Synopsis

At the Home Team Workshop 2008, DPM Wong Kan Seng said that the alignment of the Home Team sector projects and initiatives to support the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) has paid dividends. The efforts at building more bridges to the various communities and to prepare them for a crisis have contributed to the rapid mobilisation of community support.

Home Team Workshop 2008 at Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre - Speech by Mr Wong Kan Seng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, 18 March 2008

Home Team colleagues and partners

Ladies and gentlemen

Good afternoon

1 Every year we hold our Home Team workshop. This is an event where officers from the four Home Team Sectors gather to review how they have performed, not just as Police, SCDF, CNB, ICA or Prisons officers but as a composite team operating within the geographical boundaries of a sector. Many of the projects that you have pursued in the year are showcased. Exchanges and sharing sessions with community partners are conducted. All this is done to take stock of how we have performed as a Home Team and explore what we should do going forward.

The Home Team spirit most alive in adversity

2 If the number of officers at this year’s events and workshop are fewer than last year, it is because most of our forces are deployed on the ground. The hunt for JI terrorist, Mas Selamat, is a matter of top priority. No doubt his escape has dented the reputation of the Home Team and Singapore. But in such an adversity, we have found the Home Team spirit most alive, and Singaporeans united in the hunt for Mas Selamat.

3 Every Home Team agency is on high alert today and is helping in any way it can. For example, CNB and SCDF officers have been assisting ICA officers in conducting vehicle checks at Tuas and Woodlands checkpoints. SCDF’s Polyma Lighting Units, used mainly to provide lighting for fire and rescue operations at night, are deployed to support Police in the night searches. CNB also lent their intelligence and investigation expertise and assistance to put their ears on the ground to pick up any leads.

Home Team programmes put to test: Operational Terrain Mapping and Community Engagement Programme

4 This critical situation has also put to test various Home Team programmes. The most important has been the Operational Terrain Mapping programme that every sector has been developing over the last three years. Many of you presented on it at the workshop last year.

5 The Home Team has conducted operations terrain mapping at the various sectors. This is the process where officers on the ground register their observations and networks of contacts to build up a comprehensive database of the sector’s terrain to help to tackle crime and terrorism. These efforts have helped our officers develop a deeper awareness and understanding of the ground terrain, its hotspots and vulnerabilities and to identify and establish contact with key people in the various local institutions like churches, temples and mosques within the sector.

6 The efforts that you have invested in collecting and developing this living OTM database which maps the social and physical geography of the area under each sector has paid off valuably in support of the current search efforts. Our sector officers were able to identify 121 vacant or abandoned buildings within a day and the search against these sites was mounted expeditiously. This swift response would not have been possible had we not already marked these buildings in our terrain maps. Another example was the location of cordons and road blocks. As the search operations expanded islandwide in response to public calls, our officers were able to swiftly set up cordon lines and road blocks which were pre-identified in the terrain maps. This enabled us to swiftly lock in the search area while other officers commenced the searches.

7 Another major initiative which Home Team sectors embarked on was the enhancement of the sectors’ community outreach efforts to address the terrorist threat. These included merging SCDF and Police watch groups into what is now called Security and Safety Watch Groups. There were also counter-terrorism outreach programmes through various platforms such as videos shown in cinemas. These efforts helped you acquire a wide network of contacts in your sector . There was also an alignment of the Home Team sector projects to support the Community Engagement Programme (or CEP). Several of you presented to the mayors and grassroots leaders in your sectors through sessions chaired by SMS Ho Peng Kee to share how your various sector initiatives can support the CEP.

8 Your efforts at building more bridges to the various communities and to prepare them for a crisis have contributed to the rapid mobilisation of community support we have seen in this current situation. Many groups and organisations stepped forward to help distribute more than 210,000 pamphlets on Mas Selamat. What was significant was that there was also considerable bottom-up mobilisation by various community organisations themselves. These developments over the last two weeks give us comfort to know that the CEP orientation of Home Team sector programmes we have been pursuing have paid dividends in this real time of need.

“Don’t lose heart”

9 Although we hear of comments by some who tried to discredit our officers, our professional achievements speak for themselves and the community’s trust in the Home Team remains high. Let me read one of the many personal emails that I received:

10 Let me also share with you an extract of the commentary by Straits Times Political Editor Ms Chua Lee Hoong (“Beware the seductions of success”, 8 March). She wrote:

11 Indeed, without excusing the lapse which led to Mas Selamat’s escape, our Home Team officers should not lose heart for they have done much to be proud of. The work of the Home Team must go on because life goes on in society, whether it is to combat crime, drugs or fire hazards, or deal with those who break the law.

12 The crime situation registered an improvement in 2007 and overall crime rate fell by 6% per 100,000 population. Traffic fatalities per 100,000 persons also dropped from 5.63 in 1998 to 4.68 last year. Singapore’s roads remain one of the safest in the world.

13 The last two years saw an increase in the number of existing drug addicts returning to heroin abuse, partly due to the displacement from Subutex abuse. More worrisome are the increase in the regional production and supply of drugs, and increasing acceptance of social drugs or party drugs among some of our young. We will continue to take the approach of harm prevention and zero tolerance. We must not go soft on drugs.

14 For fire safety, we saw a 12% increase in the number of rubbish fires last year. These fires were caused by lit cigarette butts thrown into rubbish chutes and bins, as well as unwanted objects discarded along the corridors. These fires were preventable if people who caused them have more civic and safety consciousness. We need to work with the community to stem such socially irresponsible behaviour.

15 For border security, our rigorous security checks and tough enforcement actions had reaped results. A significant 83% increase in the number of contraband smuggling cases were detected. We must not let our guard down. Any intrusion which breaches our borders must be treated as a security incident, even if the intruder eventually may turn out to be just a cigarette smuggler. If we can catch people smuggling cigarettes or other items, we should be able to catch those smuggling terrorist material.

16 Recidivism rate of ex-offender consistently declined and remained one of the lowest in the world. This demonstrates the good work by Prisons Department in the rehabilitation of prisoners.

Conclusion: Role for everyone in the Home Team plus

17 There is much therefore that the Home Team can take pride in. One thing that is certain for the Home Team in the future is that the tasks of our officers will become increasingly complex over time. But the two most valuable assets we have to stay successful in our work remain the same - these are our officers and the strong partnership our departments have developed with the community.

18 In this current situation, it is very clear that there is indeed a role for everyone in the Home Team plus - whether it is the man on the street who reports a crime or the individuals and groups which have stepped up to help in the current operations in search of Mas Selamat or the SAF soldier who works side by side with our SOC and GC officers in the forest forming a cordon and advancing through difficult terrain.

19 The unity of focus in the response of our people inside and outside the MHA Home Team over this escape episode, gives me hope that we are making good progress to achieve an extended or national Home Team. Such a Home Team plus comes of age when all who calls Singapore home, feel they have a stake in the safety and security of the country and of fellow Singaporeans. This is an ideal worth pursuing by all Singaporeans, as stakeholders. The Home Team will work with them to achieve it.

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