‘What’s your role?’ SGSecure shifts focus to mobilising community and increasing vigilance
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It was for this reason that SGSecure is shifting its focus to mobilising community, strengthening partnerships and engaging youth.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE
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SINGAPORE - Only about half of people in Singapore believe the country is a target for terror attacks, according to a recent survey by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
But the threat remains very real, even as it is becoming increasingly difficult for the authorities to get people here to take it seriously, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam.
He said: “The real difficulty in Singapore is trying to persuade people that the terror threat is very real.
“Most people don’t think anything will happen in Singapore. It is very difficult to persuade people that this is serious, this is real, and we need to take this seriously.”
The minister was speaking at the SGSecure Community Conference held at The Star Performing Arts Centre on Friday.
He said that the terrorism threat to Singapore remains high, with online self-radicalisation as the current primary threat, and youth radicalisation of particular concern.
Since 2015, 11 self-radicalised Singaporeans aged 20 or below have been dealt with under the Internal Security Act. Five of them wanted to mount attacks in Singapore, he noted.
“The longer we stay free of an attack, the less fear or concern there is,” said Mr Shanmugam.
“But these young people that we picked up, any one of them could have carried out an attack… It could easily have happened.”
Mr Shanmugam said that the authorities will do their best to pre-empt terror attacks and to manage the fallout when an attack does happen.
But he added that Singapore will also need the community to come together and help, with each person playing a role.
It is for this reason that SGSecure is shifting its focus to mobilising community, strengthening partnerships and engaging youth.
Officially launched in 2016 by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, SGSecure is a national movement that calls on Singaporeans to be part of national anti-terrorism efforts, and initially had the tagline: “Not If, But When. Our Response Matters.”
New taglines have been introduced over the years, with the most recent one prior to Friday’s conference being “Our Response Matters. We make SGSecure”.
On Friday, the new tagline “What’s Your Role?” was unveiled at the conference, with the aim of inspiring Singaporeans to discover what role they can play in countering terrorism.
The launch of the new tagline came with a personality quiz that presents users with a persona at the end, meant to help people determine what role each can play to keep Singapore safe and secure.
The six personas are:
The Uniter: A person who cares for others and helps keep the kampung spirit alive.
The True Friend: A person who is observant and shows care for a friend who is potentially radicalised.
The Fact-checker: A person who is alert and calls out fake news to stop it from spreading.
The Lifesaver: A person who is ready to respond with his or her emergency preparedness skills in moments of need.
The Guardian: A person who is calm and quick to lead others away from danger.
The Lookout: A person who is vigilant and reports suspicious behaviours or items.
Mr Goh Jun Hui, 19, a second-year business administration student at Singapore Polytechnic who attended the conference on Friday, said the quiz had identified him as a Uniter.
He said he was an advocate of SGSecure, as he feels that it is important to bring the community together.
He said: “It is important for us, especially as youth, to understand that crisis can really happen at any second, minute or day. It is also important that we not take things like our safety and security for granted.”
A video played during the conference showed the relevance of the new SGSecure personas in both peacetime and in times of crisis.
For example, Uniters can help deepen community cohesion in peacetime, but also help to rally people to stay united in times of crisis.
Another attendee of the conference, Ms Margaret Heng, 62, the executive director of the Singapore Hotel Association, said being prepared at all times was important.
She said that the Covid-19 pandemic has helped the association build stronger communication and become better prepared for crisis, but that the biggest challenge was complacency.
She said: “Because we had to respond to the pandemic together, I now have a group chat with all the hotel general managers. So if there’s a need, we can all work together and respond quickly.
“But no matter how much we talk about it and emphasise the importance of being alert, somewhere, somehow, some people will still slip into a complacent mode unknowingly. That is why it is important to constantly talk about it and be prepared through things like tabletop exercises.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs said it will be launching a new series of SGSecure roadshows in September targeting youth, with the first one to be held at Funan shopping mall.
“Together with our partner agencies, we will continue developing and strengthening programmes to mobilise the community to fight terrorism,” it said.
“We will also encourage ground-up projects to raise awareness of the SGSecure movement, increase our overall level of preparedness, and/or deepen partnerships within the community and foster social cohesion.”
Correction note: An earlier version of this story said the SGSecure Community Conference took place at The Star Vista. The venue has been corrected to The Star Performing Arts Centre.
