Laju hijacking

Laju hijacking In January 1974, four terrorists armed with machine guns and explosives attacked the Shell Oil Refinery on Pulau Bukom Besar, bombing petroleum tanks. Two of the terrorists were Japanese (members of the Japanese Red Army) and the other two were members of the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The former wanted to overthrow the ‘imperialist’ government of Japan, while the latter aimed to retaliate against ‘imperialist countries that were oppressing the Arab masses’.

Their plan was to disrupt oil supplies from Singapore to South Vietnam. However, the attack did not go smoothly. Their boat ran aground on a coral reef and they had to have another craft tow them to the island. The raid was abortive, but in their attempt to escape, the terrorists hijacked a passenger ferry, Laju, taking five Singaporean crew members hostage. At the Eastern Anchorage, they were intercepted and surrounded by marine police boats and three Singapore Maritime Command gunboats. Two of the hostages escaped.

After several days of negotiations, the terrorists agreed to release the remaining hostages in exchange for a party of guarantors which included four Singapore Armed Forces Commandos and eight other government officials— led by S.R. Nathan, then director of security and intelligence for the Ministry of Defence.

The hijackers also negotiated safe passage to South Yemen after their comrades seized the Japanese Embassy in Kuwait. On 7 February 1974, the terrorists were transferred by boat and taken to the airport. At the airport, they surrendered all their arms to the police and released the three hostages. On 8 February, the four terrorists— and the Singaporean officials— flew to Kuwait aboard a special Japan Airlines flight. The Singaporean officials later returned safely to a heroes’ welcome.

Photo credit: Singapore Press Holdings/ The Straits Times