Separatist groups in South-east Asia pose a "clear and present" danger to Singapore, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, as Singaporeans have been drawn to fight for their causes.
Mr Lee also said that if caught, they will be allowed to return home.
"But we will make sure he has not brought back any dangerous ideas and is not likely to do any harm.''
A problem in our midst
"The Middle East seems a long way away but it is not. This is a problem which is amidst us."
Singaporeans, though few, are among the Malaysians, Indonesians and others from South-east Asia that have gone to the Middle East to join the fight.
Some others have gone to Southern Philippines, Mr Lee noted, and linked up with separatist groups there. They include the Maute, a group that took over Marawi city for a brief period last month, and the militant Abu Sayyaf group.
Said the Prime Minister: "It is a clear and present danger."
The Philippines had said Singaporeans were among the foreign fighters in the Maute group that attacked Marawi, a largely-Muslim city with more than 200,000 people.
A matter of when and not whether
Mr Lee also said a potential attack in Singapore "is a matter of when and not whether."
"We assume that one day, something will happen in Singapore and we are doing our best to prepare ourselves."
The measures include preparing the population psychologically and making sure Singapore's multi-racial society does not come under "catastrophic stress", he said.
"The risk is not just the casualties from the physical attack but the psychological damage done to the trust and confidence between people of different races and religions in Singapore, particularly between the Muslims and the non-Muslims," he added.
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