Speech by PM Lee Hsien Loong at the National CEP Dialogue 2011

SPEECH BY MR LEE HSIEN LOONG, PRIME MINISTER, AT NATIONAL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME DIALOGUE, 19 MARCH 2011, 10:30 AM AT RAFFLES CITY CONVENTION CENTRE

Good morning, DPM Wong Kan Seng, Minister Shanmugam, Ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I am very happy to be here this morning for the fifth anniversary of our National Community Engagement Programme (CEP) Dialogue. We are having this session because every year, once a year, I get briefed by the security agencies on the security situation affecting Singapore, what is happening around us, what is happening in Singapore and the most recent briefing was held late last year. After the briefing, I asked myself, compared with five years ago when we launched the CEP, compared with ten years ago when 9/11 happened, are we better off or are we not better off? Are we safer or not? And my conclusion was we have been lucky we have not been hit. We have worked hard and I think we have strengthened our cohesion and our security. But at the same time, if you look around us and if you scan the world and look at the region around us and the countries closest to us, I do not think you can say the situation has drastically improved. Yes, our resilience has strengthened, we have done a lot of work, we can take comfort in that, but we cannot relax our guard.

So with that conclusion, what do I do about it? I thought the best thing for me to do is not just to tell you how seriously I am taking the problem, but to share with you some of the information which I and my colleagues were given so that you can understand what is happening, what we should be worried about and why we have to continue to take this seriously. Therefore, today, I am joined on stage by ISD’s Director of Research, to help me present this information to you, the interpretation, the story as well as the facts and the sensitive details. So there are two of us on stage. This half of the stage and anything which I say is open for media coverage and you can take pictures. That half of the stage and anything which ISD says is confidential. It is just for your knowledge. Please listen carefully, but do not read it in the newspapers tomorrow.

Let me start with the global situation. Ten years after 9/11, the Middle East remains unsettled. The 9/11 bombers, the suicide attackers came from Saudi Arabia, came from Yemen, came from Egypt. Today, Egypt just had a change of government, Yemen is in a complete upheaval, Saudi Arabia is under pressure. Al-Qaeda itself, Osama bin Laden and his team, have been disrupted because of the war in Pakistan, the war in Afghanistan, the Americans have struck them. Osama bin Laden is still hiding somewhere, but his ops chief, as the Americans tell you, whoever takes on that job, every six months, you must find a new person because they will be hit, they will be knocked out. The organization has been, if not neutralized, substantially weakened. But the idea is still there. Al-Qaeda has franchises and these franchises carry out deadly attacks in its name around the world and including in Southeast Asia where there are some groups which look to Al-Qaeda for ideological support. And they do not just attack. Now the terrorists and the extremists spread their radical ideologies through the Internet in English. If you go into cyberspace, you will find sermons by radical preachers, speaking in English, connecting in the language and thinking ways and the ideas which resonate with people who are much broader than the usual base in the Middle East. They have preachers like Anwar al-Awlaki, an American, who is now in Yemen. And as a result, we are seeing people self-radicalized in several countries, including in Singapore. Something happens, they go on the Internet, they come across this material and somehow, they go wrong and get into trouble and may do bad things.

Governments have responded to this and have stepped up their anti-terrorism efforts. Some of the significant plots have been thwarted, quite a number of them, some we have read about, quite a number more done silently, but we should be grateful that they were stopped. But there were a few which slipped through which have taken quite a number of lives, fortunately not in Singapore. The terrorists are constantly changing their tactics. They find new ways of smuggling bombs, new attack operations. I just give you one example. Two years ago, I think more than two years ago, there was an attack in Mumbai, you know all about it, a Singaporean was killed. So in 2009, we conducted an exercise on a Mumbai scenario called Exercise Northstar VII. It was done in Sentosa. We used the hotel there, and the terrorists came by boat. They came in, we tried to intercept them by boat, some got through, got into the buildings, took people hostage. Then our counter-terrorism teams came in, came by land, came by helicopter, rappelled down, mounted a very good major exercise to practise this scenario and to deal with this situation. And we invited grassroots leaders and I went and watched the exercise with the grassroots leaders so that you understand what this is about and I think some of you might have been there as well.

After the exercise, I did a door-stop and met the press. The press asked me what I thought. I said, well, it is a good exercise. The security forces have trained well, they know what they are doing, but do not forget that the threat is always morphing. I gave them a Chinese proverb – 道高一尺，魔高一丈. That means the priest is dealing with the devil and the priest goes one foot higher and the devil rises ten feet up and so you have to rise up and deal with the next problem. It is a warning that this is not the way it is going to happen the next time.

That was on 15 July 2009. On 17 July 2009, two days later, two hotels in Jakarta, the Marriott and the Ritz Carlton, faced suicide bombings. But the terrorists did not come by boat or by car the way we had practised Exercise Northstar. The Jakarta hotels had had this experience, they had raised their defences, so the terrorists found a way to infiltrate inside the defences. They booked a room, they used the room as their ops room. They brought the bomb in components which were not detected. They made the bomb inside the hotel and one of the bombers was a flower seller in the hotel, working in the hotel. You have one set of defences, they came in a different way. The bomb did not come in from outside, the bomb was carried downstairs into the coffee house and triggered. It is a new threat, so we train against that threat. We prepare against that and next time, it will be different again. It is an unending contest. The nature of the problem has morphed, the terrorists are innovating and we also have to upgrade. So today, I have upgraded my presentation. Now ISD will tell you a bit more about the details of how these things happen.

[ISD Briefing 1]

That is the global backdrop, but if you look specifically around us in Indonesia and Malaysia, I think you can see both good news and bad news. First, Indonesia, the good news is that the government is tackling the terrorist threat more seriously. They have killed or arrested several key terrorists, including bomb-makers, people who plan operations, some of the foot soldiers. But the bad news is that some very dangerous people are still at large and there are new dangerous people who are emerging. The JI group has been considerably weakened, but it can still conduct operations. Just this week, if you have been reading the newspapers, you will know there have been five parcel bombs which have been sent around in Jakarta, targeted at people. One policeman had his arm blown off trying to examine one of the bombs. And the bombs were targeted against moderate Indonesian Muslims who champion tolerance. There are other groups who operate in Indonesia, in Java, but also particularly in Aceh. And the seed of the militancy, the people who are generating the ideas, the poison pouring out the ideology, violence, murder, that remains entrenched.

Abu Bakar Bashir is on trial. If you have been watching the news, you will see him, old man, long beard, in looks he may be old, he may be not so physically strong, but if you watch him on TV you can see the passion and the fierceness and the way he commands the situation and intimidates the judges in the court. He has been defiant. If he is found guilty, he will be put away. That postpones the problem and maybe that makes things better, but it is yet to be seen because if he is not convicted, then he will be even more emboldened and will continue to be a major threat to the region and including to Singapore. ISD will tell you a bit more.

[ISD Briefing 2]

That is Indonesia. When you put people in jail, the problem does not disappear. It just is in a different place and maybe growing and one day, it may come out and that is the problem which our neighbours have.

In Malaysia, the government has done quite a lot to break up the terrorist networks, but some of the JI members have tried to regroup and revive their network. They even recruited on Malaysian university campuses. The authorities have come across several terrorist plots. They have arrested several militants in Malaysia, but it is a challenge for the Malaysian Government, or in fact for any government, to be there 100 per cent of the time because you have to catch them every time. The terrorists only have to get through once. We watch Malaysia very closely because we are so close to them and because we have so many links with them and to-ings and fro-ings and also because if Malaysia is hit, we are going to suffer some fallout and some consequences too. When we had a JI cell in Singapore, the Singapore cell was under the leadership of the Malaysian JI cell. So the terrorists also have links or did have links. But fortunately, if the terrorists have links, the security agencies are also good friends with one another and cooperate closely together, the Malaysian Special Branch and the Singapore ISD, and it works well.

[ISD Briefing 3]

Within Singapore, we have had to take this very seriously over the last ten years. We have acted decisively to counter terrorism. The JI network in Singapore is thoroughly dismantled and we worked closely with our neighbours to capture those who have escaped abroad. We are watching carefully to make sure that no new groups emerge. We have self-radicalization. There have been four cases so far that we know of, including the latest one which was a serving National Serviceman. When we had to act against them, we took a lot of trouble to explain to the community, to grassroots leaders, to Singaporeans in general, to make sure there is no misunderstanding of what this means. But we have to continue to watch this because it is very difficult to trace self-radicalized cases. If there is a group, you have a better chance to get them because a dozen to-ing and fro-ing, they have a network, they must meet somewhere, there will be some trace and you will know. But if it is one person, where do you catch him? No record, and the community does not know about it. The family may notice that there is some change in the behaviour of the person, probably a young man, but they may not appreciate how serious it is or they may be reluctant to seek help and tell somebody else about the problem. They may hope that it will get better by itself. But if any family has such a person, we encourage the family members to look for help from the police and from community leaders so that we can follow up and investigate. We have to deal with such people firmly, but we also have to understand that they are misguided and so we have to do our best to guide them back on to the right path and to help them to reintegrate into the society.

We have a good record of successfully rehabilitating radicalized people. The RRG, the Religious Rehabilitation Group, has done very valuable work. It was initiated by Malay/Muslim religious, leaders like Ustaz Ali, who is here today. They have conducted many counselling sessions for detainees and the families and helped several of the detainees to come back on to the right path and the correct interpretation of the religion. There are a few detainees who remain unrepentant and they will still have to be locked up for some time, like Mas Selamat. But overall, I can say confidently that Singapore is safer domestically although we still have external threats.

[ISD Briefing 4]

I think that if you listened carefully to what we have told you, you will be persuaded that today, the threat facing us is not significantly less than what it was five years ago or ten years ago. But we have made a lot of progress in Singapore and we have got to continue to work hard. We have enhanced our resilience in two main ways in Singapore. First is the defensive part, raising the security preparedness. We strengthened the security around key institutions and for major events. We build up our security agencies, our SAF and Home Team, we educate Singaporeans to be more security conscious, watch out for bags, watch out for anything looking suspicious, watch out for anything out of the ordinary. We will continue to take these practical measures to keep ourselves safe. But secondly and just as importantly as the defensive security measures is to integrate our population so that we are cohesive, so that we feel together as one nation, one Singapore. Then if we are attacked, we can cope with it. We may suffer casualties, people may be hurt, maybe some may be killed, but our society will hold together and our social fabric will not tear apart. Because if as a result of a bomb, not just a few people are killed but our whole society begins to distrust one another and you have recriminations and bitterness and mutual suspicions, then I think we will be in deep trouble. But if we can emerge standing stronger as one people, then we will pull through and I think Singaporeans understand this.

This issue of integrating the society or becoming one people is an issue which is vital to us, but it is also an issue which concerns many other countries in the West. In Europe, many of the societies have problems integrating the minorities. They may live separately, they may have completely different lives, they may be marginalized, not doing well economically, maybe high unemployment, maybe in a ghetto and looked down upon or discriminated against. Or even if they are not discriminated against, they are not well integrated into the society and do not feel that they are one people with the rest of society. And I think the European governments are very worried about this. Recently, David Cameron, the British PM, made a major speech talking about state multiculturalism and he says that it does not work. What does he mean “does not work”? Means you cannot just live your separate lives and this is one group and there is another group and you do not interact with one another and you do not develop trust and confidence and bonds with one another. David Cameron argued that Britain had to subscribe to certain values, the country and everybody who is living in the country, like free speech, democracy, rule of law, equal rights, and that the country had to say to its citizens, “this is what defines us as a society, to belong here is to believe these things.” The French President Sarkozy and the German Chancellor Merkel have expressed similar views. But saying is one thing, making an integrated society is quite a different thing. You cannot order people to become one. You have to build the trust, to make the friendships. You have to work at it gradually, step by step, year by year and patiently make progress. And it is not so easy if the minorities are living apart in ghettos or in different suburbs, or they face depravation or discrimination and you tell them, let us feel together. It does not work.

In America, the problem has been less because the minorities are more mixed in with the rest of the communities, more successful. But religion is still a sensitive issue and after 9/11, the Muslims in America experienced a backlash and even after a decade, relations are still strained. Last year, you may have read that there was a group which wanted to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. The man who was behind it said he wanted to develop this for inter-religious harmony and make this a symbol of harmony. But there were protests and strong resistance to it. I think in the end, the project could not go through. Recently, there was a Republican Congressman, Peter King, who held a congressional hearing about Muslim radicalization. It was very high-profile, a very controversial discussion, but it is not clear whether when you have all the spotlights on and you focus attention like this, whether you will bring the temperature down or you make things hotter.

This is a challenge for many countries, but for Singapore, we have taken our own approach and I think we have made solid progress at integration. We have had both protective measures and constructive measures -- protective in the sense that we staunchly watch out for social harmony in Singapore and we defend the common space. If any group pushes its interests or agenda too strongly without regard for religious harmony, the Government will step in and remind them what the limits are and encourage them to tone down and to take a step back gradually. And ISD from time to time will quietly advise individuals and groups who have gone too far. You may not hear about it, but we see the peace and that is the result of quiet hard work.

At the same time, we have a comprehensive programme to strengthen community bonds. This CEP, the Community Engagement Programme, is one such key constructive effort. It covers five areas – the arts, media and academics; education; employers and unions, that means the workplaces; grassroots, that means our community, the homes we live in; and then we have the religious, ethnic and welfare organizations. We have done this in a bottom-up way. So rather than the Government pushing a programme down, we have encouraged organizations to propose programmes and we have a government agency to help things along. MHA will coordinate and develop the capabilities so that you can run the programmes effectively.

I think it has worked out well and we have had some interesting projects. For example, the People’s Association has set up Core Groups in all of our constituencies which bring together grassroots leaders and community leaders so that in an emergency, there is a first line of assistance. And there are volunteers who attend workshops on team-building, on crisis management, and if something happens, they know what to do. From time to time, we have small things happening, so they get a little bit of practice and a dry run. Many of our IRCCs have come up with their own projects. Eunos has something called Kampong Spirit @ Eunos which encourages residents to know their neighbour and to build bonds across communities. Eunos also has a Council of Elders who act as resource persons on inter-religious and communal harmony. In schools, the teachers inject CEP elements into the daily lessons to teach students about social harmony and emergency response, and they conduct workshops, design training packages to help teachers bring the message across in lively, refreshing ways.

The tripartite partners at workplaces - the Government, the unions, the employers - we are cooperating and engaging firms to implement CEP programmes. There is a CEP implementation guide which firms can use to work out initiatives, to bring their people, their staffs together. And the media also helps. We have radio deejays and TV presenters who are familiar voices and faces, and when something happens, you want to hear the news, the newscasters must know what to say, how to pitch it and they practise crisis communications, they learn to play their emergency roles. We take it seriously and when you see Gurmit Singh, it is not just for fun. Sometimes, Gurmit Singh has a serious message too.

The objective of all these CEP programmes is to shift attitudes. It is not just for the few of you who are here to know about it but to get our whole society gradually to become more integrated, to be closer together, to be stronger. I think that is happening because we can see many activities which are taking place which are bringing people together. We have different communities coming together. Brisk walking, for example, which is a completely non-religious thing but religious groups participate. Mosque groups come in and join in the brisk walking. We have the churches, the mosques and the temples visiting one another’s place of worship. We have temple groups which are donating to needy Singaporeans of all religions. And when you have something like Chingay Parade, this is really not a Chinese celebration but a multiracial celebration, and this year, the top prize for the float was won by the Malay item. All these different activities show that people of different races and religions are making the effort to accommodate each other, engage one another and stand up for one another as Singaporeans.

I was flipping through one of the NTUC publications recently, it was not a CEP publication, but it is to celebrate their 50th Anniversary. They had pictures of women who were doing things and one of the pictures caught my eye - four women plucking “tow-gay” together, happened to be two Malay ladies and two Chinese women [picture]. At the grassroots, too, things are happening. I was down in my constituency at Teck Ghee a couple of weeks ago for a function to launch an active wellness programme and we had a kebayarobicsgroup. They came, they participated, they were active, they were socializing with the others. I came along, they jostled around me, shook hands, we took pictures [picture]. I think it is a picture which I should show all of my residents and I can use for campaign. But this is the way Singapore is. You are comfortable with one another, you are happy to meet one another. There is no barrier, no obstacle to socializing, mingling, being friends and being together. And when something is not quite right, like when somebody says something out of turn on the Internet and make racial remarks, then Singaporeans also respond strongly and they come out to criticize the people who have spoken out out of turn and to set the right tone for our interracial relations. And it is because of all these things that I am convinced that over the last decade, we have strengthened our social cohesion and common identity and we have pulled closer together and we are heading in the right direction.

But finally, the test of all these is not just the organization, it is not just the functions, it is not the speeches. It is when there is an emergency, does our society hold together or not? And one example of this, not in this field of race and religion, but a big disaster is the Japanese encountering the earthquake and tsunami and you watch them. They were well-prepared over many years, but when it came and such a huge shock, they were still taken by surprise, with thousands of casualties. But they responded in a calm, orderly manner, no panic, no jostling, very little looting and everybody helping and encouraging one another. This is a picture of the Japanese after the earthquake, queuing up to buy things, not enough food, not enough water, not enough fuel [picture]. Here, they are queuing up to get into a store. A huge group, so they are queuing back and forth, even without railings, under great stress. There is no scrambling, no jostling, no fighting. They passed the test, with fortitude and resilience.

A terrorist attack on Singapore would be like a tsunami hitting our society. Can we respond like the Japanese? They are homogenous with a long history and experience of natural disasters. We are a much shorter history and fortunately, we have not been attacked. But if ever we are, we have to measure up and be just as resilient and that is when you receive your report card. We cannot provide a report card today, but I think we can make a progress report. And on a progress report, I would say we are one of the not very many examples in the world of a harmonious, multiracial and multireligious society, not by chance, but as a result of our determined, deliberate and sustained efforts at integration and the support of all the communities, all the religious leaders and many, many Singaporeans. But it is still work in progress. We are progressively strengthening our mutual bonds and with every year, our people grow closer; and with every crisis, we learn to depend on one another more; and with each success, we gain in our national pride and identity. So let us keep on going in this direction, maintain the momentum and continue to push ahead and I hope you do many more CEP programmes over the next five years.

Thank you very much.

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Please click here for the National CEP Dialogue 2011 factsheet which highlights some of the CEP initiatives from the cluster leads in the year leading up to the National CEP Dialogue.