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SINGAPORE: 2008 will go down in history as a year when Singapore lost its first citizen to an overseas terror attack and saw a terrorist escape from detention on home ground.
Singaporean Lo Hwei Yen was killed in a terrorist attack in India's Mumbai, bringing the senseless act of violence close to home. Hostage takers gunned down the 28-year-old lawyer in the Oberoi hotel where she stayed while on a work trip in November.
Deputy Prime Minister and Co-ordinating Minister for National Security, Professor S Jayakumar, said: "When a terrorist attack or crisis like this occurs, it's also a learning experience for us. We have to remind ourselves (that) it can happen here. We have to remind ourselves, we have to be vigilant.
"I have also been in touch with our security officials. At some stage, after things have settled, officials will keep in touch with their counterparts in India, because we need to learn...the lessons for ourselves...what can we do to prevent (a terror attack)? If it happens, what lessons do we have to deal with a situation like this?"
And, being on guard and less complacent were lessons Singapore learned the hard way. In February, Jemaah Islamiyah leader, Mas Selamat Kastari, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre through a grille-less toilet window.
Five months later, a S$1m cash reward was offered for information leading to his capture. Till today, the terrorist is still at large.
Authorities were caught flat-footed again when two prisoners escaped from the Subordinate Courts' lock-up. 29-year-old Salman Abu Samah and 32-year-old Jamaluddin Salam also assaulted a police officer in their attempt to flee.
But they were quickly caught, slapped with harsh jail sentences and caned.
Salman was sentenced to 12 years' corrective training and 24 strokes of the cane. Jamaluddin was given 20 years in jail under the preventive detention scheme and 24 strokes of the cane.
In June another lapse occurred within the Home Team, this time at the Singapore airport terminal.
Singaporean Ang Heng Soon checked in for a Tiger Airways flight using his son's passport by mistake. He flew to Vietnam but returned home after spotting his own error.
But what could not have been spotted beforehand were the deaths of three servicemen in this year alone.
Recruit Andrew Cheah fainted and died from an acute lung infection during a two-kilometre walk at Pulau Tekong.
Second-Lieutenant Clifton Lam Jia Hao collapsed and died from a heatstroke during a jungle training exercise in Brunei.
Yet another full-time National Serviceman, Joe Foo, died during in-camp training when he did not inform officials that he had been granted medical leave.
Their deaths sparked a debate on whether defibrillators should be made more widely available.
Associate Professor Terrance Chua, chairman of Singapore Heart Foundation, said: "We are aware that in those cases, defibrillators were available and the point is that in some cases, even though you have defibrillators, you may not be able to save a person.
"For every one minute of delay, the chance of survival drops by 10 per cent. So, we know that having defibrillators accessible as widely as possible will certainly improve the chance of survival."
So far, over 100 commercial facilities, such as shopping malls and the airport, are supporting the installation of defibrillators on their premises.
When a person has collapsed from a cardiac arrest, it only takes about one minute to set up a defibrillator. And using simple instructions from the device, practically anyone can help to save a victim.
- CNA/ir
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