The Mumbai attacks have reminded us that terrorists strike soft targets such as hotels, public transportation, entertainment locales or heavily populated areas to inflict mass civilian casualties, said Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Education and Home Affairs) during the visit of ACCORD to the Home Team Academy. He also pointed out that Singapore's large pool of NS officers contributes immensely to the daily operations of the Home Team through anti-crime patrols, fire fighting, rescue and ambulance services.
OPENING ADDRESS BY GUEST-OF-HONOUR SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY (MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND HOME AFFAIRS), MR MASAGOS ZULKIFLI, AT THE ACCORD VISIT TO HOME TEAM ACADEMY, THURSDAY 8 JAN 2009, 3.45 PM.
Assoc Prof Koo Tsai Kee, Minister of State for Defence
Members of ACCORD
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good afternoon,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome members of the Advisory Council for Community Relations in Defence or ACCORD to the Home Team Academy this afternoon. Your presence here is significant as this is the first official visit of ACCORD to a Home Team premise since the Ministry of Home Affairs joined the council in June 2007.
2. With ACCORD having expanded its role from military defence to total defence, MHA’s representation offers value to the council. MINDEF and MHA can build on each other’s strengths in reaching out to the employers, families and Singaporeans in general to garner greater support for National Service. At the same time, both Ministries can work together to give greater recognition to NSmen’s contribution to the total defence of our nation.
3. I would like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome our valued guests from the various private organisations and the employers of our NSmen, who have taken precious time off to attend today’s event. With MHA now part of ACCORD, you can present your feedback to us directly on national service and total defence matters.
THE TOTAL DEFENCE OF SINGAPORE
4. Our gathering in the “Harmony Hall” today is symbolic of what Total Defence stands for. As a young nation with a small population, we cannot afford to maintain a large regular armed force. Our well trained armed forces and Home Team officers, stand shoulder to shoulder with our equally committed national servicemen. Together with every Singaporean, they stand ready to meet all challenges, be it security threats such as terrorism or a national crisis such as SARS.
5. Total Defence is ever more relevant today as wars are no longer fought in traditional battlefields, with casualties limited to combatants in uniform. While we must prepare for conventional warfare, the fact is that we stand a higher risk of losing lives and properties to terrorist activities than from any foreign invasion. And as the Mumbai attacks grimly reminded us, terrorists strike soft targets such as hotels, public transportation, entertainment locales or heavily populated areas to inflict mass civilian casualties.
6. At the Ministry of Home Affairs, we play our part in Total Defence by ensuring that our officers can competently ensure Singapore’s safety and security in an increasingly complex security climate. Besides supporting our officers with the best equipment and technology possible, we are mindful that success ultimately depends on the human factor. The Home Team has therefore always invested heavily in training. Here at the Home Team Academy which houses the Counter Terrorism Training Stations1, trainees are skilled in counter-terrorism expertise such as security screening and knowledge of improvised explosive devices, biochemical hazards, emergency response, terrorist profiles and tactics and post-blast management.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF NS PERSONNEL
7. Our large pool of NS officers contributes immensely to the daily operations of the Home Team through anti-crime patrols, fire fighting, rescue and ambulance services. Just like in MINDEF, the major manpower resource in Police Force and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) is from the pool of fulltime National Service officers and NSmen. Their professional conduct and positive attitude, coupled with the training received, have made them integral to the Home Team.
8. Since the September 11 attacks, Police NS officers have conducted intensified anti-crime and security patrols on land and at sea. To meet the new security climate, SCDF NSmen are also equipped with the capability to respond to incidents involving hazardous materials (HAZMAT) and other unconventional threats. NSmen in both the Police and SCDF have also been rostered for standby from home, ready to be activated to deal with any major incidents.
9. In addition to their basic law and order duties, Police NS officers have also been deployed at many high profile international events, such as the IMF / World Bank Meeting in 2006, the ASEAN Summit in 2007 and the inaugural F1 night race in 2008. Furthermore, Police NSmen are also relied upon to shoulder specialised responsibilities in the protection of key installations and various critical infrastructure, such as oil refineries and power stations, amongst others. This is a duty in which the KINS units have been specially trained for and for which they discharge their responsibilities seriously.
10. Not just confined to standby operations, SCDF NSmen in the Special Rescue Battalion have also proven that they are a valuable asset to the Life Saving Force, for example during the Nicoll Highway collapse operations in 2004. The contribution from Civil Defence NSmen also extend to beyond Singapore shores as in the rescue and humanitarian missions to overseas disasters such as the 2004 December Tsunami at Banda Aceh (Indonesia) and Phuket (Thailand), and more recently, the earthquake that hit Eastern Sichuan, China last year.
11. At the same time, as integral members of the Home Team family, they should be kept aware of and even be involved in major community-related programmes under the Home Team. We are planning awareness-buliding outreach to the Police and SCDF NSmen on the Community Engagement Programme or CEP. The CEP is a long-term effort to ensure that our society is better equipped to maintain social cohesion and harmony should there be a crisis that may affect communal relations. It does this by bringing together people from different communities to strengthen inter-communal bonds and put in place response plans to deal with potential communal tensions after an incident. The awareness-building and involvement of NSmen will be done by riding on their existing programmes with the Police and SCDF respectively.
TRIBUTE TO EMPLOYERS
12. We must not forget that without the support and encouragement of their employers, NSmen would not be able to fulfill their NS duties well. A simple but concrete example of such support would be in the active arrangement for a temporary replacement to cover the duties of NSmen employees when they are recalled. Through regular promotion of healthy lifestyle in their companies, employers also motivate their NSmen employees to maintain their physical fitness. This in turn helps NSmen to be operationally fit for National Service deployment and to perform their roles and responsibilities at peak performance.
13. To acknowledge their strong support for National Service, 75 companies were honoured and presented with the Home Team NS Award for Employers during the Home Team NS Awards Presentation Ceremony in November last year. The top 20 per cent of these winning employers were given further recognition when they were inducted into the Minister’s Honour Roll. This is our small but sincere gesture to thank employers for their continued support.
CONCLUSION
14. In closing, let me reiterate that the men and women in SAF and MHA will not be able to discharge our duties effectively if we do not have the support of their family and employers.
15. It is with the view of furthering the close ties that we have forged, and to understand your concerns that we have arranged the visit today. I welcome your comments and suggestions on how this partnership can be strengthened.
16. Thank you.
1 Five Counter Terrorism Training Stations have been developed thus far. They are the Car-Blast Training Station,Terrorists’ Safehouse, Global Terrorism Suite, Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT) Carriage Training Station, TeachingLaboratory and Mailroom Security Screening.
