Hougang incident shows Singaporeans aware of terror risk: Shanmugam

SINGAPORE — It was heartening that the possibility of a terror attack happening in Singapore has entered the public consciousness, going by the reaction of some members of the public to the security scare at Hougang MRT Station last Sunday, said Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.

He cited how a 69-year-old resident in the area stayed away from the station after getting an alert about the incident on the SGSecure app, and ventured to take a look only after receiving a second alert that it was safe to do so.

“It’s gotten into the public consciousness, they understand how it works. There is a general sensitisation to this idea,” said Mr Shanmugam, who was speaking at an international exhibition on homeland security.

“As long as we do not get an attack, of course many Singaporeans believe that there would not be an attack, and long may it remain that way. But it is our duty to go and send the message across, and we intend to go to every single household in Singapore (to) bring the message across,” he added.

The security scare was sparked by a 39-year-old man who left his suitcase — later found to contain only household items — at the station while he went away to run an errand, according to the police’s preliminary investigations. The man was arrested for causing public alarm, but TODAY understands he was released on police bail yesterday.

The MRT line’s operator, SBS Transit, picked up on the unattended suitcase on security cameras and made the decision to close the station for more than an hour.

Yesterday, Mr Shanmugam also affirmed the decision to close the station. “There were questions as to whether we overreacted. But if it were really a bomb, then the question will be why we didn’t, so closing it was the right thing to do,” he added.

Mr Shanmugam, who is also Law Minister, said the authorities have gone door-to-door to spread the message of the SGSecure movement, covering 60,000 households so far. And within the next few years, every household would be covered.

“Everyone would have seen this app, everyone would have heard of SGSecure, everyone would have been told what is it that they can do to come in and be part of the system, and many will volunteer,” he added.

The SGSecure app was launched last September and has been downloaded about 380,000 times.

In an upgrade last month, users can configure settings to receive alerts on their mobile phones on emergency incidents that happen at specific locations. Users can key in the postal code of locations they are concerned with, and alerts will be sent should there be emergencies in the vicinity of these places.