White supremacist content grips teens plotting attacks in Southeast Asia

Highlights:

• Southeast Asian police grapple with surge in teenagers plotting violence inspired by white supremacists
• Youth alleged to have been radicalized through social media posts and communities
• Some believed they would protect racial-religious composition of their countries, others influenced by violence

When police detained an Indonesian teenager accused of bombing his high-school campus in Jakarta in November, he had a life-size toy rifle inscribed with "welcome to hell" and the names of white supremacist mass killers.

The 7 November attack, which injured 96 people, may have been the first in the country inspired by white supremacists but police fear it won't be the last.

At least 97 youths - the youngest just 11 - are being monitored after coming under the influence of content glorifying mass violence and white supremacists spread largely on messaging app Telegram, Indonesian police told Reuters in March.

At least two were planning acts of violence following the Jakarta bombing, according to the police.

And it's not just Indonesia. Across Southeast Asia - home to hundreds of millions ‌of people of different ethnicities and faiths - police are grappling with a surge in teenagers plotting violence inspired by white supremacists such as Christchurch mosque attacker Brenton Tarrant, according to interviews with security officials in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Singapore's domestic intelligence agency has detained four youths since December 2020 on grounds that they subscribed to "violent far-right extremism ideologies" and were planning attacks. Far-right extremism has since been named by the city-state's Internal Security Department (ISD) as a top threat.

None of the teenagers Singapore and Indonesia are monitoring are white. Some were plotting attacks they believed would protect the existing racial and religious composition of their countries, according to ISD statements on the detentions. Others, three Indonesian security officials say, were inspired by the violence of far-right attackers, even if they didn't have similar grievances.

In every instance in Singapore and Indonesia reviewed by Reuters, the teenagers were alleged by authorities to have been radicalized through social media posts and communities.

Many of the young people who have been detained or placed under monitoring appear to be disillusioned and lonely individuals "turning towards a nihilistic worldview after being radicalized by far-right messaging", said Pravin Prakash, who researches Southeast Asia at the Center for the Study of Organised Hate, a Washington think-tank.

The Jakarta suspect, according to Indonesian authorities, had posted online video footage of his campus alongside Nazi symbols and text that appeared to be inspired by "Highway to Hell" from the rock band AC/DC: "Don't need no reason, ain't nothing ⁠I'd rather do. I am on the highway to hell and all my friends are going to be there."

Telegram groups, in particular, had provided the young people with a sense of belonging, according to Indonesian police.

That platform often doesn't take action on content that authorities have reported as extremist, said police commissioner Mayndra Eka Wardhana, a spokesperson for the counter-terrorism squad.

Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn said in response to questions that the platform "has an open channel of communication with Indonesian authorities" and "removes any content that breaches Telegram's terms of service whenever reported."

Telegram "supports the right to peaceful free speech, but calls to violence are explicitly forbidden," Vaughn added.

Southeast Asian security and police agencies are coordinating efforts, marking the first regional cooperation on this type of radicalization, according to officials from Singapore and Indonesia.

Killer memes

All the Indonesian teens authorities identified as being radicalized were affiliated with the "true crime community", a popular internet subculture.

In channels linked to the community, users share memes and other content that glorifies killers like Tarrant, whose name was found on the Jakarta suspect's toy rifle, according to screenshots shared with Reuters by police and a separate review of four such groups.

Some online posters also traded bomb-making tutorials and egged each other on toward violence, screenshots of their conversations show.

White supremacist content has also spread across other platforms, though often with a localized twist. Posts, for instance, may feature Southeast Asian iconography alongside Nazi symbols.

Reuters viewed hundreds of such videos from Southeast Asian users on TikTok showcasing racist caricatures of Chinese people and other minorities such as Rohingya Muslims alongside phrases like "TCD," or "Totally Cheerful Day" and "TRD," or "Total Refreshing Day."

The phrases appear to be code calling for "Total Chinese Death" or "Total Rohingya Death", said Saddiq Basha of Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), who has tracked such content since 2024.

One popular video by an Indonesian user featuring the hashtag #TCD has been viewed over 542,000 times. The creator did not respond to a request for comment.

Western white supremacist groups have used phrases like "TND/Totally Nice Day" and "TJD/Totally Joyful Day" to advocate the extermination of black and Jewish people, according to anti-discrimination groups like the Anti-Defamation League.

TikTok removed the Indonesian user's post, as well as similar content identified by Reuters, after the news agency sent the platform questions about its moderation policies.

"There is no place on our platform for those dedicated to spreading beliefs or propaganda ‌that encourage violence or ⁠hate," a company spokesperson said.

Two people working on online-safety teams at TikTok told Reuters they were not familiar with the existence of policies on moderating posts that featured localized takes on white supremacist slogans and had been unaware of such content. They were interviewed on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

The TikTok spokesperson said the platform blocks "certain keywords from appearing as search suggestions to reduce their visibility if we find that they are being used as coded language" and consults with Southeast Asian advisors on online safety.

Tech companies have focused on moderating Islamist content in Southeast Asia, sometimes to the point where they fail to account for other extremist posts, said Chasseur Group director Munira Mustaffa, who has advised Southeast Asian governments and social media platforms on combating extremism.

"While the concept of neo-Nazism lies in the assertion that the white race reigns supreme, these ideas are easily adaptable into local context," she said, adding that teens who successfully carry out attacks believe they will gain status in their online communities.

Among the youths authorities say were radicalized by algorithms is Nick Lee Xing Qiu, who was detained last year by the ISD as an 18-year-old on suspicion of plotting attacks against Singapore's Malay Muslim minority.

The agency said algorithms on unspecified platforms had recommended ⁠far-right extremist content to him.

Reuters couldn't reach Lee, who is being held under a law that permits his detention without trial. The news agency also couldn't identify a legal representative to direct questions to.

Lee and another teenager, who was separately detained and has not been named, self-identified as "East Asian supremacists", ISD said in statements about their cases.

The youths had in their online posts referenced the neo-Nazi "great replacement theory" - which posits that white populations are being forcibly replaced by minorities - and claimed to be inspired to fight back, according to ISD.

Youth rehabilitation

Mayndra, the Indonesian counter-terrorism official, said authorities were worried that teenagers radicalized by the violence of extremist content could be targeted by "terror groups" for recruitment.

Many of the teenagers in detention or under monitoring in Indonesia and Singapore are under the age of majority or have not successfully perpetrated acts of violence.

The Jakarta bombing suspect, for ⁠instance, is being held by child protective services while authorities construct their case, according to police spokesperson Budi Hermanto.

The suspect has not been charged or entered a plea, the official said.

"My hope, if it's possible, is do not punish him, just give him counselling so he can be a better person," Rudianti, a family member of the Jakarta suspect who goes by one name, told Reuters.

Indonesia this month announced plans to restrict social-media access for children under the age of 16, in a move that Mayndra said would also help combat youth radicalization though it was not a complete solution.

In Singapore, authorities have turned to the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) to work with some teenagers detained for plotting far-right attacks. The non-profit was set up by Muslim scholars in 2003 to rehabilitate suspected Islamist ⁠militants and is staffed by volunteer educators.

The group counsels young detainees and prepares them for national exams, said Ahmad Helmi Bin Mohamad Hasbi, an RRG counsellor and expert on radicalism at RSIS.

RRG worked with Singapore's first far-right extremist detainee, who was held in 2020 at the age of 16 for allegedly planning machete attacks on two mosques. He was released from rehabilitation in 2024.

Groups like RRG will have to contend, however, with the speed at which some Southeast Asian extremists are gaining influence globally.

Just a month after the Jakarta bombing, a 15-year-old Russian was accused of stabbing a Tajik migrant child to death in the Moscow area.

The Russian had written a manifesto, which was published on Telegram and authenticated by researchers with the Global Project on Hate and Extremism, a US-based non-profit.

In it, the Russian suspect labelled the Indonesian teen a hero. He also argued that if non-white youths could execute such attacks, white supremacists should be capable of more.