A young Singaporean radicalized by the extreme right planned to attack Muslims

The Straits Times, main daily newspaper in the English language of Singapore and reference journal of the country since 1845, reports that a young Singaporean radicalized by the extreme right planned to attack Muslims

The Singapore Interior Security Services (ISD) placed Nick Lee Xing Qiu in detention, an 18 -year -old student radicalized by the extreme right ideology. The young man, who has self-proclaimed “East-Asian supremacist”, fueled attacks on the local Muslim community.

Influenced by Islamophobic content on social networks in early 2023, Lee gradually radicalized by obsessively viewing the images of the attack on Christchurch. He devoted particular admiration to its author, the Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant.

His radicalization was notably manifested by the acquisition of t-shirts and tattoos with neo-Nazi symbols, as well as by simulations of attacks in online video games where he replayed the killing of Christchurch. The ISD revealed that it concretely envisaged violent actions, including attacks on the artisanal explosive against its Muslim neighbors.

This arrest marks the third case of a young Singaporean radicalized by the extreme right. The authorities point out that if these ideologies are traditionally associated with white supremacism, their ethno-religious hatred messages can seduce beyond this circle, especially young people in search of identity. Security services call for vigilance in the face of signs of radicalization, in particular the consultation of extremist sites and the sharing of hateful content on social networks