Question:
Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) how does the Ministry measure the success of the SGSecure movement since its launch in 2016; (b) what does the Ministry intend to do to address the safety perception gap highlighted by the social experiments that tested the public’s response to simulated bombs in June 2025; and (c) how does the Ministry heighten Singaporeans’ terror awareness without causing undue alarm.
Answer:
Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:
1. The Ministry assesses the effectiveness of the SGSecure movement through a range of indicators.
2. We conduct surveys to gauge public awareness of and sentiments towards the terror threat and the SGSecure movement, as well as the public’s willingness and readiness to respond. These survey results are published annually in the Singapore Terrorism Threat Assessment Report.
3. We also track the breadth and depth of direct citizen engagement in the SGSecure movement – e.g. in schools, at workplaces, and in neighbourhoods. For instance, we track the number of business entities engaged to raise their preparedness in dealing with security incidents, SGSecure programmes held in the neighbourhoods, households engaged on the movement, and students and educators engaged on counter-radicalisation.
4. We are cognizant that these are imperfect measures of the effectiveness of the SGSecure movement. We will only know truly how successful the movement is when a terror attack strikes us.
5. To better understand the say-do gap, between surveys and actual behaviour, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) conducted two social experiments in June 2025 using a suspicious suitcase and a suspicious vehicle, to gauge the actual level of public vigilance to terror threats. Only about 17% (less than 1 in 5) of persons who walked past the suspicious items noticed them. Among this 17%, only about 5% (1 in 20) intended or took steps to inform the authorities. This stands in stark contrast to the SGSecure Public Perception Survey held in 2024, which found that 77% of respondents said they were alert enough to look out for suspicious behaviour or items, and 88% said they would report such sightings.
6. These results are of concern, even if understandable. With no terror attacks in recent memory, many Singaporeans wrongly assume that a terror attack is unlikely to occur. The strong capability of and high public trust in the security agencies also lead them to think that the Home Team will be able to prevent every attack.
7. But the reality is, no security agency in the world can succeed in detecting and preventing every terror plot and attack. This is why the SGSecure movement has consistently emphasised that it is not a matter of “if” but “when” one takes place.
8. To address the gap, MHA and our partner agencies will continue to explore new ways to make the threat of terrorism salient to Singaporeans. This includes continually refreshing our communications so that it remains relevant and compelling, and exploring new modes of engagement. For instance, MHA launched dedicated SGSecure Instagram and TikTok accounts in 2024 to better reach out to young Singaporeans, and will refresh our campaign next year.
