middle east crisis s’pore ‘not immune’ from online...

THE Singapore Land Authority (SLA) hasappointed Mr Lim Sim Seng, the SingaporeCountry Head of DBS Bank, as its newchairman. He will replace outgoing chair-man Mr Chaly Mah, who will finish histwo-year term on July 31.

The SLA said Mr Mah, who also servesas chief executive officer at Deloitte Asia-Pacific, helped it to find new and betterways to free up more space for Singaporeand Singaporeans, by tendering out dis-used land.

Examples include the Tanjong Pagarand Bukit Timah railway stations, which

can now be rented out for private events.Under Mr Mah’s charge, the SLA has

also made significant progress in incorpo-rating the collection of location-specificdata, or geospatial technology, into itswork.

Mr Lim, 55, has been involved with theagency since 2011. On top of being the cur-rent deputy chairman, he also heads theSLA’s Investment Board Committee.

The other members of the SLA’s boardwho will see their term end by August areMr George Lim, a partner in law firm Wee,Tay & Lim and Ms Teo Lay Lim, senior

managing director at Accenture Asean.Mrs Valerie Thean, former Deputy Sec-

retary at the Ministry of Law, ended herterm after being appointed to another posi-tion in March. The new incoming membersare the current Deputy Secretary at theMinistry of Law, Mr Poon Hong Yuen, andMr Ang Cheng Hock, a partner at Allenand Gledhill.

Mr Wong Hong Kuan, the director ofthe Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureauhas also been reappointed for anothertwo-year term as a board member.DARYL CHIN

By MARYAM MOKHTAR andNUR ASYIQIN MOHAMAD SALLEH

RELIGIOUS leaders and academ-ics have cautioned that Singaporeis not immune from extremists us-ing the Internet to influence andrecruit foreign fighters to join con-flicts in Iraq and Syria.

But they said Singapore’s expe-riences in tackling the threat ofradicalisation and extremist ideol-ogies should help stave off thedanger of some Muslims in Singa-pore being influenced to join thecauses in the Middle East.

Research fellow Fanar Haddad,at the National University of Sin-gapore’s Middle East Institute,said: “It is worrying that sectari-an entrenchment and sectarianhate emanating from the Syrianand Iraqi conflicts have had anecho as far away as South-eastAsia, though thankfully not in Sin-gapore.”

Dr Haddad also said it was im-portant to note that differences inbeliefs are not what fuelled thetensions in Iraq. “The real driversof sectarian tensions in Iraq areissues of power, politics and repre-sentation,” he pointed out.

The conflict between Sunniand Shia Muslims in the MiddleEast have reportedly attractedseveral thousands of foreigners tojoin the fighting, giving rise toconcerns that it could impact na-tions in this part of the world.

In Iraq, an extremist Sunnigroup known as the Islamic Statein Iraq and Syria is trying to carveout a purist Islamic state on bothsides of the Syria-Iraq border.

When asked about the situa-tion, Prime Minister Lee HsienLoong said last Friday that Singa-pore was carefully watching it.

“You may think it’s a long wayaway, but things in the MiddleEast have a way of sending outlong-distance vibrations and re-verberations which can affect usin South-east Asia,” he added.

With reports of Malaysiansand Indonesians joining the fightin Syria, PM Lee cautioned thatthere was a chance Singaporeansmight also be led astray.

He said the Islamic ReligiousCouncil of Singapore, or Muis,has issued statements to guideMuslims on the right path.

Mufti Fatris Bakaram has alsostressed the importance of educa-tion in preventing religious misin-terpretation. In an April inter-view, he said it was crucial for Sin-

gapore Muslims to be able to dis-cern what is being said onlineabout the conflicts.

Meanwhile, the Home AffairsMinistry is investigating a 37-year-old Singaporean, Haja Fakku-rudeen Usman Ali, for allegedlygoing to Syria to take part inarmed violence there. A former In-dian national, he became a Singa-pore citizen in 2008.

Self-radicalisation, however, isa real possibility, said Dr Haddad.

“The twisted jihadi ideologyhas proven attractive to youngMuslims from just about everywalk of life and every part of theworld, so there are no hard andfast rules about who is liable to be-come radicalised and who is not.”

Still, Singapore’s economic sit-uation, social cohesion and levelsof tolerance help reduce the riskof violent extremism, he added.

Agreeing with the Mufti, DrMohamed Ali, secretary of theReligious Rehabilitation Groupwhich counsels extremists, saidthe best way to prevent self-radi-calisation is through education.

The group’s work has given thecommunity valuable experience indealing with extremist ideology,he said.

The Singapore Muslim commu-nity understands the threat well,“but we must to continue to pre-vent the occurrence of religiousmisinterpretation and self-radical-isation”, added Dr Mohamed, a re-search fellow at Nanyang Techno-logical University’s S. RajaratnamSchool of International Studies.

Worries that the political strifebetween Sunni and Shia Muslimscould raise tensions among Mus-lim groups in Singapore are alsounwarranted, the experts said.

Most of Singapore’s 700,000or so Muslims are Sunni. About5,000 are Shia Muslims.

Ba’alwi Mosque’s Imam HabibHassan, a Sunni, said the twogroups have prayed, lived andinter-married without fuss or fan-fare in Singapore for more than100 years, he said. “We identifyourselves as one,” he added.

Agreeing, Ustaz MohammadRosli Hassan, president of Shia or-ganisation Jaafari Muslim Associa-tion Singapore, said “people liv-ing here are more educated, peace-ful, harmonious and civilised”.

More importantly, he added,the Government is secular and “wetrust it is capable of tackling anyextremist group or individual”.

maryamm@sph.com.sgasyiqins@sph.com.sg

By JANICE TAI

THE Singapore Democratic Party hasbacked the Government’s move to increasehealth- care expenditure – but brandedthe rise “minuscule”.

“It is a step in the right direction andwill ensure that Singaporeans receive thekind of health care that they deserve,” saidits Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan in astatement yesterday. Yet the party alsofound the subsidies given for MediShieldLife “disappointing”.

“Considering that our nation’s totalhealth-care expenditure tops $12 billion ayear, the Government’s latest subsidy in-

crease is a minuscule 6.5 per cent,” hesaid. Last week, the Government had saidit will spend $4 billion over the next fiveyears on subsidies for MediShield Life.

The SDP raised concerns that the subsi-dies may not go to patient care but ratherto the MediShield Life provider. It took is-sue with having the premiums for the na-tional insurance scheme taken from Medis-ave accounts, saying that Medisave moneyis drawn from Central Provident Fundaccounts, in which not much money is leftafter people pay off their housing loans.

The recommendations of the MediShieldLife Review Committee, which were acceptedby the Government, only adds another layer

to an already confusing system, said the party.“It continues to place the burden on the

people without significantly making a dentin health-care costs,” said Mr Chee, not-ing that Medisave, MediShield and Medi-fund together account for less than 10 percent of total health expenditure here.

Instead, the party proposed makinghealth-care payment simpler by havingpeople put in an average of $400 a year in-to a National Health Investment Fund andscrapping Medisave, MediShield and Medi-fund. “The SDP will present our alterna-tive health-care policy to the people at thenext general election,” said Mr Chee.

jantai@sph.com.sg

Muslim Kidney Action Associationpresident, Mr Ameerali Abdeali (centre,in white), offering dates to his friendsfrom other faiths in a special iftar(breaking of fast) session yesterday.

About 100 people from various faiths,including Christians, Jews, Buddhists,Taoists, Hindus, Jains and Sikhs,gathered at the association’sheadquarters in Telok Kurau to witnessthe practice and take part in a sharingsession on the various fasting traditionsof different religions. ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM

School staff learninghow to becomelifesavers yesterday aspart of the SingaporeHeart Foundation’s“Start A Heart” project.

Physical educationteacher Jasri Bahari, 37,tries to get a manikin’sheart pumping, asvolunteer instructor TanChoon Siong (left) fromNanyang Polytechnicand Mr ZainudinNordin, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC (secondfrom right), look on.

Mr Jasri is among900 administrativestaff, teachers andprincipals from 70schools to be trainedin cardiopulmonaryresuscitation (CPR) overthe next few days.PHOTO: SINGAPORE HEART FOUNDATION

But its experience in tackling threatscan help keep danger at bay: Experts

MIDDLE EAST CRISIS

S’pore ‘notimmune’from onlineextremism

New SLA chairman, members appointed

BREAKING FASTTOGETHER AS FRIENDS

HANDS-ONLESSONS ON CPR

MediShield Life subsidies disappointing: SDP

B6 HHOOMMEE ● T U E S D A Y , J U L Y 1 , 2 0 1 4