On 31 January 1974, four terrorists armed with submachine guns and explosives attacked the Shell Oil Refinery on Pulau Bukom Besar, an island south of mainland Singapore.

After their failed attempt to blow up the oil tanks, the terrorists - dubbed the "Bukom bombers" by the newspapers - hijacked the ferryboat Laju at the Bukom jetty and held five crew members as hostages.

After several days of negotiations that involved the governments of Singapore and Japan, the terrorists agreed to release the hostages in exchange for a party of guarantors to ensure their safe passage out of Singapore. The incident ended on 8 February 1974, when the terrorists left for Kuwait.

Description
The four terrorists began their operation by hiring a boatman on the pretext of wanting to go fishing. When the boat reached the Bukom area, they attacked the boatman and took over the craft. However, their boat ran aground on a coral reef, so they tricked a passing boatman to tow them to the island.

Once on Bukom, they tried to hijack a vehicle to penetrate deeper into the refinery, but their attempts failed. They then planted explosives at three oil tanks, but the blasts caused little damage. One of the tanks burst into flames, but firemen managed to put out the fire quickly. About S$15,000 worth of crude fuel oil was lost.

The foursome failed to detonate their remaining explosives. To escape, they boarded the Laju, a ferry operating between Bukom and mainland Singapore. They took all five crew members on board as hostages and ordered them to sail into international waters. Marine police on patrol boats soon spotted the Laju and a sea pursuit ensued.

After the Laju came to a stop at the Eastern Anchorage, marine police boats, customs launches and navy gunboats surrounded it and negotiations began. The four identified themselves as two members of the Japanese Red Army and two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

They said that their Bukom operation was retaliation against imperialism and was aimed at disrupting the oil supply from Singapore to South Vietnam, as an act of solidarity with the revolutionary forces in Vietnam.

After days of intense negotiations, during which two hostages escaped, the hijackers agreed to release their hostages in exchange for a group of guarantors to accompany them on their flight from Singapore to Kuwait and to ensure their safety up to Kuwait.

This came after another group of terrorists seized the Japanese embassy in Kuwait on 6 February and took several hostages, demanding that the Japanese government send a plane to Singapore to take the Bukom bombers to Kuwait.

On 7 February, the four were taken to Paya Lebar Airport, where they surrendered their arms, released the hostages, and boarded a specially-arranged Japan Airlines (JAL) aircraft. At 1:25 am on 8 February, the plane took off.

On board with the terrorists were 13 Singapore government representatives acting as the guarantors,
two Japanese government officials and 12 JAL crew members.

The 13 Singaporean guarantors were led by S. R. Nathan, who was then director of security and intelligence at the Ministry of Defence and is now the president of Singapore, and included eight other government officials and four Singapore Armed Forces commandos.

In Kuwait, they handed the matter over to the local government.
They were back in Singapore the following day, 9 February.

Significance
If the Bukom bombers had successfully destroyed the Shell refinery, it would have caused a shortage of oil in the region for at least a few years, as Singapore was the world's third-largest refining centre and supplied oil to other countries in the region. Fortunately, little damage was done.

The incident was Singapore's first encounter with international terrorism and highlighted the country's vulnerability to events arising from conflicts which it had no direct role or interest in. The government managed to end the crisis without any loss of life. However, it was more drawn-out than desired, despite the government's best efforts.

Through the Singapore government, the hijackers had sought the help of the North Korean government to escape to an Arab country. However, Singapore's consultations with North Korea led nowhere. The hijackers had also asked the Japanese Ambassador in Singapore to arrange for a plane to take them out of Singapore, but the Japanese government's initial refusal to provide the aircraft led to a delay in their departure.


Singh (1991) wrote:
In many ways, the long negotiations and the inability to react and control the situation may have had a lasting impact on the political leadership, and this among others must have figured very high in the decision to invest in a well-oiled machinery to deal with international terrorism. This frame of mind and the machinery was put to test when SQ 117 was skyjacked (p. 30).

The 1991 hijacking of the Singapore Airlines flight SQ 117 lasted only two days because of Singapore's swift and effective action at the time.

Timeline

31 Jan 1974

10:15 am : A boatman takes the terrorists out to sea, believing they were fishing enthusiasts.
11:45 am : First explosion is heard on Bukom.
11:50 am : Marine police receives news of a bomb attack at Bukom.
1:15 pm - 1:30 pm : Laju comes to a stop at the Eastern Anchorage and negotiations soon begin.
8:00 pm : Singapore government announces its decision to grant the hijackers safe passage out of Singapore.

7 Feb 1974

2:00 pm : Singapore government makes an offer to the hijackers. The offer stated that the Japanese government had arranged for an aircraft to take them to Kuwait together with some Japanese officials and that
Singapore government officials would accompany them on the flight and guarantee their safety until they arrive in Kuwait. However, they had to surrender their arms to the Singapore officials and release their hostages before boarding the plane.
3:00 pm : Hijackers accept the offer.
10:30 pm :Hijackers and their hostages leave the Laju to be taken to Paya Lebar Airport.

8 Feb 1974

1:25 am : JAL aircraft carrying the hijackers and their Singaporean guarantors takes off.


By Chew, Valerie
written on 2008-10-20
National Library Board Singapore

Labels: Articles, Laju Hijacking