Think you're safe? Then a terror attack will hurt more

The PAP government (may the PAP progress!) is ever on the alert for terror threats and is unwavering in its commitment to keeping our borders safe and protecting our Great Motherland from terrorist attacks.

It is because of the high level of vigilance and our steadfast guard against terrorist elements that I can sleep in peace every night, knowing that every step humanly possible has been taken to make Singapore safe and secure.

Nov 14, 2006
Think you're safe? Then a terror attack will hurt more
Jaya warns against vigilance fatigue and complacency in fight against terror
By DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT, David Boey

THE irony about the fight against terror is this: The longer Singapore keeps terrorists at bay, the more likely its people will feel immune to the threat.

Deputy Prime Minister Professor S. Jayakumar yesterday said security planners were more concerned about the twin bogeymen of vigilance fatigue and complacency than any named terrorist group.

Awareness of the peril must therefore not flag, he said: 'Lives can be healed, property repaired and our economy rebuilt, but our gravest concern is that a successful terrorist attack could tear apart - in an instant - our racial and religious harmony and our multi-cultural society that we have worked so hard to build up over the decades.'

In an address to 400 security planners and analysts at the annual National Security Seminar, he warned that it could only be a matter of time before terrorists struck, and that if Singapore had been secure for so long, 'the psychological impact of an attack will be that much more damaging'.

Prof Jayakumar, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Law, pledged to keep the people on their toes and on guard against disasters.

Security planners will continue to involve people in realistic emergency exercises. They will also have dialogues with community and business leaders to drive home the message that Singapore remains high on terrorists' hit lists.

Thus far, security planners have used Singapore's compact, 700 sq km landmass to their advantage, Dr Bernard Loo, an assistant professor in war studies at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, told The Straits Times.

He noted that planners here 'can do things that other people can only dream of precisely because we're small and tightly controlled', compared to larger countries, where porous borders presented policing problems.

Singapore's response to terrorism in the five years since the Sept 11 attacks in the United States is chronicled in a 96-page book to be sold at $10 in bookstores from this weekend.

Published by the National Security Coordination Secretariat, a government agency spearheading counter-terrorism strategies, it is titled 1,826 Days: A Diary of Resolve. The title refers to the number of days since the 9/11 attacks.

It gives an overview of the measures that have been put in place to strengthen Singapore's maritime, aviation and overland borders, as well as its efforts to prepare the people to deal with terror attacks and to train crack teams to manage these.

Going forward, a 'hearts and minds campaign' will be key in the fight against terror, said Prof Jayakumar.

He cited the results of the annual National Security Awareness poll, which said nine in 10 people were confident the Government would be capable of 'a swift recovery' following a terrorist attack, up from 83 per cent in last year's survey.

In the poll, which surveyed 525 people between August and September, 82 per cent of respondents said security measures were 'sufficient to prevent the threat of terrorist attacks', up from 76 per cent in 2005.

Numbers aside, Mr Ridzuan Wu, chairman of the Centre for Contemporary Islamic Studies, said Singaporeans ought to take more ownership in preparing for the worst.

Mr Wu, who, with leaders from other religions organised an inter-religious dialogue in March, said: 'Security planning shouldn't just be top down. A bottom-up approach is also vital - we don't have to wait for the Government to do everything for us.'