Team Counter Terrorists
Welcome to our website! We are a group of undergraduates from Singapore Management University. Our paths crossed when we took one of our university’s compulsory modules, Technology and World Change under Professor Gurinder Singh Shahi. We started this project in August 2011 with very little knowledge about the technologies used in terrorism and counter-terrorism, but have come away with new insights into this area.
Interest in terrorism issues seems to have died down in Singapore, after the country successfully thwarted the planned attacks by the Jemaah Islamiyah in 2001 and re-captured the escaped terrorist Mas Selamat in 2009. Nevertheless, terrorism is a very real threat, and the U.S. and Europe continue to wage war against it. The recent death of Osama bin Laden is a prime example. With the advancement of technology, terrorism will increase in sophistication, and this requires us to be more vigilant than ever.
We hope that browsing our website will enable you to gain a new perspective on the relationship between technology and terrorism and counter-terrorism. We would like to thank our Professor as well as the teaching assistant, Cynthia Chong, for their invaluable guidance.
Interest in terrorism issues seems to have died down in Singapore, after the country successfully thwarted the planned attacks by the Jemaah Islamiyah in 2001 and re-captured the escaped terrorist Mas Selamat in 2009. Nevertheless, terrorism is a very real threat, and the U.S. and Europe continue to wage war against it. The recent death of Osama bin Laden is a prime example. With the advancement of technology, terrorism will increase in sophistication, and this requires us to be more vigilant than ever.
We hope that browsing our website will enable you to gain a new perspective on the relationship between technology and terrorism and counter-terrorism. We would like to thank our Professor as well as the teaching assistant, Cynthia Chong, for their invaluable guidance.
Evangeline Chee
School of Law, Year 3
Doing this project forced me to think more deeply about the relationship between technology and terrorism. I had always assumed that the world would become a more dangerous place with the advancement of technology, basing this on the invention of the atomic bomb and nuclear weapons, which have granted mankind the power to inflict mass destruction. While this is true, I now realize that technology has aided terrorists not so much through improvements in weaponry, but via enhanced intelligence-gathering and communication tools. And given that terrorists are pursuing a political objective, violence merely being a means to further this end, such technological advancements are no less important or significant than those in weaponry.
Hans Airy S.
School of Business, Year 1
I would first like to salute Mr. Barack Obama and his intelligence team who successfully caught Osama Bin Laden. When we chose this topic, I was afraid we will die young as I personally felt there was nothing much to talk about as terrorism is a topic too simple. But, I was wrong; we found a lot of things to cover. Before embarking on this project I never knew that tracking down terrorists would be this hard; terrorists nowadays lay low and operate at micro scales. It will be of paramount importance that the leaders of the world utilize all technologies available to protect their civilians. Working with my teammates in this project makes me think that we have all underestimated the importance of public participation in the war against terrorism. Finally “if you see any suspicious person or article…” you better report them to the authorities.
Indra Adam Darmawan
School of I.S., Year 2
I love technology and I hate it when it is used for evil-doing. This is one of the reason why I decided to work on this topic. Coming from Indonesian perspective, I see that Terrorism has become more prevalent than it ever was, especially with the advancement of technology. Blog, Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, almost all internet features have been infiltrated by terrorist as a medium for them to not only gain information & donation but also recruit potential 'member'. I hate that and I want everyone to be aware so that they can avoid those 'traps'. And only through this project that I am able to unfold and share those bitter truth about technology.
Pearline Teng
School of Business, Year 1
It took our group a while to finalise a topic because the technology world is so huge that there’s so much to discuss. When we finally decided on terrorism, I was excited about the journey we were going to embark on. In fact, I have learnt a lot about interesting technology is in assisting terrorists or even to counter terrorism. Nevertheless, this project has also taught me to be extra vigilant because today, terrorist attacks can happen anytime, anywhere, anyhow. Despite being in a safe country like Singapore, we cannot be 100% sure that terrorism will not occur. So let us all open our eyes and look out for suspicious looking bags, just in case there are bombs in it.
Rebecca Chee
School of Business, Year 1
Of course, like everyone else, I groaned inwardly when I learnt about this group project. Our group took a really long time deciding on our topic; We came up with a few choices, but could not decide on a really interesting one. Finally someone suggested Terrorism, and we started on this project. Through our research for this website, I learnt that terrorism is much more prevalent than I thought it was. I used to take Singapore and its safety for granted, but now I realize that we are just as vulnerable as any other country. What the government does in their counter-terrorism measures is not merely enough, we as citizens should play our part too.