Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Measures to Ensure Safety and Security at Places of Religious Worship that have Large Congregations

Question:

Mr Darryl David: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what measures are in place to ensure the safety and security of places of religious worship, especially during worship services or events when there is a large congregation of people.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1. The Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) work with the Safety and Security Watch Group (SSWG), which includes religious organisations, to conduct security surveys, share best practices, and deliver training on building safety and security awareness. Exercises are also regularly conducted with the SSWG members to validate their contingency response plans and ensure their readiness in the event of emergencies. For example, in 2019, the Police, SCDF and the Sultan Mosque jointly organised a counter-terrorism exercise codenamed ‘Exercise Heartbeat’, which involved a simulated terror attack at the mosque.

2. As part of the SGSecure movement, the Police also work with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), to organise counter-terrorism seminars for religious organisations. These seminars share best practices on relevant topics such as building safety and security, psychological resilience, emergency preparedness and business continuity planning. The counter-terrorism seminar held in October 2023 involved more than 120 participants from various religious and community organisations.

3. In addition, MCCY helps religious organisations build their crisis response capacity through the Crisis Preparedness for Religious Organisations programme. Under this programme, MCCY provides religious organisations with a security advisory booklet that helps them to identify security threats and plan crisis management responses to various security scenarios. MCCY also encourages religious organisations to assess their crisis readiness and identify operational gaps by completing a self-assessment checklist. MCCY works with the Police and other partners to regularly conduct crisis preparedness training for religious organisations.

4.  there is information on specific threats or elevated security concerns linked to places of worship, the Police will step up security measures such as increasing the frequency of patrols in the vicinity.