February 27, 2025
SINGAPORE – Schools, public hospitals and religious organisations in Singapore have put in place procedures for dealing with security threats and terrorist attacks.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling told Parliament on Feb 26 that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been collaborating with these institutions to prevent, detect and respond to terror attacks.
For schools, she said it works closely with the Ministry of Education on crisis preparedness.
All schools have a standard operating procedure to help staff and students respond to and recover from emergencies.
Besides annual lockdown drills, schools conduct regular exercises involving the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), said Ms Sun.
She was responding to questions from Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) and Ms Rachel Ong (West Coast GRC), who had asked how MHA is preparing the community, including schools, hospitals and places of worship, for potential security threats.
Mr de Souza had also asked about MHA’s efforts in the light of a second instance of assault at a place of worship in less than six months.
The first incident happened on Nov 9, 2024, when a 37-year-old man allegedly lunged at a priest with a knife during evening mass at St Joseph’s Church in Upper Bukit Timah. Reverend Christopher Lee, 57, had lacerations and cuts around his mouth. His attacker was charged with one count of using a knife to voluntarily cause grievous hurt.
The second incident on Feb 9, 2025, involved a 22-year-old man who allegedly assaulted a priest at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Upper Thomson. The priest did not have any visible injuries, and the man was arrested for an offence of public nuisance.
Ms Sun said religious organisations participate in security self-assessments, develop contingency plans, and attend counter-terrorism seminars to understand terror and security threats better.
Under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth’s Crisis Preparedness for Religious Organisations programme, faith groups learn to assess their own crisis readiness, equip members with improvised first-aid skills, and put together detailed emergency response plans.
The programme, an initiative under the SGSecure Community Network, aims to help these groups better protect their premises and congregants, and assist the larger community when a crisis strikes.
Ms Sun said public hospitals conduct regular readiness exercises with the police and the SCDF, where they are assessed on their measures to secure their facilities while responding to a mass casualty incident.
She added that the Ministry of Health aligns security standards across healthcare institutions.
Aside from these measures employed at schools, public hospitals and religious organisations, when there is a “heightened security situation”, the police will increase the frequency of patrols and engage stakeholders to step up security measures, said Ms Sun.
She said the community needs to be physically and psychologically prepared for such attacks.
“At some point, I hope never, but we have to be prepared that an attack will succeed. And when it does, it is important that as a community, we remain resilient and united,” she said.
- Christine Tan is a journalist at The Straits Times reporting on crime, justice and social issues in Singapore.