According to the activities on his Facebook page, Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff’s religious inclinations were skewered towards the far right spectrum for years.
Though the 44-year-old moved to Australia with his family in 2002, his radical views on Singapore remained, and he openly supported the Islamic State (re: the picture above, where he’s seen with his children mimicking the jihadi pose) as well as other hardline groups.
But many weren’t certain how deep his conviction for radical ideologies ran. Pretty far down, it seems — the man has since been detained under the Internal Security Act for terrorism-related activities. He has been served with an Order of Detention for a period of two years, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Having amassed quite a following on social media, he made use of Facebook to spread his radical ideologies and material, promoting armed jihad and justifying the actions of terrorist groups.
Zulfikar’s path towards radicalism:
- As early as 2001, he was influenced by jihadi-related material and became supportive of Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. He advocated Muslims to take up arms in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks in New York.
- After resettling his family in Australia in 2002, he continued to pursue radicalism by joining the hardline Hizbut Tahrir organisation and establishing contact with radical preachers in Australia and overseas.
- He made numerous Facebook postings glorifying ISIS.
- He called for Muslims to wage militant jihad in the Middle East, Myanmar and the Philippines. He also proposed the creation of a support system for the families of fighters involved in armed jihad.
- He contributed to the radicalisation of at least two other Singaporeans — one of whom has also been detained under the ISA for terrorism-related activities. The other man — who started emulating Zulfikar — has been issued with a restriction order for two years to prevent him from becoming further radicalised.
- He called on his followers to reject the secular democratic nation-state system, wanting instead a Syariah government.
- He actively looked into holding training programmes aimed at radicalising young Singaporeans.
- He set up the Almakhazin Facebook page — said to be a “Singapore centre of the new online platform to bring together Muslim voices from the Asia Pacific.” He admits that the page was used as a platform to agitate Muslim issues in Singapore and attack some Singaporean Muslims who did not share his views.
- His ultimate agenda was to provoke Muslims in Singapore into pushing for the replacement of the democratic system with an Islamic state in Singapore.
- He tried to hide his real motivations by putting out moderate-sounding views, but actually believed in using violence to overthrow the government.
“In view of the high level of the terrorism threat that Singapore currently faces, and the global terrorism threat posed by ISIS, Zulfikar’s promotion of violence and ISIS and his radicalising influence pose a security threat to Singapore,” the MHA wrote in a press release.
“The Government takes a very serious view of efforts to undermine Singapore’s constitutional democracy, and will take firm and decisive action against any person who engages in such activities.”
Meanwhile, MHA has also updated on the statuses of other identified radicals.
- 27-year-old Muhammad Fadil bin Abdul Hamid was re-detained under the ISA after he intended to engage in armed violence in Syria. He was previously detained from 2010 to 2012 when he wanted to do so in Afghanistan, but has since relapsed and reverted to his firm belief in militant jihadism.
- A 17-year-old recent Madrasah graduate was issued a restriction order after he became radicalised by pro-ISIS videos, websites and social media postings. He sought out other like-minded people and tried to influence his friends with his views despite their objections and advice.
- 37-year-old Abdul Basheer s/o Abdul Kader was released on Suspension Direction after it was assessed he no longer posed a security threat that required preventive detention.
- 35-year-old former member of Jemaah Islamiyah Rijal Rijal Yadri bin Jumari was released from his Restriction Order. He had been detained under the ISA from Mar 2008 to Mar 2012.
