Speaking at the International Bar Association Conference at the Rule of Law Symposium on Friday, he cited Singapore's experience with terrorism and religions extremism.

Prof Jajakumar said with Singapore has had emergency measures for detention without judicial trial due to its background of communist insurgency and racial.

When the terrorism plot by the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was discovered in December 2001, these provisions became 'critical' in dealing with the threat as a judicial trial is 'simply not possible within the constraints of terrorist intelligence and counter terrorist activity'.

However, he said, these are not aribtrary provisions and do not entail detention without process, explaining that there are checks and balanes, review by a committee chaired by a High Court judge with the president having a safeguard role exercisable in his discretion.

Contemporary terrorism, which exploits and misuses religion, is not just about the physical effects of terrorist acts, Prof Jayakumar said.

'For us in Singapore, because of our multi racial society, there is an added important dimension: how to ensure that terrorists and a few religious extremists do not, by their acts, tear up the social fabric and our hard-earned racial and religious harmony. This is why we have always acted swiftly in response to threats to our cultural and religious harmony,' he said.

Singapore has also engaged on common values to ensure stability and respect for diversity. He cited the Government's effort to assure the Muslim community that the detentions were not targeted at the Community when the JI plot was discovered. The Religious Rehabilitation Group was formed to counter the ideological misunderstanding and the Community Engagement Programme was introduced to bring together people from different communities to develop better understanding.

Prof Jayakumar said that in non-homgenous societies the rule of law is 'all the more important, as it makes expectations transparent'.

'For multi-racial and multi-religious societies, where there are several communities with different religious beliefs and values, each community will hold its moral values deeply. Without observance of the rule of law, the individual can and will act according to his conscience as guided by his moral beliefs even when it breaks the law.

'To avoid this there has to be respect for the law by all on accordance with common ground rules of engagement and conflict resolution, and to secure as large common secular space which belongs to all citizens regardless of race, language or religion,' he said.