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

The Chairman: Mr Christopher de Souza, you can take your two cuts, please.

Counter-terrorism – Role of Singaporeans

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Mr Chairman, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head P of the Estimates be reduced by $100".

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Sir, Christmas passed; New Year's Day passed. No terror attack. No bomb. Thankfully, we have effective, professional and responsive uniformed teams working to keep us safe – the Singapore Police Force (SPF), the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Internal Security Department (ISD). But terrorism is not a fight they are to battle against alone. Every Singaporean has a role to play.

Singapore is a prized jewel because of what Singaporeans stand for – meritocracy, diligence, multiracialism, unity. Because of these attributes, many evil doers seek to do us harm. But should a terrorist threat ever vest on our shores, it is those very attributes that will enable us to overcome the disunity terrorism seeks to sow.

Each Singaporean has a social role to provide a united multiracial response in the aftermath of a terror attack. That duty cannot be left to the Home Team alone. Every Singaporean has a role to play. That way, our precious Singaporean unity, so unique to the world, will be preserved.

There are two reasons why the role of each Singaporean is particularly important. Firstly, the Singaporeans would probably be the first ones near the scene and how they respond is important. How Singaporeans react in the midst of a terror attack is very important. Secondly, to provide a multiracial response to the disunity that terrorism seeks to sow, the whole of the community needs to be involved in the response. Relationships and mutual trust and understanding which undergird multiracialism are not something that can be manufactured or imposed top-down. While the Government can play a facilitating role, ultimately, every Singaporean needs to play a part.

This community, holistic approach to counter terrorism is supported by a recent study that showed that Malaysia's previous terrorist rehabilitation programme was perhaps not all that effective as it was a top-down and only focused on the religious aspect of violent extremism, with the majority of rehabilitated, or so-called rehabilitated terrorists, still holding on to their original beliefs and continuing financial support to violent groups.

In contrast, Indonesia's variety of rehabilitation programmes run by the government, civil society groups and the local community was more comprehensive in addressing the variety of factors, taking into account the person's feelings of dissatisfaction with life, weak ties with family members, poverty and ideology.

Another example is a community-based women's group in Bangladesh which equips women to promote social cohesion and battle violent extremism in their roles as mothers, wives, sisters and daughters who shape the values of those in their family and community.

Last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that by 2019, every one of the 89 constituencies will have undergone at least one crisis response exercise. Even as such exercises are being rolled out to prepare Singaporeans for a terror attack, it is important for every Singaporean to participate and play their important role in keeping Singapore safe when a terror attack vest on our shores.

How can MHA foster such a relationship with Singaporeans to achieve that goal of a strong Singapore in the face of a terror attack?

Deterring Violent Extremism

Sir, last year, it was reported that the length of time needed to radicalise an individual had decreased from two years to as little as one or two months. Self-radicalisation through the Internet is also a threat. A Straits Times' article in July last year reported that the Internet was a common link in all 15 cases of Singaporeans who were radicalised and dealt with under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since 2014.

In Indonesia, in the past, a method of recruitment was through online games. Recently, recruitment attempts have also intensified. For instance, the terrorist recruitment video in September 2017 featuring the Singaporean Abu Iqayl was analysed as a stepped-up attempt to reach out to a younger and better-educated audience in a predominately Malay/Muslim region.

Our unique social fabric in Singapore, especially our multiracial way of life, is harmed by plans for, thoughts of, and actions towards violent extremism.

Terrorism is an affront to all our communities in Singapore. This is an affront to the Chinese community; it is an affront to the Malay community; it is an affront to the Indian community; it is an affront to the Eurasian community. Therefore, how can we bolster our laws to prevent the spread of radicalised teachings that promote violent extremism?

Segregationist Teachings

Mr Chong Kee Hiong (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Chairman, in the last few years, we have observed a trend of increased religiosity in countries around us. Accompanying this is also a sense that certain religious practices and identities have become more exclusivist over time.

Members would recall the incident where a launderette owner in Johor offered "Muslim-only" services to their customers. The business owner, in his business calculations, had expected a healthy demand for such services. This exclusivist arrangement could lead to reduced contact with other communities. This is of concern to us because it is happening right next door across the Causeway.

Here in Singapore, we champion racial and religious harmony. We want to focus on the commonalities, not the differences amongst us. Wherever possible, we want to enlarge the common spaces shared among different communities. This is how we manifest our shared values, build our shared experiences and achieve our collective goals as a united nation.

Yet, we have to acknowledge that, as an open society, we are not immune to external influences. If we are not vigilant, what has happened elsewhere in the world could well happen to us. Exclusivist and discriminatory practices along religious lines would splinter our society as we are one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world.

Would the Ministry share with us an update on the measures to counter the threat of radicalisation? How do we counter threats of segregationist teachings on the Internet, particularly social media? How is the Home Team progressing in its work with different religious and community groups to combat segregationist teachings in order to help preserve the religious harmony we all cherish today?

Terrorism and SGSecure

Ms Rahayu Mahzam (Jurong): It is unsettling to see acts of terror still happening all over the world. Although the incidents have happened in other countries, Singaporeans are acutely aware that the same tragedy can happen on our soil. It is worrying when we also hear reports of the arrests and detention of radicalised Singaporeans who could have potentially caused harm at home. In this regard, I would like to ask the Ministry to give an update on the current level of threat. What is the current level of threat of terrorism on the international, regional and domestic fronts?

I trust the Ministry and the Home Team are taking all efforts to ensure that our country is prepared to deflect and respond to any potential attacks. I believe it would be good to assure Singaporeans of the counterterrorism efforts in place to protect Singaporeans. Could the Ministry provide an update on what has been done to build the Home Team's capabilities?

Aside from the Home Team, it is important that the community stays vigilant and is also equipped with the necessary preparedness. To this end, SGSecure has been an excellent effort in creating awareness and building the skills of members of the community in response to a terror attack. I would like to seek an update on the efforts of implementing SGSecure on the ground. Are there means to measure the level of awareness and preparedness of the community? What more can be done to equip our community with the necessary skills and protect them against any attacks?

Unlicensed Moneylending Harassment

Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong (Non-Constituency Member): Chairman, loan sharks have been turning to online harassment of debtors. The aim of online harassment is the same as the offline mode, to shame the debtor in his community and harass the debtor's associates until he pays up. There is one difference – the loan sharks are innovating to avoid detection and identification, for example, by stealing the debtor's identity and posting it, to utterly destroy his reputation.

The widespread use of Police closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance in public housing estates and tough enforcement have led to the steady decline of loan shark harassment cases since 2010. But there is a spike in cases last year for the first time, with electronic harassment contributing to the spike. Can the Minister clarify whether this spike also represents a spike in Singaporeans borrowing from loan sharks? Can the Minister also elaborate how the Police is combatting online forms of loan shark harassment so as to assure the public?

Immigration Policy

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Mr Chairman, as a country that extends Singapore citizenship to an average 20,000 foreigners each year and partly relies extensively on immigration to replace and increase the overall population, it remains an anomaly that there are no official statistics detailing the country of origin of new citizens who live among us and who have to integrate together with us as one people.

The Government's long-standing position has been that it does not officially reveal the countries from where these new citizens originate on the grounds of sensitivity of the country of origin of our new citizens and the implications and sensitivities for specific groups of persons.

Previously, it was revealed that about 50% of new citizens originate from Southeast Asian countries, with another 40% from other Asian countries. However, in a similar reply to a Parliamentary Question (PQ) in 2016, the Government did not give any percentages but to say that the majority came from Southeast Asian countries.

Can the Ministry please elaborate on what sensitivities the Government is concerned about, particularly since Singapore's need for immigration is publicly well-known, along with the Government's stated position of keeping the racial percentages as close to their current levels as far as possible?

Secondly, the Government has stated that it would be a plus factor when it assesses whether the spouses of foreigners married to Singapore Citizens who apply for Permanent Residence have children. However, in my discussion with some residents in my Meet-the-People sessions (MPS), there is some residual concern amongst such residents that their monthly household income explains why they are having trouble securing Permanent Resident status. I understand from previous PQs that for foreign spouses who were granted PR from 2009 to 2015, around 45% had a monthly income of less than $4,000.

Can the Ministry provide specific details on the number of successful applications for the same period for applicants who had a monthly income of less than $3,500, $3,000 and $2,500 and confirm if there has been any change to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's (ICA's) evaluation criteria from 2016? The details would provide some degree of certainty for foreign spouses married to Singaporeans when they apply for PR.

Thirdly, can the Government share how many foreigners who are married to Singapore Citizens do not meet the Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP) or LTVP-Plus (LTVP+) criteria but are granted short-term visit passes instead? What are the main reasons for the rejection of their LTVP or LTVP+ applications, and what criteria does the Government use to reassess or review such applications?

More Protection for Vulnerable Groups

Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong): Mr Chairman, in 2017, there appeared to be a number of vulnerable Singaporeans who were victims of abuse and the culprits managed to escape with relatively light sentences. Notable instances include the intellectually disabled Annie Ee who was tortured to death; and martial art instructor Joshua Robinson who was only jailed for four years after committing the offence of statutory rape.

The abuse of vulnerable adults, including the elderly, disabled and infirm, are a growing phenomenon. A unit set up by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in May 2015 dealt with over 100 such cases in its first year. There was an announcement in 2014 to introduce a Vulnerable Adults Act, but there has been not much news thereafter.

The Annie Ee and Robinson cases have caused much public outrage, and rightly so. Thus, I would like to ask the Minister on the progress of the Vulnerable Adults Act. Does MHA intend to enhance our current laws to better protect the vulnerable groups in the society?

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In some other countries, these groups are protected by specific laws. In New Zealand, for example, the Protection of Personal and Property Rights (3PR) Act allows vulnerable people, defined as those who are old, sick or mentally-impaired, to appoint one or more people to be their enduring power of attorney, if they feel that they will be at risk of ill-treatment.

In New York, the state Senate in 2015 passed a sweeping package of 10 Bills to protect vulnerable senior citizens from predatory financial schemes, physical and emotional abuse. It is time to enhance the protection for the vulnerable groups, to better protect those who cannot speak and to fend for those who are weak.

Violence against Women

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Sir, the criminal justice system should support survivors of domestic, sexual and other forms of gender-based violence who step forward for help. However, some feel that their experiences are not well-understood and encounter insensitivities as they seek justice. This retraumatises and discourages them from coming forward.

Can the Ministry provide mandatory and recurrent capacity-building for members at all levels of the criminal justice system, including lawyers, law enforcement officers and healthcare staff, so that they can better deal with survivors in a gender-sensitive way?

For the ongoing review on marital rape, is the Ministry looking at a complete removal of immunity or considering other positions? If so, what are they?

Protection of Vulnerable Victims

Mr Christopher de Souza: The number of child abuse cases has been increasing over the last four years. The attacker in 90% of the criminal cases involving sexual assault on a minor in 2014 was someone who was supposed to protect the child.

It is a harrowing experience to have to recount the abuse one has suffered at the hands of a superior. The pain is felt even more acutely when the victim is a minor, a child. This may be exacerbated when the victim feels uncertain about whether he or she will need to see the perpetrator again.

Therefore, within the judicial process, as well as at the stage of investigations, how can the victim be made to feel less distraught when having to provide evidence against the alleged perpetrator?

Offenders with Mental Health Conditions

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Sir, over the years, great strides have been taken by MHA, the Home Team and the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) in improving the framework for dealing with offenders with mental conditions.

I have said before in this House that the 2010 Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) amendments introducing community-based sentencing for these offenders are a milestone. Through these amendments, mentally-challenged offenders may be imposed a mandatory treatment order in lieu of the usual sentences, such as an imprisonment. This enables us to directly address the root cause of their offending behaviour.

We just saw the introduction of the Criminal Justice Reform Bill where it is proposed to expand the spectrum of offences for which a community sentence may be imposed. I am particularly happy to note that the Government has kept an open mind on a point I raised in my PQ in May 2017 and now intends to allow community sentencing to be imposed on offences punishable by specified minimum sentences. Inpatient treatment will be recognised as being part of the mandatory treatment order regime, if the Bill is passed.

These are laudable steps in the right direction and deserve our support. This evidences, indeed, what our Government has always been saying about a just and inclusive society. It would have been easier to just segregate the mentally-challenged offenders and put them away. Instead, a lot more effort and resources are being put in to help rehabilitate them and bring them back to society.

One area which I would like to suggest that MHA consider further strengthening is the framework involving the administration of a conditional warning in lieu of prosecution for mentally-challenged offenders, especially youthful offenders.

As Members would note, the community-based sentencing regime would not apply to these offenders as they have not been charged in Court. The warning in lieu of prosecution route may be employed for offenders with mental issues who have committed offences not assessed to be on the serious end of the spectrum. Hence, they are not charged in Court.

For first-time offenders, they may be given an outright warning in lieu of prosecution if they are first offenders. For repeat offenders, in light of their mental conditions, it is not unusual for them to be imposed conditional warnings, meaning so long as they do not reoffend for a specified period of time, they would not be prosecuted for the offence.

I would respectfully suggest that there is an opportunity here to introduce a system that would allow them to subscribe to a treatment and rehabilitation regime, akin to a mandatory treatment order (MTO), so that the chances of them reoffending is kept low.

As each case is different, there could be flexibility in devising a bespoke system for each offender based on his or her background and the specifics of the case.

Let me provide an example. I am currently dealing with one case in Bukit Batok where the offender is a 15-year-old boy who has autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He comes from a broken family. He decided not to attend school and instead, frequents the gaming arcades to feed his gaming addiction. He was previously given a stern warning for the offence of possessing an offensive weapon. A few months later, he committed another offence of trespass into a school.

Without intervention, the chances of him reoffending and being charged in Court is high. There are at least six stakeholders dealing with his case: his parents, the Police, his school teachers, a social worker from a Family Service Centre, psychiatrist and psychologist, and the Social Service Office (SSO).

Instead of issuing the traditional conditional warning telling the boy not to reoffend, failing which he would be charged in Court for the offence of trespass, it may be useful to work in further conditions and require him to subscribe to a regime, with the support of his parents, so that we can provide him with the best chance for rehabilitation. This would require the Police to be assisted by the professionals who will have to recommend the appropriate treatment for the boy.

The framework may require the boy to report frequently to the Police, so that his activities can be checked. It may require the boy to go to school regularly. It may require him not to frequent gaming arcades. It may require him to take his medication in accordance with what has been prescribed. It may also require the parents of the boys to furnish a bond, if it is assessed that the parents are not likely to provide sufficient support for the programme.

Such a regime, in my respectful opinion, will provide him with the best chance of not reoffending. This would mean that the Police have to be given resources or access to resources within the community.

There is also a need to coordinate with different stakeholders. There may be a need to identify a proper liaison body, such as the SSO. Otherwise, it would not work. This is not easy to implement, but it is important not just for the sake of the mentally-challenged offender, but his family and the community.

Stemming the Supply and Demand of Drugs

Mr Christopher de Souza: Sir, there has been a slight decrease in total number of drug abusers, but there is still cause for concern. Statistics show that the contamination rate is still high, with the proportion of new drug abusers remaining high at about 40%. The proportion of new drug abusers under 30 years of age also remains high, at about two-thirds.

In the past four years, the age group of those between 20 and 29 has made up about 45% to 50% of new abusers each year. This has important implications for our next generation.

Even though there may be shifting attitudes towards drugs, we must not cave in to what I call the defeatist narrative of the West, which promotes legalisation for recreational drugs. There is nothing recreational about seeing whole families suffer physical, economic and mental harm across generations.

Our Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) must continue to criminalise both the demand and supply elements of the drug transaction, that is, trafficking the drug, the supply, and the consumption of it, being the demand. This allows Singapore to retain all tools and levers to reduce the flow of drugs into Singapore and the abuse of drugs on our shores.

In light of this, will MDA be further bolstered to meet the morphing drug threat, for example, the new advertising of sale of drugs through the Internet, new psychoactive substances that enter the market every now and then, and more users making up new abusers?

As regards promotion and the principle of rehabilitation, would MHA consider quashing the drug consumption convictions or record for a former drug abuser who has kept away from drugs for several years, for example, two, three or five years? This can be tracked from his regulated urine test. Such a quashing of his record will seriously incentivise him to stay clean for those number of years.

The result is a win for himself, a win for his family, and a win for current drug inmates who have a real role model to follow. So, it is a win-win-win. It is worth a serious try. So, would MHA kindly consider it?

Response to Threat of Drugs

Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tampines): Chairman, I visited the Community Rehabilitation Centre (CRC) recently. It is a community-based drug rehabilitation centre run by Trybe, a youth sector organisation. It houses male first-time drug abusers between the ages of 16 and 21. During the visit, I also learnt of the changing profile of drug abusers and drugs used in Singapore over the years.

At CRC, the approach taken is to immerse residents in a relationship-driven, transformational environment to lead a purposeful and drug-free life. I am glad to know that we are taking a differentiated approach to help different drug abusers. Rehabilitation is one of the three key components in tackling the drug problems here, the other two being education and deterrence.

Other countries are increasingly taking a soft stance towards drugs, and liberal attitudes are seeping into our youths through social media and other channels. One of the residents at CRC shared that he was first introduced to drugs by the beach while on holiday.

It is becoming more important that we set out our own narrative to counter inaccurate perceptions, to explain our approach and to show its effectiveness. I would like to ask MHA for an update on its response to drug challenges and how to maintain public support for our tough stance on drugs.

Drugs in our Society

Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai (Marine Parade): Mr Chairman, as my colleague Mr Christopher de Souza has outlined earlier, the two most concerning statistics from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) report in 2017 are: firstly, that the proportion of new drug abusers, even if the absolute numbers may have dropped slightly by proportion, as Mr de Souza said, 40% of drug abusers arrested are new abusers.

Secondly, they are young, because two-thirds of those arrested are under 30 years old. Third, the common type of drug abuse, the methamphetamine, continues, by far, to be No 1 by about some distance. For new abusers, methamphetamine abusers also account for the highest proportion, being 80% of all new abusers.

These numbers tell us that there is an increasing number of new abusers who are young, with a choice of drug being methamphetamine, which is fast gaining popularity. It is a drug which is synthetically manufactured, which makes it easier to produce, and it is no coincidence that of worldwide seizures of drugs, methamphetamine constitutes the highest proportion, out of which the greatest volume seized come from East and Southeast Asia.

Drug production facilities are known to be located near to Singapore, which places our country at a greater risk of having those drugs come onto our shores. In fact, just last week, Indonesian authorities seized 1.6 tonnes of crystal meth, hidden on a Singapore-flagged ship, plying the waters between Sumatra and Singapore.

Sir, the drug problem is, indeed, a tragedy, not only to the individual drug abuser who suffers from the addiction and how much it affects his health, his well-being and his position in life, the society at large also suffers as a consequence of the addiction. There is a serious social cost arising from the breakup of families of addicts, the drop or lack of productivity, the cost of rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

There is also the problem caused by drug-related crimes, commonly stealing, housebreaking, robbery, all of which go towards supporting the habit, and they lend themselves to a less safe Singapore. It is clear that we must continue the vigilance and the absolute zero-tolerance policy against drug abuse.

To that end, can I ask the Minister to outline the steps taken to continue the fight against drug abuse? In particular, what additional steps can be taken to particularly focus on and educate potential new young abusers? What further strategies can be employed to make preventive drug education more effective not only to educate, but to proactively encourage and promote a drug-free lifestyle amongst the young?

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Youth Drug Abuse

Miss Cheng Li Hui (Tampines): Chairman, given the drug situation worsening regionally and worldwide, Singapore remains largely drug-free. Our drug abuse rate is very low, compared to other countries. Based on the statistics released by CNB in February, the total number of drug abusers arrested in 2017 decreased by about 5% from the previous year. CNB has been effective in their enforcement efforts and their fight against drugs. Nevertheless, there are still worrying trends. One of them is the use of drugs among the young.

About two-thirds of the new drug offenders arrested last year were below the age of 30, similar to that of 2016. This is a worrying trend. New drug abusers formed 40% of all drug abusers arrested in 2017. There is also a rise in online drug pedalling, with the number of people arrested for buying drugs online increasing over the last few years. The figure was 13 in 2015 and 201 in 2016. Most of those who engaged in online drug pedalling were between the ages of 20 and 39.

The change in mindset among the young, and the convenience offered by cyberspace, are perhaps important factors contributing to the rise in youth drug abuse. My worry is that if such trends hold up, new young abusers may form the next generation of drug addicts. Once a youth is enslaved by drugs, it potentially means many years of hidden suffering for him and his loved ones.

I would, therefore, like to ask how MHA intends to better engage youths who are on drugs and tackle the high proportion of new young drug abusers. Given the preference and habits of our youths, does the Ministry intend to make use of the new and relevant engagement platforms, for example, social media, as part of its outreach?

Partnership with Community Organisations

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: I have a soft spot for the families of those who are incarcerated for drug offences. The family members may have not been the ones who have been the addict, but they also have to pay a price for the crime. I note that the Malay community is over-represented amongst the drug-offenders. I have close relatives who were incarcerated for drug-related offences and were in and out of prison for many years. I saw how their families were affected by this. Fortunately, the families overcame their challenges and the children are now all grown up, working and meaningfully contributing to the economy. Not all families are as fortunate, as we have seen many cases where children of the drug offenders becoming addicts themselves.

It is, therefore, important to continue to create awareness about the dangers and impact of drug abuse. It is also important to support the families and ensure that there are proper rehabilitation and support upon release of the drug offenders from prison so that they can continue living their lives and participate in the future economy like everyone else. Difficulties in getting a job or inability to have a stable income in a challenging economy can contribute towards these ex-offenders succumbing to temptations and reoffending.

The effort put in by the Ministry in the "Dadah itu Haram" campaign to tackle offending, reoffending and the drug abuse issue within the Malay/Muslim community is, therefore, commendable. I note that there is outreach to the Malay/Muslim organisations to help support this campaign. And this is an important effort. I would like to seek some updates from the Ministry on this campaign. What has been the community’s response to the campaign? What is the status of the current efforts and further plans to work with the Malay/Muslim organisations in this regard?

The Chairman: Mr Louis Ng, you can take the three cuts together.

Initial Incarceration Phase Programming

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: Sir, current rehabilitation programmes target the needs of ex-offenders in criminal thinking, employment and family support. While the public’s support is important during reintegration, the ex-offender himself must be motivated to change. Inmates are the most disoriented, vulnerable and susceptible to influences at the initial incarceration phase.

This would be the opportune time to render positive and aspirational elements, such as talks or programmes by successful ex-offenders, who can be role models for inmates during this initial phase.

This would be a more powerful source of influence, compared to the counsel of case workers who may seem clinical and unrelatable. This would counter negative influences from fellow inmates discussing past escapades.

Can the Ministry consider including more programmes featuring ex-offenders and imparting life-changing strategies at this initial stage, especially during the initial two to three months, when inmates are most motivated to change and commitments are more sustainable?

Family Ties in Inmate Rehabilitation

I recently had coffee with ex-offenders and the stories they shared with me were heartening and inspiring. They made mistakes but they are trying hard to rebuild their lives and we need to help them. If there is one word they used most frequently in their stories, it is "family".

As I shared in my cuts last year, I strongly believe we should strengthen family ties to improve the rehabilitation process for inmates. I am grateful that the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) is working with Focus on the Family Singapore on running programmes to strengthen family bonds.

The Children’s Day event at Tanah Merah Prison last year, where 24 inmates were allowed an open visit where they could hug and hold their loved ones instead of being separated by a glass panel, was an excellent event. They were also not in their prison uniform. Can the Ministry extend this programme to more inmates and conduct more of such visits more often?

In the words of Focus on the Family Singapore "Humans thrive when we know we are loved. When inmates connect and are reconciled with their families, there is a lower chance of them reoffending."

Mentoring Programmes for Inmates

Next, current in-care programmes for inmates feature psychological and cognitive-based curriculum and counselling, targeting the thinking and behavioural aspects of inmates. Programmes can come across as overly clinical, diagnostic, prescriptive, featuring lecture-style methods.

I hope the Ministry will consider featuring more inspirational, experiential and reflective learning approaches. For example, through mentoring, where community partners or representatives can come in regularly through group or one-on-one mentoring for a period of time. This could complement the "through-care" strategy of SPS, where the mentoring relationship could carry on into the Aftercare stages of the inmate, making societal reintegration more seamless.

This also provides a more humanistic approach targeting the heart of inmates, creating an authentic and positive relationship of trust.

Support for Ex-offenders

Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio): Chairman, one of the best ways to help an ex-offender reintegrate into society is to help him secure and hold down a good job. Not only will the job sustain him financially, it will also provide meaning to his life, enabling him to be a valued member of our community as he contributes his skills and expertise at work.

However, matching jobs with ex-offenders is easier said than done. On one hand, the prisoners’ aptitude, attitude and interests have to be taken into account. On the other hand, due to social stigma, employers have to overcome the psychological hurdle and take a leap of faith before giving an ex-offender an employment opportunity.

The speed of change at our workplaces has become so rapid that even many of the gainfully employed are at risk of being left behind. This is why we have to constantly send our employees for training to upgrade their skills. So, imagine the knowledge and skills gap faced by ex-offenders after they are released from prison. If we cannot help them to bridge that gap, it would be difficult to bring down the rate of recidivism. Ex-offenders, facing difficulties finding work or at work, will be tempted or even compelled to return to familiar old, bad habits.

Hence, I would like to seek an update on the Ministry's plans to enhance employment assistance and skills-training for ex-offenders. During incarceration, prisoners must have access to relevant education and skills training as part of their rehabilitation. What types of learning programmes are available to prisoners and how does the Ministry encourage them to take up these courses? What are the main challenges and obstacles faced by the prisoners and trainers?

Supporting Ex-Offenders

Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: Our legislation seeks to help offenders find a path back into mainstream life in order to be active, contributing members of society, after they have spent their time in prison. For instance, the Registration of Criminals Act was amended in 2005 to allow those convicted of less serious crimes to have their record considered spent if they did not re-offend for a period of five years. This helps because, upon reaching the five-year period, such offenders will be able to probably say that they do not have a further criminal conviction record.

Rehabilitation and, particularly, reintegration of ex-offenders as responsible citizens have become one of the core tenets of our criminal justice system. If the ex-offender is not able to find his place back in society, the prospect of his re-offending becomes much higher. Reintegration, however, is a prolonged process, not one-off. Hence, the various networks set up to link up the various organisations, including voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), the groups affiliated with the National Council of Social Services (NCSS), MSF, Statutory Boards like the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE), or the Yellow Ribbon Project, which is most well-known, are all useful.

But I would suggest that much more is needed to change the attitude and perception the society has towards ex-offenders, in order that the prejudice and stigma of reintegration into society does not become as much of a bar in society as it was in prison for the ex-offender.

In that context, can I ask the Minister what further steps can be taken to enhance an ex-offender's reintegration back into society? Would some of these steps include developing a strong after-care support network for the inmate and his or her family which, in fact, can be set up even during the period of incarceration in order to improve the prospects of successful reintegration?

Home Team Transformation

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): Chairman, our Home Team has done an impeccable job in keeping us safe. Yet, it has its work cut out going ahead. Because of technology, crimes and social issues are fast-evolving, complex and multifaceted. Coupled with a leaner workforce, MHA must evolve new ways of staying ahead of the criminals. The Home Team is undergoing an important transformation.

Could the Minister provide further updates on the Home Team’s transformation process, especially in improving coordination and interoperability across different agencies? How has it resulted in more effective enforcement? How have the community partnerships evolved to help in Home Team’s work? And what will be the focus of the Home Team's outreach efforts in the coming year?

In MHA’s ongoing transformation, I hope that we can make an even greater shift towards tapping upon and empowering the individual and community entities in crime prevention. The fast-evolving, extraterritorial and multifaceted nature of crimes make purely Home Team-led actions more challenging over time. I would like to propose four ideas and approaches.

First, we need to enhance capabilities to develop and test new ideas quickly. The fast-evolving nature of crimes and community issues meant no entity has the monopoly of good solutions. MHA needs to develop platforms that will increase the academic and community participation in analysing and developing local solutions to our Home Team issues. This might involve building up a national databank, such as Iceland’s Registers Iceland (ISCRA), where partners can use the data for analysis. This is much like building on open-source codes where coders write and test new codes to build ever more robust systems quickly.

Second, we can leverage even greater use of behavioural insights to tackle our youth drug addiction problems. According to the CNB, the proportion of new drug abusers arrested in 2017 remained high and close to two-thirds of new abusers were under 30. The thrill for such young abusers is usually boredom and not getting caught. They are not always from traditionally defined broken homes. So, broken windows explanations are inadequate. This means that while we cannot go soft on our tough stance against drugs, we must develop new ways of finding new solutions. Programmes, such as “Natural Highs” in Iceland, succeeded because of strong behavioural insights. Could MHA similarly develop stronger behavioural insights in informing our future programmes?

The number of online scams has been increasing and becoming more pervasive, especially amongst the older users. We have worked hard at roadshows and awareness campaigns. Perhaps, it is timely to make cyber health checks as commonplace as our basic health checks. It is a mindset shift that cyber issues similarly require routine and pervasive intervention as do chronic health problems, especially for older residents. Community partners can work with the Home Team to develop easy to use diagnostic kits and help our elderly users stay healthier, cyberwise.

Fourth, we can make greater use of integrated data analytics for predictive enforcement. While crime-mapping is not new, the availability of artificial intelligence (AI) opens up new horizons in more effective manpower-lean policing. Yet, this is not about going down the route of the movie “Minority Report”. This is about better understanding our key threats and developing targeted effective solutions.

Effective transformation also requires that our officers can take on the new jobs. Could the Minister provide further updates on the job redesign efforts for the Home Team? How many jobs or functions have been redesigned? How has the Ministry also tapped on the expertise of retired officers? Could these officers be converted into civilian officers and deployed to take on other security-related responsibilities in the public or private space? These officers may also be able to raise the capabilities and support the needs of the private security sector under the Industry Transformation Map (ITM) that was launched just this month.

Workers in the Private Security Industry

Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): Mr Chairman, the terrorism threat remains at its highest level in recent years. So, it is important that we continue upskilling our private security workforce with better knowledge, better skills. But on my house visits, I have also met some older rank-and-file workers who want to join the security sector but find the courses unnecessarily complicated. They have found that some training materials are very wordy and not written in simple English.

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One Clementi resident I met on my house visits was very discouraged. He is still physically fit. He speaks well, communicates easily and has lots of energy. But because he only went to primary school 50 years ago, his reading and writing in English are not so strong. He showed me a page from the training handbook. I saw the page and I ran the text through Microsoft Word which can calculate how hard it is to read the text. Microsoft Word said that the reading difficulty is like an American senior high-school or university level grade. As comparison, one American President's State of the Union speech from the 1980s had an easier reading level than that page from the training handbook!

Mr Chairman, my residents and people like him – they are good men and women – they did not choose to be born in a time when primary school education was the best opportunity that they had. Many of my older residents still have much to contribute. They are able-bodied, can communicate with the public without difficulty, keen to learn, but for people like my residents, they are finding it difficult to get into the private security industry, even though an opportunity there can provide much-needed income.

Mr Chairman, I ask whether MHA can help guide the organisers of such courses, so that security skills can be taught in a way that is more accessible to Singaporeans of different educational and language backgrounds.

More broadly, I also ask what plans there are to transform the private security industry so that we can continue having better working conditions, career prospects and wages for our workers.

Private Security Industry

Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: Security threats to common installations and public spaces in Singapore are very real concerns. At the same time, the security industry is facing a serious manpower crunch. Whilst technology and new advances in security devices, drones and the like can help plug the gap, there remains a need for well-qualified and experienced security consultants.

The Infrastructure Protection Act (IPA) was enacted last year to enhance the protection of certain infrastructure in Singapore against security risk. The IPA requires the submission of security plans for approval to the commissioner and, subsequently, the implementation of the measures in the plan after approval. The plan is the foundation of an enhanced protection of special developments and infrastructure under IPA. It is, therefore, critical that there are sufficient, well-qualified and recognised professionals who can come up with and implement robust and well-considered security plans.

At the launch of the security ITM, Second Minister Josephine Teo, who also launched a new Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) pathway for security consultancy leading to a new specialist diploma in security consultancy. May I ask if there are plans to enhance and broaden the qualification criteria for this? Taking a leaf out of my colleague Dr Tan Wu Meng who spoke earlier, could there be more options for persons who are otherwise interested in this industry but find that the bar to entry to the industry is too high, for reasons Dr Tan cited?

Could the Minister also consider other types of qualifications, aside from having just the specialist diploma, including certifications from professional bodies, university degrees in security and other qualifications, which are very much practical in nature on the ground, and from people who have vast experience, because security is one industry where leaving aside the books, leaving aside the difficulty in language, experience counts for a lot more than what one might read from the textbooks?

The Chairman: Minister for Home Affairs.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr K Shanmugam): Mr Chairman, I thank the hon Members for their comments.

Singapore continues to be safe, secure. We were ranked No 1 in the Gallup Global Law and Order Report 2017. The Economist Intelligence Unit's Safe Cities Index 2017 ranked us second, behind Tokyo.

Public trust and confidence in the Home Team continue to be high. Ninety-seven percent of our residents feel safe walking home alone at night. The overall crime and drug situation remains under control. Crimes, such as robbery, housebreakings and snatch thefts, registered an all-time low in 2017. And the number of drug abusers arrested decreased in 2017, compared to 2016.

Fire incidents are at their lowest in 40 years. Recidivism rates have improved, as have the road safety and immigration offending situation. So, the overall situation in 2017 on the security front was, I would say, better than previous years. And compared to the rest of the world, many other similar cities, we are in a good situation. Achieving those results, securing a safer Singapore requires efforts from many different people.

We look at the growing terrorism threat, we have to deal with it on multiple fronts. It also means building up our capabilities to protect our people. MHA's budget has increased by more than 10% this year. A large part of that increase is going into enhancing our counterterrorism capabilities and efforts. It is because the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) remains high and, in fact, will continue to grow, as fighters from the Middle East come back to this region.

MHA must and will do all it can to protect our people. It is our responsibility and accountability to deal with terrorist threats within Singapore. As Members may know, under our system, legal framework and constitutional structure, MHA is responsible for home-front and internal security, including counterterrorism, crisis and consequence management.

When a terrorist attack happens, MHA is, therefore, overall responsible, will be in charge and lead the national response. Police will manage the incidents on the ground and will be the first and main responders. If the scale of the attack is very large, MHA may also ask SAF to provide support to the Police as an auxiliary force.

Likewise, MHA may also ask other Ministries, agencies, like the Ministry of Health (MOH) to support the operations. To this end, the Police and SAF have developed joint plans and conducted joint exercises. We are, of course, very appreciative for the SAF's commitment and the commitment of other agencies to support the Home Team in such situations.

This modus operandi has been discussed and agreed on for some time and, as I have said, it follows the constitutional structure and practice that we have adopted over many decades and I made this clear in 2016, when I stated that all operations within Singapore, the Police will take command. And depending on the nature and the scale of the attack, Home Team may rely on other agencies which will provide support for us.

These agencies could include, depending on the nature and scale of the incident, SAF, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and MOH. For example, if there is a large-scale attack, if Police need additional forces beyond the Emergency Response Teams (ERT) and the Special Operations Command (SOC), SPF may call upon SAF for specialised forces like the Special Operations Task Force.

They will also support and reinforce the ERTs and SOC. Exercises have been conducted to make sure that these plans are sharpened and we will continue to include other partner agencies in such exercises. Second Minister Josephine Teo will share more on how the Home Team is countering the terrorist threat.

I will now speak on three areas. First, ensuring the criminal justice system stays relevant and effective; second, preventing religious extremism and segregationist thinking; and third, maintaining our tough stance against drugs. The other officeholders will deal with the other points.

First, on the criminal justice system. We seek to amend the CPC, the Bill that is in Parliament – the Evidence Act – and later this year, we will amend the Penal Code. The detailed proposals on the amendments to CPC will be covered in my Second Reading speech.

I told the House in January that we have embarked on a comprehensive review of the Penal Code. We set up a committee in July 2016 to this end to undertake a fundamental review to look at the principles which underlie our laws, what offences could be covered, what the punishments should be, and whether the current punishments are appropriate. It is quite a broad review. The Committee aims to complete its work in a few months' time, and we will invite feedback from the public.

Significant focus of the Penal Code Review would be on enhancing protections for vulnerable persons – children, people with mental disabilities and domestic workers. Mr Ang Wei Neng spoke about this. We have seen cases where such persons are violently treated, hurt, exploited or even killed by the very people who ought to be protecting them.

Many Members will know of the case of Annie Ee, as do many Singaporeans. We can understand the anger that many people felt. There are other cases like this. Recently, the case of a mother who abused her two-year-old son. And after two years, he died from head injuries, assaulted for not being able to recite numbers.

Our punishments for these sorts of offences are generally stiff. We will, nevertheless, review the punishments and what is the level of proof that is needed for these cases.

Mr Ang Wei Neng spoke about the Vulnerable Adults Bill. Our MSF colleagues have been working hard on this. And I understand the Bill will be tabled in Parliament soon. Mr Louis Ng asked about marital rape, and that is also under review. Let us be clear. Violence against women is wrong – no ifs and no buts on that. So, removal of immunity against marital rape is being studied.

Second, I want to talk about process reviews and changes, the steps we are taking to improve our processes. When you look at investigations, our investigative processes, will aim to take better care of the victims' well-being. In particular, we are looking at the investigations and Court processes for sexual crimes, to better protect victims of such offences.

Mr Christopher de Souza and Mr Louis Ng asked about this. I first announced in August 2016 that we were reviewing this. We have listened to the victims to understand their concerns. We have worked with several organisations – MSF, hospitals, Courts and non-government organisations (NGOs) – to improve our processes and the way our officers interact with the victims. Some examples of the changes that have been made, we have selected and started training a group of officers. We call them Sexual Crime Duty Officers. They will conduct interviews with victims.

We have introduced the One-Stop Abuse Forensic Examination (OneSAFE) Centre. Victims can be examined by a doctor onsite at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), without the need to shuttle between CID and hospital and having to recount what happened to them once at the hospital and once to the Police Officers. Everything could be done in one place, at the OneSAFE Centre.

We have developed a training video for our officers on how to question the victims in an empathetic way. The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) helped us with that. They will then understand and have greater empathy for the trauma faced by victims. In June this year, the Police, together with KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and other partners, will pilot a Multi-Disciplinary Interview (MDI) model. This would be focused on children who have been sexually abused by family members.

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It is necessary to gather the facts from these children. But, again, one can imagine or understand the stress that such children may undergo if they have to be interviewed separately by the Police, doctors and child protection officers. It adds to the stress. And so, we will seek to integrate these interviews so that the children need not repeatedly recount their traumatic experience.

In addition, Court processes will aim to better protect the victims of sexual assault cases, including automatic protection of identity, closed-door hearings and the questions about the victim's sexual history and unrelated behaviour. There will be restrictions on what sort of cross-examination will be allowed, subject to the overall jurisdiction of the Courts. That will be set out when we deal with the legislation. We will define the precise scope, what we are intending to do, and how the process can be taken forward.

Another process is the Appropriate Adults (AAs) Scheme. We started this in 2013 for persons with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems. This was extended in 2017 to support young suspects. Independent volunteers are the AAs. They are trained to provide emotional support to the interviewees.

In 2017, AAs provided support for about 700 interviews during the course of investigations, and the feedback has been positive, both from the volunteers who are AAs, as well as the Investigation Officers (IOs).

In April this year, we will roll out the AA scheme to more Police and CNB units so that they can support more young suspects. And it will also include Customs and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

Separately, we are also looking to identify and deal with the basic issues that lead people to crime.

Mr Murali Pillai spoke about involving the community and VWOs, and how to deal with offenders with mental health conditions. This is something new, in the sense of what I am going to say. We will introduce a new initiative. It will be called the Home Team Community Assistance and Referral Scheme (HT CARES).

When our officers deal with individuals who have committed offences, often, they become aware of other problems and the complex circumstances surrounding these offenders. As Mr Murali Pillai pointed out, some have medical issues, too. Some are struggling to make ends meet. Others have problems with the family.

So, we will have these CARES officers stationed at every Police Division. The investigators will deal with the "crime-solving". The CARES officers will assess whether social interventions are needed to address the underlying issues. The interventions could be in the form of counselling; it could be in the form of mental health assistance; it could be in the form of financial assistance. The CARES officers will then refer the offenders to a suitable agency for help and continue to follow-up. We are studying this in detail with MSF, and we will try to pilot this at a Police Division this year.

Another important area is how we deal with the young offenders. Our approach, if you take today, 80% of the youths who are arrested are not charged – four out of five are not charged. The Police will give them a warning and refer them to counselling and other programmes. We want to give them a chance to sober up, stay on the right side of the law after that.

But there will be cases, as the statistics showed – 20% – where we have no choice. We have to take stern action. Some are repeat offenders; some could be serious offences, like drug trafficking. Such cases, they will be detained. And for punishment, deterrence and, equally important, their own rehabilitation.

Reformative Training (RT) is an essential, necessary regime for such young people. Within the RT population, we try to group them by risk profile and needs. This helps to provide a more targeted set of interventions. The trainees will go through programmes that will help them take charge of their rehabilitation. They can then reflect on their offences ‒ how to stay crime-free and how to strengthen their relationships with their family.

Prisons will also continue with their education and skills training for the reformative trainees. Those who can, will continue to take their GCE "N", "O" and "A" levels. There are also vocational training opportunities, such as Workforce Development Agency (WDA)-accredited courses.

We intend to further enhance the RT regime. One of these changes is to reduce the minimum detention period from the current 18 months to either six months or 12 months. This is in line with the more targeted approach we want to take because different individuals may require different intensities of intervention and different lengths of rehabilitation. I will speak further about the RT regime during the Second Reading of the CPC (Amendment) Bill later this month.

My third point, let me deal with religious extremism and segregationist thinking. Mr Christopher de Souza spoke about this. The older generation, who are getting increasingly older, will remember the turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s. We do not want to go back to those days. For many countries, that is their current reality.

What we have today is the racial and religious harmony which has been achieved through decades of deliberate and sustained intervention and the Government working hand-in-hand with various stakeholders. It is a constant work-in-progress. We never say you have arrived, and you can slide back quite quickly.

So, how do we prevent segregationist teachings from taking root? We have a number of approaches – social intervention, regulatory framework and a constant working with community organisations, grassroots, getting the message across.

For example, in terms of social intervention, our Ethnic Integration Policy in our public housing. Our schools are integrated. National Service (NS) puts our young men together. These deliberate interventions mean that we grow up together, build collective memories together and we come together as Singaporeans, instead of forming ethnic or religious enclaves. And this shows in the way we live our daily lives, such as eating together at the same table, working together in the same offices.

One example of the approach or the result of that approach, the Straits Times recently featured Masjid Khalid, a mosque in Joo Chiat, which distributes oranges and greeting cards to business owners and residents in the area during the Lunar New Year. This is just one of the many examples we see on the ground.

We have to preserve the harmony and, to do this, we cannot let extremist or segregationist teachings infiltrate our communities. Even a small number of persons propagating radical, segregationist beliefs can be dangerous. As Mr Chong Kee Hiong pointed out, the inflammatory and viral potential of such beliefs is increased with social media.

It is challenging. But we work closely with community groups and religious organisations, we want to try and better inoculate our community from such influences. And the efforts extend to online as well. For example, the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) has produced online videos to explain why ISIS' ideology goes against Islamic teachings. Offline, in the physical world, when we have foreign preachers who want to come into Singapore, and if we know that they have advocated violence or spread ill-will towards other religions, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, they will not be allowed to speak here. This applies to all religions.

In September last year, we banned two foreign preachers: Christian. They wanted to speak in Singapore. One of them had described Allah as "a false god". He had asked for prayers for those "held captive in the darkness of Islam". He insinuated that Buddhists were "lost" people who could be saved by converting to Christianity. The other preacher had variously referred to "the malevolent nature of Islam and Mohammed", saying Islam was "not a religion of peace". This is all unacceptable. And we said no, they cannot come in to preach.

That was September 2017. A month later, in October 2017, we said no to two foreign Muslim preachers. One was Mufti Ismail Menk, and the other is Haslin bin Baharim. They wanted to come into Singapore to preach on a religious-themed cruise.

Some have said that the Government over-reacted. What is wrong with Mufti Menk telling Muslims that wishing non-Muslims "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Deepavali" is the biggest sin and crime that a Muslim can commit? What is wrong with him preaching that? Our decisions are carefully considered. Mufti Menk is a preacher who has been systematically putting out messages like there are people who are very big enemies of Islam, and if you attend their functions, you will be seen as rubbing shoulders with them. There are thousands of reasons why Islam is more authentic and valuable; that Christianity is just a bubble that is blown such that you feel emotionally high. If you look at all his teachings, the main message that comes out is quite clear and the divisiveness is not acceptable.

At the same time, we are also not immune to Islamophobia. In June last year, after the news of the detention of Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari was reported, we had an Indian man scolding a Muslim lady who wore a tudung on a bus, saying that Muslims "should stay in Iraq as they did not know the value [of] staying in Singapore".

So far, these incidents are few and far between. They are contained. Most Singaporeans do not behave like this. And there is a good reason why. It is because of the approach of the Government and the people of Singapore. But we need to keep a close watch on this. We must not allow the threat of terrorism to, on the other side, create fear, suspicion and distrust of one another.

Mr Chong Kee Hiong spoke about the role of the community. Our community leaders have done much to foster respect and understanding among the communities. The Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs) are one example. The Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) is another.

Our religious leaders play a big role in leading by example. A wonderful example is the Mufti of Singapore, Dr Mohamed Fatris Bakaram, who shares in other communities' celebrations like Deepavali and Christmas, and regularly offers festive greetings in private and public, including during the Chinese New Year last month.

Another example is the Anglican Bishop Rennis Ponniah who hosted an annual Christmas tea at his official residence, with not just Anglicans attending, but also Catholics, Lutherans, Muslims, Buddhists and Taoists. They were invited to join in and they joined it.

The Singapore Buddhist Lodge donates rice and funds to mosques during Ramadan every year for the breaking of fast, to be distributed to needy families. This was initiated by their late President Mr Lee Bock Guan, both to help the needy and to promote inter-religious harmony.

There are numerous examples. I have just identified a few. It is the respect of different faiths, the willingness to share in one another's lives, that it is not just a harmonious common living space.

Let me now move to our stance on drugs.

Mr Christopher de Souza, Mr Baey Yam Keng, Mr Desmond Choo and Mr Edwin Tong spoke about the global challenge. The results from a 2016 National Council Against Drug Abuse survey shows a slightly worrying trend. Our young people are adopting a slightly more open attitude towards drugs, compared with a similar survey done three years earlier in 2013, especially towards cannabis. I think the Internet, social media, the pro-legalisation lobby in the US are telling them it is cool and safe to take cannabis. But if you look at the well-supported research, it tells us that cannabis is harmful, especially to teenagers, because it can cause irreversible brain damage.

We have to stay firm in this fight against drugs. We are also studying how we can enhance the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) to deal with new threats. Over the past year, the drug situation in the world has continued to worsen. The US declared the opioid crisis they face is a "public health emergency". The US National Centre for Health Statistics estimated almost 64,000 people died from drug overdose in 2016. Sixty-four thousand people – that number is more than the number of US soldiers who died in the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined. It is more than the number of people who have died through breast cancer in the US. It is more than the number of people who have died of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related deaths in the US at the peak of the epidemic.

The media has covered extensively on how the big pharmaceutical (pharma) companies, poor regulation and irresponsible proliferation of poor-quality research often funded by the pharma companies have all combined to create this crisis. In May 2017, the US federal court found top executives from Purdue Pharma guilty of misleading regulators, doctors, patients about the risks of OxyContin, which is a powerful and addictive opioid. They earned billions from their deception. Patients graduated from snorting or injecting the crushed pills, then turning to heroin and other drugs to feed their addictions.

Despite the harms caused by drugs, some countries have been softening their stance. Countries, such as Portugal, have decriminalised drug use and they have received international attention for this approach. And there are some people here who tell us Portugal is a great example to follow and show why our approach is wrong and Portugal's approach is right. But do the facts bear that out? And what are the lessons for us from the Portugal situation?

First, Portugal started with a serious public health problem on its hands. It had many heroin abusers. They were sharing contaminated needles and they were spreading diseases like Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. More than half of the HIV infections were drug-related, which was the highest rate in the European Union (EU). Portugal then decided to decriminalise drugs. It increased funding for treatment facilities, provided for needle exchange and opioid substitution therapy, ran campaigns "say no to a second-hand syringe". These measures have helped Portugal to reduce HIV and Hepatitis infections. But when you start with serious HIV-related problems, Hepatitis infection-related problems arising through drug use, contaminated needles, then I suppose you ask yourself which is the lesser evil and you go for decriminalisation and then you try and reduce the problem somewhat.

But we are not in that situation, thankfully. And there are tradeoffs from Portugal's approach. The lifetime prevalence of drug use in Portugal has increased since decriminalisation. Surveys indicate that more Portuguese students are trying drugs and the number of drug-related deaths has also gone up since 2011. So, you will not find all these facts from the people who advocate that we go down the route of Portugal. Portugal decided to decriminalise drugs in a situation where perhaps it concluded that it was not possible or unrealistic for it to control the drug situation.

The situation we have in Singapore is different. Our approach has been effective and has worked well for us. We are one of the few countries where the drug situation has been under control and perhaps the country that has been most effective in dealing with the problem.

Mr Chairman, with your permission, can I display a slide on the screen, please?

The Chairman: Yes. [A slide was shown to hon Members.]

Mr K Shanmugam: We have many slides, but this sort of shows you what the trends have been over a period of time in terms of drug use. Anyway, in all the downward blip for the period when people abused Subutex, when you see that, it is probably a fairly smooth curve. There was not a real dip in certain years because people were using Subutex. And then we outlawed that and they went back to other drugs.

The number of drug abusers we have in Singapore is relatively low, compared with some of the other jurisdictions. For example, the number of opiate abusers in Singapore is less than 30 per 100,000 people. In Portugal, the number is almost 500. In the US, the number is 600, that is, 20 times our number. In Portugal, it is just under 20 times. And the numbers will grow further in the US because of the move towards legalisation in many states.

Intravenous drug use is not a significant mode of HIV transmission in Singapore. So, if you think of the lives that have been saved, the misery, deprivation, the loss – we have saved a lot of people from that, if you just look at that slide ‒ from something near 7,000 people being arrested per year, to something in the region of 3,000-plus being arrested now. If you take that as 3,000 to 4,000 lives per year over a 20-year period, it is a lot of lives, a lot of people who have been saved from drugs. This result has been possible because we have been tough on drugs.

And we should not ease up. You look at the cases anecdotally. Just this Monday, CNB arrested a trafficker in a drug bust. During the investigations, officers discovered that ‒ and it was a lady ‒ she was caregiver to a toddler. She had left him with two other suspected drug traffickers. Concerned about the toddler's safety, CNB and Police then moved quickly with operations the very next day to take down two suspects. The young child was rescued and is now with Child Protective Services. How old is the child? One year old. In that one year, the young child had already been abandoned by his mother, who is on the run for drug offences, and being passed around between drug traffickers. These are not isolated cases. In many other countries, these are par for the course. We do not want to get there.

In another case, a drug addict father abused his baby daughter ‒ very cruel, regularly biting her. One day, he was furious because he had no money to buy drugs. The baby cried ‒ as babies do ‒ and he shoved her against the wall so hard, her skull fractured. She was 10 months old ‒ not old enough to defend herself. These are the victims of drugs.

The activists light candles for traffickers outside Changi Prison. They write emotive stories. They dream up about their lives. But who cares for these very real victims? How many young lives have we saved with our policies? Would you hear a squeak from the activists about these people ‒ the actual victims of burglaries, housebreakings, families torn apart through drugs, the physical violence, the mental abuse, and, by a process of estimation, the number of people who have been saved from that, the shootings and the killings that take place in other countries where drug abuse is prevalent? The 60,000 people who died through opioid abuse do not capture all the deaths in the US. There are many more gangland violence with drugs as the underlying cause ‒ the shootings, guns, weapons.

We have another case in Singapore – a 9-year-old boy living with his abusive aunt. He saw her doing drugs. He ran away because he was scared of being beaten again when she was under the influence of drugs. But she found him, hit him, burned him with a lighter, picked him up and dangled him out of a third-storey window.

Our CNB officers recently came across another abuser – seven months pregnant, still smoking "ice". She already had a previous miscarriage because of her "ice" habit, but her addiction was so strong. She persisted anyway, at the expense of her unborn, innocent child. And, again, from foreign jurisdictions, you see cases where children are born with addiction in-built and they need and crave for heroin from the time they are born.

Who speaks for these defenceless victims? As I have said earlier, the self-styled activists refused to talk about how the addiction of hundreds of abusers is fed with each shipment that these traffickers bring in. How many families suffer as a result of drugs?

Our penalties are severe because we want to deter such offences, not because we take any joy in enforcing them. No one can take any joy in enforcing them.

Our regional drug situation remains challenging. The region is home to the Golden Triangle, which is the largest methamphetamine market in the world. Trafficking of heroin and methamphetamine in this region alone is estimated to generate over US$32 billion annually. It is a very lucrative business. It is not going to go away. So, let us not kid ourselves.

International criminal syndicates operate in this region, attracted by the profits. Being a major transport and commercial hub makes us susceptible, both as a transit point and as an import market because of the wealth factor.

It is beyond our ability to change factors outside of Singapore. What we can do is to try and deter criminals from attempting to bring drugs into Singapore. And we have to be firm in resisting those who try to force their ideologies on us.

Parliamentary Secretary Amrin Amin will elaborate on how we are working with various stakeholders on this.

The Chairman: Minister Josephine Teo.

The Second Minister for Home Affairs (Mrs Josephine Teo): Chairman, there were some 20 minutes of savings from the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) Committee of Supply (COS). In order for Parliamentary Secretary Amrin and I to address the remaining cuts, may we have your kind consent to take that extra time?

The Chairman: You may. You may also thank your security colleagues.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Thank you, Sir. Members spoke about the different challenges that the Home Team faces. I will expand on MHA's responses in three areas. First, counterterrorism; second, Home Team transformation, and that is not just in technology but also in manpower; and third, on the private security industry.

Let me deal, first, with terrorism. Mr Christopher de Souza and Ms Rahayu Mahzam spoke about this. The threat to Singapore is at its highest level in recent years. It has not abated; it has probably intensified. And how do we deal with it? Essentially, there are three strategies.

First, to guard against social fault lines, and segregationist tendencies are of the biggest concern. The Minister has already explained how we go about it.

Second, to make it harder for the terrorists to carry out attacks. Make them think twice, thrice if possible, before they target us.

Third, be well-prepared to respond. When it happens, we will be shocked, but we must not be immobilised.

I will expand on the latter two strategies.

We have made significant moves to enhance preparedness and deter attacks. Our laws are being updated. Last year, we amended the Public Order Act. We introduced the Infrastructure Protection Act. Later this month, Parliament will debate the Public Order and Safety (Special Powers) Bill. We are coming to Parliament to seek Members' support because the Police may need the additional powers to protect public safety for serious incidents like a terror attack. This does not mean that the Police is not, at the same time, doing other things, such as enhancing operational response capabilities.

In December last year, we put in place In-Situ Reaction Teams. These are officers who patrol the areas of high human traffic, for example, Orchard Road and Marina Bay. We started them because it was the festive season. They are armed with submachine guns. If something happens, they can intervene more swiftly and effectively until the other forces arrive.

Mr Christopher de Souza, Ms Rahayu Mahzam and Mr Desmond Choo rightly pointed out that the preparedness must go beyond the Home Team. Every Singaporean has a role to play, and that is why community partnership is a key part of the Home Team's work, and also why we launched the SGSecure movement.

We are now moving into the next phase of SGSecure. What that means is that from awareness, we now focus on preparedness. One focal point is workplaces because everyone goes to work every single day. They are very much a part of our lives. We spend quite a lot of time at the workplace. So, we launched the SGSecure Guide for Workplaces and this was in September last year. It provides tips and resources for employers. There are advisories that the employers can distribute to their staff. And what it does is to guide people on what they can do in an attack – where to hide safely, how to perform improvised first-aid because you will not have all the essential materials that usually are associated with first-aid, you have to improvise.

Overall, we are making good progress in enhancing deterrence and preparedness. But we cannot let our guard down and we must continue to press on.

Let me turn to Home Team Transformation. Mr Desmond Choo has asked for a progress update. The Home Team Transformation has to be a multi-year effort but with a clear and consistent purpose and, that is, to renew and strengthen our capabilities, so that we can remain a prepared, effective and trusted force.

Technology is a big part of that transformation journey. We are using technology in two areas. One, to counter emerging threats and, two, to improve our effectiveness.

Let me say a little bit more about emerging threats, in particular, biological attacks. Terrorist groups are seeking to develop such capabilities. What they plan to do is to use viruses or infectious diseases as weapons. How do we know that this is happening? The Al-Qaeda has an encyclopedia of Jihad, and in the 11th volume of this encyclopedia of Jihad, it is entirely devoted to chemical and biological weapons. And, of course, when terrorists are captured, the reports also show that they admit to such plots.

The question is why are biological weapons attractive to terrorists? The reasons are because they are hard to detect, it is not immediately observable that a biological attack has taken place and, by the time it is known, there will already be many victims. It can cause widespread panic and the public could be gripped by fear. They could either self-quarantine themselves or they want to avoid contact. That poses a major risk for a place like Singapore where many people pass through our borders. We are a global and regional hub for business, finance, aviation and maritime matters. It can mean a total shutdown for Singapore and we had some experience of that, like during the period of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

How can we deal with this threat? MHA has implemented a Bio-surveillance Programme. This is taking place at our borders. We have laboratories and we have equipped them with state-of-the-art Lab-on-Chip systems. Mr Desmond Choo will be happy to know that this Lab-on-Chip system that is in use at our borders is developed by a local company Veredus Laboratories.

This system is superior in two ways. First, it can test for multiple biological threats, not just one. Secondly, the speed of detection is much quicker. You can get results within three hours. Compared to traditional screening methods, you need four times as long, 12 hours. It has also been tested elsewhere in Singapore, at large-scale public events, and when epidemic outbreaks elsewhere are at risk of reaching our shores.

But thankfully, no incident of bio-terrorism agents has been detected so far. But we have developed the capability and, in case it happens, we can take preventive or mitigation measures more quickly, so as to reduce the spread of viruses and diseases.

Technology is also being used to improve our operational effectiveness. It is cutting down time spent on routine tasks. It is helping our officers to do more with less, and it is helping to reduce the exposure of our officers to dangerous situations.

We take SCDF, for example. Since 2014, they have been using something called an unmanned firefighting machine (UFM). What this UFM does is that it can shoot giant jets of water to extinguish fires, and it is remotely controlled. Therefore, it can go deep into dangerous areas and it is much less risky than deploying our officers to do so. It has proven its usefulness in fighting major fires at Sungei Kadut, Jurong Island and Tuas.

SCDF is also developing Exo-skeletons. It can help SCDF officers lift heavier loads, so that they can sustain operations for a longer period of time.

Another game-changer in Home Team Transformation is something we are all, as Members of Parliament, quite familiar with, and that is the Police Camera (PolCam) initiative. This was launched in 2012. It is welcomed by many residents. The footage has helped to solve more than 900 cases of unlicensed moneylending.

Unlicensed moneylending cases involve damage to property and these cases have fallen by more than 80%, from more than 7,600 cases in 2012 to just about 1,000 cases in 2017, an 80% drop.

The Police have been coming down very hard on unlicensed moneylenders and they have successfully curtailed all of these cases that I have mentioned, especially those that involved physical harassment or confrontation because they caused damage to property. The Police have been relentless and, as a result, the unlicensed moneylending syndicates have been forced to change their modus operandi and find other methods of harassment.

Assoc Prof Daniel Goh spoke about the spike in moneylending harassment in 2013. These were mostly cases that did not involve damage to property. They involved non-physical forms of harassment, such as through text messages and social media.

They are not necessarily a sign of heightened loan shark activity. It could simply be due to the proliferation of online messaging services, and also the easily available technological tools to mask the identities of the senders. But naturally, the victims are distressed and the harassment by text messages and online means are much harder to prevent and to crack. We deal with them in a few ways.

First, people should know that unlicensed moneylending is illegal and, if they borrow from unlicensed moneylenders, they risk becoming the victims of harassment.

Second, if the borrowers are harassed by unlicensed moneylenders, they get protection from the Harassment Act. This provides a means for victims to seek protection. If harassment involves threats, hurt and property damage, the victims should report the cases to the Police and the Police will investigate. If it is found to have been grievous, they will take action against the perpetrators.

But the resources we have are limited and the public should also play its part – do not borrow from unlicensed moneylenders in the first place and to advise family and friends against doing so, and also to seek help through other means.

These are just some of the examples that the Home Team is using technology to counter emerging threats and enhance our effectiveness. As a result of these efforts, technology investments will increase significantly. Our annual investment in technology infrastructure alone – and, by that, I am referring to sensors and sense-making, for example, the Command, Control and Communication systems – is projected to triple over the next two years. It demonstrates our resolve to remain effective, even with rising terror threats and manpower constraints.

But technology alone is not enough. The value of technology lies in how it is used. The man-machine mix must be effective. Mr Desmond Choo alluded to this. Job redesign will, therefore, be a big part of this effort. It will help to ensure that Home Team jobs remain relevant and challenging and will allow our officers to maximise their value-add.

One example is the ICA's Buss Scanning Project. You can find it at the Tuas Checkpoint where two radiographic imaging scanners are being installed. What these two scanners do is to scan all the arriving buses to detect anomalies, such as hidden compartments. How does it help the officers and the Home Team? Well, their time and attention are freed up. They can use the scanning results to perform targeted checks instead of performing checks on all the buses. What this means is that it gives the real criminals a harder time.

Of course, the officers need training to reskill and reorientate and they are getting that retraining. They learn X-ray image analysis and also how to do security profiling using analytics. About 40 officers have been trained so far.

Mr Desmond Choo asked how retiring officers are being supported in job placement. To remind the House, the retirement age was raised from 50 to 55 in 2013. The Career Transition Office for Home Team officers was set up in 2016. It is helping retiring officers to find employment within the Home Team or public sector agencies as civilian officers, or with private sector companies, for example, security firms. It organises networking sessions with prospective employers. It also recognises that, for the officers, adjustments are needed. So, the officers can try out potential job opportunities, whether at public agencies or private sector companies. For up to three months prior to their retirement, they will continue to receive salaries from the Home Team, even as they try out these new jobs. Mr Desmond Choo also suggested further ideas for transforming the Home Team. They are all good ideas and we will seriously consider them.

2.30 pm

Dr Tan Wu Meng asked about plans to transform the private security industry. The Security ITM was recently launched and it is a tripartite effort among the Government, security service providers as well as the buyers and the union. The core idea is this: that we want to transform service delivery through four things: intensify the use of technology and innovation; promote smart buying, and for the Government to take the lead in doing so; align regulations as well as upgrade skills and career advancement of opportunities. The benefits are real. Productivity gains for security service providers, cost savings or better value for service buyers, better employment outcomes for security personnel and a more secure Singapore.

Dr Tan Wu Meng hopes that older workers can continue to contribute and I fully agree with him. I have seen how it can be done. Of the 47,000 active security officers, more than half are above the age of 50; and of this group, another half are above the age of 60. So, the security industry is not a profession that shuts out seniors. On the contrary, even with the use of technology, we will see them playing an active role.

Technology can help to take over labour-intensive tasks, for example, ground patrols, and it will make work easier for the older security officers who can still have a meaningful role, tap their experience, make judgements when security alerts through video analytics, for example, are presented to them and advise their younger colleagues on the best response. Government support is available for job redesign and WDA offers customised guidance and funding support.

Dr Tan Wu Meng highlighted his concern that security training materials are not written in simple English. The security courses are generally accessible to most learners and the passing rate in 2017 was about 90%. The training standards are set by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) in consultation with the Police and other industry stakeholders. The course providers have flexibility. For example, they can use videos for instruction and, instead of written tests, they can take oral assessments. Experienced security officers also do not have to attend classroom training or take written tests. They can obtain a Statement of Attainment through an assessment-only pathway, which means face-to-face interviews and role play.

Mr Edwin Tong spoke about having sufficient qualified security consultants for purposes of the Infrastructure Protection Act. Several initiatives are in place. Skills Security Framework offers a career pathway in security consultancy. There is a specialist diploma also in security consultancy that would start next year. He asked if there are other qualifications that can be considered, and the answer is yes.

The tripartite partners have a joint stake in the Security ITM and we are confident we will achieve the vision of a security industry that is vibrant, technologically-advanced and competitive.

Mr Chairman, if you will allow me, I would like to conclude in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] In the coming years, we will continue to review and enhance our laws, upgrade our procedures, and focus on the transformation of the Home Team.

We will invest significantly in technology to counter emerging threats and improve the effectiveness of the Home Team. Let me share an example. As laptops and smartphones have become common, the number of criminal cases involving digital media has gone up manifold. To investigate these crimes, information and evidence need to be extracted from digital devices, such as handphones and thumb drives.

It is not sustainable to maintain the status quo in the way we approach the investigation and handling of evidence for such crimes. Instead, SPF will be introducing a Digital Forensic Kiosk, which allows IOs to directly and more efficiently retrieve, organise and analyse information from digital devices. This kiosk will also be able to scan for possible evidence based on the type of case being investigated. Overall, this will allow our IOs to quickly access evidence and carry out their investigations more effectively.

Even as we invest in technologies and systems, we will also ensure that our officers are given the necessary training and retraining so that they can continue to contribute effectively in their roles. Beyond our transformation efforts, ultimately, it is the professionalism and dedication of each and every Home Team officer that matters the most. They put in a lot of hard work to keep us safe and secure, even when the rest of Singapore is enjoying our public holidays or asleep at home, and, oftentimes, they go beyond their call of duty to serve our people.

The public’s trust and confidence in the Home Team continues to be high. We do not take it for granted, however, and will strive to continue to deserve this.

The Chairman: Parliamentary Secretary Amrin Amin.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Amrin Amin): Mr Chairman, I will focus on two areas: first, keeping Singapore drug-free; and second, supporting the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.

Members spoke about the fight against drugs. Mr Christopher de Souza spoke about stemming the supply and demand of drugs. Keeping Singapore drug-free is a key priority for MHA. This requires a combination of tough laws, effective enforcement and preventive education.

CNB has kept up enforcement efforts. Last year, CNB dismantled 23 drug syndicates, and conducted 19 islandwide operations targeting drug traffickers and abusers. CNB also conducted 12 joint operations with our foreign counterparts to cut out drug supplies from overseas. Just last week, CNB had a joint operation with their Malaysian counterparts to smash a regional drug syndicate.

Mr Christopher de Souza and Mr Baey Yam Keng spoke about emerging drug threats, such as the purchase of drugs online and new psychoactive substances. These are, indeed, areas of concern. There are people in Singapore who have tried to buy drugs online. They thought they could get away with it. They were wrong. Last year, CNB worked with courier companies to detect more than 350 parcels with drugs or drug-related products. CNB’s follow-up investigations led to the arrest of 177 individuals. We will continue to clamp down on the online drug trade.

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a global challenge that many countries are grappling with. So far, the NPS situation in Singapore is contained. This is because we keep a close watch for any new substances, and list them in MDA. Regular reviews of our legislative and operational strategies are conducted to combat NPS abuse. Enforcement alone is not enough. To keep Singapore drug-free, all Singaporeans must know that drugs are harmful and stay away from them.

Mr Edwin Tong and Miss Cheng Li Hui asked how we can better engage youths and tackle the high proportion of new and young drug abusers. In 2017, two out of five abusers arrested were new abusers. Close to two-thirds, or 64%, of new abusers arrested were under 30 years old. This is very worrying and there are foreign celebrities who glamourise drug use and they falsely advocate drugs as harmless and "cool". Our youths must not be fooled.

The Minister earlier mentioned about the Portuguese campaign "Say no to second-hand syringes". In Singapore, we have a different campaign. We promote a drug-free life. We advocate a life free from addiction and we encourage our youths to enjoy life to the fullest and make the best of life's opportunities. Be yourself. Hashtag. Be drug-free – these are taglines that are trending here in Singapore. This is the narrative: we reject drugs and we reject the notion that drugs are harmless or "cool". They destroy life, health and family; and drug abuse is not a victimless crime.

We have ramped up our preventive drug education efforts in the last year, both on the ground and on social media. Besides school programmes and roadshows, CNB collaborated with education institutions and young local filmmakers to produce a series of videos showing the destructive effect of drugs. Eighteen short films were posted on CNB's Instagram and Facebook with the handle #FilmFriday, racking up close to two million views in total.

To reach out to more youths, CNB also set up a makeshift club called “GURD Club” outside Cathay Cineplex. “GURD Club” featured lights and sounds which simulated the disorientating and distressing effects of drugs. More than 4,300 anti-drug pledges were collected.

Our community is with us in this fight against drugs. Our United Against Drugs Coalition partners include Pastamania and Singapore Post, just to name a few, and they have helped to distribute 50,000 "DrugFreeSG" keychains to the public during our Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign last year. Online retailer Reebonz distributed 5,000 anti-drug message cards in their parcels during Christmas last year.

Ms Rahayu Mahzam spoke about engaging the community, especially the Malay Muslim community. Mr Chairman, please allow me to speak in Malay on this.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The good news is that we received strong support from the Malay/Muslim community in various efforts to combat the drug menace. Last April, six Malay/Muslim organisations led by the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association (PERGAS) launched a campaign called Drugs are Forbidden in Islam. This was an initiative by the community leaders in order to increase awareness about Islam’s prohibition on drugs.

Over 250 shops supported this effort. These include 50 barber shops that have a reach of 10,000 customers per week. These "big brother barbers" and "barber uncles" are helping to spread the anti-drug message by displaying stickers stating "Drugs are Forbidden in Islam" at their shops’ entrances and mirrors.

The results are encouraging. Last month, I had a haircut in Woodlands North Plaza. The barber, in fact, asked for more stickers from the Drugs Are Forbidden in Islam campaign. So, I asked him, why? He replied, many of his customers saw the sticker and asked if they can have the sticker for themselves. This is an encouraging development.

About 200 motorcycle enthusiasts also helped to mobilise their network to spread the message of “Drugs Are Forbidden in Islam” to places frequented by youths and hawker-centres around Singapore. I joined their public outreach efforts from Bedok to Arab Street, then we stopped by Bukit Batok, then to Jurong and onwards to Woodlands and many other places to spread awareness about the drug menace. This is certainly a true community effort – an effort by youths for youths – a truly noble effort. I salute their willingness to help out.

The riders include Mr Ramle Ismail and also Mr Azri Zulfarhan Kamsin, a 30-year-old Institute of Technical Education (ITE) lecturer. They deployed the motorcycle group networks to reach out to youths every month, by going to youth hangouts and eating establishments.

Apart from them, a group of Malay/Muslim undergraduates led by the Malay Language Society from the National University of Singapore (NUS) also chipped in to help out in anti-drug efforts. All these are wonderful developments.

This is our pledge: we will continue to strongly support the community’s efforts in the "Drugs Are Forbidden in Islam" campaign. We will continue to work closely with Malay/Muslim organisations, like Jamiyah, Pertapis, the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), Muhammadiyah, and the Singapore Muslim Women’s Association, in order to enhance efforts to free our community from prohibited drugs.

We are truly determined to ensure that our children, whom we love, are protected from the drug menace. We dream of a community that is free from prohibited drugs that destroy our youths. I am confident that, when we keep working hand in hand, we will surely achieve this dream.

2.45 pm

(In English): Let me now turn to the second area of focus: supporting the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.

Mr Christopher de Souza asked if MHA can consider quashing criminal records of drug offenders who stay free from drugs for three to four years to facilitate their reintegration into society. Today, drug offenders who are placed on programmes, such as community rehabilitation centre and drug rehabilitation centre, will not receive criminal records. We will consider how else we can support the reintegration of drug offenders.

Mr Louis Ng spoke about the importance of programmes in prison, and family and social support. He asked if SPS will be extending family programmes to more inmates. SPS works with community partners, like Focus on the Family, The Salvation Army and Singapore Children's Society, to conduct bonding programmes for inmates and their families. We have structured family programmes run by agencies, such as Fei Yue Community Services and Lakeside Family Services, to strengthen family relationships. More than 4,000 inmates benefited from this last year. SPS aims to extend family programmes to more inmates.

Another factor that can reduce re-offending is social support. SPS has established a Befriending Programme for trained volunteers to befriend inmates and support them upon release. Since 2010, over 900 inmates have benefited from this.

Mr Louis Ng asked if SPS would consider having more programmes featuring ex-offenders. We agree that sharing by ex-offenders can be very impactful. SPS collaborates with community partners to engage ex-offenders to give monthly motivational talks. In addition to face-to-face talks, the talks are also uploaded on shared tablets which are being piloted for inmates to engage in self-learning.

Employment is another key in breaking the offending cycle. Mr Gan Thiam Poh and Mr Edwin Tong asked for an update on plans to enhance the employability of ex-offenders. SCORE provides skills training, job placement, job coaching and job retention support to help ex-offenders reintegrate into the workforce. Over 5,500 employers have supported SCORE. With their support, 97% of inmates who were referred to SCORE last year secured a job before their release. This year, SCORE will be launching several initiatives to enhance the employability of inmates.

Firstly, SCORE will introduce a job profiling tool to assess and coach inmates more effectively. Secondly, SCORE will extend job retention support from six to 12 months. In other words, inmates can have a job coach for a year after their release. Thirdly, SCORE will offer WSQ Advanced Training under the WSQ Culinary Skills framework. This will equip inmates with vocational skills in demand by potential food and beverage (F&B) employers. And we will explore having WSQ Advanced Training in other sectors.

Mr Chairman, supporting offenders in their rehabilitation journey is not easy. For some, it takes more than one attempt. We are with them each step of the way. I first met Lina after her release from prison in 2016. She had found a new job through SCORE and I thought she was coping well. But months later, I met her again when I visited our Prison School for a National Youth Achievement Award Ceremony. Lina had gone back to drugs. She saw me and she said, "I am sorry, I have let you down." I said to her, “We have not given up on you.”

And that, Mr Chairman, is also what our officers do. We do not give up. We are tough on drugs and crime. But we also believe very strongly in rehabilitating and reintegrating inmates. Our Prison School has, at its entrance, a lighthouse mural. This symbolises our efforts to shine light towards a bright path, a path that leads the way from the darkness of drugs, a path that guides those who have strayed, to a fulfilling life towards a brighter future.

Keeping Singapore safe and secure is a whole-of-Singapore effort. From our Home Team officers to our community partners, volunteers and citizens, each of us plays an important part in making Singapore our Safe and Secure Home.

The Chairman: Dr Tan Wu Meng.

Dr Tan Wu Meng: Chairman, I have a clarification to ask of the Second Minister who spoke about Home Team transformation. We have a manpower-lean environment and an ageing population which means that the SCDF emergency call numbers are going to continue to rise. So, I was wondering how will MHA and the Home Team work to address this, please.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Chairman, in terms of emergency calls, SCDF now handles about 183,000 calls a year. That translates to 500 calls a day and about one every three minutes. And based on SCDF's projections, the number of emergency services calls will double by around 2030. We will have to find ways to cope.

It is actually two things. One, we will have to grow our fleet of emergency ambulances, but we also have to make better use of our limited resources. What that means is that we will have to introduce the tiering of our responses, according to the severity of the cases. The severe cases that are life-threatening, like you have a cardiac arrest or a loss of consciousness, those are of the highest priority. Because in a cardiac arrest – Dr Tan Wu Meng would know this – another minute of delay and you would have about 7% to 10% reduction in probability of survival. So, we need to give it the highest priority.

But not every 995 call is a life-threatening emergency. In fact, about 10% are false alarms. As incredible as it may sound, we have had people called us for constipation. If that translates to an average of two non-emergency calls every hour, and someone calls in and you have a cardiac arrest but the SCDF resources are tied up, then we will be in serious trouble.

So, we have to prioritise and the target time to respond to different types of calls will not be the same. But unless we do so, no amount of resources will be enough to make sure that the critical cases are always attended to first.

The Chairman: Ms Rahayu Mahzam.

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Chairman, I have two questions. One is for the Second Minister. I just want to clarify on the effectiveness of SGSecure. Has SGSecure been effective in increasing awareness and also preparedness of Singaporeans?

My second clarification is to the Parliamentary Secretary. I just want to check. It has to do with the drug issue, not a new issue. We surely have experience and some data. I am just wondering if the Ministry conducts studies and also perhaps use behavioural insights to inform it and to help it in its preventive drug outreach.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, the National Security Awareness survey that was conducted in 2017 may provide some answers that are useful to Ms Rahayu Mahzam. When they were asked if they believed that Singapore is a target for terrorist attacks, 59% agreed or strongly agreed. When asked "Which are the top three potential situations they thought the Government should focus emergency preparedness training on?" 77% said terrorist attacks. But when they were asked if they believed they were well-prepared to handle a terrorist attack if it were to occur in Singapore, only 30% said yes.

The Police have also been receiving reports from members of the public on suspicious sightings, and these came through 999 calls as well as the SGSecure app which has a million downloads. And what do all these tell us? I think they tell us that the awareness level is high, but it can be even higher. As for preparedness, it is still a long way to go. That is why we have to press on with the programmes at the community level and also at the workplaces.

Mr Amrin Amin: On the question by the Member on behavioural insights, the answer is yes. Our efforts to combat drug abuse are shaped by insights gleaned from in-depth studies of youth perception of drug-related issues.

The Minister mentioned about the Youth Perception Survey conducted by the National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA). In this survey, it was found that youths displayed a more liberal attitude towards drugs, compared to two years ago, with the majority citing social media as their source of information on drugs. And, hence, we have ramped up our social media presence against drugs.

The survey also found that parental influence was key in deterring drug abuse. Over 92% of secondary school and junior college respondents whom we spoke with, said that their parents played a very important part and they spoke to their parents when they have questions about drugs.

As a result, we have introduced an information handbook for parents and we are constantly reviewing or pursuing research efforts to see how else we can better reach out to our youths.

The Chairman: Assoc Prof Daniel Goh.

Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: Chairman, this clarification is for the Second Minister. It is regarding physical and online harassment. In physical harassment, a lot of times it is the family members who report the harassment, and the Police investigate because the harassment will affect the property of the family directly. The borrower will be on the run and he is unable to report the harassment himself.

For social media, can the family members do the reporting and would the Police therefore investigate based on their reporting? At the same time, it will be too much to ask the Police to do the clean up. The family members in the physical harassment case would ask the Town Council to clean up the damage to the common property. But in the case of the social media kind of harassment, do the Police have the power to step in and ask the social media business to take down fake identities and fake sites, for example, basically to classify these as cybercrimes to stop the debasement?

Mrs Josephine Teo: A short answer to the Member's question is that as the criminals' tactics evolve so, too, must the Police's repertoire of tools. What I can share with the Member is that the Police are working on it and it will investigate all valid cases of reports, whether they come from the victims themselves or the families of the victims.

The Chairman: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: Sir, the Parliamentary Secretary mentioned that SPS will be extending family bonding programmes. Can I check specifically if it will be extending the programme where they can have visits when they are not separated by glass panels from their families?

Secondly, for the mentorship session with ex-offenders, can I check how regular is this and whether it is open to all inmates? And for the initial incarceration phase, can I just confirm that programmes are offered to inmates during this first to three months when they are incarcerated?

Lastly, I just want to share that public servants I have spoken to are very appreciative of the Parliamentary Secretary's efforts and how hands on he is at the Prisons.

Mr Amrin Amin: I thank the Member for the question. On the first point about family programmes, not all family programmes are unsupervised or free in the sense that they do not have barriers. It varies. We have had some programmes recently, there was a Children's Day event, where the families can get together and meet and talk. But not all programmes are like that and we work with various family centres to provide the family structured programmes.

On the second question on whether the talks by ex-offenders are offered during the initial phases, the initial phases have got a different set of programmes. SPS focuses on getting the inmates used to prison life. And so, during that stage of orientation, a different set of programme is being offered to them. SPS collaborates with various community partners to engage ex-offenders and we will endeavour to make it a monthly motivational talk. And we will have more programmes that are available for inmates across the different incarceration periods.

The Chairman: Would the Member wish to withdraw the amendment?

Mr Christopher de Souza: Sir, many unsung heroes wear blue. Thank you to the Home Team led by Minister K Shanmugam, Second Minister Mrs Josephine Teo and Parliamentary Secretary Mr Amrin Amin for keeping us safe. And, of course, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean. Sir, I beg to withdraw my amendment for Head P.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $5,341,251,900 for Head P ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $1,134,320,700 for Head P ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

The Chairman: It is probably appropriate to take a break now.

The Chairman: Order. I propose to take a break now.

Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair at 3.25 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 3.02 pm until 3.25 pm.

Sitting resumed at 3.25 pm

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]