Amanda Lee Today Online 8 Oct 14;
SINGAPORE — Another 80km of physical barriers, such as fencing and floating sea barriers, will be erected to cover about 70 per cent of the Republic’s coastline to prevent illegal entry, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean in Parliament yesterday.
These barriers have been put up where feasible to deter illegal landing at vulnerable areas, he said. And together with the coordinated and multilayered security regime that maritime security agencies have been improving and tightening over the years, these measures have proven to be “generally successful”, said Mr Teo.
Currently, there are 63km of such land- and sea-based barriers around Singapore’s shores, and there are plans to erect another 80km of these, he added.
“These will cover 143km of our 197km coastline, deterring and preventing illegal entry and channelling vessels,” Mr Teo told Parliament. “This allows our security agencies to focus their attention on areas and vessels that are more likely to pose a threat.”
In response to media queries, a Ministry of Home Affairs spokesperson said the first 30km of the additional barriers would be erected by around 2019, with the rest to be completed thereafter.
Mr Teo was responding to a question raised by Member of Parliament Hri Kumar Nair about the steps the Government has taken to secure Singapore’s borders and prevent the unauthorised entry of people and goods into the country, in the wake of three foreigners entering Singapore illegally in August through Raffles Marina.
In that incident, a woman had sought the help of two foreigners to sneak into Singapore by sea, in an attempt to wrest her two-year-old son from her husband’s family. She and the boatman were each sentenced to 10 weeks’ imprisonment, while the third foreigner, managing director of non-governmental organisation Child Abduction Recovery International, got 16 weeks in jail.
Yesterday, Mr Teo pointed out that while Singapore’s land and aviation domains were areas where the authorities can funnel and control the movement of people entering or leaving the country, the policing of the maritime domain is far more complex.
For instance, the distance between the international boundary and Singapore’s shoreline is short — in some places, it is less than 500m — compared with the length of the coastline, he noted. Many of the 180 wharves and jetties dotting Singapore’s shoreline are also within private premises, such as shipyards and marinas.
The high volume of sea traffic within and across Singapore’s waters also poses a daily challenge for the maritime agencies, he added. Last year, about 140,000 foreign vessels — ranging from large passenger and cargo vessels, to small pleasure, trading and fishing craft — called into Singapore.
From 2011 to last year, 46 vessels were seized for intruding to Singapore, while 144 people were arrested for entering Singapore waters illegally or attempting to land illegally by sea, said Mr Teo.
Last year, 2,890 vessels were detected and stopped from entering Singapore’s territorial waters. The majority of these vessels had strayed off course and complied with instructions from the authorities, he added. Forty-nine people were also arrested for entering Singapore waters illegally or attempting to land illegally by sea.
Mr Teo said the Ministry of Home Affairs would continue to work with relevant agencies and private partners to review and tighten security processes, including studying the August incident. The Home Team agencies and their maritime security partners will also further review the security regime and work closely with stakeholders in the coming months to put in place any additional measures needed to keep Singapore’s waters and borders safe and secure, he added.
Maritime security to be tightened: DPM Teo
Channel NewsAsia 7 Oct 14;
SINGAPORE: More land- and sea-based physical barriers will be erected around Singapore’s shores, while a review of the current maritime security regime will be undertaken to deter and prevent illegal entry, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean told Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 7).
Responding to a query by MP Hri Kumar on the steps taken by the Government to secure the country’s shoreline following an incident where three foreigners entered Singapore illegally via Raffles Marina in August, Mr Teo said maritime security agencies have adopted a “co-ordinated and multi-layered security regime”.
There are plans to erect another 80km of land- and sea-based physical barriers, such as fencing and floating sea barriers, which will increase such barriers to 143km of Singapore’s 197km coastline, Mr Teo said.
“This allows our security agencies to focus their attention on areas and vessels that are more likely to pose a threat,” he said, adding that these measures have proven to be “generally successful”.
Between 2011 and 2013, 46 vessels were seized for intruding into Singapore. In the same period, 144 persons were arrested for entering Singapore waters illegally or attempting to land illegally by sea. Last year alone, 2,890 vessels were detected and stopped from entering Singapore’s territorial waters, although most of these vessels had strayed off course and complied with instructions when advised.
"Because we're an island, the maritime domain is far more complex," he said. "Our coastline is 197km long, and the distance between our international boundary and the shoreline is short, in some places less than 500 metres, compared to the length of our coastline. Along the shoreline, there are 180 wharves and jetties. Many of these wharves and jetties are within private premises, such as shipyards and marinas. The volume of sea traffic is also high and they fall into multiple categories."
A review of the current security regime will be undertaken in the coming months by the Home Team agencies and their maritime partners, Mr Teo said, adding that they will work closely with stakeholders to put in place any needed additional measures to keep the country’s waters and borders safe and secure.
He also called on owners and occupiers of vessel landing points to ensure there are adequate security measures on their premises, and the seafaring and coastal community to alert authorities of any suspicious vessels or activities occurring within Singapore’s territorial waters.
- CNA/cy/xy
More barriers to safeguard coastline
Lim Yan Liang, Aw Cheng Wei The Straits Times AsiaOne 10 Oct 14;
Singapore's maritime security will be tightened by the setting up of more physical barriers on land and at sea, even as a review of current measures is undertaken.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean made this clear in Parliament yesterday, in his response to a question on an immigration breach at Raffles Marina in August. Then, a Mongolian woman and two foreign men sneaked into the country after sailing from Langkawi on a catamaran.
Mr Hri Kumar (MP for Bishan- Toa Payoh GRC) wanted to know what the government has done to beef up border security since the incident.
Mr Teo said an additional 80km of barriers, such as fences, will be added to the 63km already in place. This means 143km of Singapore's 193km coastline will be barricaded. A spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs told The Straits Times that the first 30km of the new barriers will be up by 2019.
Mr Teo told Parliament that the barricades, together with regular patrols, have proven to be "generally successful".
Between 2011 and 2013, Mr Teo said, 46 vessels were seized for intruding into Singapore's waters and 144 persons arrested for illegally entering Singapore waters or attempting to do so.
Last year, 2,890 vessels were detected and stopped from entering Singapore's waters, although most had simply strayed off course, added Mr Teo.
In the border breach on Aug 19, the 30-year-old woman had wanted to snatch her two-year-old son from his paternal grandparents and take him back to London, after winning custody in her divorce from her Singaporean banker husband in the British courts.
She hired Adam Christopher Whittington, 38, managing director of Child Abduction Recovery International. After finding out that Raffles Marina in Tuas West Drive was guarded only from 9am to 5pm, they sneaked in at about 6am, after arriving here on a ship skippered by Australian Todd Allan, 39. All three were arrested and jailed for 10 to 16 weeks.
While the authorities will study this incident and work with security agencies and private partners to review measures to keep Singapore's coastline secure, said Mr Teo, he also urged the seafaring community to alert the authorities to any suspicious activity.
He explained that securing Singapore's waters is "a daily challenge" because of the high traffic and long coastline, which in some places is less than 500m from international waters.
For land and flight travel, "we can funnel and control the movement of persons entering or departing Singapore via a small number of immigration checkpoints at the airport, Woodlands and Tuas". But "because we are an island, the maritime domain is far more complex".
Mr Teo pointed out that there are 180 wharves and jetties along Singapore's shoreline - many within private premises such as shipyards and marinas. He said that owners and occupiers of such landing points have a responsibility to ensure there is adequate security in their areas.
Early this year, two Malaysians - a delivery driver and a teacher, who was later declared to be of unsound mind - managed to get past immigration checks at the Woodlands Checkpoint in separate incidents, sparking a review of security there.
Experts told The Straits Times they welcome the new review of maritime security, and hope to see more coastal patrols and greater use of advanced surveillance technology.
Mr Mark Fallon, a former United States Navy counter-intelligence agent who worked with the Singapore Police Force and Internal Security Department in the 1980s, pointed to the American practice of having "maritime intelligence fusion centres" where information and warnings are coordinated. "The integration of information and the ability of entities to work within a well thought-out strategic framework is essential," he said.
