askST: What is the Homefront Crisis Ministerial Committee, S’pore’s ‘apex’ body during national crises?

SINGAPORE – Continued conflict in the Middle East has prompted Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to convene the Government’s top steering body that coordinates Singapore’s national response to crises.

Announcing this on April 2, he said the team of ministers, known as the Homefront Crisis Ministerial Committee (HCMC), has begun its work.

While Singapore hopes diplomatic efforts to end the war succeed, the city-state has to be prepared for further escalation and severe consequences should critical Middle Eastern energy sources and supply routes remain constrained for an extended period, he said in a video message.

The Straits Times looks at the HCMC’s role as part of Singapore’s larger crisis management framework.

1. What is the HCMC and what does it do?

The HCMC is the political leadership charged with setting the direction and providing strategic guidance for the overall government response to major crises.

It sits above and works closely with the Homefront Crisis Executive Group (HCEG), which comprises senior civil servants from across ministries and agencies.

The HCEG, chaired by the permanent secretary for Home Affairs, ensures decisions by the HCMC are implemented and that the various ministries are aligned in their response to a crisis. This included when the Government tackled the spread of Covid-19 in foreign worker dormitories in 2020.

Under the HCEG is a constellation of ministry-level and inter-ministry crisis management groups that handle early-stage or localised crisis situations, such as major accidents and transboundary haze.

The HCMC, the HCEG and the crisis management groups under them were formalised as part of Singapore’s crisis management framework following a review after the 2003 SARS epidemic.

Presenting the changes to Parliament in 2004, then Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng said the HCEG – formally known as the Executive Group – would have its scope expanded to deal with all civil contingencies. Previously, it dealt with mainly security-related incidents, such as the hijacking of Singapore Airlines Flight SQ117 in 1991.

2. Who are the members of the HCMC?

It has typically been chaired by the Minister for Home Affairs. The current committee is chaired by Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam, with Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong as adviser.

DPM Gan is also Minister for Trade and Industry, and Mr Shanmugam is Minister for Home Affairs.

The Government has not said which other ministers are part of the current HCMC, but it has in the past included several Cabinet ministers as principal members – a 2012 report cited seven – with other ministers co-opted as necessary.

Under the Homefront Crisis Management System, different ministries take the lead for incidents under their purview.

For instance, economic sustainability comes under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, border control is under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Foreign Ministry is tasked with diplomatic support, according to the same 2012 report.

3. What was the HCMC’s role in past crises?

The HCMC and its related groups have been convened at various points of crisis or threat in Singapore’s history.

On Jan 22, 2020, the HCEG was convened alongside the Multi-Ministry Taskforce, chaired by Mr Wong and Mr Gan, to coordinate the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2011, the HCMC was convened in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan because the Government felt that the effects of the fallout on Singapore could have been serious.

At times of lesser threat, such as the 2013 haze crisis, mid-level groups have been set up to coordinate Singapore’s response. Then, the Government convened a Haze Inter-Ministerial Committee to oversee overall national efforts.

Explaining the difference in Parliament in 2013, then Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said this committee “was an added new step and one calibrated appropriately to deal with the haze problem”.

The HCMC was the apex group to deal with national crises, but the haze was in no way a nuclear threat that warranted it, he added.

Long before the HCMC and HCEG were formalised in 2004, Singapore’s crisis management could be traced to the Laju incident in 1974, according to a 2016 Civil Service College report.

The Laju was a ferry hijacked by four foreign terrorists, after they had set off bombs at the Shell oil refinery on Pulau Bukom.

The incident ended without bloodshed, but showed the need for a coordinated government response to complex crises.

This led to the creation of the Executive Group (EG), the HCEG’s forebear.

The EG later led Singapore’s response to the hijacking of Singapore Airlines Flight SQ117, where terrorists held 114 passengers and 11 crew hostage. After negotiations stalled and the hijackers began a countdown, the EG mounted a rescue operation that saw all four hijackers killed within 30 seconds.

In 2003, the EG led Singapore’s response to SARS, where it mobilised the Public Service and citizen-volunteers to conduct contact tracing and monitoring for 2,500 wholesale centre workers and 55,000 food centre workers across the country.

This helped prevent the epidemic from spreading further through the supply chain. The epidemic highlighted the need for the EG to be prepared for crises other than security threats, and it was subsequently reviewed and reformulated.

4. What is HCMC’s role in its current form?

PM Wong said on April 2 that the HCMC is updating existing contingency plans and developing new ones.

The Government, he added, is taking active steps to strengthen Singapore’s energy and supply chain resilience.

Singapore’s refineries and chemical companies are adjusting by scaling back production and sourcing crude oil and feedstock beyond the Middle East.

Its liquified natural gas importers are also securing alternative supplies from global producers.

The Government has moved to cushion the immediate impact on households and businesses, and will move forward or enhance some support measures announced at Budget 2026.

It is also looking at targeted support for those hardest hit by the spike in prices caused by the war.

More details will be shared at the Parliament sitting on April 7, added PM Wong.