SPEECH BY MINISTER FOR DEFENCE DR NG ENG HEN AT THE TOTAL DEFENCE AWARDS DINNER 2024 ON 10 OCT 2024

Parliamentary colleagues

Permanent secretaries

Service Chiefs

Award recipients

Ladies and gentlemen

As we commemorate 40 years of Total Defence this year, I think we can both count our blessings as well as reflect soberly the more difficult road ahead – not only for Singapore but globally.

SINGAPORE FACES CHALLENGES FROM EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL FORCES

That our world now and at least for this generation is at an inflexion point, is plain to see. All of us recognise that the world post-World War II is indeed undergoing stresses and strains. The system that was set up after World War II. That generation which set it up had their never again moment after World War II, and in that spirit, wanted to build institutions that would prevent a third war. You can imagine coming up the ravages, the horrendous loss of lives and buildings and institutions, and when they came out of it, they were united that it should never happen again. So they strengthened the United Nations to recognise fundamental liberties and rights, and wanted to promote global trade and integration, because they recognised that the key to prevent conflicts was inclusion and a stake in the peace and prosperity for all states, whether big or small.

The zeitgeist of that generation after the second World War has been diminished by 80 years of relative peace and prosperity. So, if you ask the current generation what their memories are, anyone who is born after the 1970s would have never experienced any conflict. In its place, a resurgence of less tolerant political platforms has emerged. What you see in Europe, for example, are far-right parties, the UK’s Reform Party, Sweden Democrats, and Alternative for Germany. They have been growing in popularity and their platforms are usually strident with extremist tones in their countries’ parliaments. 

Not only within countries, but in their diplomatic dealings with others, individual countries are becoming more assertive of their own well-being, sometimes to the detriment of others and the global state of affairs. Economists dub this nativist policies. Scrapping net zero emission targets, protectionist policies including rigid “Buy National” requirements, heightened tariffs, and tightened export restrictions — all these have been put into effect. There will be more to come — often for national security and competitiveness even though seasoned economists doubt their effectiveness. Nonetheless, the impact of these nativist policies is felt globally.

At the outset, I said Singapore can count its blessings. In a more disruptive world where communities are pulled asunder by intolerance, assertiveness, the insistence of one’s own rights, we have been held up as a model to emulate for racial and religious harmony, of an atmosphere of give and take, of groups exercising self-restraint so that they do not stoke resentment or even violence by infuriating the sensitivities of others or by reacting violently when their own sensitivities have been disregarded.

In Total Defence, all pillars have been tested and held up well in crises that Singapore went through. Our Military, Civil, Economic, Social, Digital, and Psychological Defence have stood strong and strengthened as a result of these stress tests. Even as recently as the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw how Total Defence was crucial in reducing deaths and helping us get back on our feet in the aftermath.

This virtuous state of affairs owes much to your personal contributions as individuals or companies. That is the reason why tonight we wanted to have this small token of a dinner to acknowledge and thank organisations, businesses, and individuals who have contributed directly to each of the six Total Defence pillars. 

APPRECIATION FOR TD AWARD WINNERS

I cannot name all of you but some examples suffice to show how your contributions have strengthened Total Defence in varied ways.

Ensign InfoSecurity (Singapore) Pte Ltd provided career opportunities such as internships, apprenticeships, and upgrading for Institute of Technical Education and Polytechnic students and members of the autism community through the Autism Resource Centre.

Deutsche Bank gives weight to National Service (NS) work experiences and performance when they hire, or when it comes to pay and promotion, and they ask for testimonials from their Commanders. 

The Taman Jurong C2E Committee, as we saw in the video, helped in our inaugural Exercise SG Ready. Total Defence 40 - I congratulate the planners, they wanted to be bold. But you know, when you want to be bold for the Total Defence simulated exercise, you have to be disruptive. Their challenge was how to be disruptive without getting scolded too much. There was limit, and you saw the video, there were lights off for certain institutions. In some institutions, the escalators stopped. I tested how long their boldness was, they said maybe half an hour, one hour. It stopped, and went back up again. But at least they did it. This also included phishing exercises.  We held our first water disruption exercise in 30 years. In some other countries, water disruption, brownouts, blackouts, are sometimes periodic occurrences. But in Singapore, you have to simulate these. So two blocks of flats at Yung Sheng Road, and approximately 200 lucky families, participated, and 50 volunteers were mobilised to distribute water and essentials to residents. I painted it as disruption but in reality, the PUB water trucks were all downstairs waiting to supply water in bags. It is not like our time where you have to go to the provision shop to buy water buckets so that you can carry water. Our waters now come to you pre-packed in plastic bags, I think five to ten litres. But it was still a good try.

Individuals like Mr Devanantthan s/o Tamilselvii and his volunteers created The Supper Club, a safe space to help youths with mental issues including those with suicidal ideation.

CONCLUSION

I also said at the outset that we have to take stock of the road ahead with sober and realistic lenses. We must expect, all of us, that when the tolerance and commitment to peace falls after eighty years of relative peace, incidents sometimes precipitated by accidents can happen. In our world history, it has happened all too often when conflicts are precipitated by tangential and unanticipated events. So, it will be very hard for someone to predict for you what will happen. You just know that the water level has gone up, systemic risks have gone up, something may precipitate it, and as they say, the rest becomes history. We must work on the basis that these disruptive events could occur even as early as within this coming decade. And when, not if they do, our Total Defence will again be tested. If that Total Defence is inadequate, well then Singapore will be among the many nations that cannot rise above their problems. But if our Total Defence holds, then Singapore will emerge intact and stronger, even better than before.

Once again, thank you for your contributions that make Singapore strong and prepared for the next crisis.

Thank you.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Singapore’s Total Defence Stands Strong and Strengthened