Singapore and Brunei strengthen ties
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN - Senior officials from Brunei and Singapore’s Ministries of Home Affairs held their inaugural bilateral meeting in the sultanate on May 11.
This meeting began after the visiting Singaporean delegates paid a courtesy call to Minister of Home Affairs Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Awang Abu Bakar Hj Apong at the ministry’s building in the capital.
This showed a mutual understanding and close relations between the two neighbouring countries and was an opportunity to exchange views and information on matters of common interest, said a statement provided at the event.
Leading the Singaporean delegates was Leo Yip, permanent secretary at Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
Yip is also the permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and permanent secretary for National Security and Intelligence Coordination.
The bilateral meeting was co-chaired by Yip and Acting Permanent Secretary at Brunei’s Ministry of Home Affairs Hj Idris Hj Md Ali.
In his remarks, Hj Idris hoped that the meeting would open up more opportunities, especially in regular engagement by senior officers of both ministries.
He said yesterday’s meeting hoped to set up a platform for continuous development of good relations between the officials of both nations.
“I would like to encourage our senior officials here to work closely together in exploring exchange programmes or short work placements for our officials, particularly in ensuring safety and security,” said Hj Idris.
He said that senior officials of both ministries have done various programmes and projects under the technical cooperation.
He gave the example of how the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) under Brunei’s Ministry of Home Affairs recently held the first Exercise Planning Team (EPT) meeting for Asean Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX) from May 3-4, which Singapore participated in and contributed towards the exercise’s success.
He added that Brunei’s Fire and Rescue Department has also made improvements in terms of the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) training that they attended in Singapore over the years.
When the programme started, there were only 20 personnel Special Squad Unit. Today, the number has increased to 40 personnel and they are being involved in and exposed to a number of tests and exercises, he said.
He said Brunei’s Prisons Department have also learned from the experiences of Singapore Prison Services, particularly in the areas of inmate rehabilitation programme and the role of non-government organisations (NGO) in the after-care of inmates.
In the areas of border security, both relevant agencies – namely the Department of Immigration and National Registration of Brunei and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority of Singapore – had bilateral meetings starting from 2014.
Meanwhile, the visiting Singaporean permanent secretary expressed hope that yesterday’s meeting would identify new areas of cooperation while deepening and strengthening the relationship of both countries.
”Brunei and Singapore share a special relationship that was established by the former leaders of the two countries – Al-Marhum Sultan Hj Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien and the late Lee Kuan Yew – about 50 years ago,” he said.
“As we go through the agenda items, I hope we can identify existing areas to build on and maybe new areas as well. We want to extend this collaboration,” Yip said.
Following the bilateral meeting, the delegates also visited some strategic places in the country.
