Governments must deal with ideology behind terrorism too: PM Lee

Antalya, Turkey

TO tackle terrorism, countries must go beyond targeting those who are going to carry out a terrorist act, and deal with the ideology behind terrorism as well, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday night in Antalya, at the G20 Summit.

"To deal with this problem, you cannot only deal with the extremists who are going to physically commit the terrorist act. You have to deal with the ideology, and the social fabric from which they could spring," said Mr Lee at a working dinner on terrorism and the refugee crisis.

He added that in Singapore, the government regularly holds closed-door dialogues with community leaders of all races and religions.

"We speak candidly, we brief them on the intelligence which we have, we acknowledge issues and we work together to tackle them in order that we can build mutual trust and confidence."

He also called on world leaders to remain resolute in tackling the terrorism threat domestically, and cooperate closely with each other.

Acknowledging that this is "not so that we will eliminate the problem" - especially since the Syrian/Iraqi conflict will not go away any time soon - Mr Lee said that such international vigilance will "raise the security bar" for terrorists.