Singapore sees a “clear and present danger” to Asia from Islamism militancy, especially from the threat of groups linking up after pledging allegiance to Islamic State.
Singapore’s Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen made the remarks on Wednesday, a day after signing a defense cooperation agreement with the United States that covers trans-national militancy.
Minister Ng said intelligence sharing was a key to dealing with the issue.
According to Ng, in the past three years the numbers of Islamic State sympathizers had exceeded the number of supporters Al Qaeda had in the 10 years in which it was influential.
He said Singapore’s neighbor Indonesia had reported that more than 500 of its citizens had gone as foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq and as many as 150 had gone from Malaysia, including some from the armed forces. A handful had also gone from Singapore.
Islamic state last year captured parts of Syria and Iraq, and declared the creation of a caliphate, or state, governed by its hard-line interpretation of Islam.
The group has since made claims to violence outside its domain, including last month’s deadly Paris attacks that killed 130 people.