Committee of Supply – Head P (Ministry of Home Affairs)

The Chairman: We are going to press on. Head P. Mr Vikram Nair.

4.55 pm

Threat Environment and Priorities

Mr Vikram Nair (Sembawang): Chairman, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head P of the Estimates be reduced by $100".

Our threat environment is more complex than it has ever been. The pace of change is accelerating and hostile actors are quick to exploit new technologies. It is important that Singapore anticipate threats early and invest in capabilities early on to address these threats.

I focus on four areas which feature heavily in Singapore’s domestic threat landscape; namely, terrorism, cyberattacks, drugs and scams, and look forward to hearing the Ministry’s plans on all these fronts.

First, terrorism. The threat to Singapore remains concerning. Globally, terrorist groups continue to incite violence while ongoing conflicts, including those in the Middle East, can inflame sentiments and be exploited by extremists. Singapore’s international profile and our multicultural society make us an attractive target.

A worrying trend is that of self-radicalisation, which is accelerated by the online environment. According to the Internal Security Department (ISD), between July 2024 and July 2025, at least eight self-radicalised Singaporeans were dealt with under the Internal Security Act (ISA). The ISD also notes that the timeline from exposure to radicalisation can be as short as weeks.

We should pay particular attention to youth radicalisation. Youths are particularly vulnerable to radicalisation as they tend to be digital natives, more easily swayed by emotive narratives and are more susceptible to influence. The ISD has reported that 17 youths aged 20 and below have been dealt with under the ISA since 2015, with more than two-thirds in the last five years; nine intended to mount local attacks, with three in 2025 alone. Most recently, in November 2025, a 14-year-old Secondary 3 student who was self-radicalised online was issued with a Restriction Order under the ISA.

Technology is emerging as an enabler for radicalisation. Social media and artificial intelligence (AI) can generate and translate propaganda, produce convincing synthetic media, scale personalised recruitment and even assist in attack planning.

The ISD notes that a 17-year-old ISIS supporter detained in September 2024 used an AI chatbot to generate a "bai’ah", an oath of allegiance, to ISIS, and a declaration of armed jihad against non-Muslims to inspire other Muslims in Singapore to engage in armed violence. In another example, a 17-year-old far-right extremist supporter used an AI chatbot to look for instructions on the production of ammunition and considered producing his own firearms for his local attack plans using three-dimensional printing. In the recent case in November 2025, the ISD noted that family members and schoolmates were aware of the youth’s extremist views and tried to dissuade him, but they did not report him to the authorities.

There is a lesson to be learned here. We should continue to educate the public and instil messages that the early reporting is protective, not punitive, and can prevent tragedy. Therefore, apart from enforcement, our counter-terrorism efforts must include strong community partnerships, digital literacy and early upstream intervention.

Second, cyberattacks. Cyberattacks continue to be a threat to countries worldwide and Singapore is no exception. They are a national security issue because they can disrupt essential services, compromise sensitive information and erode trust in digital systems which Singapore relies on.

In the latest Singapore Cyber Landscape report, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) noted a significant increase in cyber attacks. For example, phishing attempts reported to the CSA increased from 4,100 in 2023 to 6,100 in 2024, an increase of 49%. Ransomware cases reported to the CSA increased from 132 in 2023 to 159 in 2024, an increase of 21%.

5.00 pm

Such cyberattacks can halt operations, especially for organisations which have vulnerable systems. As Singapore digitalises further – from healthcare to transport to financial services – the potential impact of a successful attack grows exponentially. Our response must therefore include hardening critical infrastructure, investing in threat detection and strengthening incident response capabilities across agencies and sectors.

Third, drugs. While Singapore's overall drug situation is under control, drugs continue to be a threat to Singapore's stability.

The Central Narcotics Bureau's (CNB's) latest annual statistics show that the number of drug abusers arrested increased modestly from 3,175 in 2024 to 3,208 in 2025. However, new drug abusers increased by 17% to 1,165 in 2025. Of the 1,165 new drug abusers arrested in 2025, half were below 30 years old. New drug abusers arrested below 30 years old and 20 years old increased by 9% and 22% respectively in 2025.

In addition, thousands have been caught for possession or use of e-vaporisers since enhanced enforcement began in 2025. In many cases, what may appear to youths as a lifestyle product has become a gateway to drug abuse, exposing them to serious health risks.

This suggests two worrying trends: first, the supply of illegal drugs remains persistent; and second, demand for illegal drugs is increasingly coming from youths.

The convergence of drug abuse with lifestyle trends and online distribution channels means that it is critical that Singapore keeps up its efforts in preventive education, early intervention and strong enforcement against suppliers and traffickers.

Fourth, scams. This is perhaps the threat which is felt most closely by Singaporeans today. Statistics show that in 2024, the total amount lost to scams and cybercrime rose to at least $1.1 billion, up from $651.8 million in 2023. In the first half of 2025, the amount lost was about $456.4 million, a 12.6% decrease from the year before but still a significant figure.

The situation remains serious, including a sharp increase in certain types of scams. For example, Government official impersonation scams in the first half of 2025 almost tripled to 1,762 cases, with the amounts lost to this type of scam increasing by about 89% to $126.5 million.

Scammers are increasingly sophisticated, leveraging AI-generated voices, deepfakes, spoofed numbers and social engineering tactics to create urgency and fear. The number of cases and scale of losses show that this is a threat which requires coordinated action across government agencies, banks, telecommunications companies (telcos) and digital platforms.

We must harness technology to address the threat of scams. This includes detecting suspicious transaction patterns in real time, strengthening digital forensics and cross-border intelligence cooperation to disrupt syndicates and embedding stronger safeguards in our banking and payment systems. At the same time, we must continue to focus on public education and equip Singaporeans with the knowledge and tools to spot and respond to scam activities.

I also support the tough approach we are taking on those in Singapore who facilitate scams, including by opening bank accounts or setting up phone lines. I think taking out the hands and legs for scammers in Singapore will go a long way to fighting this scourge, similar to how we took action against loan shark runners and facilitators to battle that scourge.

Ultimately, whether the threat comes from terrorism, cyberattacks, drugs or scams, our response must be anticipatory and grounded in strong partnerships between the Home Team and other stakeholders. I look forward to hearing from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on these matters.

Question proposed.

Mental Health to Reduce Recidivism

Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik (Sengkang): Sir, while I note the welcome decline in the two-year recidivism rate for the 2023 Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) cohort to 26.1%, down from 30.8% the previous year, yet this still means that more than one in four individuals return to drug abuse within two years of release.

Behind these statistics are individuals struggling with challenges we may not be adequately addressing.

MHA has recognised that repeat drug abusers face significant barriers: the lack of prosocial networks due to being in and out of the system and difficulty in maintaining employment. Yet what remains insufficiently examined is the mental health dimension underlying these challenges.

The 2024 Singapore Health and Lifestyle Survey demonstrates strong links between drug abuse and mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression and insomnia. This suggests that for individuals cycling in and out of the system, losing jobs and lacking stable support networks, the psychological toll can be devastating, potentially driving them back to the very substance we are trying to help them avoid.

The Singapore Prison Service attributes recent improvements to evidence-informed throughcare drug rehabilitation regime with strong community support. However, evidence-informed approaches require comprehensive data. We currently lack systematic data on the mental health profiles of those arrested for drug abuse.

I therefore ask the Minister, does the Ministry plan to collect data on the mental health status of individuals arrested for drug-related offences? If so, will this data be made available to researchers or policymakers to better inform our rehabilitation strategies?

Beyond data collection, I urge the Government to strengthen community partnerships that specifically addresses mental health alongside addiction. Every recovering individual should have ready access to integrated support to help them with underlying mental health conditions that may have contributed to their drug use.

Without this, we are releasing individuals who have served their time in the DRC, facing the same psychological struggles that led them to drugs initially.

The decline in recidivism shows progress. Let us build on this momentum by ensuring our approach includes mental health data and integrated support services to help more individuals break free from addiction for good. I look forward to the Minister's response.

Ex-offenders and Yellow Ribbon

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (Pioneer): I want to speak today not just about policy, but about people. Because behind every label of "ex-offender" is someone's son, someone's spouse, someone's parent. Many have made serious mistakes and they have paid dearly for them. But when they step out of prison, they often face a second sentence – rejection, stigma and doors that never open, no matter how hard they try to change.

Sir, if we believe that people can be rehabilitated, then our society must also believe in giving them a real chance to start again.

This is why we must continue to invest in the 3Rs, or what I call rehabilitation, raising employability and reintegration back into families and the community, not just to reduce reoffending, but to restore dignity, purpose and hope. When someone is able to work honestly, support their family and belong again, the entire community becomes safer and stronger.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of Yellow Ribbon Singapore and the Singapore Prison Service, and the many employers, voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) and volunteers who lean forward to help.

In our dialogues with employers and ex-offenders, we heard both hope and deep anxiety – hope that employers are willing to give second chances, but fear from those inside that their past will forever define their future.

And this brings me to my question. Can MHA share how far we have come in supporting ex-offenders in their reintegration journey, especially in helping them secure meaningful work and rebuild stable lives? And will the Ministry consider reviewing laws such as the Registration of Criminals Act, including whether some records can be spent earlier where appropriate so that those who have truly turned over a new leaf are not locked out of opportunity for life?

Second chances are not about being soft on crime. They are about being firm in our belief that people can change. And when we allow that change to take root, we do not just transform one life. We strengthen families, restore hope and build a more compassionate and resilient Singapore.

Rehabilitation and Reintegration

Mr Gabriel Lam (Sembawang): Mr Chairman, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Yellow Ribbon Singapore, formerly SCORE. Over five decades, the Yellow Ribbon movement has fundamentally reshaped Singapore's approach towards ex-offenders. It has shifted mindsets from stigma to second chances, mobilised employers across sectors and supported thousands of individuals in rebuilding their lives with dignity and purpose.

This is no small achievement. It reflects a long-term whole-of-society effort – one that balances accountability with redemption and public safety with social reintegration.

At the same time, as with all mature systems, we must continuously review and strengthen what we have built.

According to the latest data from the Singapore Prison Service, the five-year recidivism rate rose, from 36.6% for the 2019 release cohort, to 39.3% for the 2020 release cohort.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

It is reasonable to view this in the context of the pandemic, a period marked by economic uncertainty, hiring slowdowns and reduced face-to-face supervision and support services. These disruptions would have disproportionately affected individuals attempting to reintegrate into society.

Even so, the figures remind us that reintegration is not automatic. It is a process that requires sustained support, particularly in the first few years after release.

I therefore support MHA's strengthening of structured aftercare, employer partnerships and skill upgrading pathways. Employment remains one of the strongest protective factors against reoffending.

But beyond job placement, what matters is job retention and progression. Stable work builds routine, income stability and self-worth. What matters is not simply giving someone a job, but giving them a future.

Reintegration also depends heavily on families. Where family bonds are intact, the likelihood of successful reintegration increases significantly. Where families are fractured, vulnerabilities multiply. Continued coordination between correctional services, social service agencies and community partners is therefore essential to ensure that counselling, housing stability and financial planning support are aligned rather than fragmented.

As Yellow Ribbon Singapore turns 50, this milestone offers not only an opportunity to celebrate, but also to consolidate and refine our strategy for the next decade. A forward-looking rehabilitation framework with clear outcome metrics such as employment retention, housing stability and community integration indicators would help sustain momentum and reinforce public confidence.

I therefore ask the Minister, what is MHA's medium-term quantitative targets for reducing five-year recidivism over the next five years? Will MHA publish a forward-looking 2026 to 2030 rehabilitation strategy with a clear outcome matrix, including employment, retention, housing stability and community integration indicators? Three, how does MHA assess the effectiveness of current employer partnership schemes and other plans to expand structured post-placement support to reduce relapsed risk?

Mr Chairman, I would also like to speak about scams, which remain a significant societal challenge.

Scam syndicates have become increasingly sophisticated. They prey on fear, urgency and trust. Individuals with weaker financial literacy, unstable employment or limited social support networks may be especially vulnerable, both as victims and, in some cases, as unwitting accomplices such as money mules.

In today's digital economy, financial and cyber awareness are no longer optional competencies. They are basic safeguards for economic participation. Encouragingly, the integration of rehabilitation, community partnerships and law enforcement reflects a holistic philosophy – public safety is best protected not only through deterrence, but through prevention and resilience building.

Mr Chairman, Singapore's approach to corrections has long emphasised transformation rather than warehousing. That philosophy has served us well. The Yellow Ribbon movement has demonstrated that when society chooses inclusion over exclusion, many individuals respond positively and rebuild their lives.

As we commemorate 50 years of Yellow Ribbon Singapore, we should reaffirm three principles. First, rehabilitation must remain evidence-based and outcomes-driven. Second, reintegration must be sustained, extending beyond release into stable employment, family support and community belonging. Third, vulnerability to emerging risks, including digital scams, must be proactively addressed as part of modern rehabilitation.

I therefore express my support for MHA's ongoing efforts and I am confident that with continued refinement, cross-agency coordination and community partnership, the next chapter of Yellow Ribbon Singapore will be defined not only by compassion, but by measurable progress and enduring impact.

5.15 pm

Scams

Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied): Chairman, I wish to raise three topics regarding scams – regional cooperation, the impact of the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) and scam victims.

First on regional cooperation. Many online scams targeting Singaporeans are perpetuated overseas and scam compounds housing scammers have been found in some ASEAN countries. It is thus necessary for agencies across the region to work collaboratively, to share information, conduct operations and extradite suspects where appropriate. What is the Ministry's assessment of regional cooperation thus far and are there particular obstacles on this front?

Parliament was told in November that the Police had formalised the Funds Recovery Operations and Networks Team, Inspiring Effective Resolution Plus (FRONTIER+), an initiative among several jurisdictions, to strengthen real-time intelligence sharing, improve asset recovery and coordinate joint operations. Under FRONTIER+, joint operations had reportedly been conducted last year across six jurisdictions that led to the recovery of more than $26 million. Among ASEAN countries, which jurisdictions have not yet joined FRONTIER+ and what are the impediments?

Turning to the domestic scam situation, the mid-year crime brief by the Police in August last year painted a mixed picture. Those scams and losses in the first half of 2025 decreased from the corresponding period in 2024. Scam losses still totalled a significant $456 million.

Social media platforms have been an important channel through which scams are perpetuated. It is thus disturbing to read of the profits that social media companies have been made from scam ads. For instance, Reuters reported in November last year that Meta platforms, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were expected to earn US$16 billion or 10% of its revenue in 2024 from ads for scams or other illicit products. This estimate was based on Meta's own internal documents, which Meta later said were overestimates.

The Government has been working with social media companies to put in place anti-scam measures. Various directives have been issued to them under the OCHA, to implement measures, such as identity verification and facial recognition. OCHA has been enforced for nearly two years. What is the Ministry's assessment of its effectiveness in preventing scams? Is the Government satisfied with the levels of compliance with these directives by social media companies?

Finally, we must remember a key stakeholder in all these – scam victims. There is growing research on the psychological impacts of scams on victims being severe, leading to distress, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and even suicidality.

The Police have stated that there are victim care officers (VCOs) who may be deployed to support victims of crimes, including in scam cases. These VCOs are volunteers who need to have relevant background, such as in psychology, social work or counselling. In what percentage of scam cases have VCOs been activated?

Finally, are there requirements as to how often and at what milestones victims should be updated about their cases?

Fighting Scams

Dr Wan Rizal (Jalan Besar): Chairman, scams today no longer are just isolated incidents. They have become organised, industrialised and highly adaptive. Criminal syndicates test scripts like marketers and A/B-test messages like salespeople and exploit the speed of online platforms to scale harm quickly. They do not wait for trust to be built over years. They manufacture it in minutes through impersonation, fake endorsements, doctored screenshots and increasingly, AI-generated content.

The impact is not just financial. It is psychological. Victims often feel ashamed, families get strained and confidence in institutions can get a hit, especially when scams impersonate Government agencies, banks or trusted brands. That is why enforcement and public education remain essential.

But, Sir, I want to highlight one capability that I think deserves more recognition.

I recently visited the Anti-Scam Centre, and I was genuinely impressed by what I saw. The public usually only sees the aftermath: reports filed, warnings issued, investigations underway. But behind the scenes, the Anti-Scam Centre is doing time-sensitive operational work where minutes matter, coordinating information, tracing flows, engaging partners and acting quickly to disrupt and prevent further losses.

It is not glamorous work. It is relentless and it is easy for people to underestimate it precisely because when it works well, the story becomes "nothing happened". But what "nothing happened" often means money was frozen in time, a scam network was disrupted, or more victims were prevented.

So, Sir, I want to put on record my appreciation for the officers and partners involved. Their work is certainly underrated, and it is a key part of our national response.

At the same time, scams is a whole-of-society approach because scammers exploit multiple layers in our ecosystem. They use online platforms to reach victims at scale. They use social engineering to push victims with messages. They use mule accounts and laundering networks to move funds quickly. And they exploit gaps between systems, where responsibilities are unclear, or where speed of action is uneven. That is why the private sector plays such a critical role not as an add-on, but as part of the frontline defence.

So, my questions to the Minister are these. First, fighting scams is a whole-of-society approach and the private sector plays an important role. What are the plans that the Government have to work with the private sector to fight scams more effectively? Second, a significant part of scam activity today is enabled or amplified online. How can more be done to ensure that online platforms, such as Meta, Apple or Google, strengthen their anti-scam measures to better protect users?

Sir, the Anti-Scam Centre shows us that when we move fast and coordinate well, we can blunt the impact of scams. So, the next step is to ensure that everyone in the ecosystem, especially those who control reach and virality, plays their part with the same seriousness and urgency.

Systemic Change to Counter Scammers

Ms Kuah Boon Theng (Nominated Member): Mr Chairman, to counter the scourge of increasingly sophisticated scams, the implementation of targeted legislative mechanisms is essential. Our laws must continue to provide authorities the power to effectively disrupt and disable criminal activity and infrastructure and create upstream defences to prevent or limit losses suffered by victims.

In the last few years, Parliament has enacted the Online Criminal Harms Act, the Law Enforcement and Other Matters Act and the Protection from Scams Act. These laws have empowered the authorities to, amongst other things, issue directions to online platforms requiring action against fraudulent accounts or content; criminalise the misuse of SIM cards and the handing over of bank accounts or Singpass credentials to be misused by others; and facilitate the issuance of Restriction Orders to freeze the bank accounts of victims, thereby delaying the siphoning away of funds.

We have even introduced mandatory caning for serious scam offences, syndicate members and recruiters, by passing the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act.

And it is heartening to know that for the first time in eight years, the number of scam cases in Singapore has fallen from more than 50,000 in 2024 to 37,308 in 2025. The amount lost to scammers has also dipped below $1 billion although it is still a large amount. But it is some progress.

But such progress can be reversed very quickly, however. Scammers are constantly reinventing themselves and will adapt quickly. When public education raises awareness of certain tactics, they will simply pivot to trying something different. Today, they may be capitalising on the popularity of Pokemon cards; tomorrow, they will ask their victims to buy and hand over gold bars, hoping that their ill-gotten gains will be harder to trace. Scammers will increasingly use Generative AI to create ever more convincing phishing emails and deepfake voice or video calls for impersonation.

We need to strengthen our legislative levers to allow Singapore to act more effectively and decisively against scammers. I look forward to hearing from MHA what systemic changes we will need to effect and how can we further strengthen our regulatory frameworks, to provide more tools to combat scams?

The Chairman: Mr Alex Yeo, you may take your two cuts together.

Combating Scams in the Community

Mr Alex Yeo (Potong Pasir): Mr Chairman, in 2025, the number of scam cases decreased by 27.6% or 14,193 cases from 2024. Importantly, losses from scams also fell by 17.9% or by $199.3 million in 2025. This is a positive development, and due credit must be given to the Police and, in particular, the officers of the Anti-Scam Command for their tireless efforts in combating scams to protect Singaporeans.

Nevertheless, with 37,308 scam cases, totalling a loss of $913.1 million in 2025, the situation remains extremely concerning and combating scams must remain a top priority this year. On this note, I wish to highlight two areas for discussion.

First, the recovery of scam monies. Understandably, the topmost concern on the minds of scam victims, is whether they are able to recover their monies. In 2025, the Anti-Scam Command successfully recovered $140.5 million worth of scam losses. Importantly, it is reported that through proactive interventions with victims in the various stages of being scammed, the Anti-Scam Command managed to work with its partners to help victims avert potential losses of at least $348 million.

This is encouraging news, especially on the Anti-Scam Command's successful efforts in averting potential losses. And yet, if we look at the amounts of monies recovered compared with the total amount lost, recovered monies represent only about 15% of the amounts lost. A large part of the reason for this is because of the transnational nature of scams. Often, scam proceeds are transferred out of Singapore within minutes, if not, seconds, of the victim's transfer. This makes it extremely challenging for the Police to trace and recover the monies.

To this end, the establishment of FRONTIER+ in October 2024, a united front against transnational scams comprising 11 jurisdictions, is a landmark initiative that facilitates real-time intelligence sharing, joint operations and coordinated enforcement against transnational scams.

I therefore invite the Minister to share if there are plans to the expand the FRONTIER+ grouping, how successful do we think it has been in combating transnational scams and whether there are opportunities for Singapore to leverage on the grouping to recover more scam proceeds that have been transferred out of Singapore.

Second, notable steps have also been taken to enact or strengthen legislation to tackle scams, including the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) Code of Practice, the Protection from Scams Act that was passed and operationalised last year, empowering the Police to issue Restriction Orders to banks to restrict the banking transactions of individuals at risk of transferring monies to scammers, the Facility Restriction Framework to tackle scam mules and the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Act which was passed in November 2025 which introduced caning for scam and scam-related offences.

In the premises, I also invite the Minister to share whether MHA feels that this is sufficient or if there are also plans to further strengthen legislative levers to tackle scams.

Youths and Drug Abuse

The recent 2025 statistics on the Drug Situation in Singapore released by the Central Narcotics Bureau raised a worrying trend of drug abuse among our youths. In 2025, 28% of all drug abusers arrested were below 30 years of age. The youngest drug abuser arrested in 2025 was just 12 years old. The number of drug abusers below the age of 20 years old, increased year on year by 7%, while the number of new drug abusers arrested below 20 years old increased by 22%. Notably, six in 10 new cannabis abusers arrested were below 30 years old.

Sir, over the years in Singapore, we have always strongly supported the Government's strong stance against drug abuse. We understand and appreciate deeply the damage and detrimental effects that drug abusers can cause, not only to themselves, but also to their family and their loved ones.

In recent years, there has been a worrying global shift in views and attitudes towards the use of drugs, such as cannabis. In 2020, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs reclassified cannabis and cannabis resin under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Thailand, a fellow ASEAN neighbour, became the first Asian country to decriminalise cannabis in 2022. How do we ensure that our youths are not influenced by global trends and attitudes towards drugs, like cannabis?

Recently, the Government had to also take urgent steps to address Kpods, which are e-vaporisers or vapes containing the psychoactive substance, etomidate. A significant number of those who abuse Kpods are youths. Anecdotally, I have sure many other Members of this House have as well, I have met many parents of teenagers and youths in the community who are extremely worried and concerned.

In the premises, I invite the Minister to share with this House on the Government's plans to address global trends towards liberal drug approaches and how we can better effectively engage our youths on the dangers of drug abuse and substance abuse.

5.30 pm

Keep Families Safe on Roads and Online

Ms Cassandra Lee (West Coast-Jurong West): Mr Chairman, recent tragedies, including the accident in Chinatown where a young child lost her life, are sobering reminders of how vulnerable our loved ones are on our roads. Each incident is not just a statistic, but a family forever changed.

While our laws rightly distinguish between levels of culpability, there remains concern that certain aggravated cases of dangerous driving causing death may not be met with penalties that fully reflect the harm caused.

One case that has been widely discussed is that of Jarrett Tee. In that instance, the offender engaged in dangerous driving behaviour at a very high speed, including what was described as “blocking and braking” a motorcycle, before a collision occurred which resulted in the loss of life.

The court dealt with the matter under the existing framework for dangerous driving causing death. However, the case has raised broader questions among members of the public as to whether the current range of penalties sufficiently captures conduct that, while falling short of intent to kill, nonetheless reflects a very high degree of recklessness and disregard for the safety of others.

Sir, I raise this not to revisit the specific outcome of any individual case, but to ask whether there is room within our laws and sentencing framework to better account for such aggravated circumstances. In particular, whether we should raise maximum sentences to allow our courts further flexibility to address different levels of culpability – from simple negligence at one end, to highly dangerous driving with a high risk of serious injury or death at the other.

Separately, enforcement and penalties are one aspect of ensuring safe roads, but they are not sufficient by themselves. Ultimately, safer roads begin with a shared commitment – to look out for one another, and to remember that behind every road user is a family. Will the Minister consider further public education and training for road users in order to foster a culture of safety?

Sir, this principle of protecting our families must also extend into the digital space. Scams continue to evolve at scale and sophistication, and they disproportionately affect those who are less digitally savvy, particularly our seniors.

Here, a calibrated approach is needed. We should continue to strengthen enforcement levers to act more effectively against scammers. At the same time, we must also consider how best to balance deterrence with rehabilitation, especially for our youth offenders, those who have been drawn into such activities due to financial pressures or lack of awareness.

In Ayer Rajah, I had a particularly memorable case where a young graduate was looking for a job but fell to a job scam, ended up being a money mule and he was the sole breadwinner for a family of three, all of which were depending on him. When he was charged, he fell further into financial difficulties. I would like to ask the Minister how the Government intends to strike this balance.

Beyond enforcement, public education remains critical. We must equip Singaporeans with the awareness and confidence to protect themselves – to recognise scam tactics, to exercise caution and to take personal responsibility in an increasingly digital world. Behind every accident, every scam, is a family who suffers. Preventing accidents and scams protects our families.

Coping with Transformation and AI

Mr Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari (Nominated Member): Mr Chairman, the Home Team AI Movement was launched in 2024 with the vision of transforming our officers and how they safeguard Singapore. A significant budget of $400 million was committed with the aim of embedding AI into operations from emergency response, investigative work and grooming a 500 strong AI workforce. Could the Ministry update on the AI products developed so far under this movement? How widely have these tools been deployed, and what measurable improvements have been observed in day-to-day operations?

With the development of humanoid robots, capable of tackling high risk tasks such as firefighting and hazmat operations, how will these systems be integrated into frontline operations? What role will AI-enabled robotics play in augmenting our manpower given rising operational demands and manpower constraints across MHA? How is MHA reskilling our officers to prepare for these changes?

Trust and accountability are paramount. May I ask what AI governance safeguards MHA has put in place? With AI models such as Phoenix, built with partners Microsoft and Mistral AI, how does the Ministry ensure data security, model integrity, and responsible deployment across sensitive Home Team environments?

Finally, given the evolving threat landscape, including criminals' increasing exploitation of technology, how is the Ministry balancing automation with the critical human judgment required in law enforcement?

Chairman, these questions reflect the public’s interest in how AI will not replace officers, but empower them, enhance safety and strengthen trust in our security institutions.

Preventing House Fires with Technology

Miss Rachel Ong (Tanjong Pagar): Chairman, unattended cooking remains one of the leading causes of residential fires in Singapore, according to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). Many of these incidents involve our seniors, where distraction, medical conditions, or reduced mobility quickly turn an everyday activity into a serious safety risk. As Singapore becomes a super-aged society, preventing such incidents must form part of how we support seniors to be safe at home while giving a greater sense of peace of mind to their families and caregivers.

Technology offers practical opportunities for prevention. In Japan, stoves are commonly equipped with built-in safety sensors that detect overheating and automatically shut off the gas before a fire can occur. In South Korea, smart stove monitoring devices can alert users when appliances are left unattended and automatically cut off power to prevent accidents. Such technology enables solutions, including —

The Chairman: You are out of time, Miss Ong. Sorry. Dr Neo Kok Beng.

High-rise Fire Safety

Dr Neo Kok Beng (Nominated Member): Chairman, I would like to state that I am a founder of a company that deals with a low altitude economy business, which is basically large drones, or otherwise known as a flying car and, on the way, I am building firefighting drones, and also drones for oil spills.

On 26 November 2025, a large fire broke out at the Wang Fuk Court apartment, Hong Kong, and burned for 43 hours and 27 minutes. Seven out of the eight blocks of the complex were consumed by fire, and 168 people died, including one firefighter. In Singapore, I think just on 19 February, a fire occurred at condominium in Kovan on the 14th floor. So, high rise fires are really a big concern in urban cities and that is where we need to pay attention.

I understand SCDF has aerial appliances that can catch reach up to 90 metres. My question is, what lessons has MHA drawn from this tragic fire in Hong Kong? How can we apply and adapt these learning points to the Singapore context? What are the new ways or new technologies for addressing high rise fire safety, especially for buildings that are 100 metres and above, or 20 storeys and higher.

External Threats and Influences

On 25 February, CNA reported that hundreds of AI-generated online videos have been targeting Singapore and especially Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. It is obviously a disinformation campaign. The wordings are all in complex Chinese or 繁体字. These are lots of fabrications about our leadership being under threat and spreading conspiracies.

Personally, I have also encountered many friends, business associates, voicing to me concerns on the impact on the business due to Prime Minister Wong's comments during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, 19 November, last year. I personally do not believe in all this stuff, so I view the video and find it to be actually quite neutral and factual.

Mr Chairman, the world is really facing a lot of geopolitical tension and contestations amongst major powers and of course, malicious actors will continue their attempts to coerce Singapore and also try to influence Singaporean to adopt policies that are advantageous to their foreign states' interest. Specifically, social media come in all formats, podcasts – and we are talking about real time podcasts, short videos, TikTok or whatsoever. All are attempts to influence Singaporeans, which will impact the fabric of our society. We have the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, but the Government will not be able to identify all these online allegations and fake news.

The question is, how do we educate, inoculate, vaccinate, whatever terms that we want to use, to really equip our population, the various segments of our population – students, the community, the businesses – to really discern such activities. I think critical thinking is very important, not just reading about it, but able to think for themselves, whether such news, such videos are attempts to influence us, and how can we have a series of awareness campaigns and events? Really, I think it is a lot of education for our population to really have critical thinking about all these videos and decide for themselves whether these sources are trying to influence us.

The Chairman: Mr Christopher de Souza, you may take your three cuts together.

Threat Landscape – Foreign Influence

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Thank you, Chairman. The threat landscape today is increasingly complex and fraught with tension. Around the world, domestic politics have become a target by external influence. Singapore is deeply plugged into a globalised world economy and economically. Precisely because of this, we cannot afford to be naive about attempts by foreign actors to influence our domestic political discourse. Singapore must never be put in a position where we are told, mandated or commanded to choose sides, or where external powers attempt to muscle us into adopting positions that do not serve our national interest.

Our compass must remain clear. Decisions taken in this House, this House of Parliament must be guided by what benefits Singapore and Singaporeans. This House and MHA have been doing so. As parliamentarians, our duty is to assess, debate and vote on issues through that lens alone. We all have a collective responsibility to maintain such a mature posture when discussing and debating internal affairs and internal politics.

Singapore politics must remain the domain of Singaporeans. We must therefore remain alert, resilient and united in safeguarding our political system. Singapore must continue to send a clear signal that our politics is for Singaporeans to lead, manage and control. This is not about shutting ourselves off from the world. It is about ensuring that while we remain open, engaged and principled internationally, our sovereignty, independence and democratic processes remain firmly protected and non-negotiable. We must be cautious about foreign actors. Most of all, we must be principled about discussing sensitive state topics, defence, internal security, race and religion in a sensible, cogent and respectable way in public discourse in Singapore and in this House.

Drugs – Effective Rehabilitation

In recent years, we have seen several jurisdictions liberalise their stance towards recreational drugs, particularly cannabis. More recently, some of these same jurisdictions are now attempting to reverse course. Thailand's U-turn is a case in point, but the critical question we must ask ourselves is this: while laws and policies can be reversed, can addiction be so easily undone? Can a permissive mindset towards recreational drugs be rolled back without long term and multi-generational consequences?

The reality is that reversals have a long tail, which is not easily unwound. This is why Singapore's stance must continue to be one of zero tolerance towards drugs. Once a society normalises recreational drug use, the social, health and crime-related costs do not simply disappear with a policy reversal.

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Singapore does not claim perfection in policymaking. But we must be clear-eyed and resolute. We must also look out for new psychoactive substances and new drug concoctions. In line with this, we must update the Misuse of Drugs Act to maintain its deterrence against new drugs.

Drug trafficking is a rational crime. Syndicates operate on cold cost-benefit calculations. Any softening of our stance signals opportunity. We must remain firm against traffickers, resolute in enforcement and unwavering in our message to society, especially our youth, that there is no place for recreational drugs in Singapore.

Our approach protects not just individuals but families and future generations. Staying firm today spares us deeper social costs tomorrow.

Drugs – Effective Rehabilitation

Singapore's approach to drugs has always rested on moral clarity and deep resolve. We take a strong and uncompromising position against drug traffickers. This is never easy. The Misuse of Drugs Act requires political courage because the buck ultimately stops with those elected – us, here – to make hard decisions.

These laws must have teeth and rigour, because traffickers respond to cost-benefit calculations and deterrence must be real.

At the same time, there is no contradiction in pairing this muscular stance against traffickers with a sincere commitment to rehabilitation. Those who consume drugs and then become addicted are sometimes the innocent ones. As a society, we must do our best to help those who are genuinely intent on kicking the habit or undergoing mandatory drug rehabilitation to drop the addiction.

Rehabilitation cannot end at the prison gates. It requires a scaffold after release, pathways into stable employment and support for reunification with families. Meaningful work, dignity and responsibility are critical catalysts for reintegration and for breaking the cycle of relapse.

The reward and the road towards an addiction-free life is not easy, but it is worth a good try.

But rehabilitation is a shared responsibility. Addicts themselves have a role to play. They too must take ownership of their own path to recovery. But as a society, we should put in place schemes and funding to give them the best possible chance of kicking the drug addiction.

In this case, the Singapore Prison Service and the Drug Rehabilitation Centre and the CNB have key roles to play. They are staffed by excellent officers.

In this way, our approach remains principled and coherent – to deter traffickers with our muscle, and with our hearts, we rehabilitate those who are earnest in turning their lives around. This reflects good policy-making, which requires what I call political ambidexterity. We should not be straitjacketed into thinking in terms of left leaning policies or right leaning policies or be trapped by ideological labels. What matters is whether a policy does right by people and addresses harm effectively.

Take our drugs policy as an example. There is nothing contradictory about taking a hard, uncompromising position against traffickers while adopting a more rehabilitative approach towards addicts.

Some may label rehabilitation as a left-leaning policy and tough enforcement against traffickers as a right-leaning policy. But that is not the correct lens, I humbly submit. The correct lens is whether the approach works, whether it is just and whether it protects society while giving individuals a chance to reform.

Strong laws against traffickers are necessary because trafficking is a rational, profit-driven crime. At the same time, helping addicts who are sincere in kicking the habit through rehabilitation, employment support and reintegration is the right thing to do. These two approaches are complementary, not inconsistent.

This principle, which I coin the principle of political ambidexterity, should guide all our legislative work. When debating Bills in this House and during Committee of Supply discussions, we must be willing to draw from different policy tools without being beholden to ideology. A rigid, purist approach, either entirely left leaning or entirely right leaning, risks missing the complexity of real-world problems.

We should never be slaves to ideology, nor should we chase populism. Doing what is right often requires hard choices, balance and political nuance. It demands integrity and intellectual honesty. Hence, as with drugs, we should apply political ambidexterity in our legislative work in this House.

Transnational Drug Threats and Prevention

Mr Jackson Lam (Nee Soon): Before I start, I would like to thank Members for bringing up the drugs issue. It is an issue close to my heart.

Chairman, the latest statistics from CNB give us reason to pause and reflect. In 2025, 1,165 new drug abusers were arrested. That is a 17% increase from the year before. Even more troubling, one in two of these new abusers was below the age of 30, and the youngest person arrested was just 12 years old.

Among those under 20, nearly 80% were abusing methamphetamine. Cannabis use among youths also remains significant, with new abusers making up to 70% of cannabis arrests. These are not just numbers. They point to something deeper – a growing vulnerability among our young population.

At the same time, CNB dismantled 25 drug syndicates last year, including those operating through Telegram and from overseas. Drug seizures amounted to nearly $22 million.

Beyond Singapore, the 2025 World Drug Report recorded a record 236 tonnes of methamphetamine seized in East and Southeast Asia in 2024. Southeast Asia alone accounted for 94% of these seizures.

Taken together, this tells us we are facing two pressures at the same time: first, increasing exposure among our youths here at home; second, persistent and large-scale production and trafficking flows across the region.

Mr Chairman, Singapore's enforcement regime remains firm and respected. But the drug landscape is changing. It is becoming more digital, more decentralised and more transnational. So, I would like to seek clarification from the Minister on four areas.

First, given that one in two new abusers is now below 30 and the youngest arrested was only 12, does the Ministry intend to recalibrate its preventive outreach? Should we be engaging children earlier, perhaps even before they enter secondary school?

Second, with methamphetamine dominating youth arrests, has the Ministry studied whether digital recruitment, especially through encrypted messaging platforms, is driving earlier exposure? Beyond taking down accounts and syndicates, what proactive digital countermeasures are we considering?

Third, at the regional level, given the record methamphetamine seizures and the continued synthetic drug flows, are we strengthening intelligence sharing and joint task force arrangements with key ASEAN partners? Can we do more to disrupt supply chains further upstream instead of focusing at our borders?

Fourth, with female drug abusers rising from 15% to 19% of total arrests, should we also be examining whether gender-specific prevention and strategies are needed?

Mr Chairman, this policy cut is not about weakening our firm stance on drugs. On the contrary, it reflects concern that the threat is evolving. If one in two new abusers is under 30, and children as young as 12 are being drawn in, then prevention must move upstream – socially, digitally and regionally. We must make sure our strategy stays ahead of the curve, rather than simply responding to it.

The Chairman: Minister Edwin Tong.

The Second Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai): Mr Chairman, I would first like to start by thanking Members who spoke for their support of the Home Team's work.

Sir, Singapore remains one of the safest and most secure countries in the world. In Gallup's 2025 Global Safety Report, Singapore was ranked the world's safest country for the 12th time – 98% of the respondents said they felt safe walking alone at night.

In a public perception survey conducted last year, 94.9% of the respondents had confidence in the Home Team's ability to keep Singapore safe and secure. This was the highest level of confidence in the Home Team over the past decade.

But we cannot for a moment rest on our laurels. The threat environment, as Members have pointed out, is constantly evolving, and the Home Team must keep pace.

There are three areas of concern which we have been particularly monitoring.

First, external threats. Singapore thrives by being open to information and welcoming to foreign talent, capital, goods and ideas. We are highly digitally connected. It is commonplace for Singaporeans to consume information and perform transactions online.

These are our strengths, but it also means that we are more exposed to risks that originate from abroad.

Security threats such as radicalisation, foreign interference, scams and drugs are very much driven by external actors. These risks increase when the geopolitical environment becomes more fragmented and disorderly.

Second, public safety. We see one too many instances of careless and irresponsible behaviour, which have caused injuries and cost lives. Road traffic fatalities have hit a 10-year high since 2016. Speeding violations last year rose by 26% compared to 2024, and a 27% increase was observed for red-light running related incidents and accidents.

Fires involving active mobility devices (AMDs) accounted for almost 20% of fire-related injuries and more than 25% of fatalities. Many of such fires stemmed from non-compliant devices and improper charging practices.

We will continue to review our laws, policies and operations to ensure that they shape the behaviour and outcomes that society wants to see by enabling the authorities to be able to adequately deal with those who pose a danger to others through their behaviour.

Third, resource constraints. Demands on Home Team officers have increased and will continue to increase in both volume and complexity.

In 2025, traveller volumes through Singapore's checkpoints were up by 13% from 2019, before COVID-19. Calls for emergency medical services have increased by 35% from 2020, at the height of COVID-19. The number of scam cases have more than doubled from 2020 and the total amount lost to scams more than tripled.

Innovation and technology can help overcome our constraints to some extent. My colleagues and I will therefore speak on how the Home Team is addressing these challenges. Senior Minister of State Faishal will cover the need to maintain our tough stance against drugs. Senior Minister of State Sim Ann will speak about technology adoption, including artificial intelligence (AI), as well as road safety. Minister of State Goh Pei Ming will speak about our plans to fight scams. In the rest of this speech, I will speak about our efforts to address radicalisation, foreign interference and fire safety.

Sir, recent overseas attacks remind us that terrorism and violent extremism can strike anywhere, at any time.

In November last year, a 17-year-old student detonated four explosive devices at a school mosque in Jakarta, injuring nearly 100 people. The perpetrator was said to have been inspired by far-right extremists. A month later, during a gathering for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, two gunmen with anti-Semitic beliefs killed 15 people and injured many others.

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We cannot discount the possibility of similar attacks here. Since 2015, ISD has dealt with 62 self-radicalised individuals. Several of them had articulated an intention of carrying out attacks in Singapore. These were largely inspired by foreign conflicts; Islamist terrorist organisations, such as ISIS; and far-right extremism.

The Internet has enabled such ideologies to proliferate and reach Singaporeans, often on their mobile screens. As Mr Vikram Nair noted, youths are particularly susceptible. They are digital natives and may find belonging and purpose in the virtual communities. In the last two years, three 14-year-olds have been dealt with for terrorism-related activities, under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Even video games have been exploited to promote extremism. In a recent case, the individual posted pro-ISIS footage from online gaming platforms, such as Roblox and Gorebox, in which he role-played as a fighter for ISIS and recreated ISIS attacks and executions. So, we agree with Mr Nair on the need for early upstream intervention. We are therefore intensifying our outreach efforts to inoculate youths against extremist ideologies and to sensitise the public to the telltale signs of radicalisation.

And these include interactive activities at SGSecure roadshows and other touchpoints, as well as digital engagement through our SGSecure Instagram, Facebook and TikTok accounts, places where you might typically find most of the youths.

To help youths and educators further recognise the signs of radicalisation, we organise workshops and forums with secondary schools, with junior colleges, madrasahs, the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), and we are extending such workshops to educators in all primary schools, as well as to student leaders and educators in all IHLs.

But another important question is this: when an incident happens, how prepared are Singaporeans?

Since its inception 10 years ago, SGSecure has made good progress in preparing the community with emergency preparedness skills. In 2025, 69% of Singaporeans said that they were familiar with or have been trained in emergency preparedness skills, compared to 40% in 2017. We now have about 250,000 Community Responders, who can be mobilised to respond and help one another when a crisis strikes.

Nonetheless, we still have some way to go when it comes to public vigilance. In several social experiments conducted last year, only 17% of those who walked past suspicious objects noticed anything amiss, and even then, only 6% of them attempted to inform the authorities.

There is therefore a need for Singaporeans to go beyond knowing what to do, to active vigilance. Next week, we will launch a refreshed SGSecure campaign and series of roadshows that will shift the focus towards actions that Singaporeans can take before, during and after a terrorist attack.

We hope that Singaporeans will respond to the call to action, stay vigilant and pick up skills and knowledge to help keep ourselves and fellow Singaporeans and those around us safe.

Sir, earlier, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sim Ann spoke about foreign interference in our domestic politics and how this is not a new threat, but has been supercharged in today's contested global landscape and by advanced digital tools. In this landscape, as Dr Neo Kok Beng and Mr Christopher de Souza have pointed out, emotive and sensitive issues, such as race and religion, can be more easily exploited by foreign actors to deepen fault lines within our society and manipulate Singaporeans to be aligned with foreign interests, at the expense of our own interests.

You must continue to strengthen our safeguards against foreign interference. Under the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act (RHA), we will be designating race-based entities that are assessed to have higher potential of being vectors for malicious foreign interference.

In the first instance, we will designate clan associations and business associations linked to the Chinese, Malay and Indian races. These entities will need to disclose foreign donations and affiliations, and meet leadership composition requirements. My Ministry is planning to bring RHA, including these measures, into force by end-2026.

We also need to guard against evolving foreign interference tactics, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated and therefore harder to detect. One such example is inauthentic websites masquerading as credible sources, to launch hostile information campaigns (HICs). In 2024, we identified 10 such websites, set up by foreign actors, that were masquerading as Singapore websites.

They did so by using terms and images associated with Singapore to make it look and appear more local. Most of the websites were associated with global networks of inauthentic news websites that had been reported by researchers to have conducted influence operations in other countries.

As there are currently no provisions in the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (or FICA) to pre-emptively act against inauthentic websites, we relied on levers under the Broadcasting Act to geo-block these websites. This was not as timely as it should be. We will therefore amend FICA, so that our legislation can be more effective against such threats.

We will propose to allow the Government to issue anticipatory directions against mediums of online communications, including websites and mobile applications, should there be indications that they may be used to mount an HIC against Singapore, before they cause actual harm.

Sir, I turn now to fire safety. The overall fire incidence rate in Singapore remains stable and low by international standards, at about 2,000 incidents per year in the past five years. This is in no small part due to our rigorous fire safety requirements and industry cooperation.

Over the past three years, over 98% of the buildings which require a Fire Certificate (FC) have ensured that their fire protection systems remain reliable. Given this strong track record of industry compliance, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will extend the validity of FCs from one year to three years, effective from 1 April 2026.

Adequate safeguards, such as mandatory annual inspections, will still be retained under the three-year FC regime, to ensure that the buildings' fire protection systems remain functional. Non-compliant buildings, however, will remain on a one-year FC regime. This is to incentivise good fire safety management and behaviour, whilst at the same time, lowering administrative and processing costs for compliant buildings' owners and occupiers.

Sir, tragic fires, like the Wang Fuk Court fire in Hong Kong, provide a sobering reminder as to why we must always be on our guard and need the industry to strictly comply with SCDF's fire safety regulations. Dr Neo has asked if there are any lessons to be learnt. Based on publicly available information, the Wang Fuk Court fire spread via the screening netting, which was mounted on the extensive bamboo scaffolding surrounding the building. The spread was accelerated to catastrophic levels by flammable styrofoam panels that were used to cover the windows of the apartment units.

In Singapore, we have stringent controls to mitigate the spread of fires. At building and construction sites, bamboo scaffolds are not permitted. The Fire Code stipulates that materials installed on the exterior of buildings must meet fire safety standards to prevent rapid spread of flames. Nevertheless, the authorities are thoroughly reviewing our scaffolds and netting safety regimes.

In addition to fire safety regulations, early fire detection is key. It means more time to act, be it to extinguish fires or to evacuate safely. In that vein, Ms Rachel Ong spoke about technology-enabled devices like stove sensors, especially for seniors. The Government, indeed, recognises the importance of leveraging appropriate technology to enhance fire safety.

That is why, since June 2018, Home Fire Alarm Devices (HFADs) have been required for all new residential premises and existing premises undergoing fire safety works. HFADs provide early warning of smoke or heat by sounding an alarm. This is really a simple but effective solution.

We strongly encourage all homeowners to install HFADs at the earliest opportunity. We have various schemes to assist the elderly installing HFADs. Through the Housing and Development Board's (HDB's) Enhancement for Active Seniors programme, we provide subsidies of up to 95% for HFADs, with seniors paying as little as $6 out of pocket. Those staying in public rental flats, many of whom are elderly, are also provided HFADs for free.

And Members will know that my colleague, Minister for National Development, announced the extension of the Enhancement for Active Seniors programme to the private estates as well. Besides HFADs, we will continue to explore other technologies for our elderly and incorporate them where appropriate.

Next, Sir, our regulatory frameworks also need to address emerging fire safety risks. For instance, whilst research has shown that fires in electric vehicles (EVs) are less likely than an internal combustion engine vehicles, EVs pose different risks when they catch fire and therefore require different management approach.

MHA and the Ministry of Transport (MOT) are therefore studying the use of differentiated licence plates for EVs, as has been done in other countries. More information will be shared later this year. This can help SCDF responders more easily identify whether a vehicle is an EV and adopt specialised procedures during an incident.

This includes establishing a wider safety cordon to account for more intense flames. And members of the public can also more readily identify that an affected vehicle is an EV and take precautions to stay away.

We are also dealing with fire safety risks from AMDs. All recorded AMD fatalities to date have involved personal mobility devices which did not comply with UL-2272 standards. From 1 June 2026, keeping such non-compliant devices at home or anywhere else will be an offence. Later this year, MOT plans to strengthen regulations on online sales and advertising of AMDs.

The broader point here, Sir, is that powerful lithium-ion batteries are becoming more common. Today they are in many mobility devices and vehicles; tomorrow they may start appearing in more consumer goods. We will continue to educate the public on how to properly use and maintain such batteries and how to respond when an incident occurs.

Mr Chairman, a high level of safety and security has enabled Singapore to thrive and succeed as a nation. The Home Team will continue to anticipate and prepare for new and evolving challenges, and take strong and decisive action to protect and unite Singaporeans, in these turbulent times.

Mr Speaker: Senior Minister of State Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim.

The Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim): Mr Chairman, the global drug situation is getting more challenging. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that 236 tonnes of methamphetamine were seized in East and Southeast Asia in 2024, a 24% jump from 2023. Drug use has also continued to rise globally. The World Drug Report 2025 reported that 6% of the world's population, aged 15 to 64, used drugs in 2023.

Singapore is vulnerable to these developments. Methamphetamine remains the most commonly abused drugs in Singapore, reflecting the worldwide trend. Singapore's drug control strategy is anchored on tough laws and robust enforcement. We also invest in upstream preventive education and evidence-informed rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for abusers. This approach has proven effective and kept the drug situation here under control. In 2025, CNB dismantled 25 drug syndicates and seized more than $21 million worth of drugs.

Mr Jackson Lam asked whether we are strengthening intelligence-sharing and joint task force arrangements with ASEAN partners to disrupt drug supply further upstream. CNB shares intelligence and extends support to foreign drug enforcement agencies to disrupt syndicates that attempt to traffic drugs into Singapore or exploit Singaporeans as couriers. In 2025, CNB conducted 18 joint operations with our international partners.

Mr Alex Yeo asked for an update on plans to address the rising trend of youth abusers and how we can effectively engage them on the dangers of drug abuse.

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In 2025, 3,208 drug abusers were arrested, a 1% increase from 2024. The number of young drug abusers is also on the rise. In 2025, about half of the new abusers arrested were below the age of 30.

In the Health and Lifestyle Pulse Survey 2025 conducted by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), around 1% of Singapore respondents said they had used a drug in the past year. While this is lower than the 6% worldwide figure, we must continue to strengthen our preventive drug education efforts (PDE) to combat drug abuse.

The Inter-Ministry Committee on Drug Prevention for Youths started the Drug Victims Remembrance Day in 2024 – reminding everyone that drug abuse is not victimless, and its harms extend beyond the abusers. Last year, Remembrance Day focused on empowering young people as active participants and advocates against drugs. We garnered over 180,000 promises to stay drug-free.

In schools, MOE supported CNB in developing age-appropriate materials for teachers to facilitate meaningful conversations about drug harms. Universities hosted spaces in their campus for reflection and dialogue about the harms of drugs.

Planning for this year's Remembrance Day is underway. The observance event will showcase stories from Singapore and overseas on how drugs have harmed lives, families and societies. We will involve the wider drug-free community and community partners in our efforts.

Besides Remembrance Day, CNB conducts DrugFreeSG campaigns to sustain amplification of the drug-free message. The Uninfluenced campaign was introduced in 2025, focusing on empowering youths to remain uninfluenced as they encounter multiple narratives about drugs, including misleading information.

Our first run featured an immersive theatre-cum-escape room event to pique youths' interest and provoke thought on evolving drug issues in a relatable way. We received encouraging feedback with participants who look forward to the next event. Our outreach also garnered strong traction online.

In 2026, we will extend the Uninfluenced campaign through both online and physical engagements with tertiary students. We will encourage them to reflect on the influences that shape their perceptions of drug abuse.

Mr Jackson Lam asked whether we should engage children before they enter secondary school. CNB partners with MOE to integrate PDE content into the school curricula in educating students on the harms of drugs throughout their educational journey. For primary schools, the focus is on general substance abuse and teaching impulse control skills. The Anti-Drug Ambassador Activity programme engages Primary 4 and 5 students through activity booklets with engaging storylines and interactive activities.

Our PDE efforts have shown encouraging outcomes. The 2025 National Drug Perception Survey found that attitudes towards drugs amongst youths have turned more conservative as more youths perceive that drug abuse is harmful. 87.7% held conservative views compared to 83.2% in 2023. Attitudes towards drugs amongst adults remained staunchly conservative at 90.2%.

There is also a strong support for Singapore's drug-related laws. 92.7% of the youth respondents and 96.3% of the adult respondents felt that we should continue to maintain our tough laws to keep drugs out of Singapore.

We will be amending the Misuse of Drugs Act this year to enhance investigative and enforcement levers against drug-related activities. We will introduce a presumption clause for hair test results. This means that if a controlled drug is found in a person's hair, they will be presumed to have abused it. This gives CNB a stronger tool for enforcement, since hair tests can detect abuse over a longer period.

Mr Jackson Lam asked if we have studied whether digital recruitment, especially among youths, is driving earlier exposure and whether we are considering proactive digital countermeasures. The Health and Lifestyle Surveys include questions on why respondents tried drugs for the first time. The most common reasons cited for initiating drug abuse are due to curiosity, the belief that drugs will help them with their problems, and peer influence.

Nonetheless, CNB takes a proactive approach by actively monitoring messaging apps and taking action against those who use such platforms to facilitate drug trafficking activities. CNB also conducts operations on syndicates tapping on such platforms to sell drugs and works closely with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and courier companies to intercept drugs and drug-related paraphernalia sold online.

Beyond education and enforcement, it is also important to rehabilitate drug abusers and support their reintegration into society.

Last year, I spoke about the positive findings from the pilot under the "Supervision 2.0" regime, where hair tests are used to monitor CNB's supervisees. Given the pilot's success, we fully implemented Supervision 2.0 in May 2025. This cuts down the reporting frequencies from twice a week or twice a month depending on their risk profile, to once every three months. This reduction has allowed supervisees to go about their daily life with less disruption, helping them reintegrate better into society, while allowing CNB to have effective oversight of their rehabilitation.

We are also seeing encouraging results on the rehabilitation efforts of Singapore Prison Service (SPS). The two-year recidivism rate for the 2023 Drug Rehabilitation Centre's release cohort decreased by 4.7 percentage points to 26.1%, compared to the previous cohort. Desisting from drugs is challenging. We stay committed to supporting drug abusers in their rehabilitation journey through evidence-informed throughcare drug rehabilitation, and robust supervision.

Drug abusers undergo differentiated drug rehabilitation, where programming pathways are customised based on the assessed risk of re-offending and severity of drug abuse. For repeat drug abusers who are of higher risk and require more intensive programmes, SPS has implemented a new Psychology-Based Correctional Programme (PCPs), that focuses on personal reflections, emotional processing and practical skills-building.

Mr Jackson Lam asked whether gender-specific prevention and rehabilitation strategies are needed for women drug abusers. SPS adopts a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women inmates, including women drug abusers. SPS' effective gender-specific programming for women inmates received international recognition when it was awarded the Reducing Reoffending Award from the International Corrections and Prisons Association last year.

Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik asked how mental health data and integrated support services are utilised to reduce recidivism. SPS assesses all inmates admitted to prison and DRC, on the state of their physical and mental health. SPS partners IMH to support the rehabilitation needs of inmates with mental health conditions and special needs, including referral for assessment to the Prison Psychiatrist from IMH. Inmates with complex needs are referred to a multi-disciplinary team for appropriate interventions. To support their reintegration, SPS partners community agencies to ensure continued medical care and support after release.

I will now touch on rehabilitation and reintegration efforts for inmates generally, which Mr Patrick Tay, Mr Gabriel Lam, Mr Christopher de Souza and Ms Cassandra Lee have filed cuts on.

The two-year recidivism rate for the overall population remained low and stable, at 21.9% for the 2023 release cohort. This continues to be one of the lowest two-year recidivism rates internationally. The two-year rate is a proxy indicator of the effectiveness of in-prison programmes and reintegration services available for ex-offenders immediately after release.

The five-year overall recidivism rate has increased by 2.7 percentage points to 39.3% for the 2020 release cohort. It is low by international norms. The five-year rate is a measure of the sustainable ecosystem of community and family support for ex-offenders to prevent re-offending in the long term. This cannot be done by SPS or the Government alone and requires strong community support to increase human, social, economic and community capital of inmates, ex-offenders and their families.

SPS has set out in Corrections 2030, its comprehensive strategies to reduce re-offending in the longer term. This involves strengthening the families of inmates, maximising the employability and career opportunities of inmates and ex-offenders, and mobilising community partners to support rehabilitation and reintegration. We will monitor and track the initiatives rolled out under these strategies to measure its effectiveness and impact.

The building of economic capital, through education and skills training, is important for successful rehabilitation and reintegration, enhancing inmates' ability to secure jobs after release. SPS and Yellow Ribbon Singapore (YRSG) have continued to enhance their efforts in these areas.

First, more inmates will benefit from Workplace Literacy and Numeracy (WPLN) certification, which is a recognised qualification for employment and upskilling opportunities in Singapore.

Second, there will be more skills training pathways. This includes a pilot partnership with Temasek Polytechnic to develop a programme that introduces SkillsFuture Singapore-accredited courses in Communications and Graphics, and Media and Content Creation for inmates.

Third, Career Resource Centres have been set up in prisons to allow pre-release inmates to access career-related materials, prepare their resume, submit job applications and attend career talks, empowering inmates to take ownership of their employment journey. This expands on the present framework of career retention support provided by YRSG. By enhancing inmates' readiness for employment, we encourage a personal commitment to positive change, leading to sustained reintegration.

Successful reintegration also depends on employers' preparedness to hire ex-offenders. YRSG conducts structured onboarding sessions with new employers and monitors the effectiveness of our partnership with employers through regular engagement sessions. For example, Project Beyond Hiring trains and equips workplace supervisors with the skills needed to manage ex-offenders effectively. This complements YRSG's career retention support and better prepares employers to integrate ex-offenders into their workforce. Since 2024, YRSG has partnered with training academies to deliver five workplace coaching and mentoring workshops, training 71 supervisors from 23 partner employers. As at end 2025, there were more than 6,400 employers who support the hiring of ex-offenders. YRSG provided employment statistics to over 2,100 inmates, of which 94% secured jobs in 2025.

Mr Patrick Tay asked if the spent regime for criminal records could be reviewed to support ex-offenders. Our current assessment is that the regime remains appropriate and fair in striking a balance between rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders, and the interest of potential employers and society at large.

Beyond enhancing inmates' economic capital, it is important to build their social capital, through strengthening ties with the family, and developing pro-social networks in the community.

The FAMily Engagement model (FAME) was launched to strengthen inmates' relationship with the family, to support longer term desistance. As part of FAME, SPS developed the "Together in Every Step" – it is a programme where every inmate will attend upon admission to identify their family needs and be matched with relevant programmes and services.

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SPS will implement the Peer Engagement and Empowered Rehabilitation Support Framework to strengthen the existing community of prosocial inmates and desistors. Suitable inmates have been trained as peer supporters and will further develop their skills by co-facilitating motivational and psychological correctional programmes with SPS staff. Upon release, these peer supporters can join the Desistor Network community to further develop their skills in this area through participation in desistor support groups and continuous learning.

Initiatives under the Yellow Ribbon Project (YRP) will be enhanced in 2026 to continue advancing community partnerships and inspire community support for ex-offenders' rehabilitation and reintegration. YRP will revitalise its flagship events to attract new audiences. For example, the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run will hold its inaugural city run in 2026. Participants will experience a scenic route around the National Stadium, culminating in a vibrant end-point carnival that brings communities together to celebrate second chances.

The YRP message will be amplified through strategic partnerships with well-established brands and organisations that share our vision for an inclusive society.

Our community partners are key in inmates' rehabilitation and reintegration journey. SPS continues to increase its engagement with community partners to equip them to better support inmates after their release through structured and tiered training. Under the Igniting and Maximising Partners' Agility for Correctional Transformation programme, SPS provided 2,200 training spaces in 2025 for our volunteers. In 2026, the number of training spaces will be increased to 4,500.

I will now speak in Malay on the role of Malay/Muslim Organisations (MMOs) in our rehabilitation efforts.

(In Malay): MHA collaborates closely with various Malay/Muslim and Indian/Muslim organisations (MMOs) for the rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates and ex-offenders. This is because the MMOs are more attuned to the community’s cultural nuances.

In 2024, “Next Lap” project groups were formed under the MMO Rehabilitation Network (MMORN) to better understand the needs of families, inmates and youths-at-risk. This project group brings together MHA and MMOs to identify gaps and propose ground-up recommendations to enhance assistance.

The work of the project groups is still in progress, and we expect to announce the full set of recommendations at the MMORN Forum to be held later this year.

Some of their preliminary recommendations include a hotline dedicated to support families of inmates and ex-offenders, as well as a one-stop rehabilitation hub to consolidate the MMO programmes and initiatives.

(In English): Sir, MHA has enhanced the culture-responsive rehabilitation for the Indian offender population.

SPS collaborates with SINDA to provide assistance to Indian inmates and their families. SPS has also collaborated with FITRAH and Abdul Gafoor Mosque to provide faith-based mentorship for Indian/Muslim inmates. SPS' efforts to engage and build more partnership with Indian organisations is guided by Senior Minister of State Murali Pillai. This will help to enhance the rehabilitation and reintegration of Indian offenders.

Sir, in conclusion, I thank all Members of this House for your support for our drug control efforts and for our fight for a drug-free Singapore. We will continue to achieve even better rehabilitation and reintegration outcomes and reduce re-offending. But to succeed, we need everyone's support across society to give second chances to our ex-offenders.

The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Sim Ann.

The Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Ms Sim Ann): Mr Chairman, over the years, the Home Team has initiated many transformation efforts, so that even with manpower constraints and constantly evolving security challenges, we can keep Singapore and Singaporeans safe. Today, I will speak on how the Home Team plans to continue transforming.

We will press on with leveraging smart and autonomous technologies across Home Team departments in 2026.

At Singapore Prisons, we will be trialling the use of PROTECT, a robot designed to support officers during patrols and yard supervision, in the first quarter of FY2026. PROTECT is able to patrol autonomously and can be remotely operated to mitigate potential hazards during incident response.

From May 2026, SCDF will progressively roll out SG Alert, which is a dedicated mass emergency alert system that can broadcast emergency alerts to mobile handsets islandwide or within specific geographical zones. Mobile users will not have to download any apps to receive SG Alert notifications. SG Alert will complement existing emergency broadcasts. We believe this capability will significantly enhance Singaporeans' preparedness for serious emergencies, such as major fire, chemical or terror incidents.

With the Singapore Police Force's (SPF's) digitalisation efforts over the years, more than 70% of all Police reports are now lodged through self-help services, either online or at self-help kiosks located in Neighbourhood Police Centres (NPCs) and Neighbourhood Police Posts.

At selected self-help kiosks, the SPF has started using the Report Lodging Co-Pilot (R-COP), an AI-enabled chatbot which prompts members of the public for relevant information when making Police reports. This makes the reports clearer and more complete, reducing the need for follow-up calls from the Investigating Officer.

Since its roll-out at seven Police divisional headquarters from October 2025, over 90% of users gave positive feedback. Many found the chatbot easy to use and agreed that it helped to make reports more accurate. Police will roll out R-COP to more self-help kiosks by the middle of the year and continue to improve user experience.

R-COP, alongside SPF's other investments in technology, has also helped the SPF to be more efficient in deploying limited Police resources. For example, through the unmanning of some service counters and the merging of selected NPCs.

The merging of NPCs aims to optimise limited Police resources by combining smaller NPCs serving contiguous areas into a larger operational base. Doing so enhances deployment flexibility and supports response to more complex incidents.

There will be no change in Police presence and response time to incidents in estates served by merged NPCs, including responsiveness to 999 calls. Since 2022, SPF has smoothly carried out three mergers at NPCs in Bedok, Yishun and Bukit Batok. SPF has plans for more NPC mergers. We will continue to work closely with community partners, residents and other stakeholders to ensure seamless transition.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke about the importance of AI in his Budget speech. We have been prioritising AI as an enabler for developing Home Team capabilities and launched the Home Team AI Movement two years ago. Mr Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari asked for an update on our AI efforts and how we are safeguarding the use of AI.

We are seeing good progress. The Home Team Science and Technology Agency's (HTX's) AI specialist workforce has grown to 250 as at end-2025 and is on track to reach 400 by end of 2026. HTX has also developed an AI training roadmap and launched upskilling programmes to nurture AI interest and develop AI skills in all Home Team officers.

Another milestone was in May 2025 when we launched the first in a series of Home Team proprietary Large Language Models, codenamed Phoenix. This is a data-secure and self-contained model developed by HTX, which is trained on Singapore and Home Team data and does not require Internet connectivity. Phoenix paves the way for us to develop AI solutions tailored to the Home Team's operational needs and for purposes which are security-classified.

Significant computing power is required to develop AI applications and train models. To address this, HTX has built the Next Generation Infrastructure (NGINE), MHA's first enterprise-grade AI infrastructure. NGINE hosts the Home Team's AI applications and provides an important boost in scaling AI deployment for the Home Team. The first phase was launched in 2025, and the infrastructure will be scaled up progressively as the Home Team expands AI capabilities.

Building an AI-ready workforce and NGINE will enable HTX to accelerate AI deployment across the Home Team. One example is R-COP, which I had mentioned earlier. Another example is the Central Narcotics Bureau's NarcoNet. This is a multimodal AI platform to accelerate investigative processes. There is also the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority's MATRIX, which leverages vision language AI models for greater accuracy in document classification and data extraction from documents submitted by applicants for immigration facilities.

Mr Sanjeev asked about the integration of AI-enabled and humanoid robots into frontline operations. Such robots can reduce Home Team officers' exposure to higher-risk environments. We are working on this and aim to share our plans in the coming months.

While we press ahead with AI, we are mindful that AI solutions must be trustworthy and delivered responsibly. As with other technologies, AI comes with risks. So, in 2025, we refreshed our AI Governance Framework and established a playbook alongside it to guide the responsible development, deployment and use of AI.

In 2026, HTX will develop a proof-of-concept for a centralised AI Governance Testing and Monitoring Platform to automate AI governance checks and ensure continuous compliance throughout the AI lifecycle. HTX will also deploy AI guardrails-as-a-service to protect our AI solutions from attacks and ensure that output is safe and reliable.

Another area in which we are investing heavily in technology is road safety. In 2025, we trialled the new Traffic Violation Enforcement Camera, which leverages video analytics and automatic number plate recognition to detect and capture various traffic violations in real time. These cameras will strengthen our traffic policing capabilities once fully operationalised in the first quarter of this year.

We need a stronger enforcement posture because our roads are becoming less safe. As shared in the Annual Road Traffic Situation released yesterday, our traffic fatality rate has been rising, increasing by about 24% from 2021 to 2025. Traffic violations have also been on an upward trend, increasing by about 38% from 2021 to 2025. This unwelcome trend has occurred despite constant efforts to improve road safety.

MHA has been working closely with MOT and the Land Transport Authority to design our road infrastructure in a manner that promotes and demands safety.

The Traffic Police has been stepping up presence, enforcement and public engagement. We have rolled out more cameras to detect violations. Beyond enforcement by the Traffic Police, Ground Response Force officers who come across traffic violations will also take enforcement action, supplemented by technology, such as their in-vehicle video recording system.

We will continue enforcement, but we also need to look beyond enforcement to reverse these trends decisively because accidents, injuries and fatalities can all be prevented. It is possible to achieve zero road fatalities. From early July 2024 to early July 2025, Helsinki recorded zero road traffic fatalities for an entire year. They have been a strong proponent of Vision Zero, an approach that aims to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries.

There is no reason why we cannot aspire to zero road fatalities here in Singapore. But it requires collective recognition that our road culture needs to change.

Now, it is true that life moves at a fast pace in Singapore. Most road users are pressed for time. Many are also distracted. It can be all too easy to disregard traffic rules or the needs of other road users, especially when we are rushing for time. Giving way does not seem to come as naturally to us as making sure that we do not concede any advantage to other road users.

Can we do better? Ask any group of road users and we are likely to be told that the problem lies with other groups. When we talk to drivers, they will point out that motorcyclists, cyclists or pedestrians are at fault. If we talk to motorcyclists, we are likely to be told that it is the drivers who are the problem, and so on and so forth.

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But it may well be that everyone is right, and that all of us – drivers, riders and pedestrians – all have to commit to making changes in our habits. Otherwise, our road safety situation is not going to improve.

Ms Cassandra Lee asked about how we can keep our families safe on the roads by strengthening road safety awareness and rules. In the coming months, MHA and the Traffic Police will work with partners on a new and sustained public engagement campaign on road safety, addressing all categories of road users. We hope to have the support of Members of this House.

At the same time, we will make further changes to our enforcement posture, starting with drink-driving.

Drink driving is a highly culpable offence. No one accidentally drinks and drives. They put themselves and others at great risk. There have been many horrific accidents caused by drunk drivers.

Our drink driving limit today is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. Evidence shows that impairment to driving skills occurs at lower levels of alcohol concentration and that crash risks increase with alcohol consumption. We will therefore lower the drink driving limit to 15 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. This brings us in line with other jurisdictions in Asia, such as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. The message is simple: if you drink, do not drive. Legislative amendments will be made later this year to effect the changes.

I thank Ms Cassandra Lee for her suggestion to consider raising penalties for certain cases of dangerous driving. I agree with her that the penalties should be higher in cases where a driver puts another person in danger on purpose, as in Jarrett Tee's case. We will study this with a view towards introducing a new offence to tackle such behaviour, with a higher maximum penalty than the existing offence of dangerous driving causing death.

Mr Chairman, everyone must play our part to keep our roads safe. To motivate all drivers to adhere more closely to traffic rules, MHA is considering tightening the Driver Improvement Points System, otherwise more commonly known as the demerit points system. This may include reducing the number of demerit points that can be accumulated before a driver is suspended and also increasing the suspension periods. We will not decide on this lightly. But it may be necessary, in order to arrest the deteriorating situation, increase deterrence and keep dangerous motorists off the roads.

We know that time is needed for attitudes and behaviours to change, which is why we will engage stakeholders and members of the public to co-create solutions on what more can be done to improve our traffic safety situation. We will also give due consideration to the perspectives of vocational drivers, having consulted the transport-related unions.

Another group that we are concerned with is foreign-registered vehicles. Whether they are on our roads for economic reasons or for leisure, they have a significant collective presence, so there is also a need to strengthen deterrence and enforcement against violations by foreign-registered vehicles. We are working on several measures and will announce the details when ready. Mr Chairman, please let me conclude this segment of my speech in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): Mr Chairman, our roads have become increasingly unsafe. Despite our continued introduction of stricter regulatory measures, traffic fatalities and traffic violation cases continue to rise. Besides continuing to strengthen enforcement, we must also go beyond enforcement and decisively reverse this trend, because traffic accidents and the casualties can all be prevented.

Singapore's pace of life is fast, and most road users are in a hurry and are easily distracted. In such circumstances, people easily ignore traffic rules or overlook the safety of other road users.

Road users comprise different groups, including motorists, motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians and others. We often hear individual groups complaining that the other groups of road users do not follow traffic rules. In fact, regardless of what mode of transport is being used, every road user must adjust their habits. Otherwise, road safety will be difficult to improve.

In the coming months, we will launch a new publicity campaign to raise awareness amongst all types of road users about road safety and the related measures.

At the same time, we will further strengthen enforcement, starting first with drink-driving. Our current drink-driving standard is outdated and do not align with the latest scientific evidence and international norms. Therefore, we will lower the drink-driving limit, from the current 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, to 15 microgrammes, aligning with jurisdictions, like Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.

To motivate all drivers to adhere closely to traffic rules, MHA is also considering tightening the demerit points system, including reducing the number of demerit points that can be accumulated before a driver is suspended and also increasing the suspension periods. Our main consideration is to reduce dangerous driving and curb the deteriorating road safety situation.

We will also give due consideration to the perspectives of vocational drivers, having consulted the transport-related unions.

Besides locally registered vehicles and motorcycles, we also require foreign-registered vehicles and motorcycles to comply with local traffic rules. We are studying several measures to strengthen enforcement against violations by such vehicles and motorcycles. Details will be announced when ready.

(In English): Mr Chairman, the Home Team increasingly has to do more with less. That is why we must fully exploit the opportunities today's technology affords us. Doing so allows us to maintain high levels of effectiveness, to continue to keep Singapore safe and secure.

The Chairman: Minister of State Goh Pei Ming.

The Minister of State for Home Affairs (Mr Goh Pei Ming): Mr Chairman, scams are a global threat. According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, scammers globally stole over $1.26 trillion in 2025.

In Singapore, we have been striking back at scammers, and the scams situation in Singapore improved last year. Compared to 2024, scam losses decreased by about $200 million or 18%. The SPF's Anti-Scam Command also recovered more than $140 million in scam losses. And together with its partners, the SPF helped victims avert at least another $339 million in potential losses.

But the situation remains of severe concern. In 2025, there were more than 37,000 scam cases and total scam losses exceeded $900 million, which works out to roughly $100,000 every hour. Anyone can fall prey, the young, old, from all walks of life.

Ms Sylvia Lim asked about law enforcement's response to scam victims who may suffer psychological distress. To support them, the Police may refer them to the Victim Care Cadre Programme where Victim Care Officers, or VCOs, provide psychological first aid and crisis intervention. The VCOs may also refer the victims to community and professional resources for longer-term psychological and financial support.

Members will know that while the Victim Care Cadre Programme is available for all victims, it would generally require consent for their participation. Last year, more than 150 victims had taken up the programme. Even for cases where the VCOs are not activated, the Police will provide information on the community support options and the steps that victims could take if they fall prey to scams.

Ms Sylvia Lim also asked about the guidelines on updating victims on the status of investigations. Victims will receive an acknowledgement letter or email within seven days after the report is lodged. As every case is unique and the time to investigate each case defers, the Police will then update the victims when there are significant developments to the case.

As Mr Vikram Nair mentioned, the highly sophisticated use of AI and social engineering by scammers is of concern. For example, the Police have seen scammers impersonating high-ranking executives and Government officials using deepfakes in live video calls and instructing the victims to transfer funds under the pretext of business payments.

Despite the overall decrease in scam cases and losses last year, more Singaporeans fell prey to Government officials Impersonation Scams (GOIS). The number of GOIS cases reported in 2025 more than doubled to over 3,000. It is among the top five most reported scam types in 2025. Compared to other scam types, GOIS had the most and highest average amount lost per case at more than $72,000. [Please refer to ​"Clarification by Minister of State for Home Affairs", Official Report, 27 February 2026, Vol 96, Issue 21, Correction By Written Statement section.]

MHA has taken upstream steps to curb GOIS. Since September 2025, we issued four Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) Implementation Directives to Meta, Apple and Google. The Implementation Directives issued to Meta in September 2025 and January 2026 required Meta to implement measures to remove scam advertisements, accounts, profiles and pages that impersonate Singapore Government office holders and persons assessed by the SPF to be at high risk of being impersonated. For Apple and Google, the Implementation Directives were issued to them in November 2025 to require them to put in place measures to prevent spoofing of Government agencies.

Meta has put in place measures required in the Implementation Directive issued in September 2025. The SPF is assessing the platforms' compliance with the Implementation Directives issued in November 2025 and January 2026.

This year, we will require online platforms to put in place more anti-scam measures, as Dr Wan Rizal asked about. Similar to Apple and Google, we will soon require WhatsApp to implement measures against the spoofing of "gov.sg" and Singapore Government agencies.

We will also help Singaporeans identify legitimate calls from Government agencies. The SPF is working with Open Government Product and the Infocomm Media Development Authority to introduce a single, easily recognisable prefixed number which all SPF officers will use to call members of the public. Going forward, if you receive an unknown phone call and the caller claims to be a SPF officer, it is likely a scam. My colleague from MDDI, Minister of State Jasmin Lau, will share more details about this measure and its implementation across Government agencies.

Ms Kuah Boon Theng, Mr Alex Yeo, Ms Cassandra Lee and Mr Vikram Nair spoke about legislative levers to allow the Government to take more decisive action against perpetrators. Members will be aware that many scammers are based overseas and have exploited local mules to perpetrate their crimes in Singapore. This is why we have introduced several new offences to punish mules.

In 2025, we operationalised the offences criminalising the misuse of SIM cards. Since then, the SPF has charged 79 offenders under the new offences. We also introduced caning to punish scammers and mules. This is necessary given the harms they cause to victims and for strong deterrence. But those who are deceived into being scam mules will not be penalised with caning.

MHA will work with the interagency Sentencing Advisory Panel to introduce sentencing guidelines for the misuse of SIM cards. These sentencing guidelines will provide a framework on the factors to be considered in sentencing, to ensure that the sentences meted out for egregious cases are sufficiently deterrent.

Ms Sylvia Lim asked about the Government’s assessment of the efficacy of OCHA.

OCHA enables the Police to direct online service providers to disable access to online criminal content like scams. Online service providers have acted on all directions, generally within 24 hours. More than 150,000 instances of online criminal content, accounts and activities have been disrupted since OCHA's operationalisation in 2024.

OCHA also allows the Government to direct online platforms to implement measures that we believe are necessary to prevent scams. We could not do this prior to OCHA. We have since seen positive results. Scams on platforms of online service providers designated in 2024 have declined by 36.5% in 2025. In essence, OCHA strengthens the Government's ability to tackle online criminal content and has contributed to the improved scam situation.

Notwithstanding, scammers continue to approach victims predominantly through online platforms, like Facebook and Carousell. In 2025, this was the approach for more than 80% of the scam cases. Accounts on these online platforms are often obtained through fraudulent means. For example, people relinquishing their Singpass-verified Carousell accounts to scammers to make a quick buck.

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MHA will adopt a multipronged approach to tackle this. First, as Dr Wan Rizal mentioned, we will work with online platforms to strengthen anti-scam measures. They include enhancing existing OCHA Codes of Practice to require stricter user verification and to impose a response time for platforms to act on user reports on scams.

Second, MHA is exploring new legislation to enable the Police to enforce against mules who obtain or supply online accounts to facilitate scams and other crimes.

Collaboration with our industry partners is a key part of the Government's strategy to fight scams. The improvement in the scam situation in Singapore would not have been possible without our industry partners. The co-location of representatives from seven major banks at the Anti-Scam Centre has allowed the SPF to stop scam transactions more effectively. I thank our industry partners for their strong support.

Dr Wan Rizal asked about the Government's plans to work even more closely with the private sector while Ms Kuah Boon Theng asked about systemic changes to provide more tools to combat scams. Mr Vikram Nair spoke about harnessing technology to improve our response to scams. I agree with the Members.

One feedback that our partners have raised is that they lack the information to detect and disrupt scam-related activities upstream, before the transactions take place and the monies are lost. To overcome this challenge, MHA has started sharing more data with our partners and we have seen the benefits.

For example, in October 2025, Carousell identified more than 250 scam accounts from SPF's sharing of suspicious mobile numbers.

To fully reap the benefit of such data sharing, HTX and the SPF are developing a platform known as the National Scams List. That will facilitate the automatic real-time exchange of information between the Government and our partners. This will provide our partners with additional information on known scam enablers, such as bank accounts, phone lines, online accounts as well as the identity of culprits behind these scam enablers.

With this information, the banks can proactively uncover and suspend more potential scam enablers even before they are used for scams. The banks can then share information on these enablers with the Police, who can in turn investigate further and identify even more scam enablers, thereby enhancing the overall effectiveness of our anti-scam efforts.

We will be introducing legislation later this year to enable and safeguard these data sharing arrangements.

Ms Sylvia Lim asked about the state of collaboration with our international and regional partners. Mr Alex Yeo asked if there are any plans to expand FRONTIER+.

In 2025, the close collaboration between the Anti-Scam Command and overseas law enforcement agencies resulted in the successful takedown of 17 transnational scam syndicates. These are by no means isolated operations. They are the result of years of intelligence sharing through international platforms like FRONTIER+, which has expanded from an alliance of anti-scams units in six jurisdictions in 2024 to now covering 13 jurisdictions across four continents, with countries like Canada, Australia and South Africa joining us in the past year. Specific to ASEAN, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei are part of the network.

The setup of FRONTIER+, mooted by the SPF, has also expedited fund tracing and recovery transnationally. Leveraging this platform, two iterations of Operation FRONTIER+ were carried out in 2025, resulting in approximately $28.2 million seized from over 36,000 frozen bank accounts in seven jurisdictions.

Countries increasingly realise that they must cooperate if they want to deal with scams more decisively in their own jurisdiction. The Government will leverage this momentum to actively seek out collaboration opportunities, including encouraging more countries to join FRONTIER+.

Closer to home, we are also stepping up collaboration within the region. As the ASEAN Lead Shepherd for Cybercrime, Singapore has worked with fellow members states to develop the Cybercrime Roadmap since 2022. Arising from the roadmap, at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime in September 2025, Singapore tabled an ASEAN Declaration on Cybercrime and Online Scams to deepen law enforcement coordination to tackle cybercrimes and online scams.

Last but not least, public education. Mr Vikram Nair and Ms Cassandra Lee spoke about the need to strengthen public education and foster greater personal responsibility and digital vigilance.

A vigilant and well-informed public is truly our most important and final line of defence. We have seen encouraging signs that the public has been adopting the Add, Check, Tell (ACT) mindset.

The ScamShield mobile application now has 1.5 million downloads. Through the application, the public can report scam-related phone numbers, SMSes and emails, so we can take action and warn others about them. In other words, by using the application, you not only protect yourself from scams, you also prevent a fellow Singaporean from being the next victim.

The public can also call and check with the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799 when they are unsure if something is a scam. Since the launch of the helpline in September 2024, it has received more than 220,000 calls. Today, the helpline receives about 500 calls daily and around 85% are made to check on a potential scam. Mr Chairman, I would like to conclude my speech with some comments in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): The scam situation in 2025 has improved compared to 2024. Scam cases decreased by approximately 27% and losses from scams reduced by around $200 million.

However, the situation remains concerning. The total amount of scam losses is still very high, exceeding $900 million. Among these, impersonation of Government official cases has increased and the average loss per case exceeds $72,000, which is of particular concern to us.

The victims of such scam cases are mostly seniors. So, I hope to remind the seniors to be especially vigilant. If in doubt, please call the ScamShield hotline 1799 to verify.

The Government is determined to work with Singaporeans to combat scams. In 2026, we will address the issue at source by working with industry partners to introduce anti-scam measures, such as implementing stricter user identity verification and preventing criminals from impersonating Government officials.

We will strengthen investigation and strengthen enforcement efforts through cooperation with international partners, leveraging technology to identify and combat scam activities at their roots. We will also strengthen legislation, including authorising the Police to take action against money mules who abuse online accounts.

Here, I would like to appeal to Singaporeans to download ScamShield and do their part in the fight against scams. ScamShield's functions include setting up features on your mobile phone to block scam calls and filter scam text messages. It also reports suspicious phone numbers. After verification by the authorities, these numbers will be added to the blocked list to prevent more people from becoming victims.

Using ScamShield is one simple move. You can protect you and your loved ones from scam harm.

[Deputy Speaker (Mr Xie Yao Quan) in the Chair]

(In English): Let me conclude. Scams are very difficult to eradicate because they prey on human emotions and our lifestyles. But we must also make it very difficult for the perpetrator to get their way.

The Government has for several years now built defences across the lifecycle of a scam. From upstream prevention to more efficient and coordinated enforcement and asset recovery. From tougher laws and penalties against the bad actors to extensive education to inform and inoculate the public. We remain committed to this mission to better protect Singaporeans against scams.

The Chairman: We have some time for clarifications. Mr Vikram Nair.

Mr Vikram Nair: Thank you, Chairman. I thank Minister of State Goh for answering my question on scams. I just have a few clarifications, Sir. I understand that more scams are now being committed through cryptocurrencies because of the tighter framework we have around bank accounts. Is the Government concerned about scams perpetuated through cryptocurrencies? Are they implementing any measures to deal with this new type of scam?

Mr Goh Pei Ming: Mr Chairman, the Member is right. In recent years, the Government has observed scammers pivoting to cryptocurrency as a new money-laundering conduit.

Scammers exploit the speed and ease of crypto transactions to frustrate the Police's asset recovery efforts. They also make use of the anonymity features of certain crypto transactions to hide their trails.

This shift in modus operandi is evident from the SPF's annual statistics on scams, which was released recently. While overall scam cases decreased in 2025, cases involving crypto transactions increased by over 150%. Crypto losses accounted for about $182 million, or about 20% of total scam losses in 2025. On the other hand, the scam losses recovered through cryptocurrency only amounted to about 16% of scam losses.

As the Member mentioned, scammers do make use of the public's relative unfamiliarity – given that crypto is still fairly new, relatively speaking – to induce victims to make fiat transfers to crypto accounts.

One case that I know about involved a 75-year-old man who fell victim to an investment scam after seeing a deepfake video of a Singapore Minister, one of our Ministers, endorsing a crypto scheme. He was added to a WhatsApp group and was convinced by group discussions and the fake video to invest over $4,000 from his Central Provident Funds.

In terms of specific cryptocurrencies that scam victims reported losing, Tether, Ethereum and Bitcoin account for about 92% of total crypto scam losses.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been working with regulated digital payment token service providers to strengthen their anti-scam controls. Measures include stepping up fraud surveillance to detect mule accounts and introducing friction and anti-scam warnings to safeguard crypto account holders.

On MHA's end, the SPF has also built up its cryptocurrency competencies. A crypto tracing team was established in the Anti-Scam Command since March last year. The team has since followed up on over 1,800 cases involving the dissipation of cryptocurrencies associated with scams. Leveraging on advanced blockchain analytics and a network of industry partners, the team successfully recovered cryptocurrencies valued at approximately $22.8 million.

But as I mentioned earlier, a vigilant public is still the most important line of defence. I urge all members of the public to think twice. When an unknown third party asks you to send money, especially via crypto for investment opportunities, always check the claim and ask ourselves, is this legitimate? Should I consult a family member? Should I call 1799 to check if this is a scam?

I would like to urge members of the public as well to remember that MAS has also repeatedly cautioned retail investors against investing in cryptocurrencies. The old maxim remains true, including in crypto: "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".

The Chairman: Miss Rachel Ong.

Miss Rachel Ong: I would like to ask the Second Minister for Home Affairs if there are sufficient measures at this point to ensure the safety of our residents in high-rise buildings during a fire, especially the elderly and the mobility challenged.

Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: Sir, I think this is a particularly relevant topic, given that Singapore is land scarce and high-rise buildings are inevitable. But we do have measures, which we have put in place, including assisting with the elderly and the mobility impaired. Let me just quickly sketch them out.

First of all, we have a building design that is in coherence with the Fire Code. That is a requirement. In this Fire Code, each unit is designed to be a compartment in itself. That helps to retard the spread of fire. In addition, the common corridors have natural ventilation – that is the design intent – provided, of course, the common corridors are free from clutter. That is something that I think we all can help to see to.

Second, beyond high-rise buildings complying with the Fire Code, there are also what we call "super high-rise buildings" and these are 40 storeys and above. For that, additional measures, such as having wet rising mains and having at least two fire lifts. All of this helps SCDF in their firefighting measures, rescue measures and these facilities are maintained by the Town Council or the Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) where appropriate. If you put this together, then the evacuation protocols by SCDF can be better carried out.

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In the SCDF protocols, SCDF prioritises the evacuation of the occupants on the floor affected by the fire and the two floors above. The usual instruction is for residents in the unaffected floors to remain in their units and SCDF will assess on the ground whether evacuation is necessary. For those who require special assistance and those who cannot or are unable to evacuate themselves independently, they should stay in their own unit or in a room that is furthest away from the fire, close the door and as far as possible, inform the authorities of their location and wait for assistance.

I would like to add that in addition to that, SCDF is equipped with firefighting capabilities using aerial appliances that can reach up to 90 metres, or about 30 storeys tall, as well as the use of surveillance drones to effectively conduct firefighting and rescue operations, particularly in high rise settings. So those are the measures both in terms of the design infrastructure as well as the measures that SCDF takes.

But ultimately, it is important that we are all prepared as a community. Having community assistance and support for residents and having the awareness and the wherewithal as well when that happens. And of course that also includes ensuring that the basic requirements of having a fire blanket or, first, the fire extinguisher present in the homes would be very useful, given that in most of these fire situations, they are caused by unattended fires, cooking fires, cooking on the stove, and these are all pretty commonplace to the extent that for the fires that happen, and a fire blanket in such a situation, or an extinguisher would be very useful as the measure of first resort.

The Chairman: I see a number of hands, I am going to prioritise those who have filed cuts, by the amount of time they have filed. Mr Christopher de Souza.

Mr Christopher de Souza: Thank you, Mr Chairman, and I thank the political officeholders for the responses, especially Minister Faishal Ibrahim on the drugs part. My clarifications are these. On the demand side of drugs, we have seen states that have legalised cannabis. Thailand, for example, Colorado, for example, and we see a very difficult, an immense difficulty in reversing this.

We do not wish difficulties on our brother countries, but I think we should learn from this. We should learn and emphasise and educate Singaporeans to go easy on recreational drugs, creates a long tail of reversal. So could we put the literature out there to say that if you want to go down this route, it is going to be intergenerational harm to reverse it, even if it is reversed. That is the demand side of the house.

On the supply side of the house where drug trafficking is concerned, there have been a number of studies and I would like to ask the Minister whether he would be emphasising the literature where a study was taken out a number of years ago as to whether Singaporeans supported the death penalty for certain offences, including drug trafficking, and there was quite a high degree of support for that. There was another separate study which showed that people deliberately trafficked below the capital punishment threshold, which would support the position that our tough drug laws deter. So, these should not be wasted opportunities to educate that we have a reasonably comprehensive way of dealing with our zero-drug tolerance attitude and would that go out in the educational realm to Singaporeans?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the very strong support over the years and we share his passionate quest for us to continue this effort of keeping Singapore safe and secure and drug free. I thank the Member for the suggestion in how we can share some of these studies, research and also lessons learnt, lessons that we can learn from some of these countries. We not only refer to articles or literature, we also work with our counterparts. Sometimes when we visit them, we also learn from them. We see what is happening around them and we bring some of these learning points back. So, I assure the Member we will do that. So, that is actually from a societal point of view.

But within, especially on the demand side, we have worked, or we are working with desistors who share their experiences with community at large. Schools, and even parents who are concerned about their children. So, we have built an ecosystem whereby we have readily available desistors who avail themselves and are very passionate about reaching out to them.

So, we take on at two levels. One is at the national level, but I think equally, I would say, or more important, see how we can navigate this on the ground, where we really, really reach out through the various programme, like Dadah Itu Haram, with the IMC, that we have to prevent youth from taking or using drugs. At the same time, I shared with the Member about the cultural nuancing, Senior Minister of State Murali also going on the ground to reach out to the different communities. So, we thank the Member for his strong support, and we hope that he will continue to partner with us and to keep Singapore drug free.

The Chairman: Minister Edwin, would you like to reply? Mr Jackson Lam.

Mr Jackson Lam: I have one clarification for Senior Minister of State Faishal. Can I ask how is CNB dealing with drugs traded on virtual platforms, like e-commerce marketplaces and encrypted messaging apps?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, can you ask Mr Jackson Lam to repeat his question?

The Chairman: Mr Jackson Lam.

Mr Jackson Lam: How is CNB dealing with drugs trade on virtual platforms, like e-commerce marketplaces and encrypted messaging apps?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. So, while the virtual platforms seem to provide anonymity to the drug offenders, they must know that there is no safe haven for them, because CNB employs a slew of measures or strategies to tackle online drug trafficking. In fact, we are into this whole system a lot more these days, compared to the time when I first started to join MHA.

As I shared in my speech, we take proactive measures to monitor these messaging apps and take actions against those who are really facilitating drug trafficking activities here. And if you also relate to some of these activities, they originate from overseas, and it is orchestrated by drug syndicates and we spare no effort in taking actions. In fact, we work very closely to share best practices, experiences and intelligence with our counterparts.

Let me give you an example. We work very closely with the Thailand Office of Narcotic Control Board to track down a Singaporean, if you can recollect, Mr Benny Kee Soon Chuan. He was involved in a drug trafficking syndicate in Thailand. In fact, he was using Telegram to receive and collate orders, and then arrange for drugs to be exported to Singapore, where it would be received and distributed by his associate. So 22 September last year, he was issued a detention order under the Criminal Law Act (CLTPA) in view of his involvement in drug trafficking activities.

So, this is one source. The other avenue that come in will be through parcel delivery, Sir. Parcel delivery, where we also work with ICA and public sector stakeholders, and also major courier companies. In fact, in 2025, ICA Air Cargo Command officers detected and referred 166 parcels to CNB for investigation. These 166 parcels were suspected to contain drugs or drug-related paraphernalia.

In addition to that, we also enhance the awareness of the legal consequences of drug trafficking or drug abuse, so we continue to do that. So, we take this as something very serious, because we want to protect fellow Singaporeans and to keep Singapore safe and secure.

And there was a question about the death penalty survey. Yes, this is something that was asked by Christopher de Souza earlier. I missed the supplementary question. In fact, we continuously do surveys. It is something that we also want to make sure that we get support from Singaporeans, and I must tell you that, because I work actively on the ground, I must say the large majority of Singaporeans continue to want us to have a very strong stance against drugs, and also want us to make sure that we keep themselves, their families safe, and one of the things that they support is the death penalty.

The Chairman: Minister of State Goh Pei Ming.

Mr Goh Pei Ming: Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to respond to Mr Jackson Lam's question. There is not just a drugs problem, but actually there is also a scam angle to his question.

I have personally received quite a few messages on platforms, such as Telegram, for example. I have also received messages forwarded from fellow Members of the House, telling me that actually they have received such messages, peddling soft drugs, from their own residents, highlighting that this is a concern, especially if youths who tend to be more on social media receive such messages and are tempted that it is easy to get, seemingly affordable and anonymous.

But actually, when I forwarded it to our CNB colleagues for them to follow up, they came back to say that actually, for many of these text messages, be it on WhatsApp or Telegram, these are not really drug offers but actually it is a scam whereby potential clients, after making payment do not and will not actually receive the products that are promised to them. The key thing here is, for many of these victims, because of the nature of the transaction, will also not report this to the authorities. So, I would just like to use this opportunity to also highlight to members of the public, especially our youths out there, not to believe such messages when they do receive it. It is likely a scam.

The Chairman: Ms Cassandra Lee.

Ms Cassandra Lee: I would like to thank the Ministry for looking into our suggestions. Very grateful for the Ministry's update. I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State on a point that she raised earlier about drink driving. She mentioned that MHA will be revising the threshold to 15 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. I am wondering how MHA arrived at that revised threshold and how MHA intends to enforce this.

Ms Sim Ann: To Ms Cassandra Lee's question, the alcohol limits that are currently enforced have been in place since 1985, and that is more than forty years ago. Now, Singapore is one of the jurisdictions with the highest alcohol limits, while the other jurisdictions have adopted stricter regimes with lower limits. We also reviewed scientific studies and limits set by other countries and jurisdictions. The studies have shown that the proportion of drivers exhibiting impairment, as well as the severity of impairment, increases progressively with alcohol consumption, and that impairment can happen at levels lower than our current prescribed limits. So, these are the reasons.

The Chairman: I would like to remind Members that guillotine time is 7.45 pm, so I will appreciate if the political officeholders also keep their responses short. Ms Sylvia Lim.

7.30 pm

Ms Sylvia Lim: Thank you, Sir. I have a clarification for the Senior Minister of State Sim Ann when she spoke about MHA having to do more with less and having to make transformations to leverage on technology. So, I would like to ask her whether the Ministry also agrees that it is very important that any transformation bears in mind that policing, for example, the services should remain truly accessible to all segments of society. To that end, any reorganisation should also take into consideration whether areas have a high concentration of elderly and how much more difficult it would be for them, under the transformation to get to the nearest manned counter, for instance.

Ms Sim Ann: We agree with Ms Sylvia Lim that we have to be very sensitive to the varied needs of our population. We do take these factors into account. At the end of the day, we have to be very mindful of the need to look after all of Singapore, while at the same time, dealing with manpower constraints. We will be deploying technology sensitively and always with a view of improving or maintaining safety and security outcomes. And this is also the reason why we stay in close touch with the public, so that they are able to also, give us feedback and that we can also adjust our deployment accordingly.

Mr Gabriel Lam: I thank our political officeholders for their comprehensive answer. My question pertains to Yellow Ribbon itself, in terms of employment. We know that the employment ecosystem is very important and in certain sectors actually, each offender before they are released into the system, they undergo interview process and they actually have multiple job offers.

So, I just wanted to know how often is the review of this job review ecosystem and whether it looks at the number of employers. It is not so important to have that many number of employers, but more important to actually have the ecosystem of care where the case manager, the employer and everyone is included in the aftercare of the ex-offender. So, I just wanted to know how often is that review done?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. One thing that I would like to share with the Member is that, we not only look at the numbers of the employers that work with us, we look at the process and the effectiveness of the efforts being undertaken like, for example, you look at the type of industries that we have been exposing our inmates to. We have included new areas of growth and at the same time the kind of jobs that they do. Also, there is a diversity of that kind of jobs.

In addition to that, we have the career coach who will journey with the ex-inmates to see how we can navigate this process of getting a job and having the job and trying to sustain it. We also train the employers, the staff of the organisation, so that they understand and they know how to handle our friends who really, really wanting to get a job and find meaning in the job. I must say that I am very happy that I have met quite a number of them who, upon release, they may be working with a company, and some would have progress.

Others found an opportunity within the similar industry to continue to progress to another company. So, it is not only about review, we continuously do a review, but we continuously enhance the ecosystem that we have. We expand the number of employers. We train the employers. We also better prepare the inmates so that they can have not only more opportunities, but they are able to sustain their job. You are right to say that one inmate may receive more than one offers. This is something that we want to continue to provide them with the opportunity and at the same time help them, not only provide that beyond second chances – grow as high as they can.

The Chairman: Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik.

Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik: Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to thank Senior Minister of State Faishal for the response earlier. I have three clarifications. I welcome the prison services screening process where mental health history collected upon admission to prison or the Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) is then used to tailor individualised rehabilitation programmes for each inmate. I would like to ask whether outcomes are tracked to assess whether those with mental health conditions have higher recidivism rates compared to the general inmate population.

Second, given that the screening relies partly on self-reported questionnaires, is the Ministry concerned that the actual prevalence of mental health conditions among drug abusers may be significantly under-reported? And finally, a reply to my earlier Parliamentary Questions, stated that Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) does not collect mental health data on arrested drug abusers. This means there is a gap. Does the Ministry see value in closing this gap, so that we have a more complete picture of the mental health needs of all drug abusers in contact with the system, not just those in the prison or DRC in our fight to reduce recidivism?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. With due respect, I think the Member may not truly understand the process of how we are able to find out whether the person has mental health. So, essentially CNB will arrest the person. So, at that stage, because of the investigation process and also putting the person in remand, CNB would not have the chance to know if he or she has a mental health issue.

It is only when the person enters remand, the prison, then we will assess. We assess everyone; as I shared in my answer, physical and mental health. In fact, we have a strong support system in the prison where we not only look after them, we customise their rehab process. The curriculum that we do for them is different. In a sense, we want to care for them. We understand what they are going through. And the data that we have is not only what we collect from survey and from questionnaire. We also have a link to the National Healthcare system. So, today, we are much more connected. We have the data and at the same time, we also work with the community services or organisation, for example, Minds and also IMH, to see how we can help them upon their release.

So, this is something that we are not only familiar, we have been doing this for many years. We understand their needs and we want to continue to take care of them. But I must say it is not easy, but we will do our best.

The Chairman: Mr Vikram Nair.

Mr Vikram Nair: Thank you, Chairman. This is just picking up on a point to do with scams, but also the international aspect of it. I think a lot of scams originate from abroad and one of the pieces of feedback we have is quite often MHA recovers sums from scams, but the time it takes to reach the victims is quite long. It can be a few years; has to go through a disposal hearing and so on. In some cases where the recoveries, for example, with the Fujian gang, maybe from victims who are unidentifiable, there is a large sum of money, it is not so easy to know how that money will be distributed. So, is MHA considering having some simplified processes so that amounts recovered from scams can be returned to victims more expeditiously?

Mr Goh Pei Ming: Mr Chairman, I thank the Member for the question. Indeed, it is MHA and SPF priority to try and return the funds as quickly as possible. However, in many of these financial crime cases, including cryptocurrency, including scams, the money trace often is very, very complex.

So, what the Police needs to do is they will freeze all the assets – the bank accounts, the properties – and for as long as it takes to fully investigate and track where the monies come from, they will have to do so. Only when they have fully resolved and the frozen assets are no longer required to be frozen, can they then apply to the Court for the property to be returned to the rightful owners.

The key thing here, as much as we want to simplify the process, it is also difficult, because more often at times, many of the seized proceeds and many of the cases are not just about scams. It also involves illegal money laundering, legal money lending. And therefore, many of times the assets – be it assets, cash or property – are often commingled and therefore, it is actually very difficult for us to directly apportion this amount was from this case and that was from another case. That adds to the complexity of scam cases.

But I acknowledge indeed that this is something the public is keen and, of course, every single victim, and we have many victims, will be keen to see the process being simplified and shortened, and we will look at what else we can do to make it faster and simpler.

The Chairman: Mr de Souza, you have your hand up again. I am going to take you and then Ms Yeo Wan Ling.

Mr Christopher de Souza: In relation to the study on the drug trafficking and the death penalty. In fact, in response to that, I think there is a very good statistic that we should elaborate on in this House and also out there in education that 15 grams of diamorphine feeds 180 drug abuses for one week. Half of them are married, that is 90 spouses, that is 270 people. If each of the married couple have one child, that is another 90. That is 360 people. That is one HDB block that I am responsible for.

So, I think we have to be harsh with people who come and seek to do damage to lives over intergenerations and statistics like this are key to pursue our zero tolerance position on drugs. And I would like to know whether the Minister agrees with the use of statistics in such a forceful way to make an objective and evidentially based position.

The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Faishal. If you could please keep it short.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the point that he has made. We certainly agree with you that we can use more statistics on this. We have done so and with your suggestion we should do more, and we will do so.

We also recognise that it is an issue that requires a lot of discussion, a lot of justification and winning the hearts and minds of the people. So, it is a journey that we want every Singaporean to be part of the journey and some may not even understand the real consequences, like what you shared earlier. If you look at it and if the person is your child or your loved ones, you will have a different perspective about this. So, I am very happy to see Members here supporting our effort. We need your support. We need fellow Singaporean to support and we need the global community to be on board this journey as well, because then we can save the global community from the scourge of drugs.

Ms Yeo Wan Ling: I have a clarification for Senior Minister of State Sim Ann. As the Ministry reviews the Road Traffic Penalty framework, will the Ministry also consider how penalties can remain proportionate and whether there will be continued avenues for education and support, especially for our vocational drivers, taxi, private hire cars (PHC), bus captains, whose work exposure on the roads is significantly higher, so that road safety improvements can be achieved without unintended livelihood cost?

Ms Sim Ann: Sir, we want to see everyone get home safe everyday. If safety is compromised, then livelihoods and many other good things in life are going to be at risk. We believe that the public will see our proposed for changes in this light, particularly our vocational drivers, because safer roads also mean a safer working environment for them.

Nonetheless, it is also very natural for road users to ask, "What do these proposed changes mean for me?" And it is in this spirit that we, with Ms Yeo Wan Ling's help, have been consulting the unions and we are very grateful for the opportunity to hear directly from vocational drivers, and we will be taking their perspectives fully into account.

7.45 pm

The Chairman: Mr Vikram Nair, do you wish to withdraw your amendment.

Mr Vikram Nair: Chairman, I would like to thank Minister Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State Faishal Ibrahim, Senior Minister of State Sim Ann and Minister of State Goh Pei Ming for sharing with us the Ministry's work. And, of course, a big thank you to all the staff at the Ministry, the uniformed personnel. MHA has a big task. Of course, in support of the Budget, I will be withdrawing my cut. I seek your leave to do so.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $9,242,695,600 for Head P ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $2,672,087,400 for Head P ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.