Dr Teo Ho Pin (Bukit Panjang), Ms Indranee Rajah (Tanjong Pagar GRC) , Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim and Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong each took turns to say their piece on the issue at the end of yesterday's Parliament session.

That it came after other law-making matters had been dealt with, instead of during the 90-minute question time at the beginning, was due to Dr Teo.

He said he applied for the session on security lapses to be moved to the end of the day because what he wanted to say could not be properly fleshed out in a question.

'During question and answer time, you get to ask a question but you don't have a chance to speak and express the views on the ground,' he said.

When his chance came, Dr Teo highlighted three lessons which he said could be learnt from the mistakes.

These were on the need to instil more discipline among officers in complying with operating procedures; the design of security facilities; and the need for more ground supervision and audits.

On his last two points, he suggested the setting up of audit bodies within the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to provide independent checks.

To Dr Teo's three lessons, Ms Indranee added one more - the need for security officers to have better 'antennae for danger' as well as 'mental robustness'.

She said the three lapses were in part due to officers who had assumed that nothing would go wrong.

'Our security agencies cannot proceed on the assumption that nothing will go wrong,' she said. 'Instead they should proceed on the assumption that if something can go wrong, it will.'

Up next was Mr Siew, who said that public confidence in MHA had taken a serious knock. He called on the ministry to apologise for the lapses.

He said: 'I believe that a clear, unreserved, unqualified apology is a necessary first step towards the restoration of public confidence in the Home Team because it demonstrates that the ministry is squarely confronting the issue.'

Ms Lim, a former inspector in the police force and chairman of the Workers' Party, asked if local security forces were overstretched.

In his reply (see other story), Second Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam devoted one part of his speech entirely to this point, while focusing on a call to take the lapses in perspective.

Contacted by The Straits Times after the speech, Mr Siew said he remained dissatisfied. He noted that his call for an apology was not addressed. Neither was his question asking if subsequent security audits of detention facilities had addressed the risk of human error.

Dr Teo, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs and Law, however, lauded the minister's remarks.

'Singapore must be more appreciative of its security officers. They are human beings too. What is important is that we learn from mistakes.'