'We cannot become complacent about safety & security in S'pore': PM Wong

Singaporeans cannot become complacent about safety and security, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sep. 23.

He was delivering a speech at the SGSecure 10th anniversary event, which the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) commemorated for a decade of building community preparedness, unity, and resilience.

Cannot let guard down

"My concern is that, after so many years of peace and security, we may be starting to let our guard down," PM Wong said.

When an unattended bag is seen in a public space, for example, people would assume that someone else will deal with it.

Another example PM Wong highlighted is when someone notices a friend or family member becoming drawn to extremist material online, and ignores it.

"We see behaviour that does not seem quite right, but we hesitate to speak up because we do not want to be seen to overreact," added PM Wong.

Cannot take our ordinary days for granted

In that regard, he pointed out that the theme for the Sep. 23 event was "Our Ordinary Days are Worth Cherishing".

An exhibition with the same name will be held at Our Tampines Hub from today (Sep. 23) to Sep. 27.

According to MHA, the exhibition celebrates the everyday moments in Singapore. "It seeks to remind Singaporeans of the need to collectively protect our way of life and the peace we enjoy now by staying alert, united, and prepared."

"An ordinary day in Singapore is nothing dramatic," said PM Wong, explaining that an ordinary day in our country would include children going to school, people going to work, friends having a meal together, and families coming home safely at night.

"We hardly give these things a second thought, and that is how we have become accustomed to peace and security here in Singapore.

We should cherish that, but we should never take that for granted."

Terrorism remains a major concern

This is because terrorism is still a major concern today, PM Wong added.

Noting that the threats Singapore faces are much broader, PM Wong cautioned that an individual could decide to carry out an attack after becoming radicalised online.

He also warned that "there could be an act of violence in a school, workplace, religious organisation or public space".

While security agencies have intervened before anyone got hurt, there were also "very close calls in some cases".

"What if one day, despite our best efforts, something gets through? And we know no security system can give us a 100 per cent guarantee.

And that's why we cannot become complacent about safety and security in Singapore."

PM Wong noted, however, that the country has made progress through SGSecure as more Singaporeans are aware of how to react in a crisis.

Across society, emergency preparedness has also strengthened, and stronger bonds of trust have been built.

"These bonds become especially important if an attack is motivated by race or religion," PM Wong said.

He raised the 2024 example of the Internal Security Department (ISD) detaining a self-radicalised 17-year-old planning an attack at a neighbourhood centre near Tampines West Community Centre.

Following this, the Tampines GRC Community Response Roundtable swiftly gathered religious leaders to send a message that "such violent extremist ideologies represent none of our communities, and would not divide us".

New initiatives under the SGSecure movement

Singaporeans generally have high threat awareness and alertness, MHA stated in a press release.

It added, however, that the 2025 SGSecure Social Experiments results indicate that public complacency is still an ongoing concern.

As such, some areas where the public may expect new initiatives include growing the SGSecure Advocate Programme (SAP) and a trial of an AI-enabled training chatbot.

SAP is a new programme with the intention of building a network of informed and engaged community members who can recognise potential threats, as well as identify and report potentially radicalised persons.

Having been piloted in Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) in 2024, work is in progress to expand it to schools and the wider community, including workplaces and other organisations.

In addition, MHA is trialling an AI-enabled training chatbot integrated into WhatsApp to better support SGSecure advocates, as well as volunteers and frontline officers in their engagement with the public for the SGSecure movement.

More outreach

In terms of reaching more Singaporeans and organisations, a new integrated marketing and communications campaign will be launched in 2027 to refresh SGSecure's messaging.

As for piloting and scaling new forms of outreach, in October 2026, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and SSPO will launch another SGSecure-themed storybook through a crossover with the Police Pal series for preschoolers.

It will be titled "Run, Hide and Tell: An SGSecure Story".

SGSecure and SPF also partnered to develop SGSecure mini-games within MATA-verse on Roblox to reach the youths.

10th anniversary

SGSecure was launched in 2016 as a national movement to sensitise, train, and mobilise Singaporeans to play a part in preventing and dealing with a terrorist attack, according to MHA.

Over the past decade, more than 716,000 households have been engaged through SGSecure house visits by the Home Team, and over 279,000 people have signed up as community responders.

SGSecure content has also been integrated into the school curriculum, and more than 70,000 companies have appointed at least one SGSecure representative for preparedness efforts at the workplace.

In addition, over 475,000 people have been engaged to build social trust and cohesion through interfaith activities, and over 1,300 representatives from religious and community organisations have been sensitised to terror threats.

Members of the public may visit the SGSecure website for updates on its activities, which include the upcoming February 2027 SGSecure Roadshow.