| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Singapore keeping tabs on madrassa alumni |
| 2005-07-19 |
| Singapore is monitoring its citizens who go to Islamic religious schools in Pakistan amid reports three of the four London suicide bombers had visited that country, Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said on Monday. But Tan, who is also the coordinating minister for defence and security, said Singapore was a free society and the government could not control every movement of its people. Tan was asked in parliament whether the government was monitoring Singaporeans who go to âmadrassasâ or religious schools in Pakistan. âYes, we do keep track. We try to keep track of who goes there,â Tan said. âBut we are a free society so we cannot be sure of everybody. We do know that there are Singaporeans who have gone to some madrassas in a neighbouring country and from there went on to Pakistan. We have to depend very much on feedback from relatives, from friends on such activities.â Tan noted that it was a tip-off from a member of the public about a Muslim Singaporean who had gone to Afghanistan that led to the arrest here of 31 militants of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group in December 2001. The arrests crippled the JI cell in Singapore and foiled plans by the group to bomb foreign embassies and other targets, the government has said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |