups to disseminate terrorist related information such as agenda and operation of the terrorist groups and answer queries that sympathizers of terrorist group had virally. (Harf M., 2015)

High internet penetration of 73% in Singapore has allows for the rapid dissimulation of terrorists materials throughout the nation. (We Are Social, 2015) Majority of the Malay population in Singapore is Muslim, and makes up 13.3 % of the total population (Statistics Singapore, 2010). Therefore, it is vital that young people receive proper preaching to prevent them from being self-radicalized by the vast amount of terrorist material online.

In order to keep terrorism on social media on bay, Singapore’s government has taken a proactive and preventive measures, which includes, regional dialogues, religious group counselling, internet surveillance and censorship.

Extensive social presence of terrorists on the social media has required nations to discuss and devise strategic counter terrorism measures to keep terrorism under control. Regional dialogues between terrorist experts and regional leaders include discussions on the radical preaching on social media. This has promoted a more comprehensive counter terrorism measures towards terrorism on social media and a strengthen cooperation between the nations.

Religious group counselling is also a counter measure that the Singapore’s government have devised to counter against radical preaching 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 receives 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 beliefs by the extremist s on the social media to seek counselling helps. (Ustaz A., n.d.).

Internet surveillance and censorship also act  as deterrence against propagations 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 1998. The ISD CTC is mainly involved in the monitoring and investigation of terrorist activities or incidents, 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 threats 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.

These control measures that are devised by the Singapore’s government are only preventive measures to counter radical preaching on the social media and not the root solution to elimination of radical preaching on the social media. Therefore, apart from the various control measures that Singapore’s government has devise against terrorism, personal initiative from the public can aid in the fast identification of potential targets of people radicalized 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 radical preaching of terrorism 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 radical preaching of terrorism on social media.

References

·         Singh, B.  The Straits Times. (2013). 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.S. Home Team News. (2013) Maintaining vigilance against terrorism and sharpening cyber enforcers to counter online threats. Retrieved from: http://www.hometeam.sg/article.aspx?news_sid=201303078WLmFeUoaLxV

·         Lever, R. Yahoo! News. (2014) Social media a key element for terror groups. Retrieved from: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/social-media-key-element-terror-groups-203545974.html

·         Hussain, Z. The Straits Times. (2015). 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-

·         Xue, G.Y. Channel News Asia. (2015). 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

·         Chen, R. The Straits Times. (2015, Jan) Terrorism: How prepared is Singapore?. pp D2-D3