Table of Contents Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)
Mission: We work as a team, in partnership with the community, to make Singapore our safe and secure Best Home.
The mission of MHA is to make Singapore a safe and secure best home for our people. Guided by Ministry Headquarters, the functions of preserving internal security, enforcing law and order, and protecting lives and property are carried out by seven departments. They are the Singapore Police Force (SPF), the Internal Security Department (ISD), the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), the Singapore Prison Service (SPS), the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Home Team Academy (HTA). A total budget of $3,175 million has been allocated to MHA in FY2010 to achieve this mission.
To guide us in achieving our mission, MHA has developed a set of nine desired outcomes. These desired outcomes are our qualitative long term goals and comprehensively cover the different aspects of our mission of making Singapore a safe and secure best home for our people. MHA aims to achieve the following outcomes:
- A safe and secure society where life and property are protected
- Efficient registration of groups and people
- Secure borders with efficient and legitimate flow of goods, people and conveyances
- Secure and humane custody of prisoners
- Effective rehabilitation of prisoners
- A society free from drug activities
- A Singapore well-prepared for emergencies, civil disasters and unconventional threats
- A united Home Team committed to organisational excellence and prepared for future challenges
- Successful partnership with the community to maintain a safe and secure society
A safe and secure society where life and property are protected
This desired outcome is MHA’s long term target for our law enforcement and fire-fighting efforts. $1,994 million, which amounts to 62.8% of MHA’s budget, will be spent to achieve this desired outcome. The bulk of this amount will be channelled to the operations of SPF and SCDF. The primary functions carried out under SPF include upholding the law, protecting life and property, preventing crime and disorder, detecting and apprehending offenders, and preserving security within mainland Singapore and Singapore Territorial Waters. SCDF’s functions include protecting and saving lives and property viz the provision of fire fighting, rescue and emergency ambulance services.
Some of the major initiatives and programmes undertaken to support this desired outcome are:
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SPF’s and SCDF’s Command and Control Systems will be re-developed to provide more responsive services to the public and to improve MHA’s incident and crisis management capabilities. Areas of improvement include providing video streaming from fire/medical emergencies incident sites, a more streamlined 995-call overflow management, the ability to receive and send SMS/MMS, and enabling SPF frontline officers to send and receive data in voice and graphics format while on the move.
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SPF video surveillance systems will be expanded to cover Orchard Road and Central Business District (CBD) to complement SPF's effort in policing these two strategic locations in Singapore. With the systems, SPF will be able to perform opportunistic monitoring of the locations covered by the CCTV cameras. The presence of these CCTV cameras will also help to deter crime and provide a valuable source of information in our fight against terrorism.
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Land and sea barriers will be extended along the coastline to strengthen the coastline defence against illegal landings. This will allow SPF to channel its resources to strategic locations where the construction of land and sea barriers is not possible due to geographical constraints.
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A new Marina Bay Fire Station will be developed in the Marina South area to ensure optimal fire, rescue and emergency ambulance operational coverage. This will allow SCDF to provide rapid operational response for occupants of the Integrated Resorts, exhibition and convention centre, tenants of high-rise residential apartments and commercial buildings, and users of the many land and water- based leisure attractions being built in the area.
Efficient registration of groups and people
This desired outcome is MHA’s long term target for registration services provided to people and groups. This outcome will be achieved through facilitating the provision of immigration and registration facilities, such as the issuance of travel and identification documents, birth and death registration, and processing and granting of immigration passes, Permanent Residence and Citizenship status. $176 million, constituting 5.5% of MHA’s budget will be spent to achieve this desired outcome. MHA will focus on expanding the existing registration capacity and allowing the public to access immigration and registration services more efficiently via e-services. Additional self-service kiosks (comprising terminals for e-services and electronic queue system) would also be installed at ICA HQ’s lobby to improve our customer services.
Secure borders with efficient and legitimate flow of goods, people and conveyances
This desired outcome represents MHA’s critical role in safeguarding our borders, while at the same time ensuring an efficient and legitimate flow of goods, people and conveyances through our borders. $396 million or 12.4% of MHA’s budget will be spent to achieve this desired outcome. With continued increase in cargo and passenger volume, MHA seeks to enhance its system’s capabilities to enable more secure and higher clearance rate of cargo and passengers. All immigration counters will be equipped with Biometric Screening Capability to leverage on biometrics to ensure secure and expeditious clearance. More automated immigration clearance lanes would also be installed at Woodlands Checkpoint to allow bi-directional clearance for passengers. The bi-directional clearance system would give ICA the flexibility to clear arrival traffic in the morning peak hours and departure traffic in the evening peak hours. The old Woodlands Checkpoint would also be further developed to serve as another avenue for clearance of cargo and passengers.
Secure and humane custody of prisoners
This desired outcome represents MHA’s target of safe and secure custody of offenders in Prisons. $216 million, constituting 6.8% of MHA’s budget will be spent to achieve this desired outcome. Among the initiatives and programmes, $33 million will be allocated for the Redevelopment of Changi Prison Complex (CPC), which is an on-going project seeking to centralise all Prisons’ institutions in a single locality. The centralisation of facilities will streamline operations and enable faster mobilisation of resources in the event of contingencies. It also facilitates the return of the lands occupied by various low-density penal facilities, thereby optimising the land resources held by the State. In FY2010, the construction of the Prisons’ Headquarters (PHQ) will commence. The new PHQ will integrate all HQ units and serve as a base for strategic planning.
Effective rehabilitation of inmates and ex-offenders
The Home Team recognises that effective enforcement is only one part of the equation. Successful rehabilitation of inmates and reintegration of ex-offenders will steer them towards becoming contributing members of the society and reduce the likelihood of re-offending. $144 million will be spent to achieve this desired outcome and this constitutes 4.5% of MHA’s budget.
A myriad of rehabilitation programmes such as education, counselling, vocational training and core skills programme have been put in place to assist in the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders. Some of these programmes, in partnership with the community, will continue to be rolled out under the Yellow Ribbon Project (YRP). The YRP aims to create awareness, generate acceptance and inspire community action to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders. A more accepting and supportive community will enhance the survivability of ex-offenders in the society, and thereby indirectly helping them to reduce their likelihood of re-offending.
A society free from drug activities
This desired outcome captures the long term target of our operations in narcotics control. $51 million will be spent to achieve this desired outcome. This constitutes 1.6% of MHA’s budget. $48 million will be set aside to intensify our enforcement efforts through increased raids and operations against drug traffickers and abusers. We will stay vigilant against existing threats like abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants, prescription drugs and inhalants, while ensuring that we remain nimble and adaptable to respond quickly to operational changes and maintain our standard of operational excellence. We would also continue to work closely with key partners such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the Health Sciences Authority to continue our active Prevention Drug Education (PDE) and monitor the drug scene.
A Singapore well-prepared for emergencies, civil disasters and unconventional threats
This desired outcome captures the Home Team’s core operations in the area of security. MHA aims to provide robust Homeland security for Singapore, to prepare Singapore well for emergencies. $134 million will be spent to achieving this desired outcome. This constitutes 4.2% of MHA’s budget. Among the initiatives and programmes, $49.4 million will be set aside for the continued construction of new Civil Defence public shelters in MRT stations along the Circle Line (CCL). The development of these public shelters will increase the CD shelter coverage for the civilian population and provide them better protection against the effects of enemy weapons during a wartime emergency.
Successful partnership with the community to maintain a safe and secure society
To maintain safety and security in an increasingly complex operating environment, it is not sufficient for the Home Team to do it alone. The Home Team cannot do everything and be everywhere. The community plays an increasingly important role in ensuring its own safety and security and therefore, successful partnership with the community is crucial to MHA in making Singapore a safe and secure home. $ 47million will be spent to achieve this desired outcome. This constitutes 1.5% of MHA’s budget.
MHA will continue to engage the community via educational institutions, grassroots organizations and self-help groups through our public education programmes. We will also keep up with the times to ensure that the current preventive education messaging and initiatives remain relevant to our target audience. To reach out to the younger audience, SCDF is also collaborating with MOE to introduce emergency preparedness modules for Primary 1 and 2 pupils under MOE’s pilot Program for Active Learning (PAL). As for Primary 3 to 6 pupils, SCDF intends to introduce National Civil Defence Cadet Corps (NCDCC) junior club as one of the CCAs.
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