February 11, 2025
SINGAPORE – A student who was influenced by far-right extremism started role-playing as a terrorist in an online game, where he pretended to kill Muslims in a mosque.
The 18-year-old Singaporean, whom the Internal Security Department (ISD) identified as Nick Lee Xing Qiu, had idolised Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019.
Lee wanted to attack Muslims at a mosque in Singapore, and got a tattoo and T-shirts with custom prints of logos associated with neo-Nazi, white supremacist and far-right groups.
On Feb 10, ISD said it had issued an order of detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) against Lee in December 2024.
ISD also issued a restriction order to Singaporean housewife Hamizah Hamzah, 56, in January, and arrested Malaysian cleaner Saharuddin Saari, 34, in November 2024.
Hamizah and Saharuddin were self-radicalised supporters of Islamist militant and terrorist organisations.
ISD said Lee grew hostile towards Muslims in early 2023 after seeing Islamophobic and far-right extremist content on social media.
He spent several hours a day consuming extremist content online, and repeatedly watched live-streamed video footage of Tarrant’s attacks.
Soon, Lee started role-playing as Tarrant in a violent online simulation game.
Without naming the game, ISD said Lee downloaded video game modifications so that he could pretend to be Tarrant killing Muslims at the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch – one of the mosques Tarrant had attacked.
By early 2024, Lee believed it would be justified to kill Malays and Muslims, and other ethnicities such as Mexicans, African-Americans, Indians and Jews.
Calling himself an “East Asian supremacist”, Lee believed in the superiority of Chinese, Korean and Japanese ethnicities, and supported white supremacy as he felt Islam was a threat to white culture.
He was deeply convinced by the Great Replacement Theory, which claims white people in Western countries are in danger of being replaced by non-white immigrants.
Said ISD: “(Lee) believed that violent action had to be taken to prevent the Chinese majority in Singapore from being supplanted by what he perceived to be a rapidly growing Malay population.”
He wanted to start a “race war” between Chinese and Malays, and instigated others to attack Malays and Muslims by propagating discriminatory rhetoric on a social media account.
ISD said Lee wanted to carry out attacks against Muslims in Singapore with other far-right individuals he had met online.
Said ISD: “While he claimed to lack the courage to conduct an attack alone, he admitted that he would have participated in attacks together with his online contacts.”
Apart from a Tarrant-style attack using homemade weapons like guns and knives, ISD said Lee considered throwing Molotov cocktails at his Muslim neighbours during a religious holiday.
He searched online about how to make a Molotov cocktail but did not take any further steps.
ISD said Lee did not have a timeline to carry out the attacks, and investigations into his online contacts did not reveal any imminent threat to Singapore.
His family, teachers and schoolmates were unaware of his radicalisation.
Lee is the third Singaporean radicalised by far-right extremist ideologies to be dealt with under the ISA.
In December 2020, a 16-year-old Singaporean boy who planned terrorist attacks at two mosques here was detained under the ISA. The Secondary 4 student was also self-radicalised from watching Tarrant’s attacks.
Another Secondary 4 student who considered himself a white supremacist after being radicalised by far-right extremist propaganda, and planned to carry out attacks overseas, was handed a restriction order in January 2024.
ISD said far-right extremism is a growing security concern globally, and Singapore is not immune to this threat.
Though such ideologies are often associated with white supremacy, ISD said its broader messages promoting ethno-religious chauvinism, racism and xenophobia can still appeal to non-whites.
Noting that the three cases so far involved youths, ISD said: “Youths may be more susceptible to such ideologies and may gravitate towards the sense of belonging and identity that far-right movements appear to provide.”
ISD said it will take firm action against anyone in Singapore who supports, promotes or prepares to undertake armed violence.
It added that it is also critical to guard against hate speech and divisive rhetoric that could threaten the Republic’s multiracial and multi-religious society.
In 2022, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism flagged its concern about extremists using video games to recruit youth by presenting their ideology in an immersive format.
It said the extremists developed modifications for popular video games, such as a map that allows players to experience the Christchurch massacre in both The Sims and Minecraft and create white ethnostates in Roblox.
In January 2023, a 16-year-old student in Singapore, who joined several Roblox servers with virtual worlds that replicated conflict zones occupied by terror group ISIS, was issued a restriction order.
Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli wrote in a Facebook post on Feb 10 that the actions taken by ISD were a timely reminder that Singapore cannot take its racial and religious harmony for granted.
Mr Masagos, who is also Minister for Social and Family Development, wrote: “The social harmony that we have today did not come about by chance. It is the result of many decades of our hard work to foster peace and security in Singapore together.”
He urged Singaporeans to be united, and alert the authorities quickly if they think someone they know or observe may be radicalised.
ISD reminded the public to remain vigilant towards signs of radicalisation in people around them, which include:
- Frequently surfing radical websites;
- Posting/sharing extremist views on social media platforms, such as expressing support/admiration for terrorists/terrorist groups and the use of violence;
- Sharing extremist views with friends and relatives;
- Making remarks that promote ill will or hatred towards people of other races, religions or communities;
- Expressing intent to participate in acts of violence overseas or in Singapore; and/or
- Inciting others to participate in acts of violence.
Anyone who knows or suspects that a person has been radicalised should contact the ISD hotline on 1800-2626-473 (1800-2626-ISD).
- Christine Tan is a journalist at The Straits Times reporting on crime, justice and social issues in Singapore.