Threat to Security -- Singapore's Most Pressing Concern: Goh

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 11, 2002

Threat to Security -- Singapore's Most Pressing Concern: Goh

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The most pressing concern for Singapore is not the economic recession but the threat to its security, and racial and religious harmony, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in his Chinese New Year Message released on Monday.

Describing the Year of the Snake as a trouble one, the prime minister said he hopes the Year of the Horse will be more propitious.

He pointed out that last year's recession, the worst since 1964,is not the most pressing concern for Singaporeans and their greater worry is the threat to Singapore's security and its racial and religious harmony following the discovery of terrorist activities in the country.

Referring to the fact that 12 of the 13 detained Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists were Singaporeans who received training and direction from their foreign mastermind and plotted to inflictterror here, Goh said Singapore will continue to be exposed to terrorist activities so long as global and regional terrorist networks continue to exist, adding terrorist attacks by some extreme groups would not only cause the loss of lives and propertybut would result in profound misunderstanding and distrust betweendifferent communities.

He underlined that all Singaporeans have a responsibility to prevent such a crack in his country's inter-communal solidarity from happening, appealing for Moslems and non-Moslems to respond in a calm, sensible and constructive manner to the threat.

Non-Moslem Singaporeans must not misconstrue the evil deeds of the JI operatives as the teachings of Islam and Moslem Singaporeans should not be overly sensitive and suspicious that they are being discriminated against, the prime minister said.

Goh also cautioned against being excessively sanguine about prospects of an early economic recovery for Singapore, noting thata number of economic indicators in the U.S. are not picking up, the EU economies remain sluggish and Japan continues to be weigheddown by structural problems.

For Singapore, the country's Ministry of Trade and Industry hasrevised its growth projection for 2002 only slightly upwards to 1-3 percent, he added.

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