Laju incident: Difference between revisions

Laju incident
Laju incident
Location	Pulau Bukom, Singapore ; Eastern Anchorage
Date	31 January 1974; 50 years ago ; 11:45 am – 1:30 pm (UTC+8)
Target	Shell oil refinery complex
Attack type	Terrorist attack
Weapons	Submachine guns ; 12 explosives
Victims	5 hostages
Perpetrators	Japanese Red Army ; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Assailants	2 Japanese Red Army terrorists ; 2 Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists
No. of participants	4
Motive	to disrupt large oil supply from Singapore to other countries

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The Laju incident, also known as the Laju ferry hijacking, occurred on 31 January 1974 in Singapore. Four armed men from the terrorist groups Japanese Red Army and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked the Shell oil refinery complex on Pulau Bukom and later hijacked the ferryboat Laju and took its five crew members hostage. The crisis was resolved after the Singapore government provided the terrorists safe passage to the Middle East in exchange for the release of the hostages.

Background

The group behind the attack-plan originally intended to attack an Esso oil refinery at Slagentangen outside Tønsberg in Norway but changed their plans after Norwegian authorities raised a public terror-alarm in 1973, causing the group to retract and change their plans.^[1]^[2]

Attacks on Pulau Bukom

On 31 January 1974, a group of four men armed with submachine guns and explosives launched a terrorist attack on the Shell oil refinery complex located at Pulau Bukom, a small island lying to the south of mainland Singapore. Two of the terrorists were members of the Japanese Red Army (JRA) and the other two were from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Their goal was to seek the disruption of the large oil supply from Singapore to other countries, especially South Vietnam. On 1 February 1974, a PFLP spokesman made a statement in Beirut that the attack was to serve as a warning to all monopolistic oil companies on one hand and imperialism in general on the other, especially the resulting perceived oppression of the Arabs in the Middle East.

At the beginning of their operation, the terrorists' boat ran aground on a nearby coral reef. They managed to reach the shore of Pulau Bukom after convincing an unsuspecting passing boatman to tow them towards the island. As they headed towards a gate of an oil-tank installation, they fired shots at two passing vehicles but no one was injured. A sentry at a security post managed to escape and raise the alarm and set off a warning. The terrorists were able to detonate 3 of the 12 explosives which they were carrying but they only managed to cause little damage.

Hijacking of Laju

In their attempt to escape after their botched attack-plan was carried out, the terrorists then hijacked the ferry-boat Laju at the island's main jetty and took all of its five crew-members hostage. It soon led to a chase after the Singapore authorities were aware of the hijacking and raised the alarm and the ferry-boat was quickly surrounded by gunboats from the Singapore Navy and patrol-boats from the Marine Police at the Eastern Anchorage, just outside Marina Bay.

This was followed by 7 days of intense negotiations between the Singapore government and the terrorists and during this same period of time, two of the hostages managed to escape their captors by jumping overboard in the middle of the night and were swiftly rescued. The terrorists later agreed to release the remaining crew members in exchange for a group of so-called "guarantors" for their safe passage to the Middle East. This group of 13 consisted of four commandos from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and eight other local government officials and was led by S. R. Nathan, the then-Director of the Security and Intelligence Division (SID) at the Ministry of Defence.^[3]

Crisis resolution and consequences

On the night of 7 February, the group was transferred from Laju to the Marine Police Headquarters and then to Paya Lebar Airport, where the terrorists surrendered their weapons and freed the remaining hostages. After they had done so, the four terrorists left Singapore on 8 February at 1:25 am, accompanied by S. R. Nathan's team on a specially arranged Japan Airlines flight to Kuwait. After reaching Kuwait, the 13-men party flew back and reached Singapore on the following day.^[4] The hijackers were later accepted and flown to South Yemen.^[5]

All members of the negotiating team received honours on National Day, 9 August 1974.^[6]

The incident was Singapore's first encounter with international terrorism. It also directly contributed to the beginning of the establishment of full-time National Service for the country's police force in 1975, one year after the incident, referred to as Police National Service (PNS), which was aimed at, initially, raising a sizeable source of manpower for the police in the event of another terrorist incident on vital installations and the provision of protection and security for the latter against the former.^[7]

References

^ "Første gang på 41 år: – Derfor slår myndighetene offentlig alarm" (in Norwegian). NRK. 24 July 2014.
^ "- Stoppet terror i 1973 ved å slå alarm". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). 28 July 2014.
^ Squire, Thomas A. (2019). Always a Commando : the life of Singapore army pioneer Clarence Tan. Marshall Cavendish Editions. pp. 242–253. ISBN 978-9814779319.
^ "Newspaper Article - Hijackers say: We are sorry". Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
^ "Ship Hijackings Are A Rare Occurrence, Often Complicated With AM-Ship Hijack, Bjt". Associated Press News. 8 October 1985.
^ "Newspaper Article - N-Dayhonours for Laju heroes". Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
^ "Laju hijacking". Infopedia.

External links

Days Of Rage - S1: Laju Hijack, episode about this event from a documentary series by Channel News Asia

1°13′42″N 103°45′59″E / 1.2284°N 103.7664°E / 1.2284; 103.7664

[1] "Første gang på 41 år: – Derfor slår myndighetene offentlig alarm" (in Norwegian). NRK. 24 July 2014.

[2] "- Stoppet terror i 1973 ved å slå alarm". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). 28 July 2014.

[3] Squire, Thomas A. (2019). Always a Commando : the life of Singapore army pioneer Clarence Tan. Marshall Cavendish Editions. pp. 242–253. ISBN 978-9814779319.

[4] "Newspaper Article - Hijackers say: We are sorry". Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2014.

[5] "Ship Hijackings Are A Rare Occurrence, Often Complicated With AM-Ship Hijack, Bjt". Associated Press News. 8 October 1985.

[6] "Newspaper Article - N-Dayhonours for Laju heroes". Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2014.

[7] "Laju hijacking". Infopedia.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Ferry hijacking in Singapore}}
-{{Unreferenced|date=May 2007}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
-The '''Laju Incident''' occurred on [[31 January]] [[1974]] in [[Singapore]], when four armed men attacked the [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]] [[oil refinery]] complex on [[Pulau Bukom]] and later hijacked the ferryboat ''Laju''.
+{{Infobox civilian attack
+| title            = Laju incident
+| partof           =
+| image            =
+| image_size       =
+| image_upright    =
+| alt              =
+| caption          =
+| map              =
+| map_size         =
+| map_alt          =
+| map_caption      =
+| location         = [[Pulau Bukom]], [[Singapore]] <br> Eastern Anchorage
+| target           = [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]] [[oil refinery]] complex
+| coordinates      =
+| date             = {{start date and age|1974|01|31|df=yes}}
+| time             =
+| time-begin       = 11:45 am
+| time-end         = 1:30 pm
+| timezone         = UTC+8
+| type             = [[Terrorist attack]]
+| fatalities       =
+| injuries         =
+| victims          = 5 hostages<!-- or | victim = -->
+| perpetrators     = [[Japanese Red Army]] <br> [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]]
+| assailants       = 2 [[Japanese Red Army]] terrorists <br> 2 [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] terrorists<!-- or | assailant = -->
+| susperps         = <!-- or | susperp = -->
+| weapons          = Submachine guns <br> 12 explosives
+| numparts         = 4<!-- or | numpart = -->
+| dfens            = <!-- or | dfen = -->
+| motive           = to disrupt large oil supply from Singapore to other countries
+| inquiry          =
+| coroner          =
+| accused          =
+| convicted        =
+| verdict          =
+| convictions      =
+| charges          =
+| litigation       =
+| website          = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
+| module           =
+}}
+{{History of Singapore}}
+The '''Laju incident''', also known as the '''Laju ferry hijacking''', occurred on 31 January 1974 in [[Singapore]]. Four armed men from the terrorist groups [[Japanese Red Army]] and [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] attacked the [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]] [[oil refinery]] complex on [[Pulau Bukom]] and later hijacked the ferryboat ''Laju'' and took its five crew members hostage. The crisis was resolved after the Singapore government provided the terrorists safe passage to the Middle East in exchange for the release of the hostages.
-== Overview ==
+==Background==
+The group behind the attack-plan originally intended to attack an [[Esso]] oil refinery at Slagentangen outside [[Tønsberg]] in [[Norway]] but changed their plans after Norwegian authorities raised a public terror-alarm in 1973, causing the group to retract and change their plans.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Første gang på 41 år: – Derfor slår myndighetene offentlig alarm|url=https://www.nrk.no/norge/_-derfor-slar-myndighetene-alarm-1.11846618|publisher=[[NRK]]|date=24 July 2014|language=Norwegian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=- Stoppet terror i 1973 ved å slå alarm|url=http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/--Stoppet-terror-i-1973-ved-a-sla-alarm-83716b.html|work=[[Aftenposten]]|date=28 July 2014|language=Norwegian}}</ref>
-On [[31 January]] [[1974]], four men armed with submachine guns and explosives attacked the Shell oil refinery complex on [[Pulau Bukom]], a small island lying south of Singapore. The terrorists were two members of the [[Japanese Red Army]] (JRA) and two members of the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP). Their goal was to disrupt the oil supply from Singapore to other countries, especially [[South Vietnam]]. On 1 February 1974, a PFLP spokesman made a statement in Beirut 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.
+==Attacks on Pulau Bukom ==
-At the beginning of their operation, the terrorists' boat ran aground on a coral reef. They managed to reach the shore of Bukom after convincing an unsuspecting boatman to tow them towards the island. As they headed towards a gate of an oil tank farm, they fired shots at two passing vehicles although no one was injured. A sentry at a security post managed to escape and raise the alarm.
+On 31 January 1974, a group of four men armed with submachine guns and explosives launched a terrorist attack on the [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]] oil refinery complex located at [[Pulau Bukom]], a small island lying to the south of mainland Singapore. Two of the terrorists were members of the [[Japanese Red Army]] (JRA) and the other two were from the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP). Their goal was to seek the disruption of the large oil supply from Singapore to other countries, especially [[South Vietnam]]. On 1 February 1974, a PFLP spokesman made a statement in [[Beirut]] that the attack was to serve as a warning to all monopolistic oil companies on one hand and imperialism in general on the other, especially the resulting perceived oppression of the Arabs in the Middle East.
+At the beginning of their operation, the terrorists' boat ran aground on a nearby coral reef. They managed to reach the shore of Pulau Bukom after convincing an unsuspecting passing boatman to tow them towards the island. As they headed towards a gate of an oil-tank installation, they fired shots at two passing vehicles but no one was injured. A sentry at a security post managed to escape and raise the alarm and set off a warning. The terrorists were able to detonate 3 of the 12 explosives which they were carrying but they only managed to cause little damage.
-The terrorists were able to detonate 3 of the 12 explosives they were carrying, but they caused little damage. To escape, they then hijacked the ferryboat ''Laju'' at the Bukom jetty and held 5 crew members hostage. This led to a chase and ''Laju'' was quickly surrounded by marine police boats and navy gunboats at the [[Eastern Anchorage]].
+==Hijacking of ''Laju''==
-This was followed by a few days of intense negotiation, during which two hostages managed to escape by jumping overboard in the middle of the night. The terrorists later agreed to release the other crew members in exchange for a party of "guarantors" for their safe passage to the Middle East. This 12-men party consisted of 4 [[Singapore Commandos|commandos]] from the [[Singapore Armed Forces]] and 8 other government officials. The party was led by the Director of [[Security and Intelligence Division]] at the [[Ministry of Defence (Singapore)|Ministry of Defence]], [[Sellapan Ramanathan|S R Nathan]], who later became the [[President of Singapore]] and Mr [[Tay Seow Huah]], the first Director of Security and Intelligence Division.
+In their attempt to escape after their botched attack-plan was carried out, the terrorists then hijacked the ferry-boat ''Laju'' at the island's main jetty and took all of its five crew-members hostage. It soon led to a chase after the Singapore authorities were aware of the hijacking and raised the alarm and the ferry-boat was quickly surrounded by gunboats from the [[Republic of Singapore Navy|Singapore Navy]] and patrol-boats from the [[Police Coast Guard (Singapore)|Marine Police]] at the Eastern Anchorage, just outside Marina Bay.
+This was followed by 7 days of intense negotiations between the Singapore government and the terrorists and during this same period of time, two of the hostages managed to escape their captors by jumping overboard in the middle of the night and were swiftly rescued. The terrorists later agreed to release the remaining crew members in exchange for a group of so-called "guarantors" for their safe passage to the Middle East. This group of 13 consisted of four [[Singapore Commandos|commandos]] from the [[Singapore Armed Forces]] (SAF) and eight other local government officials and was led by [[S. R. Nathan]], the then-Director of the [[Security and Intelligence Division]] (SID) at the [[Ministry of Defence (Singapore)|Ministry of Defence]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Squire |first1=Thomas A. |title=Always a Commando : the life of Singapore army pioneer Clarence Tan |year=2019 |isbn=978-9814779319 |pages=242–253|publisher=Marshall Cavendish Editions }}</ref>
-On the night of 7 February, the group was transferred from ''Laju'' to the Marine Police Headquarters and then to the airport. After they freed the remaining three hostages, the four terrorists left Singapore on 8 February at 1:25 am, accompanied by Nathan’s team on a flight to Kuwait.
+==Crisis resolution and consequences==
+On the night of 7 February, the group was transferred from ''Laju'' to the Marine Police Headquarters and then to [[Paya Lebar Airport]], where the terrorists surrendered their weapons and freed the remaining hostages. After they had done so, the four terrorists left Singapore on 8 February at 1:25{{nbsp}}am, accompanied by S. R. Nathan's team on a specially arranged [[Japan Airlines]] flight to [[Kuwait]]. After reaching Kuwait, the 13-men party flew back and reached Singapore on the following day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19740210.2.2&sessionid=3eede154146e40928a73009a96b61d76&keyword=%22security+and+intelligence+division%22&lang=en&token=and%2csecurity%2cdivision%2cintelligence|title=Newspaper Article - Hijackers say: We are sorry|access-date=17 December 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220163146/http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19740210.2.2&sessionid=3eede154146e40928a73009a96b61d76&keyword=%22security+and+intelligence+division%22&lang=en&token=and%2csecurity%2cdivision%2cintelligence|archive-date=20 December 2013}}</ref> The hijackers were later accepted and flown to South Yemen.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/a0644520747fa1b8983dc227876d93e2 |title=Ship Hijackings Are A Rare Occurrence, Often Complicated With AM-Ship Hijack, Bjt |date=8 Oct 1985 |work=Associated Press News }}</ref>
+All members of the negotiating team received honours on [[National Day (Singapore)|National Day]], 9 August 1974.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19740809.2.3&sessionid=99968b40a614417d9ae4ec14531ef4cc&keyword=%22Security+and+Intelligence+Division%22&lang=en&token=and%2csecurity%2cdivision%2cintelligence|title=Newspaper Article - N-Dayhonours for Laju heroes|access-date=17 December 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617115456/http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19740809.2.3&sessionid=99968b40a614417d9ae4ec14531ef4cc&keyword=%22Security+and+Intelligence+Division%22&lang=en&token=and%2csecurity%2cdivision%2cintelligence|archive-date=17 June 2013}}</ref>
+The incident was Singapore's first encounter with international terrorism. It also directly contributed to the beginning of the establishment of full-time [[National Service in Singapore|National Service]] for the country's police force in 1975, one year after the incident, referred to as Police National Service (PNS), which was aimed at, initially, raising a sizeable source of manpower for the police in the event of another terrorist incident on vital installations and the provision of protection and security for the latter against the former.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1372_2009-01-15.html |title=Laju hijacking |date= |work=Infopedia }}</ref>
+==See also==
+{{portal|Singapore}}
+* [[1974 in Singapore]]
+* [[Communist terrorism]]
+* [[Counter-terrorism in Singapore]]
 ==References==
+{{Reflist}}
-* [http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/about_us/history/birth_of_saf/v06n01_history.html 1974 - The Laju Incident] - Ong Kian Seng, [[Ministry of Defence (Singapore)|Ministry of Defence]], 7 January 2002
+==External links==
+* [https://www.channelnewsasia.com/watch/days-rage/laju-hijack-1503351 Days Of Rage - S1: Laju Hijack], episode about this event from a documentary series by [[Channel News Asia]]
+{{Communism in Malaysia and Singapore}}
+{{Communism in Japan}}
+{{Coord|1.2284|N|103.7664|E|display=title}}
-[[Category:Terrorism in Singapore]]
+[[Category:Acts of piracy]]
+[[Category:Communist terrorist incidents in Asia]]
+[[Category:Hijackings in Asia]]
 [[Category:Hostage taking]]
-[[Category:Terrorist incidents in 1974]]
+[[Category:January 1974 events in Asia]]
+[[Category:Japan–Norway relations]]
-[[Category:Terrorist attacks attributed to Palestinian militant groups]]
+[[Category:Japan–Singapore relations]]
+[[Category:Japanese Red Army]]
+[[Category:1973 crimes in Norway]]
+[[Category:1974 crimes in Singapore]]
 [[Category:1974 in Singapore]]
+[[Category:Terrorism in Japan]]
+[[Category:Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacks]]
+[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1974]]
+[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Norway]]
+[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Singapore]]
+[[Category:Hijackings in the 1970s]]

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