Singapore's community leaders should always be prepared for terror attacks, even during peacetime: Masagos

SINGAPORE: Community leaders in Singapore should always be prepared for terror attacks, including during peacetime, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said on Saturday (Oct 19).

Mr Masagos was referencing a police superintendent from New Zealand at the International Conference on Communities of Success for global Muslim minority communities held in Singapore earlier this week, who said the authorities "did not regret" being prepared even if they believed attacks "should never happen". 

The police officer also said bringing together many communities was what got them through the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, Mr Masagos said.

More than 50 people were killed after a gunman opened fire at two mosques in March 2019, New Zealand's worst peacetime mass shooting.

"We now are even more convinced that our community leaders should always prepare, (be) prepared to recover should an incident happen," said Mr Masagos, who is also minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs.

"But more importantly, always appeal to trust the bonds that our communities have with one another, to treasure it and to deepen it." 

The minister was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community response roundtable in Tampines, where members gathered to discuss and review their plans during crises, to ensure they are relevant and updated.

This came a day after it was revealed that a 17-year-old self-radicalised Singaporean was arrested less than a month before his plan to carry out an attack at a public housing area in Tampines.

The youth, who lived within walking distance from the open area chosen for the attack, had plotted to use either a kitchen knife or scissors from his house to stab non-Muslim males during the school holidays in September. 

Following his arrest in August, the youth was detained under the Internal Security Act.

Mr Masagos, a Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC, said he was glad authorities managed to thwart the attack.

"For the longest time, the grassroots, the community, has always been working together, first to build bonds and build trust between communities through many activities, as well as to ensure that should something, some inevitable event (happen,) Tampines, Singapore will respond appropriately because we are prepared for it," he said.

He added that it was by "sheer coincidence" that the community response roundtable was taking place soon after the planned terror attack came to light. 

"This was the second exercise as a follow-up (to) one that we had in March and it's just one day after the announcement. I understand from our participants how they are more motivated to take this even more seriously," he added. 

Around 100 participants were at Saturday's community response roundtable, which lasted for about three hours. They involved representatives from schools, businesses, grassroots, community and religious organisations in a geographical area. 

There are currently 34 such roundtables around Singapore, with the Ministry of Home Affairs and People's Association aiming to have 40 of them by the end of the 2024 financial year.  

Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling, who also attended the session, told reporters that coming together and strengthening relationships during peacetime will allow key stakeholders in the community to be better able to defuse tensions, re-establish trust and restore normalcy after a terror-related incident.

Speaking to the media, chairman for the Tampines East Community Emergency and Engagement Council (C2E) Benedict Koh said the community response roundtable discussions are effective in creating more awareness among the community, especially for grassroots leaders like himself. 

"We are more aware of such incidents, and we can actually know how to react and also organise (community response roundtables) like today. 

"We are community partners and we will be able to mitigate the situation better," he added.