| James Kon |
SECURITY and enforcement relations between Brunei and Singapore received a further boost with the commencement of the inaugural Joint Training Annual Exchange Programme for Senior Officers from the two countries.
A delegation of eight senior officers from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Republic of Singapore is currently attending the Brunei session of the programme, which is an initiative to enhance collaboration on security and enforcement between the Government of Brunei Darussalam represented by the Prime Minister’s Office (Security and Enforcement) and the Government of the Republic of Singapore represented by its MHA.
The official opening ceremony for the joint training programme was held at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) yesterday and attended by the guest of honour, the Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Hamdan bin Haji Abu Bakar.
He said Brunei Darussalam and Republic of Singapore have close relations in many fields, including security and enforcement.
Now that a platform for ministerial and senior officials’ meetings between both countries has been established, the annual exchange programme will enhance cooperation at the senior management level, he added.
The deputy minister hoped that with the exchange of ideas, best practices and operational experiences between the participants, the initiative will further strengthen bilateral cooperation and friendship between Brunei Darussalam and Singapore.
Dato Paduka Awang Haji Hamdan bin Haji Abu Bakar with T Raja Kumar at the opening ceremony. – PHOTOS: JAMES KON
The Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Hamdan bin Haji Abu Ba-kar giving his remark
The Permanent Secretary (Law and Welfare) at the Prime Minister’s Office, Brunei Darussalam, Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Juanda bin Haji A Rashid in his speech
The Deputy Secretary (International), Ministry of Home Affairs, Republic of Singapore, T Raja Kumar in his speech
Some of the participants of the inaugural Joint Training Annual Exchange Programme for Senior Officers between the Government of Brunei Darussalam, represented by the Prime Minister’s Office (Security and Enforcement) and the Government of the Republic of Singapore, represented by its Ministry of Home Af-fairs
A group photo of the Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Hamdan bin Haji Abu Bakar, the Deputy Secretary (International), Ministry of Home Affairs, Republic of Singa-pore, T Raja Kumar and the participants of the Joint Training Annual Exchange Programme for Senior Officers as well as senior officials of both countries
Elaborating on the strong ties between the two countries, Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Juanda bin Haji A Rashid, Permanent Secretary (Law and Welfare), at the Prime Minister’s Office, said that “the annual exchange of visits can serve as a means to further enhance cooperation at the senior management level and subsequently strengthen the basis for operational collaboration between the Prime Minister’s Office of Brunei and the Ministry of Home Affairs of Singapore, specifically on security and enforcement matters”.
As Brunei and Singapore remain vulnerable to dynamic security threats, he emphasised that such a joint initiative (Joint Training Annual Exchange Programme) is imperative in ensuring a safe security environment in both countries.
The annual exchange, he added, “would allow senior officials from both sides to meet and discuss as well as share operational experiences and best practices in combating, among others, terrorism and transnational crimes, illicit drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, cybercrime, money laundering and sea piracy as well as exchanging information pertaining to the crime trends and domestic experiences in the fight against terrorism.”
In his speech, T Raja Kumar, Deputy Secretary (International), Ministry of Home Affairs, Republic of Singapore, touched on the strong ties between both countries. “Our two ministries have enjoyed a long-standing and close relationship which saw regular interactions between leaders of Ministry of Home Affairs, Republic of Singapore and Brunei’s Prime Minister’s Office especially over the course of this year.”
He said that Dato Paduka Awang Haji Hamdan and Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Juanda visited Singapore last week to attend Singapore’s MHA Home Team Festival which was from November 12 – 14.
“Brunei’s PMO and Singapore’s MHA have coordinated closely at Asean and international meetings and we are grateful that Brunei has often provided us with supporting voice in such meetings on common issues,” he said.
“The bilateral relation reached a key milestone with the signing of intent in September last year to regularise engagement between our senior officers on an annual basis, thereby setting the stage for continuous development of good relations between the future generation of officials from both countries,” T Raja Kumar added.
In term of force-to-force relation, he said, “The Singapore Police Force, Internal Security Department and Central Narcotics Bureau hold regular meetings with their Brunei counterparts.
“The police forces from both countries renewed a memorandum of understand-ing on combating transnational crimes and developing police cooperation in last May while Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau has annual bilateral meetings with Brunei’s Narcotics Control Bureau,” he noted.
“This joint training will provide opportunities for young and upcoming officers in both countries to build strong bonds of trust and serve as a solid foundation to grow personal ties and foster greater cooperation with not just officers but also the higher agencies and on a country to country level.”
Ten senior officers from Brunei’s security and enforcement agencies under the Prime Minister’s Office will attend the programme which will be held in two sessions from November 15 – 20 in Brunei, and from November 22 – 27 in Singapore.
During the programme in Brunei, the participants will visit Al-Islah Rehabilitation Centre, the Royal Brunei Police Force, the Anti-Corruption Bureau and other security and enforcement related places.
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