Good governance is necessary to maintain law and order, said Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam.

Singaporeans also have to trust that the political, economic and social systems are fair and will benefit them, so that they will support the police force, he told Parliament yesterday during the debate on his ministry's budget.

One important lesson, he said is that it is critical to get the fundamental politics and policies right.

If they are unsound, he added, no amount of policing can turn the situation around.

Separately, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen outlined how the Singapore Armed Forces is restructuring to face "clear and present" security threats in three areas - the cyber domain, maritime and terrorism. This includes forming a high-level committee to build an integrated cyber command and force to defend Singapore against cyber threats.