Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said Singapore will not allow any foreign vessels to assert authority in its waters.
Dr Balakrishnan said all vessels passing through Singapore’s waters have to take instructions from MPA. “If there are any attempts to assert authority or take any unauthorised actions, our agencies and our vessels and our forces will take appropriate measures,” he said.
Dr Balakrishnan was responding to a question in Parliament about the collision between Malaysian vessel Polaris and Greek bulk carrier Pireas in Singapore’s territorial waters off Tuas earlier this month.
He shared that the Pireas was allowed to proceed to its next port of call, after the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) determined that the incident was not a “very serious marine casualty.” Dr Balakrishnan also said the vessel was not detained by the Malaysian authorities as it was in Singapore’s territorial waters.
MOE to spare no effort to ensure standards of academic rigour
Responding to questions regarding checks when hiring potential employees at education institutions, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Manpower Ms Low Yen Ling explained that is unfortunate that there is no system that will be able to exhaustively keep out those who lie and cheat.
Referring to American Micky Ferrera-Brochez – currently in the centre of Singapore’s HIV database leak – who was hired by Temasek and Ngee Ann Polytechnics, Ms Low explained that both institutions conducted their pre-employment checks which were ‘in line with the practice of the public sector, as well as many private sector companies.’
Ms Low added that there is a limit on background checks when overseas institutions refuse to provide confirmation, citing privacy.
Ms Low pledged that the Education Ministry ‘will spare no effort to work closely with our polytechnics, our universities, and also our ITEs, to strengthen our pre-employment checks and also ensure that the standard of academic rigour is kept by educators in our institutions.’
Image from govsingapore
