The different communities in Singapore must continue to embrace each other, and share and build on common spaces, both psychologically and physically, as part of the multi-faceted effort to counter terrorism, said Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs Maliki Osman on Thursday (Nov 30).

There are many dimensions to understanding radicalisation, extremism and terrorism, Dr Maliki said. The hour-long documentary, entitled Facing Terrors provides insight to this understanding, he said.

In the documentary, several people were interviewed, including a student who was on the cusp of joining the Islamic State in Syria, a former militant who learnt and taught others how to make bombs, and the Indonesia national police chief.

Dr Maliki said: “That is a silver lining, that although one may have been radicalised, one can be deradicalised, one can appreciate the impact of what one has done previously.”

Head of the Centre of Excellence for National Security Dr Shashi Jayakumar said that some of the returning fighters might be disillusioned and may  want to meld back into society.

“Some may actually be leveraged on to talk about their experiences, so narratives of disillusionment are going to be very very potent in time to come,” he said.