President Nathan,

DPMs and Ministers,

Director ISD

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 1.                  I am happy to join ISD tonight for its 60^th Anniversary Dinner.  Not many organisations can claim to have 60 years of history, and few have played as important a role as ISD in our nation’s development. 

Internal Security through the Ages

2.                  ISD had its beginnings as the Criminal Intelligence Department, established in 1918 under the then-colonial government.  In 1945, after the war ended, the British established the Malayan Security Service (MSS) headquartered in Singapore.  Three years later (on 23 August 1948), the MSS handed over its duties to the Special Branch of the Singapore Police Force.  Finally, after Singa­pore became independent, the Special Branch became the Internal Security Department (on 17 Feb 1966).

3.                  In Singa­pore’s short post-war history, we have experienced our share of turbulence and dangers, particularly in the early years.  Within the country, groups threatened to divide our multi-racial society and subvert our democratic institutions.  Beyond our borders, forces attempted to influence opinions and events in Singa­pore, either to suit their interests or to undermine our nation.  ISD’s vigilance and interventions have kept Singapore safe and secure, and allowed our nation to develop and grow.

Against the Communists

4.                  In the 1940s and 50s, the communists posed a grave threat to Singa­pore.  The Communist Party of Malaya attempted to take over Singapore and Malaya through insurrection and terrorism.  The effort in Singapore was directed by the Singapore Town Committee.  Fortunately, through good intelligence work, the Special Branch arrested key members of the Town Committee in 1950.  This and other successful counter-actions in Malaya and Singapore forced the communists to change strategy.  They stepped up infiltration and subversion of the unions, student associations, women’s and cultural groups.  These front organisations mounted strikes, sit-ins, protests and demonstrations, culminating in serious rioting in 1956.  The government arrested the leaders responsible, and then in 1963, launched Operation Coldstore which crippled the communist movement in Singapore.  Ultimately, this was a political struggle, and the communists had to be defeated at the ballot box; but security operations by the Special Branch played a critical role.

5.                  Today Communism is dead as an ideology.  The younger generation hardly knows about the struggle against the Communists, much less imagine the hold which Communist ideals and propaganda had over fervent, idealistic young people half a century ago.  Visitors to the ISD Heritage Centre hurry past the Communist insurgency exhibits to pore over more recent and exciting episodes.  But had we not defeated the Communists then, both through security measures and politically, today’s Singa­pore would not exist.

6.                  Many Singa­poreans assumed that the communist ideals were held mainly by Chinese-educated groups.  But in the early 1980s, ISD discovered an English-educated Marxist group, led by Tan Wah Piow and Vincent Cheng.  The conspirators tried to infiltrate and manipulate open organisations such as the Singapore Polytechnic Students’ Union, the Workers’ Party, the drama group The Third Stage and several para-Church organisations.  Several of these conspirators, including Vincent Cheng, were arrested in 1987. 

Against Foreign Clandestine Influence in Domestic Politics

7.                  The investigations into the Marxist conspirators led to an unexpected discovery.  A US diplomat stationed here, Hank Hendrickson, had been interfering in Singa­pore politics, acting through Francis Seow, who was then President of the Law Society.  Hendrickson had asked Seow to lead a group of lawyers to contest elections against the PAP.  In a sworn affidavit, Seow admitted that he had been to Washington to meet Hendrickson’s superior in the US State Department, who had assured him of refuge in America were he to run into difficulties with the government.  And so they did, when Seow’s secret collusion came to light. 

8.                  Such foreign clandestine operations are part and parcel of “the Great Game” between countries, even friendly ones.  More such cases are documented in the ISD Heritage Centre.  When the Centre receives foreign visitors, it often has to hide away the relevant displays temporarily, out of consideration for our guests.  These episodes taught us that it was just as important to monitor our friends as we do our enemies.

Against Racial and Religious Extremists

9.                  Racial and religious extremism have also presented threats throughout our history.  The Maria Hertogh riots took place in 1950, soon after the Special Branch was formed.  We experienced race riots again in the 1960s – twice in 1964, when Singapore was in Malaysia, and again in 1969, when the May 13 riots spilled over from Malaysia into Singapore. 

10.             Thankfully, Singapore has not seen racial riots since1969.  But there have been cases of extremists attempting to disrupt our racial harmony and stability.  In the late 70s and early 80s, the government acted against Nanyang Siang Pau editors and management who were glamorising Communist China, and stirring up chauvinistic sentiments over Chinese language and culture.  And in 1987, ISD detained members of a silat group which was making preparations for communal clashes on 13^th May 1987, the anniversary of the May 13 riots.

11.             Racial and religious conflicts in other countries can also spill-over to Singapore.  In 1985, we discovered a local network of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) led by Sri Lankan Tamils in Singapore raising funds for the LTTE.  The key leaders and activists were arrested and expelled.  Operations against suspected LTTE-related activities in Singapore continue to this day.

Managing Our Multi-Racial Society

12.             Apart from these major cases, from time to time, ISD has also quietly monitored and managed many situations which could easily escalate and spark off racial and religious conflict.  For example, resettlement of places of worship can become contentious, and require fair and calm handling.  When couples of different religions split up, delicate custody issues arise; we would not want a repeat of the Maria Hertogh riots. 

13.             We also have our share of disputes over religious conversions and the funeral rites of converts.  They need to be actively managed, with good sense and give and take on both sides.  In other multi-racial countries such cases happen regularly too.  Too often individual cases become major disputes, involving not just the parties themselves but their whole communities.  A matter of individual conscience is blown up as if the future of the whole religion is at stake.  Both sides dig in, and a battle royal ensues.  If there is a perception of unfairness in how the authorities handle the case, it sours race relations, and sets up for the fight over the next case.  This must never happen in Singa­pore.

14.             Casual observers see in Singapore a beautiful, peaceful city, where people of different races and religions live together in harmony.  This is accurate, but it is not a natural state of affairs.  The apparent effortlessness of our racial harmony is deceptive.  It requires constant tending behind-the scenes, to resolve problems as well as to nurture relationships between leaders of different communities, and between community leaders and the government.  This is especially so at a time when religiosity is growing.  All groups need to remember our multi-racial context, in which we must all live and let live.  ISD is a critical player doing quiet work to ensure our continued stability and harmony.

Against the JI Threat

15.             The most serious threat to Singapore in this decade has been posed by the Jemaah Islamiyah group, or JI.  After 9/11, ISD received information from a Muslim citizen that a Singaporean had Al-Qaeda links.  Investi­gations eventually led to the uncovering of the JI network in Singapore.  Nobody ever imagined that Al-Qaeda had been present in Singa­pore well before 9/11.  Without ISD’s breakthrough, Singapore would surely have been hit by now.

16.             Because the ISD had won the trust and cooperation of the Malay/Muslim community, the source was prepared to come forward with the critical first piece of information.  ISD briefed key Muslim leaders in detail before the matter became public knowledge.  ISD also arranged for two respected Muslim leaders to meet with a detainee in private and satisfy themselves about the Government’s case against the JI.  Following the arrests, ISD continued to work closely with the Malay/Muslim community.  Later, Muslim religious scholars came forward to form the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG), and provide religious counselling for JI detainees and their families. 

17.             In all this, ISD had full support from the government, from the Prime Minister down.  We did our utmost to ensure that nobody would misunderstand the govern­ment to be targeting the Muslim community or Islam.  These efforts have paid off hugely.  We managed to insulate the community from these misguided individuals, straightened out the thinking of some of the detainees, and preserved Singapore’s racial and religious harmony.

No Lack of Threats

18.             Today, the JI in Singa­pore has been neutralised, and security precautions in public places have become a routine.  Singapore seems unthreatened.  But this trouble-free appearance can lull Singaporeans into complacency.  Threats remain, and there is no danger that ISD officers will work yourselves out of a job. 

19.             First, jihadist terrorism will be a continuing threat.  This rabid ideology adopted by terrorist groups has a powerful hold on its adherents.  It has spread not only in tribal and conservative societies of the Middle-East, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also among immigrant communities in Western societies, and even among some native Westerners.  Communism, a secular ideology, lasted 70 years before the Soviet Union collapsed.  Now we have an ideology based on erroneous religious interpretations, and nobody can tell how long it will persist.

20.             Jihadist terrorists will certainly fail in their aim to bring down the global system and establish a caliphate.  But they can do significant damage to life and property, especially if they somehow get hold of biological or nuclear weapons.  In Singapore, the threat is not just physical, but also to our racial and religious harmony, and so to our existence as a nation.  The Singapore JI is defeated, but new groups will emerge in our region, and with the Internet we also face the threat of self-radicalisation amongst a few misguided Singa­poreans.  We must therefore continue to be vigilant.

21.             Because this terrorism threat is based on the misuse of Islam, Singapore with our Muslim community remains vulnerable.  All the major religions are present in Singa­pore, but the most crucial and delicate relationship currently is that between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.  These fault-lines between races and religions will take a very long time to disappear.  This is a fundamental reality of our society.  This is why we are so acutely conscious of the fragility of our harmony, and why we must constantly make that extra effort, and take that extra precaution, to strengthen the bonds that hold us together, and resist tidal forces that might pull us apart.

22.             In a globalised world, we cannot insulate ourselves completely from what happens in other countries.  We continue to see jihadist militant groups in Indonesia – the JI itself, and other extremist and splinter groups, whose aims and targets extend to the rest of Southeast Asia.  In Malaysia, our closest neighbour, the government keeps a very close watch over radical preachers and extremist groups.  This is just as well, given the historical, physical and social connections across the Causeway.

23.             In 1959, before winning the general election and becoming Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said in the Legislative Assembly, that “as long as there are Emergency Laws (which allowed police to detain individuals without trial) in the Federation [of Malaya] there will be emergency laws in Singapore”.  In other words, as long as Malaya (now peninsular Malaysia) faced security threats, so would Singa­pore, because the two were one society. 

24.             The Minister Mentor said this in the context of the communist threat.  Today, Communism has receded, and Singapore and Malaysia are two separate countries and increasingly two different societies.  But the inter-linkage remains.  Our societies are mirror images of each other – theirs a Malay majority and ours a Chinese majority.  Their race relations and security situation will affect ours, and vice versa.  Race and religion remain extremely sensitive issues in Malaysia, and this is unlikely to change fundamentally any time soon.

25.             Besides the threat posed by terrorist groups, and the problems carried over from racial and political tensions in other countries, another potential threat to Singa­pore is the possibility that one day some hostile intelligence agency, or its master, may want to take advantage of us or do us harm.

26.             To defend ourselves against conventional threats, we have built the SAF into a strong and credible deterrent.  But we must not be so naïve as to think that countries deal with one another only through honourable diplomacy, or by starting wars.  Any adversary will surely also think of employing subversion to exploit weaknesses in our society.

27.             Instead of a military attack, an adversary can instead launch a “black operation” against us.  Black operations are different from simple espionage, where the aim is just to gather intelligence but not to influence events.  An adversary may mount a black operation to exploit our fault lines, destabilise our society and then walk in, ostensibly to help one group or other.  This was how the race riots were instigated in Singa­pore in 1964. 

28.             Alternatively, an adversary may work through our media, to try to influence local views and set the political agenda.  We uncovered two cases involving newspapers back in 1971.  One newspaper, the Eastern Sun, was launched with absurdly cheap funding from a PRC agency, with the understanding that it would not oppose China on major issues.  This black operation was later admitted by the newspaper’s owner.  The other newspaper was the Singapore Herald, which had several suspicious financial backers, including a former Chief Minister of Sabah and Chase Manhattan Bank.  We strongly suspected the hidden hand of a foreign intelligence agency and cancelled the newspaper’s printing licence. 

29.             The ISD must maintain an ever watchful eye, because states will not cease using covert actions, even as they proudly proclaim their peaceable and benign intentions.

30.             One further security challenge arises from the increasingly diverse complexion of our society.  Many immigrants, foreign workers and students from different countries have come to Singapore.  We need them, and the flow will continue.  The majority integrate well into our society.  But ISD must be watchful that foreign communities here do not engage in problems of their home countries, and foreign intelligence agencies do not use this inflow to smuggle in a few agents, to blend into our society and be activated perhaps many years later.

Preserving Public Confidence and Support

31.             Detention without trial under the Internal Security Act is one important tool to deal with security threats.  Throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s, Western countries regularly criticised Singapore for keeping our laws on detention without trial.  We stood our ground.  After 9/11, the same Western countries have realised how necessary emergency powers of detention are in the war on terror. 

32.             We take no great comfort in having been proven right.  What matters to us is that preventive detention is the right solution for Singa­pore, and one which Singaporeans continue to support.  Our public is convinced that ISD’s efforts and powers are necessary and effective.  They understand that it is better to lock up terrorists before they set off bombs, than to wait to be certain and risk people being maimed and killed.  We must never breach this public confidence.

33.             The US experience provides the example of what not to do.  They operated Guantanamo Bay and other secret detention centres outside the US, to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists.  But abuses happened, American public opinion changed, and the US administration is under pressure to close down Guantanamo Bay, and extend normal legal rights to the detainees.  Now the US has a very serious problem.  Even assuming that courts and tribunals will convict and jail suspected terrorists, what will the US do with the terrorists after they have served their sentence, but are still too dangerous to release?

34.             In Singapore, ISD has kept tight discipline, proper operations, and strict internal checks in managing detainees, and has thereby avoided abuses.  We must keep up these high standards.

35.             ISD has had one high profile lapse recently – Mas Selamat’s escape.  The Government weighed its response to this incident very carefully.  We had to put things right.  We had to be as open with the public as possible, to address their worries and regain their trust.  We had to punish officers who were negligent or culpable.  But we also had to stand up for officers who have done their duty, and served the country well.

36.             We resolved to establish what went wrong, and to act against those who had been negligent or failed to measure up.  We would not cover up lapses by individuals or the organisation.  But we were determined not to sacrifice innocent officers, just to placate populist pressures to see heads roll. 

37.             We expect and rely on ISD officers to do a professional job.  In return, you are entitled to expect the government to give you the support and political backing necessary to do your job properly.  We will never weaken our security services, or jeopardise the security of Singa­pore, out of political expediency. 

38.             The Mas Selamat case was a major setback.  ISD’s reputation has taken a knock, and so has the government’s.  But we must see things in a longer perspective, and not be demoralised or knocked out by a single blow.  ISD is a highly professional, dedicated, and competent outfit, well respected by friends and adversaries, even after Mas Selamat’s escape.  I am confident that you will get over this setback and prove yourselves again.

Conclusion

39.             Tonight, I wish to pay tribute to ISD officers who have kept our nation safe and secure all these years.  I would also like to thank your spouses and families, who must feel the stresses of your responsibilities and worries, even if they have no idea exactly what you are working on.

40.             You have a very tough job.  You require not just police skills, but also a special touch – good grasp of the political context, subtle appreciation of an opponent’s motives and methods, and an implacable determination to counter those who mean us ill.  It can be a dangerous job – against the communists, they could have rubbed you out, and rubbed out your families too, if they had discovered your identity.  The jihadist terrorists are equally ruthless.  You would not have risked your lives if not for the conviction that you are doing the right thing, and your work is for the good of Singapore. 

41.             By the very nature of your job, individual officers cannot publicly take credit, even when they have done well.  The govern­ment recognises and rewards those who have distinguished themselves through their loyalty and contributions.  But either this is done quietly and nobody knows about it, or even if it is a public award, nobody else knows what it is for.  But we know, and you do, and that will have to suffice.

42.             Since ISD’s creation, certain core values – Integrity, Courage, Loyalty and Self-Sacrifice – have been key ingredients of ISD’s success.  They must continue to underpin all that you do.  Only then can you continue to meet new security demands, and stay true to ISD’s mission of keeping Singapore safe and sovereign.

43.             I congratulate ISD on your 60^th Anniversary.