by Teo Soh Lung
On 10 February 2025, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a press release informing the public that three people were arrested in October, November and December last year and subsequently deported, released on restrictions or detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA). For several months, besides their families, the public was not aware of these arrests. If indeed the government takes a “Zero-tolerance stance on support for terrorism and importance of early reporting”, why did it take several months to announce their arrests? The urgency of such “threats” is lost when reporting is delayed and when those arrested were released or deported.
The three people arrested were Saharuddin bin Saari (34 years old), Nick Lee Xing Qiu 18 and Hamizah binte Hamzah (56 years old).
Saharuddin being a Malaysian, was reported to have been handed over to the Malaysian police after one month of detention.
While Lee was issued with a detention order, Hamizah was released on a restriction order.
NICK LEE XING QIU
Does Lee deserve to be indefinitely detained?
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that Lee is the third young person who was attracted by far right ideology. The other two who were 16 year olds, were released after one month of detention.
What were the evidence against Lee that warrants a detention order? Was it because he is 18 or because he was found to have a tattoo and three t-shirts with alleged symbols of the far right?
MHA’s statement contradicts itself when it claims that Lee viewed himself as a East Asian supremacist rather than a white supremacist. While alleging that he idolised Brenton Tarrant who singlehandedly killed and injured many Muslims in Christchurch, the ministry did not produce any evidence that Lee would carry out such atrocities in Singapore. Indeed, as in past cases, it admitted that:
“Lee’s family members, teachers and schoolmates were unaware of his radicalisation, and there is no indication that he tried to influence them with his violent extremist views. At the point of his arrest, Lee’s attack ideations were aspirational and he had no timeline to carry them out. Investigations into Lee’s online contacts have not surfaced any imminent threat to Singapore.”
I am not convinced that a tattoo which did not resemble fully a sonnenrad as the black centre is absent and three t-shirts, one of which has a TOTENKOPF constitute sufficient evidence to warrant the severe punishment of ARREST and INDEFINITE DETENTION under the ISA. How many of us had t shirts of Totenkopf and portraits of revolutionary leaders like Che Guevara and Nelson Mandela when we were young? During my undergrad days, Che Guevara was very popular.
Has our education system collapsed to such a degree that schools are no longer capable to guiding a young person to the “right path”? Is the MHA making use of Lee to warn young people that surfing the net and watching so called far right videos is forbidden and may lead to arrest and indefinite detention under the ISA? Lee’s case is not even one of having to “nip in the bud” that the PAP likes to practise because he is a so called “lone wolf”.
HAMIZAH BINTE HAMZAH
The ministry alleged that Hamizah was “radicalised” because of HAMAS’s 7 October 2023 attacks against Israel. What is the meaning of being radicalised?
It is alleged that she was active online and followed development of the Israel-Hamas conflict closely, opening many online accounts to replace posts and accounts that were removed.
I think many of us who have a conscience have followed the terrible genocide online. We have given up mainstream media including BBC and CNN. Many of us followed posts from Gaza and Al Jazeera closely. Sharing of violent posts inevitably resulted in algorithms removing some of our posts. I have had such experience and occasionally, not being satisfied that a repost or remark was evil, I had appealed with positive results. I did not open several accounts like Hamizah but the fact remains that I have seen, commented and sympathised with Palestinians. And my sympathies with them have been open, including writing to the Israeli Embassy.
Does pro Hamas posts and anti IDF comments equate to my being incline to taking up arms and joining them? I think most of us know that the days of James Puthucheary joining the Indian Nationalists and Chinese helping to construct the Yunnan road are over!
Like Lee and so many others, the ministry itself concluded that “Hamizah had no attack plans nor intentions to engage in armed violence locally or overseas. … Hamizah’s family members were unaware of her radicalisation. She intentionally tried to keep her extremist views from them, for fear of censure.”
As a former victim of the ISA, I am aware that press releases are one sided statements. The detainees do not know what is said about them. When they are released, the relief that they are no longer in indefinite detention is so great that they don’t even read such press releases. And if they read them, they know that any response may result in their re-detention as had happened to me and my friends in 1988.
It is high time the Singapore government truly respect the rule of law. This colonial law made much worse by the PAP should be repealed immediately. Singaporeans deserve to be treated fairly. Should they be accused of wrong doings, free and open trial should be available to them and not clandestine hearings before the advisory board. Executive detention is not the way a civilised and prosperous country like Singapore should continue to practise after 60 years of independence.
Photos from MHA’s press release.
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