SINGAPORE – As an 18-year-old, Khalid’s (not his real name) search for religious identity brought him to platforms like YouTube, where he was drawn to the sermons of charismatic, fundamentalist preachers such as Anwar Al-Awlaki and Feiz Mohammad.

A polytechnic student who suddenly had his own laptop and “unlimited internet access”, he consumed copious amounts of jihadist propaganda online and even made contact with Al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric linked to Al-Qaeda.