Speech by Senior Minister of State for Defence Mr Ong Ye Kung at the N.E.Mation 10! Awards Ceremony

Good afternoon everyone,

Like all academy awards, before giving out the awards, there must be a speech first. It is a great honour to be here today amongst all of you and to look at your wonderful productions. I am sure the last six months had been intense, and the process you went through was almost like a boot camp. You have come so far into the top 10. Well Done. Give yourself a big round of applause.  

Last week, I was at the Singapore Discovery Centre. Nexus arranged a dialogue for me with a group of students and we were talking about Total Defence. Many of them were from Junior Colleges. They told me that Total Defence was good, but the lessons were naggy. They said that Total Defence has very good messages, and suggested to weave it into our daily activities so that it comes alive and is much more interesting. I think it is a very good suggestion and N.E.mation is one such example. 10 years ago, it started out as a small experiment to teach Total Defence. 10 years later, we have 15,000 students participating and it came alive for all of you. I think you had great fun doing the clips, and in the process also learnt about Total Defence. So I think that this is the way to go.

I want to talk a little about all the clips. I have seen all of them, and I think all of you did very well. Let me run through what I think about each of them. "Building Bricks of Our Country" by ASDFG from Jurong Secondary School - I liked the surprise at the end where the bricks turned out to be the Total Defence logo. "Our Everyday Superheroes" by BAMM from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School - I am a big fan of superheroes, particularly how you associated day to day lives and what people do, with superheroes. You showed appreciation for all the help that our servicemen have done. Thank you. "Our Singapore Masterpiece" by Cedar 3 from Cedar Girls' Secondary School - I liked how you cleverly weaved into your canvas and painted the contributions of Singaporeans from all walks of lives. Thank you for showing the people around you the contributions they made. "The Singapore Vision" by Duck Duck Glucose from Cedar Girls' Secondary School - I liked the message of how every one of us can play our part. While aeroplanes and military equipment are important, it is the daily actions of ordinary Singaporeans that matter the most in Total Defence. It was a very nice message. "In the Forces We Trust" by Duck Vaders from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School - your video was about disasters, but I liked the way you turned every disaster into a positive message with an optimistic tone. I think this is what we really need. We are going to face many problems and challenges going forward, and we will need optimistic people around, especially young optimistic people. "Our Unspoken Language" by MADEit from Cedar Girls' Secondary School, whether it was intended or not, I liked the way you hinted that although sometimes actions speak louder than words, it is worthwhile to verbalise what we feel, especially to our loved ones. "Strength in Reflection" by NEtitanx11 from Beatty Secondary School - I thought it was creative how you used the spinning cups made of mirrors to portray your message, and filmed in one take. "Light Bulb Moments" by Rocking Tomato from Hua Yi Secondary School, was a really cute video with cute characters. "The Big Puzzle" by Spatium from CHIJ St Nicholas Secondary School, paid tribute to the servicemen, the Singapore Armed Forces as well as the Home Team, to the 'Mata' that wore short pants as well as the 'Mata' that wore long pants. Thank you for the tribute to all the servicemen, both past and present. "The Soccer Match" by ZLS from Guangyang Secondary School - I am a football fan, and I liked the football story, especially how the young scored the winning goal. This was a very befitting message. We have come so far in 50 years, many generations of Singaporeans built what we have now. And really, the next 50 years depend on the young ones to score the winning goal. Thank you very much for that apt message.

So there we have it, the top ten clips making Total Defence fun, and through your activities, have made Total Defence come alive. I hope you have learnt many lessons about Total Defence, and in the process know that nothing can be taken for granted. So to the top ten teams, you are all winners. I am sure you have forged great friendships and had a wonderful experience. Good luck to everybody, may the best team win.

Thank you. 

More Resources

Bringing Total Defence Messages to Life with N.E.mation!