Synopsis:

The emergence of ISIS has created a new threat landscape. To discuss its implications for Singapore, the region and the world, Wong Kan Seng, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 2005 to 2011, Major General Dr Muhammad Tito Karnavian, former Commander of Detachment 88, Professor Rohan Gunaratna, Head, International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research and Ms. Nirmala Murugaian, the author of “Old Wars, New Methods” will address this seminar.

About the Speakers:

Mr. Wong Kan Seng is Member of Parliament, is the Special Advisor for Economic Co-operation to Prime Minister of Singapore and also the Chairman of Singbridge Holdings Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned company of Temasek.

Mr Wong retired as the former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore in May 2011 after serving 26 years in the Singapore Government. His last appointment was as the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister in charge of the Population and Talent Division in the Prime Minister’s Office. He was first elected as Member of Parliament in 1984 and has since been re-elected in six successive general elections. Mr Wong has held Ministerial appointments in the Communications and Information, Community Development, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs Ministries.  He chaired a number of ministerial-level committees which coordinated work across several ministries, for example, on Singapore population and talent policies, crisis management such as SARS and community engagement.

He currently chairs the S Rajaratnam Endowment CLG, and is a member of the INTERPOL Foundation Executive Board of Trustees, and the London Business School’s Global Advisory Council. He is also an Advisor to Business China and chairs the Lien Ying Chow Legacy Fellowship Council set up by the Lien Foundation. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Nanyang Centre for Public Administration and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Nanyang Technological University.

MAJOR GENERAL DR MUHAMMAD TITO KARNAVIAN served as Commander of Detachment 88, Indonesia’s elite counter terrorism force and Deputy of Indonesian National Counter Terrorism Agency. He investigated high profile cases including the Bali bombings, attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, the Ritz Carlon Marriott bombings, and disrupted the terrorist networks in Poso and Central Sulawesi and dismantled the terrorist military training camp in Aceh. General Karnavian received a master degree in Police Studies from Exeter University, the UK in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Strategic Studies from RSIS, Nanyang Technological University in 2013. He is the author of several books including “Explaining Islamist Insurgencies: The Case of al-Jamaah al-Islamiyyah and the Radicalisation of the Poso Conflict, 2000-2007” published by Imperial College Press, London in 2014. The Assistant to the Chief of National Police for Planning and Budgeting, General Karnavian supervises the counter terrorism community in Indonesia.

DR. ROHAN GUNARATNA is Professor of Security Studies and head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute and serves on the Advisory Board of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague.  He is the author and editor of 15 books including Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (Columbia University Press). Admiral William McRaven appointed him for the International Senior Advisory Panel (ISAP) of the US Special Operations Command in 2013. For advancing international security cooperation, he received the Major General Ralph H. Van Deman Award in 2014.

MS. MURUGAIAN NIRMALA,a former senior writer at The Straits Times, has broad experience with stints in various sections of the newspaper. Her key areas of focus were politics, national security matters and issues related to race and religion. She was also the Editor of Tamil Murasu, Singapore’s Tamil daily, during her stay with the newspaper.  Prior to joining The Straits Times, she was a senior research officer with the Ministry of Home Affairs. She is also an active social worker, managing a non-profit organisation that looks after the emotional and educational needs of children from dysfunctional and broken homes.