SINGAPORE: Community leaders in Singapore should always be prepared for terror attacks, including during peacetime, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said on Saturday (Oct 19).
Mr Masagos was referencing a police superintendent from New Zealand at the International Conference on Communities of Success for global Muslim minority communities held in Singapore earlier this week, who said the authorities “did not regret” being prepared even if they believed attacks “should never happen”.
The police officer also said bringing together many communities was what got them through the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, Mr Masagos said.
More than 50 people were killed after a gunman opened fire at two mosques in March 2019, New Zealand’s worst peacetime mass shooting.
“We now are even more convinced that our community leaders should always prepare, (be) prepared to recover should an incident happen,” said Mr Masagos, who is also minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs.
“But more importantly, always appeal to trust the bonds that our communities have with one another, to treasure it and to deepen it.”
The minister was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community response roundtable in Tampines, where members gathered to discuss and review their plans during crises, to ensure they are relevant and updated.
This came a day after it was revealed that a 17-year-old self-radicalised Singaporean was arrested less than a month before his plan to carry out an attack at a public housing area in Tampines.
The youth, who lived within walking distance from the open area chosen for the attack, had plotted to use either a kitchen knife or scissors from his house to stab non-Muslim males during the school holidays in September.
Following his arrest in August, the youth was detained under the Internal Security Act.