A Secondary 4 student who considered himself a white supremacist after being radicalised by online far-right extremist propaganda was handed a restriction order under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in November 2023.
Although he is ethnic Chinese, the 16-year-old aspired to carry out attacks overseas to further the white supremacist cause. He had no plans to carry out any attacks here.
He is the second Singaporean to be dealt with under the ISA after being radicalised by far-right extremist ideologies, said the Internal Security Department (ISD). The first Singaporean, now 19, was released from detention in January after close to three years.
Under the restriction order, the youth must comply with several conditions, including not being allowed to change his residence or travel out of Singapore, or access the Internet.
“At the point of investigation, he strongly identified himself as a white supremacist and pro-white sympathiser, and hoped to be recruited for violent attacks by white supremacist groups overseas to ‘fight for the whites’,” said ISD.
Explaining how he became radicalised, ISD said he had chanced upon videos by foreign far-right political commentator and white supremacist Paul Nicholas Miller, and was exposed to violent extremist material online. Miller advocates for a race war and has been tied to multiple far-right extremist organisations overseas.
By early last year, the youth had developed an intense hatred of communities targeted by far-right extremists, including African Americans, Arabs, and LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) individuals.
The youth participated in far-right online chat groups and channels, where he shared violent anti-African American videos, as doing so gave him a sense of belonging to the white supremacist community.
He considered travelling to countries such as France, Italy, the US and Russia to participate in attacks against the vilified communities, and also expressed interest in a far-right online chat group in carrying out a mass shooting in the US in 10 years. However, ISD said he did not take steps to actualise his attack aspirations beyond searching online for weapons, because he lacked the money and know-how to do so.
The youth had not planned to carry out attacks in Singapore as he felt these communities had not caused trouble here, said ISD.
ISD urged the public to be vigilant to signs that someone has become radicalised. Those who suspect a person has been radicalised can call the ISD Counter-Terrorism Centre hotline on 1800-2626-473 (1800-2626-ISD).
The Straits Times
