Double Penetrated Minister Teo Chee Bye: ISA can be use against Islamic State

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Supporters. Than my question to Double Penetrated Minister Teo Chee Bye is "If the ISA can be used against the supporters of Islamic State, why isn't it being used against supporters of Communist States eg. PRC, Cuba, etc?" The last I heard, belonging to or supporting any communist parties in Singapore is still a crime, and in the past, communists have fought against Singapore and have done more harm and damage than any Islamic State.

Internal Security Act can be used against Singaporean supporters of ‘Islamic State’: DPM Teo

Singapore’s government will use the Internal Security Act (ISA) to detain Singaporeans who support the self-named “Islamic State” group when necessary.

This was made clear by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean in Parliament on Tuesday in response to a question on the ongoing campaign by the radical militant group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, to grab political control in Iraq and Syria.

“Any Singaporean who assists, supports, promotes or joins violent organisations like ISIL would have demonstrated a dangerous tendency to support the use of violence,” he said. “Where necessary, [the ISA] will be used in order to pre-empt and neutralize these terrorism threats to the security of our citizens and our country.”

When dealing with Singaporeans, however, he said the government would adopt a “carefully calibrated” approach.

Under the ISA, the government has the power to detain a person for up to two years without trial if he or she poses a threat to national security.

Teo, who is also coordinating minister for national security, noted that two Singapore citizens have travelled to Syria to join the extremists in their fight and are last known to still be there, although their exact whereabouts is not confirmed.

“We will continue to investigate anyone who expresses support for terrorism or an interest to pursue violence,” he added.

At the same time, Minister for Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam said Singapore has co-sponsored the United Nations Resolution calling on all governments to enact laws banning their citizens from travelling to Iraq and Syria to participate in the ISIL conflict.

Sharing comments on the ongoing conflict in response to a question from Member of Parliament Christopher de Souza, Shanmugam said the Singapore government has worked with and supported religious leaders, community groups and individuals to delegitimise radical ideologies like those propagated by the ISIL.

“This must continue, and we must remain vigilant,” he added.

Additionally, he noted that there were other Singaporeans who had expressed interest in travelling to Syria to support the group in its fight, but they were stopped before they could do so.

DPM Teo also said Singapore currently has no information of any specific threats to us arising from the beheadings by ISIL or as a result of the anti-ISIL strikes.

“However, our assessment remains that the expansion of the ISIL threat beyond Syria and Iraq has raised the threat not only to countries who are part of the US-led coalition but also to Singapore,” he said. “Even if Singapore is not itself a target, foreign interests here may be targeted.”


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