In his speech, Mr Shanmugam touched on the challenges of dealing with terrorists who are constantly on the move, especially with long coastlines in South-east Asia. The two terrorists on the screen, (from left) Hambali and Dulmatin, were known to move stealthily between countries, often undetected. Hambali was arrested by the Thai authorities in 2003, while Dulmatin was killed by Indonesian security personnel this year. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN
LAW Minister K. Shanmugam appealed to the international community yesterday to give more thought to how countries in this region can be helped to develop a legal framework to detain terrorists.
He acknowledges there are 'no easy answers' to how best to deal with a captured terrorist, but felt it was an issue that could do with more discussion.
Another menacing group that needs a tough hand is extremist clerics of any religion who preach hatred and intolerance, he said at a security conference attended by a global audience of captains of industry and leaders in the public sector.
Mr Shanmugam, who is also Second Home Affairs Minister, cited Singapore's approach and argued that the harm these clerics did far outweighs any loss of freedom of speech.
In Singapore, the Government has the power to issue a restraining order against a cleric whose actions are likely to cause tensions between communities or breed extremism.
'So, for example, if anyone wanted to burn the Quran or the Bible, he or she could be prevented from doing so, by way of restraining order, rather than having to wait for breach of some fire safety code,' he said at the opening gala dinner of the Singapore Global Dialogue.
