CNB officer who lobbied against loosening cannabis laws among recipients of Home Team awards

SINGAPORE – Despite it taking place eight years ago, one raid remains etched in the memory of Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Parthiban Mathevanan of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB).

DSP Parthiban, 35, told The Straits Times on Friday: “I was conducting a raid at a unit, and I remember the place being very messy. We found a mother with her two kids; it was clear she had abused drugs before we came in.”

The senior officer said that when he saw how close a baby and a toddler were to the drugs, he realised drug addiction does not just affect the abuser.

“It was only a young baby and a child who looked about three years old. It made me realise drug abuse is a major issue for society,” he added.

DSP Parthiban now serves as the commanding officer of CNB’s G division in Bedok.

When he was part of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ International Cooperation and Partnerships Division for eight months in 2020, he worked with the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (UNCND) to lobby against the loosening of international controls over cannabis.

His efforts led to the UNCND rejecting five out of six World Health Organisation Expert Committee on Drug Dependence recommendations amid a global push for more liberal drug policies.

For his efforts, DSP Parthiban was among Home Team officers, volunteers, organisations, teams and members of the public who received a Minister for Home Affairs National Day Award at the Home Team Academy on Friday.

More than 180 awards were given out in 2023.

Speaking at the event, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said the work the Home Team does is essential to 2023’s National Day message of “Onward as One”.

Major Clara Toh from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received the award for her efforts in coordinating the ground response to the

2016 oil tank fire

on Jurong Island and the

2018 Pulau Bukom fire

.

Speaking to ST, Maj Toh, 37, said: “The 2016 fire at Tembusu Road was one of the biggest fires that I had to manage as a ground commander. I remember the side of the tank had started to show signs of melting when I first arrived.”

She was able to quickly put together a plan and execute it with the help of 150 SCDF personnel and 38 firefighting vehicles.

In 2018, her experience proved to be paramount after an oil storage tank caught fire on Pulau Bukom.

“In this case, we had to quickly adapt the response plan to factor in the need for sea transportation of SCDF resources,” she said.

As ground commander, Maj Toh had to coordinate 128 SCDF personnel and 48 firefighting vehicles.

The experience gained from these two operations helped the SCDF to come up with and implement a

modular oil tank firefighting system,

which was introduced in September 2022.

The new system can generate water flow of up to 100,000 litres a minute, and draw from seawater sources as far as 2.5km from the fire.

On Friday, Mr Shanmugam spoke about the impact of technology and inclusivity on the Home Team.

While technology allows enforcement units to do more with less manpower, said Mr Shanmugam, it has also reduced the operating costs and productivity of crime syndicates.

The number of scam cases each year has been rising for the past five years, he added. However, the rate of increase and amount of money lost to such cases have slowed down.

Mr Shanmugam also touched on the potential fault lines in Singapore’s society, specifically the race issue.

“No one can say there is no racism in Singapore, or any society. What matters is whether it is institutional, systemic, and what we are doing about it,” he said.

He noted that Singapore has handled the racial issue reasonably well so far to prevent it from becoming a systemic issue.

“Our approach is clear and always has been to take a firm stand against racism, or for that matter, any kind of discrimination, not sweep things under the carpet, and deal with issues directly when they arise,” he said.