A Chinese teenager from Singapore who identified as a white supremacist after being radicalized online planned school shootings in the US and other terror attacks around the world.
The boy, who has not been named, planned to carry out racially motivated attacks abroad to further the cause of white supremacy, Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) said.
He was released in January at the age of 19, after a three-year detention period during which he underwent an intensive rehabilitation program to deal with his extremist views, which had been cultivated through years of exposure to far-right media.
The boy, the second to be detained under Singapore’s Internal Security Act, first saw videos published by far-right white supremacist Paul Nicholas Miller, also known as GypsyCrusader, who dresses up as various pop culture figures and makes anti-Semitic posts online and shared racist views.
Miller served 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to gun charges in the US in June 2021.
Singapore’s Internal Security Department arrested the boy when he was 16 (File Image)
During his three-year detention, the ISD worked with church groups and arranged for a Christian minister to counsel him and discuss his extremist views.
The Chinese boy was himself arrested when he was 16 in December 2020, after making detailed plans to carry out terrorist attacks with machetes against Muslims at two mosques in Singapore, a country where 15.6% of the population is Muslim.
He harbored an intense hatred of groups often targeted by extremists, including Black Americans, Arabs and the LGBTQ community.
The ISD said he always believed that black Americans were responsible for much of the crime in the U.S. and deserved “to die a horrible death.”
He also believed in the Great Replacement Theory, a racist claim that the white population in the West would be replaced demographically and culturally by non-white immigrants, often from Muslim-majority countries, and believed that illegal immigrants had committed a disproportionate number of violent crimes . attacks on white people.
The unnamed boy participated in hard-right groups and channels online, and shared violent anti-Black videos, helping him find a sense of community with white supremacists, the ISD said.
He made plans to travel to countries in the West and beyond, including France, Italy, the US and Russia, to participate in attacks on minority groups, and was also interested in participating in a school shooting in the US.
The ISD said he did not take any steps in this direction because he did not have access to funds and the knowledge to do so.
During his three-year detention, the ISD worked with church groups and arranged for a Christian pastor to counsel him and express his extremist views.
He also had a psychologist and three mentors, including his former high school teacher, all of whom helped him resolve his issues with his self-esteem, his attitudes toward violence, and sociological factors that contributed to his radicalization.
His family, who have also not been identified, visited him weekly, and the boy was allowed to study for national exams, with the ISD sending at least five teachers to help with his education.
The ISD said he plans to continue his education after his release.
The boy has been placed under a restrictive order, which prevents him from changing his place of residence or leaving the city-state.
His access to social media and the internet is limited, as is his ability to make public statements.
He has also been assigned two mentors to provide him with guidance and wellbeing skills, and the ISD is also working with charities to explore community-based programs that will equip him with ‘pro social skills’.
“Far-right ideologies, which often espouse white supremacist, anti-Islam, xenophobic and anti-immigration beliefs, can be adapted to the Singaporean landscape. One example is advocating the superiority of specific communities, through the lens of cultural, ethno-religious or nationalist supremacy,” the ISD said.
It added that such divisive rhetoric can create deep social divisions, reinforce prejudices and encourage acts of violence against minorities.