Negotiating with terrorist - The Laju Incident

On 31 Jan 1974, the Shell Oil Refinery located on Pulau Bukom Besar, (an island lying south of Singapore) was attacked by four terrorists who were armed with submachine guns and explosives. The group comprised two Japanese from the Japanese Red Army (JRA) or 'Sekigun' and two Arabs from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Their aim was to disrupt the oil supply from Singapore to 'unfriendly' countries and in particular, South Vietnam, as the U.S. was engaged in a war there. A PFLP spokesman, in a statement made in Beirut on 1 Feb 1974, added that the attack was a warning to all monopolistic oil companies on one hand and imperialism in general on the other - especially the perceived oppression of the Arab masses in the Middle East.

The attack on Pulau Bukom Besar went wrong from the start. The boat that the four tried to steer to Bukom ran aground on a coral reef and was stuck until they tricked an unsuspecting boatman into towing them to the island. As soon as they reached the Bukom shore, they scrambled over the sea wall and quickly headed to one of the gates leading to the oil tank farm. The terrorists were unable to stop a lorry coming through the gate, despite firing at the driver. An engineer working on the island was also shot at when he drove past the terrorists but he too escaped unharmed.The lone sentry at a security post was taken by surprise but managed to evade capture. He then raised the alarm.

Of the 12 explosives they carried, the terrorists were only able to detonate three. At approximately 1145 hours, the first explosion was heard but caused little damage.

To escape the botched attack, the terrorists then hijacked the ferryboat ‘Laju’ at the Bukom jetty and headed for the sea. The ‘Laju’ was soon sighted by patrol boats and pursued. At the Eastern Anchorage (Fig 1), they were intercepted and completely surrounded by 15 marine police boats, custom launches and three Singapore Maritime Command gunboats.

Holding the five crew members of the ‘Laju’ as hostages, the terrorists started their bargaining. During the night, two of the hostages escaped by jumping overboard. After several days of tense negotiations, the terrorists agreed to release the remaining crew of the ‘Laju’ in exchange for a party of 'Guarantors' . This included a group of Singaporeans. The team was led by Mr S.R. Nathan, then MINDEF’s Director of Security & Intelligence (now President of Singapore). The 12-men-team was made up of four SAF Commandos and eight other government officials.On 7 Feb 1974, arrangements were made to transfer the terrorists by boat from ‘Laju’ to the Marine Police Headquarters and thence by minibus to the airport. Before leaving the ‘Laju’ at 2230 hours, the terrorists covered themselves with hoods and tied the three hostages with their hands behind their backs. Throughout the 30-minute ride to the Marine Police jetty, the hijackers kept their automatic pistols pressed to the hostages' temples.

On arrival at the airport, the terrorists surrendered all their arms to the Police and the three Singapore hostages were immediately freed. On 8 Feb 1974 at 0125 hours, the four terrorists left Singapore for Kuwait, thus ending this tense incident in Singapore.

The ‘Laju’ incident is a measure of the confidence and daring of members of the Singapore Commandos (formed just five years earlier) to provide the necessary assurance for Singapore officials to act as guarantors in a potentially explosive situation. It also demonstrates SAF’s operational readiness to handle any crisis and situation that threatens the security of Singapore.

Source from: "http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/about_us/history/birth_of_saf/v06n01_history.html"