Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Singapore strongly condemns the Dec 14 shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that has killed at least 16 people and left 40 people hospitalised.
In a letter to his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on Dec 14, he wrote: “Singapore strongly condemns this act of terrorism. Such acts have no place in our societies and undermine the peace and security we all cherish.”
Two suspected gunmen opened fire near the famed beach as around 1,000 people celebrated the first night of the Jewish Hanukkah festival on the evening of Dec 14.
One of the alleged shooters is dead, while the other is in custody and in critical condition after the incident, which has been classified by Australian police as a terrorist incident.
“This senseless violence struck a place cherished by Australians and visitors alike, including many Singaporeans,” PM Wong said.
“On behalf of the Government of Singapore, I extend my deepest condolences to the families who have lost loved ones, and my heartfelt sympathy to those who were injured,” he added.
PM Wong said Singapore stands firmly with Australia in solidarity and support during this “painful and difficult time”.
He also wrote in a Facebook post at around 11.15pm on Dec 14 that he was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic incident. “My thoughts are with all those who are affected,” he said.
Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and National Development, said in a separate Facebook post on Dec 15: “Nothing justifies such violence. May the voice of reason, peace, unity and solidarity continue to prevail in the world against the tyranny of extremism, terrorism and violence.”
He also urged Singaporeans to stay safe amid their travels.
Narrow escape for Singaporean family of 6 when gunmen attacked Sydney’s Bondi Beach
A Singaporean family of six holidaying in Sydney found themselves in the middle of the terror attack on Dec 14 when gunmen fired on beachgoers at Bondi Beach.
Recalling the harrowing experience, Ms Karin Lee, 44, and Dr Edward Wong, 49, told The Straits Times in a phone interview several hours later that they reached the famous beach at about 1pm local time (10am Singapore time) with their triplet daughters, 12, and son aged five.
The family had been in the Australian city since Dec 6 to celebrate the girls’ completion of the PSLE, and were slated to return home on Dec 15.
It was a very peaceful and sunny day when they arrived at the beach, said Ms Lee, adding that she saw many families with young children having a good time.
About five hours later, the family decided to pack up when they suddenly heard loud sounds that seemed like gunshots.
Dr Wong’s first thought was: This is not normal.
“The gunshots went on for a while. Then we noticed seagulls were flying away and people were panicking. We could also hear police sirens, ambulances and car horns in the distance. That’s when I knew something was definitely wrong,” said Dr Wong, who is a dentist.
He immediately sprang into action to get the children to safety. His wife, who had stepped away to use the toilet a few minutes before, returned just in time and the family began running.
There was no time to gather the family’s personal belongings or clothes, said Ms Lee, who is a kindergarten teaching assistant.
“We had only our wallets, phones, cards, money – things that were already on us. We left our boy’s stroller, bags and shopping, and left the beach without shoes,” she said, noting that, most importantly, their passports were with them too.
The six of them ran till they reached the top of a hill, where police officers had arrived and were gesturing to the crowd to keep running to safer areas.
When they stopped at an entrance of a block of flats to hide, they heard a local couple from a second-floor unit call out to them and another woman to come into their home for refuge.
They took up the offer and stayed inside the house for a few hours while the situation calmed down. They then learnt from the news that there had been a terrorist attack.
“The couple were so kind to us, offering us water and shelter in that moment. The man even drove us back to our hotel because so many of the roads were closed. It was so scary, but we are so thankful for them. It was a godsend to have met them,” said Dr Wong.
According to Reuters, one suspected gunman was killed and another was in a critical condition. Police were investigating whether a third gunman was involved, and a bomb disposal unit was working on several suspected improvised explosive devices.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack later on Dec 14, saying the evil that was unleashed was “beyond comprehension”.
Minister for Home Affairs and Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam said the Sydney shooting was a terrible incident.
While he said the precise causes and reasons for the attack in Australia were not known, he added that hate speech has often been an underlying cause on other occasions, by creating an environment more prone to violence.
Singapore has in place tough laws against hate speech and conduct that incite hatred or violence, he said, adding that historical incidents linked to race and religion have shown that it has real and serious consequences.
“Hate speech denigrates one group. It suggests that the identified group is the source of problems,” he said on Facebook. “It dehumanises the group, eventually making violence against them justified.”
Religious groups in Singapore condemn anti-Semitism and the terror attack at Bondi Beach
Religious groups in Singapore on Dec 15 uniformly condemned the shooting at Bondi Beach while expressing solidarity with the global and Singaporean Jewish community.
In a statement, Singapore’s Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) denounced the shooting as “pure evil” and violence born of anti-Semitism. “This atrocity is a stark reminder that the poison of anti-Semitism, and indeed all forms of religious and racial hatred, remains a global scourge,” it said.
“An attack on one religious community is an attack on the sanctity of all faiths on the fabric of a harmonious society,” the IRO added, reaffirming its solidarity with the Jewish community.
It also said different communities live side by side in Singapore in peace, understanding and respect, and that the Bondi shooting “reinforces our collective resolve to strengthen those bonds further, to vigilantly guard against the seed of intolerance, and to continue fostering inter-religious dialogue and solidarity”.
The Hindu Endowments Board and Hindu Advisory Board said it was particularly heart-rending that innocent lives were taken during a festival dedicated to light and faith.
“We stand in solidarity with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s letter of condolence to his Australian counterpart. We join the nation in rejecting such heinous acts that threaten global peace and security.”
The boards also shared prayers for families who lost loved ones to be given resilience to return to normality soon.
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) said there is no place for violence targeted at civilians and innocent people anywhere, let alone at religious events or places of worship.
MUIS added that the attack was a reminder to reject all forms of violence and hatred, and to root out extremism and radicalisation.
The Australian High Commission in Singapore said on Dec 15 that its flags will be flying at half-mast in memory of the casualties of the attack. An electronic condolence book is available online for anyone wishing to offer messages to those affected by the attack.
Israeli Ambassador to Australia calls for greater Jewish protection
Israel’s Ambassador to Australia has called for greater protection of Jewish people in Australia as dozens of people lined up on Dec 16 at Sydney’s Bondi Beach to pay tribute to the 15 victims and those wounded in the weekend’s Hanukkah festival shootings.
The attack by two gunmen on Dec 14 was Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.
The death toll stands at 16 including one of the alleged gunmen, aged 50, who was shot by the police on Dec 14. The man’s 24-year-old son and alleged accomplice was in critical condition in hospital, the police said on Dec 15.
Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon urged the Australian government to take all required steps to secure the lives of Jews in Australia, with the attack on Dec 14 only the worst of a recent spate of anti-Semitic crimes in the city.
“Only Australians of Jewish faith are forced to worship their gods behind closed doors, CCTV, guards,” Mr Maimon told reporters in Bondi, after laying flowers at the temporary memorial and paying his respects to the victims.
A string of anti-Semitic incidents in Australia has unfolded in the past 16 months, prompting the head of the nation’s main intelligence agency to declare that anti-Semitism was his top priority in terms of threat to life.
The police have not released the suspects’ names, but national broadcaster ABC and other media have identified them as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram.
There are currently 25 survivors receiving care in several Sydney hospitals, officials said. Mr Ahmed al Ahmed, the 43-year-old Muslim father of two who charged at one of the gunmen and seized his rifle, remains in a Sydney hospital with gunshot wounds.
Tougher gun laws
Australia’s gun laws, considered among the toughest in the world, are now being examined by the federal government, after it was revealed that Sajid Akram had six registered weapons.
The police said he had held a gun licence since 2015. Two flags of militant group Islamic State were found in the gunmen’s vehicle, ABC News reported, without citing a source.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Dec 16 that gun laws introduced by the previous conservative Liberal-National coalition government in 1996 following the Port Arthur massacre needed to be re-examined.
“It is clear now that those laws need to be brought back up to date because it should never be the case that it is physically possible for two people to do what we saw on Sunday,” he told Channel Nine.
The 15 victims ranged from a rabbi who was a father of five, to a Holocaust survivor, to a 10-year-old girl named Matilda, according to interviews, officials and media reports.
“An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian and our way of life,” said Mr James Larsen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations.
“There is no place for this vile anti-Semitism in Australia, or anywhere in the world.”
The Straits Times and REUTERS
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