A total of five Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore who were believed to have become radicalized supporters of armed violence were repatriated to their home country between July 2017 and June 2018.
The latest of the five cases came to the light when a domestic worker who had allegedly watched violent videos and often listened to the teachings of extremist preachers was reported by her employer to Singapore’s Internal Security Department, the Independent Singapore reported.
The employer, whose identity was not revealed, first became aware of a growing problem when her worker’s behavior began to change after looking at images on social media of masked men dressed in military outfits.
The domestic worker allegedly also expressed a desire to travel to war zones as well as a belief that those who perished in such struggles were martyrs.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) spokesman said the prompt actions of the concerned employer in notifying the authorities had aided the “neutralization of a potential threat” to Singapore.
According to the MHA investigations, the alleged woman was found to be a supporter of armed violence in Palestine, Myanmar, and Syria, and was in active communication with militant individuals online.
In the remaining four cases, one of the helpers was an ISIS supporter, and the other three supported armed violence in places of conflict around the globe. None of the five persons had made any concrete plans to commit acts of violence in the country before their repatriation.