"Shanmugam calls for unity when terror strikes - The StraitsTimes 29 May 2016
Coming together as a society after a terrorist attack is as important as learning how to cope during the actual incident, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said yesterday.
Besides knowing how to respond from the outset, citizens need a sense of "community cohesiveness" to move on, he said, speaking at Chong Pang's revamped Emergency Preparedness Day, the first of a series of exercises to prepare people for possible terror scenarios.
There have been terror attacks around the region and security agencies arresting people in neighbouring countries, while the authorities here have seized plans to attack Singapore and arrested those wanting to attack the Republic and assassinate its leaders, he pointed out.
The revamped Emergency Preparedness Day exercise is among new measures to increase vigilance and speed up security response under the national SG Secure programme. In the community, the hope is to have at least one trained person in every household.
This comes at a time when Mr Shanmugam reiterated that there is a "clear and present" terror threat."
There is indeed a need to train at least ONE person in each household who know WHAT TO DO during a Terrorist Attack given that the threat of such an attack is 'clear and present'!
This ONE will be different from ALL OTHER community training as this concerns LIFE and DEATH of the person being trained.
How to make sure we are ready?
1. train as many as we want and can. However, DO provide the constant reminder and practice opportunities for those TRAINED. e.g. I am trained in CPR+AED about a year ago. I passed the assessment of my practical skills then after passing my theory test. MY CONCERN: am I STILL able to practice the CPR+AED skills NOW since I had NOT practice it from that 'tested' day?? I have serious doubt. This CPR+AED skills concerned LIFE and DEATH situation. And I am TERRIFIED of it. So, am seeking self-practice but without the proper equipment! This is NOT good enough. So, I proposed EVERY block has a mannequin and a room for us to PRACTISE. Of course, the utilization rate WILL BE LOW if the trained person is NOT committed. That is the biggest challenge for organizations that rely on 'volunteers';
2. drums into our sub-consciousness that: a TERROR attack IS a TERROR ATTACK regardless of the 'proclaimed motives' of the TERRORISTs! No religion, no race and no other reasons CAN justify killing innocent people. Period. This has to be drummed into our kids at schools, at home with the adult parents, at religious orders of all faiths, EVERYONE!
When this mind-set is established, ANYONE who try to spread the 'rumours' after a TERROR ATTACK had taken place will NOT BE BELIEVED by the public of all religions, all races and all clear-thinking and clear-minded type.
3. As revealed by the case of a 'mentally unsound person' attacking Muslim girls, the Muslims keep calm even though the attacker is a Chinese, purportedly dislikes Muslim, and had being mentally disturbed for a while. Anyone who tried to SPREAD the hatreds and fan it would have been told by the listeners to stop sprouting rubbish and get the facts right.
The public MUST have a place to check ANY SUCH incidents INSTANTLY via their mobile devices. In fact, better still, the government should PUSH such messages to ALL citizens whenever such incidents occurred. Is this an invasion of PRIVACY? NO as it is PUBLIC matters. The fast each individual get this msg from the 'authority the better the chance to maintain calm and clear mind.
Of course, there will be detractors that say this 'authority' will be abused by the government to brainwash the citizens. The truth is, brainwashing happened everyone in the schools, through the pressure of 'keeping up with the Tans, Ahmads and Johns'. This ONE single act, unless terror attacks happened everyday, will NOT brainwash much!
Coming together as a society after a terrorist attack is as important as learning how to cope during the actual incident, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said yesterday.
Besides knowing how to respond from the outset, citizens need a sense of "community cohesiveness" to move on, he said, speaking at Chong Pang's revamped Emergency Preparedness Day, the first of a series of exercises to prepare people for possible terror scenarios.
There have been terror attacks around the region and security agencies arresting people in neighbouring countries, while the authorities here have seized plans to attack Singapore and arrested those wanting to attack the Republic and assassinate its leaders, he pointed out.
The revamped Emergency Preparedness Day exercise is among new measures to increase vigilance and speed up security response under the national SG Secure programme. In the community, the hope is to have at least one trained person in every household.
This comes at a time when Mr Shanmugam reiterated that there is a "clear and present" terror threat."
There is indeed a need to train at least ONE person in each household who know WHAT TO DO during a Terrorist Attack given that the threat of such an attack is 'clear and present'!
This ONE will be different from ALL OTHER community training as this concerns LIFE and DEATH of the person being trained.
How to make sure we are ready?
1. train as many as we want and can. However, DO provide the constant reminder and practice opportunities for those TRAINED. e.g. I am trained in CPR+AED about a year ago. I passed the assessment of my practical skills then after passing my theory test. MY CONCERN: am I STILL able to practice the CPR+AED skills NOW since I had NOT practice it from that 'tested' day?? I have serious doubt. This CPR+AED skills concerned LIFE and DEATH situation. And I am TERRIFIED of it. So, am seeking self-practice but without the proper equipment! This is NOT good enough. So, I proposed EVERY block has a mannequin and a room for us to PRACTISE. Of course, the utilization rate WILL BE LOW if the trained person is NOT committed. That is the biggest challenge for organizations that rely on 'volunteers';
2. drums into our sub-consciousness that: a TERROR attack IS a TERROR ATTACK regardless of the 'proclaimed motives' of the TERRORISTs! No religion, no race and no other reasons CAN justify killing innocent people. Period. This has to be drummed into our kids at schools, at home with the adult parents, at religious orders of all faiths, EVERYONE!
When this mind-set is established, ANYONE who try to spread the 'rumours' after a TERROR ATTACK had taken place will NOT BE BELIEVED by the public of all religions, all races and all clear-thinking and clear-minded type.
3. As revealed by the case of a 'mentally unsound person' attacking Muslim girls, the Muslims keep calm even though the attacker is a Chinese, purportedly dislikes Muslim, and had being mentally disturbed for a while. Anyone who tried to SPREAD the hatreds and fan it would have been told by the listeners to stop sprouting rubbish and get the facts right.
The public MUST have a place to check ANY SUCH incidents INSTANTLY via their mobile devices. In fact, better still, the government should PUSH such messages to ALL citizens whenever such incidents occurred. Is this an invasion of PRIVACY? NO as it is PUBLIC matters. The fast each individual get this msg from the 'authority the better the chance to maintain calm and clear mind.
Of course, there will be detractors that say this 'authority' will be abused by the government to brainwash the citizens. The truth is, brainwashing happened everyone in the schools, through the pressure of 'keeping up with the Tans, Ahmads and Johns'. This ONE single act, unless terror attacks happened everyday, will NOT brainwash much!
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