Singapore Police Force Scholarship & Ministry of Home Affairs Scholarships Award Ceremony 2025 – Speech by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs

Ms Chua Sock Koong, Deputy Chairman PSC

Our distinguished PSC Members,

Scholarship recipients, educators, families,

Thank you very much for joining all of us.

To my Home Team colleagues, a very good evening to all of you.

1. Let me start by warmly congratulating our new scholarship recipients, and to now formally and warmly welcome you to the Home Team. Congratulations.

2. All of you will be joining an organisation that is committed to keeping Singapore safe and secure. This, in fact, is our core mission, and now that you are Home Team officers, it will also be your role.

3. If you look at global surveys or studies - Singapore, we have done exceedingly well in this regard.

(a) In 2024 , Singapore was ranked second globally by Gallup for Law and Order.

(b) In the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, Singapore was ranked second for Order and Security last year, and we have been in the top three for the past eight years.

4. Singaporeans know that the Home Team has been keeping them safe, and in fact, they trust that we will continue to do so for them.

5. In a survey conducted by MHA last year amongst Singapore residents, around 94% of respondents rated the Home Team’s performance favourably, and around 92% of respondents said that they trust our officers to carry out their duties –professionally, fairly, and with integrity.

6. To achieve such strong outcomes, we have taken an approach to safety and security that differs from many other countries, particularly from the western democracies.

7. Today, as you take your first step in your Home Team career, I want to set some context for you – to explain to you how Singapore works; why, with some illustration, we are different from some other countries; what is our approach to issues of safety and security, and why we have taken such an approach.

8. I thought it would be useful to make reference to issues which you will very likely come across when you embark on your studies – directly or indirectly, particularly for those of you who will be studying overseas.

Drugs and the Liberalisation of Drug Controls

9. First , let me talk a little bit about drugs.

10. According to the World Drug Report 2025, the global drug situation is worsening, with 316 million people aged between 15 to 64 using drugs in 2023. That’s an 8% increase from the prior year in 2022.

11. This is in part driven by the liberalisation of drug control policies that we see around the world. Countries such as Germany, Canada, Mexico.

12. We keep to the facts, we focus on the facts. There is clear evidence that cannabis causes psychiatric disorders and brain damage.

13. A study, for example, conducted in Canada found that patients with cannabis use disorder were 10 times more likely to die by suicide, compared to the general population. They were also more likely to die from trauma, from drug poisoning, and from lung cancer. ^[1]

14. In its 2022 Annual Report, the International Narcotics Control Board had issued a warning that cannabis-related health problems have increased in all jurisdictions, where cannabis has been legalised for recreational use. So, there is a direct correlation between decriminalising – treating it as a recreational drug – and the social and health impact, outcomes.

15. It was also reported that admissions for cannabis-related psychotic disorder had quadrupled worldwide, between 2000 and 2018. It’s not as if these are stats from decades ago – these are recent, very current statistics.

16. So, that’s why in Singapore, we have said ‘no’ to legalising cannabis. We have had a lot of pressure, and lots of lobbying, but we will draw the line. We said no, and this is in line with our firm and very tough stance on drugs.

17. Through a combination of tough laws and enforcement efforts, robust rehabilitation programmes, very extensive, wide-ranging public education, community engagements, as well as international partnerships, we have managed to keep Singapore’s drug situation under control, with one of the lowest drug abuse rates in the world.

18. Our tough stance against drugs may sometimes draw criticism on occasion, particularly on the death penalty.

19. But we are very clear why we need to do it – it’s because it works, it helps to keep our society safe and secure. Singaporeans too, they see the good outcomes, and they support us. 87.9% agree that the death penalty deters trafficking of a significant amount of drugs. ^[2] And you know, Singapore is in a particularly vulnerable position with open borders, and if you are not tough, we will be overrun with traffickers and other drug abusers.

Hate Speech and Fake News

20. Moving on to a different example, from drugs to hate speech and fake news.

21. In some countries, you can openly denigrate other religions. Stand on a soapbox, speak about it, speak bad about it, speak about other races, other nationalities, or other segments of the population. You can also spread false information without any fear of enforcement action. What you can do offline is very different in those countries, from what you do online. Basically, whatever you feel like saying, whenever you want to say, you can say it. It doesn’t matter how hurtful, damaging or harmful it might be, or if there is even any truth in what is said.

22. People in these countries can do so because that is what their society prioritises – the unfettered right to free speech. That’s placed at a premium.

23. But in Singapore, we take a different approach . The right to free speech cannot come at the expense of the rest of society. It is important to be able to articulate yourself, but it is equally, if not more important to ensure that what we say is not hurtful, harmful or denigrates another person, another religion and another ethnicity.

24. And so we have legal frameworks in place to enable the Police to take action.

For example, the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, and the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, otherwise known as POFMA.

25. These Acts, when they were passed, were all debated openly in parliament, meaning that they represent what Singapore has chosen to value, and it gives the Home Team the legal basis to protect what we value as a Singaporean society.

Public Protests

26. Finally, public protests - you will find that this is commonplace in many countries, in fact, all too common in many other countries.

27. If you are studying abroad, don’t be surprised if every now and then, you walk past a protest on your way to school, or perhaps even when you go shopping on a weekend, you might see protests happening on the streets.

28. These protests generally start off peacefully, mostly remain peaceful and some even end peacefully. But there will also be examples of how peaceful protests have led to disruptions to everyday activities, or worse, in some cases, even if it’s a small minority of cases, escalated into riots, which cause not just physical property damage, but harm to the person as well, like what happened in Los Angeles just two months back in June.

29. This can happen even when a protest is started off by well-intentioned individuals, because it may get hijacked by malicious actors who want to take control of the occasion and of the situation, of the disorder to advance their own malicious agenda. They will rile up protestors, incite violence and create discord in our society.

30. The protest then takes on a very different tone. Clashes with the Police and disruptions to the daily lives of innocent bystanders become inevitable. Police would then be put in a difficult, impossible situation, and would then be targeted as the aggressors.

31. We, in Singapore, do not put the police in such a position. Our legal framework – the Public Order Act - sets out what is okay, what you can do, and what is not. The bright white line is laid out very clearly.

32. We set up the Speakers’ Corner precisely for protests to proceed, subject to basic and minimal conditions. Pink Dot and anti-death penalty demonstrations are a few of such examples.

33. For other areas, the Act prohibits protests unless the Police give a permit. If you want to protest, submit an application, and the Police will make an assessment. If the protest is likely to pose safety and security concerns to the rest of society, the permit will not be given.

34. Our framework acts as the shield that keeps Singapore safe from riots and lawlessness.

MHA’s Approach Is To Consider the Facts and Act in Singapore’s Interests

35. And so with these examples, the common thread that you see across all these issues, is that we, as the Home Team, have to see past many of the superficially appealing and so-called “progressive” ideologies in other parts of the world - it sounds attractive, it sounds fair, a little bit woke. But we must always ask ourselves, how do we sit in the context of society that we want to see, and that we want to leave behind for subsequent generations.

36. As the Home Team, we look at the facts, and we are very clear on the single interest, that is, what is in the interest of Singapore and Singaporeans. That is the guiding star, north star, that drives our considerations.

37. Then, we develop our legal frameworks and policies, to empower our Home Team officers to take firm action.

38. At the same time, we also communicate our position openly to Singaporeans, by setting out the facts, what were the considerations, and then explaining our reasoning, so that Singaporeans understand why they should work with us.

39. Where the outcomes have been good, we are proud of it, we share the good news, so that Singaporeans know that as a country, we have made the right choices.

40. But even when the outcomes have not been what we hoped for, we do not hide it, but instead focus on what we can do to improve.

Future Home Team Leaders Must Have the Courage To Make Difficult Decisions

41. Difficult issues often entail difficult decisions, with very painful trade-offs to accept. I must say that it takes courage to make those decisions, and so we need strong Home Team leaders who not only have keen minds, but who have the courage and conviction, and the mettle to make these hard-nosed decisions.

42. This is why, in the context of this evening’s scholarship ceremony, we have done our utmost to attract and select only the very best for our scholarships.

43. We have chosen each one of our scholars, not just for your academic excellence, but we chose you for your strong leadership qualities -  that gumption, that grit and resilience, so that you can one day, be future leaders of the Home Team.

44. This evening, we have with us 42 scholarship recipients, including Alex Teng Yi, who is receiving the Singapore Police Force Scholarship.

45. I want to say, like Alex and every other one of the 42, congratulations to each and every one of you.

46. I will say: enjoy your studies, do well academically – but that’s not the be all and end all – be curious, and explore the world. Build networks. See society from the lens of different people you come across. Because all of that will help you, ground you as a person, gives you life experience, and make you a much stronger and better leader for the Home Team.

47. Even at this early stage, I would also ask that you learn to perceive issues from these different lenses, and give thought always, to what is in Singapore’s interests.

48. We have been progressing, we just celebrated SG60, six decades of independence. We have been progressing because we always kept ourselves different, chart a path that is excellent, and always ask ourselves, even if the competition is not giving us that competition, how can we do better than ourselves.

49. When you come back, we will continue to train you, develop your leadership, put you in difficult situations, train you up, give you the opportunity to lead the men and women of the Home Team. They, collectively together with you, will ensure Singapore’s safety and security, and preserve the society that we want to see for generations to come. And I think that is really the value of the Home Team – keeping Singaporeans safe and secure.

50. Congratulations to every one of you. I look forward to chatting with you over the course of the ceremony and dinner, and I thank all of you for being here. And I want to say, a warm welcome again to the Home Team.

51. Thank you.

[1] Cannabis Use Disorder Emergency Department visits and Hospitalisations and 5-Year mortality (JAMA Network) 06 Feb 2025

[2] 2023 MHA Survey on Singapore Residents’ Attitudes Towards the Death Penalty: 87.9% of respondents indicated ‘Strong Agree/Agree’ that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on trafficking of significant amount of drugs.