Speech by Second Minister for Defence Mr Chan Chun Sing at The N.E.Mation! 9 Awards Ceremony

Good afternoon everyone, friends and colleagues. Welcome to this occasion where we give out the awards for N.E.mation. Now, unfortunately I don't have the results. Before we hand out the results, let me congratulate all of you - not just the winners, but also the participants for putting in tremendous effort behind the scenes to give us the various N.E.mation clips that we will see in a short while.

I know for a fact that many of you have given up your holidays, to do what you have done, and to be with us today. Thank you very much for the tremendous effort, because your effort is important. Your effort says something about the spirit - not just the spirit of the competition but the spirit of doing something that you believe in; to give up something, even something that you treasure, for something that you believe in. Just now you heard the DJ mention that this year is a special year. This year is SG50 - we celebrate our 50th anniversary; 50th year of independence. You have probably heard about this in school. My daughter told me that every other project in school has to do with SG50. But the question is - what's so special about SG50? Just like N.E.mation, don't we do this every year? What's the big deal?

Well, to many of us who were born after 1965, it is one of those things that we do year-in, year-out. But I think if we take a step back, actually SG50 is very special and very touching for many of us. And the reason is simply this - this place that we call home, Singapore, has never been an independent place; except for the last 50 years. If you check back history, for the last few hundred years, this place has never been an independent place or an independent country. We have always been part of a larger entity where our fate and our destiny were determined by someone else. Someone who was often not part of us - it could be part of a regional country, another bigger country in the region, it could also be part of another entity even beyond the region. So if you trace back our history, we were once part of Malaya, and we were part of the British Empire and at one point in time, we were occupied by the Japanese. And if you trace back beyond the Japanese Occupation, we were again part of the British Empire. If you trace back beyond the British Empire, before Sir Stamford Raffles came here, we were part of the Johor Sultanate and if you go back further, we were probably part of the Malacca Sultanate, the Srivijaya Empire, the Palembang Empire. But we have never been independent.

The last 50 years was an exception and we intend to keep it that way. We intend to keep it that way to let generations of Singaporeans, our children, and grandchildren, to have the chance and desire to be called Singaporeans. To do that, we need a powerful weapon. During your N.E.mation, I don't know whether the SAF colleagues have shown you what the most powerful weapon in the SAF arsenal is. Did they tell you the state secret? Actually, the most powerful weapon that Singapore and the SAF have is not something that we buy overseas, not something that we can build, but it is something in our hearts. It is the desire and the willingness to fight for our independence, to remain independent so that we can determine our destiny for years and generations to come.

When I was a young officer, I once visited a regional country. They were much poorer than us; their armed forces were much less well equipped than ours. I met a young soldier from this country. He looked at me in the eyes and he said, "Your country is rich and powerful. Your military is advanced and your people are united. We are poor, we are not so advanced, we don't have all the weaponry that you have. But you know something? If anyone dares to touch my motherland, even with a bamboo stick, I will chase him out of my motherland." I thought, "He possessed the most powerful weapon on earth that money cannot buy." Because he had shown me his determination to defend what is his. I have always remembered that episode, and I've always been inspired by the fighting spirit that this young soldier has. And I will wish that for generations to come, we as Singaporeans, members of the SAF, will always remember this story. That the most powerful weapon that we can have for the defence of this country is within us - our will, our determination to fight for what is ours. If we have that in us and we demonstrate that as a team, then I am very confident, that not only will we be able to celebrate SG50, we'll be able to celebrate SG100 and beyond.

So today once again, for all the fellow students, parents and teachers, thank you for participating in this effort. Your effort produced not just the animation clips that we will be shown shortly, your effort, your collective effort, is also a demonstration of your commitment; to set aside even your individual desires; to put something above your own interest; to answer to a higher calling; to do something for this country and ours that we call home. Your contribution is also a testimony to our desire to continue this journey, to continue this dream of ours, to be called Singaporeans in years to come. Your efforts have also paid tribute to the pioneer generation, who so believed and gave us this country of ours. If the 1965 generation did not believe in this country, then we would never be called Singaporeans today. Our responsibility as the younger generation is to continue to live this dream of the pioneer generation, to be called Singaporeans, free and independent. I wish you all the very best, and may I also invite all of us here to continue this dream of ours, to be called Singaporeans in many more years and many more generations to come.

Thank you very much.

More Resources

• SAF Marks Total Defence Day in 50th Year of Formation