SINGAPORE SET FOR LOCKDOWN AND RING OF STEEL FOR TRUMP SUMMIT WITH KIM JONG-UN
▶ Strict city state to flood streets with police in areas where leaders will meet
Singapore’s reputation for rigid law and order has been a major factor in the decision to hold Tuesday’s US-North Korea summit there – and the tiny city state is determined not to disappoint.
Police, including elite units of Nepalese Gurkhas, will flood the streets to enforce a lockdown of key sections of the city, blocking off roads to facilitate the historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
To pre-empt any disruptive protests, a blanket ban has been imposed on bringing flares, banners or loudhailers anywhere near the key summit venues.
Concrete barricades will be in place at key sites, and mechanical metal barriers that rise from the ground at the touch of a button are likely to appear on some roads.
The police deployment for the meeting is expected to be the biggest since 2006, when about 23,000 officers were mobilised for a meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the city-state.
Singaporeans are used to, and largely accept, tough security measures and the sight of uniformed officers patrolling the metro and armed soldiers at airports is normal.
The government has long hammered into its citizens that heavy security is necessary because the wealthy financial centre is a prime target for a terrorist attack.
But the extreme measures are likely to be rare even by Singaporean standards, and could disrupt the largely orderly daily life of the city’s 5.6 million residents.
Music teacher Janice Tan, 28, said the security arrangements were “terribly inconvenient”, particularly because of the expected road closures.
“I care about world peace, but I would prefer if they took their meeting elsewhere,” she said.
The decision to ban flares, banners and loudhailers at some summit venues is perhaps driven by concerns that even in a city where protests are rare and require a police permit, some may still be tempted to come out on to the streets.
Sites covered by these restrictions include Sentosa, the resort island where the leaders will meet on Tuesday, and a diplomatic district that takes in the Shangri-La hotel where Mr Trump is expected to stay.
Authorities have also restricted the use of airspace, apparently to allow Mr Kim, Mr Trump and their entourages to get in and out of the city state smoothly.
But that could spell problems for travellers using Singapore’s Changi Airport – one of the world’s busiest – with aviation authorities warning of delays.
There have already been signs that authorities are nervous ahead of the meeting.
An Australian former terrorist suspect, who was refused entry into Singapore this week and deported, said he believed it was because of the looming summit.
A Kim Jong-un lookalike – who said he had been to Singapore before without problems – was grilled by immigration officials for two hours when he arrived on Friday and warned not to visit sites linked to the meeting.
Some of the heaviest security will be around Sentosa, which observers believe was picked because it is relatively far from population centres, and the Capella Hotel where the leaders will hold their historic talks.
Hotel staff were seen turning away those without business in the area, while plainclothes security officials – US and Singaporean – were spotted at a bar overlooking Singapore Strait. While security may be extreme, analysts think it is required.
“By and large, Singaporeans are used to seeing men in uniform,” said Graham Ong-Webb, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. “This time round, they might balk slightly at the number of security assets on the ground, but it is necessary.”