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A reminder for vigilance against radicals: DPM Teo

Date : 25 July 2011

The Straits Times

By Teh Joo Lin

THE bombing and shooting incidents in Norway have demonstrated the need for vigilance against extremists, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said yesterday.

The Norway incidents are a stark reminder that 'the means for this kind of very vicious attacks' exist, he said.

There is 'almost a model' these extremists can follow and execute, said Mr Teo, who is also the Home Affairs Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security.

'When you put these two things together - extremist violence and the means and methods for doing it - then you can have tragedies as have happened in Oslo and other places of the world,' he said.

Mr Teo was speaking to reporters after a mass walk in Pasir Ris.

The attacks on Norway's government headquarters and a youth retreat left at least 93 dead.

The suspect, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, is said to be a Christian fundamentalist whose political opinions lean to the right.

Breivik, who claimed to have acted alone, had three weapons registered in his name and belonged to a gun club. Reports said he also ran an agricultural company, which could have helped him secure large amounts of fertiliser, a potential ingredient in bombs.

Terrorists and other extremists who have no qualms resorting to violence are known to tap the Internet, where they can easily acquire recipes and raw materials to build bombs and other weapons of mass destruction.

On the lessons Singapore should draw from the Norway incidents, Mr Teo said: 'We have to be vigilant against the means and the methods. But we also have to be vigilant against extremism.'

He added: 'We should all speak up and stand up against extremist violence, wherever it comes from.'

Mr Teo also joined Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam in offering condolences to those affected.

On Saturday, Mr Lee said that the attacks were a reminder that all countries must remain 'vigilant and resolute' in countering terrorism.

(With thanks to SPH - StraitsTimes.com)

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