Good morning.
Welcome to this year’s Home Team Connection Seminar. Time flies! This is the eighth Seminar we are holding where we share with all of you, our community partners, the programmes and initiatives of the Home Team. Our briefings afterwards will set out the various initiatives by the Home Team sectors to engage our community, as well as provide an update of the terrorism and regional situation.
2 With these as background, we will then move on to the Community Engagement Programme which is the focus of today’s seminar. Last year, we shared with you the objectives, goals and implementing structure of the then newly-mooted Community Engagement Programme. We will update you on the progress of the Programme today.
Threat of terrorism remains
3 The world and the region may begin to look like a safer place today because law enforcement agencies have become more effective at preventing and foiling attacks. An example is UK’s successful operation in foiling bomb attacks on the US transatlantic flights. Closer to home, in Oct 06, the Philippines authorities arrested the wife of Dulmatin, a senior member of the JI who is believed to have planned and executed the Bali attacks. Months later, the Philipines authorities confirmed that their Government troops had killed Khadaffy Janjalani, the nominal leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group who was on the US list of wanted terrorists.
4 These operational successes were prominently reported by the media. With memories of 9-11 and revelation of the JI plots receding from the minds of Singaporeans, some might now feel less threatened or even feel that the terrorism threat no longer exists. But let me state categorically that the terrorism threat remains. In fact, I would be failing in my duty if I do not remind Singaporeans that it is when we are complacent or over-confident that terrorists have the chance to strike.
5 Terrorism is very much alive. Even as I speak to you now, there are militant, extremist and terrorist groups planning attacks and new members being recruited. Indeed, the terrorists are innovating new methods to overcome counter-measures put in place. Take the field of aviation security as an example. In 9-11, the terrorists turned aeroplanes into explosives. When governments stepped up aviation security, terrorists attempted to bypass these ‘obstacles’ by shooting down aircraft with missiles. Now, the terrorists are back in the business of smuggling explosives up the aircraft, but in the form of liquid explosives in a bid to escape detection. There is also the troubling new phenomenon of self radicalised individuals who pose a challenge for intelligence agencies due to their lack of footprints and tell-tale signs. The fact that they are able to engage one another over the Internet, regardless of gender, nationality or agenda, makes it a challenging task for law enforcement agencies to track them down.
Community Engagement
6 A positive development is that the level of cooperation between our police and intelligence services with their foreign counterparts, especially in the region, has increased since 2001. Shared intelligence had led to the arrests of several JI fugitives including Arifin Ali in Thailand and Mas Selamat in Indonesia. However, for all that the Government has done and can do in the future, ultimately it is the people that will defeat terrorism, not the Government.
7 Our people on the ground know best as to what is happening in their neighborhoods, or if there is potential communal tension, especially after a crisis. When terrorists strike, it would be the man-on-the-street who can help the country recover from the attack, to rally their friends to return to normalcy and not be cowed by fear. With our multi-religious and multi racial make-up, we need Singaporeans to understand that acts of terrorism hurt all of us, regardless of faith, religion or race. We must not allow anyone to turn our diversity into animosity.
8 This is why we started the Community Engagement Programme (or CEP) in Febuary last year. The CEP is a long-term effort to ensure that we are better equipped to maintain our social cohesion and harmony, should there be a terrorist attack in Singapore. We want to bring together Singaporeans from different communities, to strengthen inter-communal bonds and put in place response plans to help deal with potential communal tensions after a crisis.
9 Although initiated by the Government, the programme must be owned by people from all sectors to be successful. In this regard, I am happy to share that there have been encouraging ground-up initiatives since the launch of the CEP last year, from individuals, groups and organisations across society. We will elaborate later on some of these efforts.
10 While we are very encouraged by the response of the community thus far, the work is ongoing. The task is never fully completed. We have to press on resolutely, to build up the people’s resilience. The Government can protect Singapore in general, but everyone has a part to play. Continued involvement from the community is essential to insulate Singapore and strengthen our social fabric.
11 As leaders in your community and workplace, you are best placed to let us know your views on the areas that we can do better and the possible opportunities to initiate community engagement related-projects. If you need more information or resources to help us help Singaporeans, let us know. We will work with you.
HT Connection Partnership – The Next Stage
12 This is the 8th HT Connection Seminar. Over the years we had held various seminars/talks on Home Team policies and programmes. We also have organised tours and visits to various Home Team establishments. We would like to do more.
13 As with what we are doing in the community engagement programme, we would like to explore how we can bring our partnership with you to a higher level of engagement. We hope that together, we can discover new directions of engagement and participation. Do take some time to think about this and pen your suggestions in the feedback forms that we will distribute after the tea break. We may also be contacting some of you to discuss further how we can strengthen and deepen this partnership.
14 With this, I wish you a fruitful session and discussion.