SINGAPORE – More than 116,000 people have signed up as SGSecure responders as at July, joining a pool of volunteers who are available to respond to emergencies such as fires and incidents of cardiac arrest.
This is up from more than 100,000 sign-ups as at January and comes with last month’s resumption of the SGSecure roadshows, which promote community vigilance and arm the public with emergency preparedness skills.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that about 1,000 to 1,500 people attended each of the three roadshows it held at Causeway Point, Suntec City and Kampung Admiralty last month. This is comparable to the number of active participants in 2019 and 2020, before the pandemic.
At the roadshows, visitors learn how to spot suspicious behaviour, vehicles and parcels. They can also experience a simulated terrorist attack to familiarise themselves with emergency safety protocol.
Speaking to ST at the roadshow in Kampung Admiralty on July 31, Mr Edwin Tan, director of the SGSecure programme office, noted that the roadshows recreate places like bus stops and cinema theatres because recent terrorist attacks around the world occurred at similar sites.
“The conventional thinking is that highly prized targets are embassies and airports, but terror attacks can happen anywhere and to anyone,” he said.
“At locations where people congregate and where there are fewer security measures, the public may be less alert because they are there to meet their friends and family.”
MHA said last month that as part of the SGSecure movement, the Home Team has been working with various community partners to raise emergency preparedness capabilities, particularly for terror attacks.
It made the Facebook post after a bomb threat was reported at Evergreen Secondary School on July 21 and swiftly determined to be false.
Dr Shashi Jayakumar, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said that with the rise of lone-wolf attacks, the public has an even more important role to play.
While there is no specific or imminent threat of a terrorist attack against Singapore, the Internal Security Department (ISD) warned in its annual threat assessment report last month that self-radicalisation continues to be the primary driver of the domestic terrorism threat in Singapore.
In April, a 29-year-old Singaporean was detained under the Internal Security Act after he was found to have been influenced by the online sermons of foreign radical preacher Imran Hosein and practised knifing techniques.
Dr Jayakumar said: “Lone-wolf attacks are harder to predict as the terrorists act alone and weaponise everyday items such as vehicles and knives.”
But members of the public can tip the authorities off and even small bits of information can come in handy, he added.
Dr Jayakumar noted how, in 2001, a tip-off that Mohammad Aslam Yar Ali Khan, a Singaporean of Pakistani descent, had claimed to know Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden helped the ISD discover the presence of a Jemaah Islamiah terrorist cell in Singapore.
At the SGSecure roadshows, the public can learn about signs of radicalisation such as sympathising with terrorists and frequently visiting radical websites.
The next roadshow will be outside Hillion Mall in Bukit Panjang, from Friday to Sunday.
Madam Noor Hana Maszlan, 35, a housewife who took her four-year-old son and two daughters, aged seven and nine, to the SGSecure roadshow in Kampung Admiralty, said she was particularly impressed by the simulated terrorist attack.
“I’m glad the kids learnt what to do in such a situation because pausing to react may put them in danger. I think we all have a responsibility to know how to respond in an emergency.”
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MCI (P) 031/10/2021, MCI (P) 032/10/2021. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2021 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.