With the terrorist threat “at its highest level in recent times”, local authorities will launch a new national movement - dubbed “SG Secure” - to prepare Singaporeans to better protect themselves against an attack, said Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam on Friday (Mar 18).

The community-centred response plan forms part of a three-fold approach to enhancing Singapore’s counter-terrorism strategy, with the others being security initiatives such as special police response teams and increased surveillance of buildings and events.

“Our ability to deal with terrorism effectively as a country depends on how many Singaporeans face up to and respond to this challenge as individuals and as members of the community,” Shanmugam told Home Team officers at a closed-door forum.

With terrorists seeking to create a climate of fear and divide society, he added: “There is a strong, urgent need for the community to be vigilant before and during an attack; a community that knows how to respond; a community that is prepared and equipped with the necessary skills to protect themselves, their families and the community.”

The Home Team will thus develop and launch SG Secure with its partners later this year as a revamp and expansion of the existing Community Engagement Programme, which has been in place since 2005.

“SG Secure will represent our national strategy to safeguard our homeland and our way of life against this threat,” said Shanmugam. “Just as we have Total Defence, which involves every Singaporean playing a part for the defence of Singapore, SG Secure must become a rallying call for Singaporeans from all walks of life to unite, to play a part in making Singapore a safe place that it is today.”

“Alert, United, Strong”

Highlighting that SG Secure "cannot just be a public awareness campaign”, Shanmugam said that it will be executed in a systematic, structured and sustained manner. But he emphasised that this large-scale effort “can only be achieved if we can get everyone to participate”.

“It will take time and resources from all in society… But it has to be done to keep Singapore safe and secure,” he added.

Authorities will reach out to neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces, community groups as well as the National Service community in a bid to sensitise, train and mobilise different groups of people.

The aim is to have every Singaporean to be able to stay alert, united and strong enough to bounce back quickly and overcome adversity in the event of a crisis, said Shanmugam.

Another aspect of the community response plan, he revealed, aims to deal with and inoculate Singaporeans from causes of self-radicalisation, such as the influence of preachers who advocate intolerance as well as online influences.

“Good Vs Evil”

“The terrorism threat to us is real,” he noted. “We will take all precautions to prevent an attack from taking place in Singapore. We, the Home Team agencies, will do our utmost and we hope we never have an attack.

“But if an attack occurs, we have to prepare Singaporeans with the psychological and other skills to come together and emerge stronger. A Singapore that is even more united and determined to safeguard our way of life, our racial and religious harmony. A Singapore where every Singaporean knows that he or she can rely on fellow countrymen. That is how we must be able to respond to terrorism," said Shanmugam.

This, he said, is a fight between freedom and terror; liberty and servitude; the spirit of humanity and the forces of darkness; or very simply, between good and evil.

“We must believe that we can never be kept down by terror. Liberty, freedom, and the human spirit will ultimately succeed,” concluded Shanmugam. “But we have to be prepared to fight for it.” 

(Channel NewsAsia)