Internal Security (General) Regulations

Status:

Current version
as at 02 Feb 2025

Internal Security Act

(Chapter 143, Section 72)

Internal Security (General) Regulations¹

¹Extended to Singapore by the Modification of Laws (Internal Security and Public Order) (Singapore) Order 1963 — L.N. 231 of 16.9.63.

Rg 2

G.N. No. S 194/1960

REVISED EDITION 1990

(25th March 1992)

[16th September 1963]

Citation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Internal Security (General) Regulations.

(2) These Regulations shall apply within any security area proclaimed under section 48 of the Act.

Definition

2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, “perimeter fence” means any fence or barrier declared to be a perimeter fence under regulation 3.

Perimeter fences

3.—(1) The Minister may by notification in the Gazette declare any fence or barrier surrounding any area in a security area that may be defined or specified in the notification to be a perimeter fence for the purpose of this regulation.

(2) Where any such area is surrounded by two or more fences or barriers separated from each other by intervals all such fences and barriers together with the land lying between them shall be deemed to be one fence for the purpose of this regulation.

(3) When any fence or barrier has been declared a perimeter fence under this regulation and the declaration has not been cancelled, that perimeter fence shall for the purposes of this regulation be deemed to continue to exist notwithstanding any physical gap or defect therein, whether arising from injury to or lack of repair of that fence or otherwise.

(4) The Commissioner of Police shall cause to be provided in any perimeter fence one or more gates or entrances (referred to in this regulation as the entry points) to enable persons to pass in and out of the area concerned, but the entry points shall be deemed for the purposes of this regulation to form part of the perimeter fence.

(5) Any person who crosses or attempts to cross, or passes or attempts to pass any article over, through or under any perimeter fence, except as provided in paragraph (7), or who damages or attempts to damage or tamper with any such fence or any part thereof or any gate or movable barrier at any entry point shall be guilty of an offence under these Regulations.

(6) The Commissioner of Police may cause to be taken such steps as he may consider necessary to prevent any person crossing any such perimeter fence or passing any article over, through or under that fence, and such steps may extend to the taking of defensive measures which involve or may involve danger to the life of any such person:

Provided that where any such measures are taken in a place not on, under or within the perimeter fence itself, such precautions shall be taken including the prominent display of warning notices as may be reasonably necessary to prevent inadvertent or accidental entry into any such place.

(7) Without prejudice to the provisions of any other written law or any order made thereunder, any person may enter or leave or may convey any article into or from any area surrounded by a perimeter fence through any entry point therein at a time when the entry point is opened by order of the officer-in-charge of the Police Division in which such area is situated.

(8) In addition to any other powers conferred upon him by this regulation or under any written law, any police officer or any member of the security forces or any other person directed by the Commissioner of Police in which such perimeter fence is situated to guard such perimeter fence may arrest without warrant any person committing an offence under this regulation.

(9) No compensation or damages shall be payable in respect of any injury received or death caused as a result of any defensive measure authorised under paragraph (6) unless the Minister shall certify that the compensation or damages in the circumstances of the particular case is just and equitable.

(10) Nothing in paragraph (5) shall apply to any police officer or member of the security forces acting in the course of duty or to any other person authorised in that behalf by the officer-in-charge of the Police Division in which the area is situated or by any other police officer empowered by that officer.

Power to control clearing of undergrowth

4.—(1) The Minister, whenever he considers it necessary or expedient in the interests of public safety, may make a clearance order in respect of —

(a)	any land abutting on or lying within a distance of 46 metres from any railway or public road or perimeter fence in any security area; or
(b)	any land in such area which is used for or in connection with the cultivation of rubber, oil palm, gutta-percha, coconut, bananas or any other fruit growing on trees, or any other agricultural or food crops;

directing the owner or occupier of the land or the agent of either of them, or both the owner and the occupier of the land and their agents, or any person or persons residing within the area enclosed by a perimeter fence —

(i)	to the extent and in the manner specified in the clearance order to cut and clear away from any land affected by the order, all herbage, bush and undergrowth and any other object mentioned in the order, other than permanent buildings; and
(ii)	to prevent any herbage, bush or undergrowth from growing higher than 30 centimetres on any land affected by the clearance order and to maintain the land in a clean condition to the satisfaction of such person or authority as may be named in the order.

(2) For the purpose of this regulation the land affected by a clearance order made —

(a)	in respect of any land abutting or lying within a distance of 46 metres from a railway or public road shall be deemed to be such land as aforesaid and such portion of any public road reserve abutting on such land which lies directly between such land and such road up to a distance of 46 metres from the centre of such railway or public road;
(b)	in respect of any land abutting or lying within a distance of 46 metres from a perimeter fence, and of any land used for or in connection with the cultivation of rubber, oil palm, gutta-percha, coconut, bananas or any other fruit growing on trees or any other agricultural produce or food crops shall be deemed to be such portion or portions thereof as may be defined in the clearance order.

(3) A clearance order made in respect of land abutting on or lying within a distance of 46 metres from a railway or public road or a perimeter fence may be made either generally in respect of all such lands within an area to be described in the order or specially in respect of particular land or lands.

(4) If any owner or occupier of any land affected by a clearance order or the agent of either of them —

(a)	refuses or neglects to comply with the direction mentioned in paragraph (1)(a), within 14 days from the date on which the order is published in the Gazette or within 7 days from the date on which the order is served on him;
(b)	neglects to comply with the direction mentioned in paragraph (1)(b); or
(c)	cannot be found,

it shall be lawful for any person authorised by the Minister to enter upon such land and to cut and clear away such herbage, bush, undergrowth or other object, and the expenses incurred in the execution of such work may be recovered as a civil debt due to the Government from the owner or occupier affected by such order.

(5) Without prejudice to paragraph (4), the owner or occupier of any such land who refuses or neglects to comply with a clearance order shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 and to a further fine of $100 in respect of every day during which the offence continues after conviction.

(6) Any court by which a person being the owner or occupier of any land has been convicted of an offence under paragraph (5) shall, whether or not it orders the person to pay any fine, order that person to pay any expenses or costs for which he is liable under that paragraph; and that order shall be enforced as if it were, and it shall be deemed to be, an order for compensation made under the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68), and a Certificate by the Minister for Finance of the amount of such expenses or cost shall be admissible in evidence and shall be conclusive proof of the amount.

(7) In this regulation, “owner or occupier” includes, in the case of any area enclosed by a perimeter fence, any person residing within that area.

Gratuities

5.—(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other written law, in any case in which the Government has made any payment to any person or to the dependants of any person in respect of any injury to that person or of his death resulting from any act of terrorism and that person or his dependants are eligible for any compensation in accordance with the provisions of any written law in consequence of the same act of terrorism, then the amount of any such payment made by the Government shall be repaid to the Government by the person liable to pay such compensation, and shall be set off against and deducted from the amount of the compensation:

Provided that no person shall be liable to repay to the Government an amount greater than the amount of any such compensation.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation, a certificate signed by the Minister for Finance or by any person or class of persons authorised by him in writing in that behalf that a payment has been made by Government to any person or the dependants of any person, specifying the amount thereof, shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of such payment and of the amount thereof.

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