Fact Sheet: Total Defence Sandbox Initiative and its Projects

About Total Defence (TD) Sandbox

The TD Sandbox initiative encourages the public to submit ideas on strengthening TD and have their ideas brought to life through implementation in the community. By seeking ground-up ideas and proposals that put TD into action, the TD Sandbox encapsulates how everyone has a part to play in TD to keep Singapore strong, while highlighting the continued relevance of TD in dealing with crises and disruptions. Since its launch in 2022, eight Sandbox proposals have been implemented, with support from ACCORD members, as well as partners from the people, private and public sectors.

New Issue Statement: “Are You Ready for Disruptions?”

The world is becoming more and more dangerous. Today, the people who defend Singapore’s security have to worry about not only bombs and guns, but also cyber-attacks, hostile information campaigns, and climate-related disasters. A conflict happening thousands of miles beyond our borders can disrupt our food supply, our access to essential services, or our relationships with our neighbours, colleagues, and friends.

How can we be more prepared and stand together in the face of these potential disruptions and challenges? We need your ideas and creativity to help us strengthen and put TD into action – work with us to keep Singapore strong, together!

Visit https://go.gov.sg/tdsandbox for more information.

TD Sandbox Project 1: TD ScamGuard

TD ScamGuard. The TD ScamGuard aims to educate Singaporeans, especially youths, about digital scams in Singapore through the Discord platform. Developed by SudoX, a group of NUS students, this ground-up initiative focuses on building an online community to help fight scams as part of the Digital Defence pillar. Moderated by SudoX and their group of volunteers, TD ScamGuard encourages discussion among users to address a wide range of scam queries, and play an active role in fighting digital scams. Through this community, users will be able to engage one another to spot scams together and help increase one’s awareness of scam detection in the digital world.

Figure 1: TD ScamGuard logo

ACCORD and TD ScamGuard. The outreach of the TD ScamGuard was supported by the ACCORD Educational Institutions council and was shared with Polytechnics, ITE Colleges and Uniformed Groups (UGs). They helped amplify the call for youths to join the TD ScamGuard initiative as a volunteer to help fight scams, address public queries and facilitate discussions.

Link and QR Code. Users can access the platform via https://go.gov.sg/tdscamguard or via the QR code.

Figure 2: QR Code for TD ScamGuard

TD Sandbox Project 2: TD@Singverse

TD@Singverse. The TD@Singverse is a massive multiplayer online roleplaying (MMORP) edutainment game experience developed by Finute Pte Ltd. It allows youths to interact with a digital one-to-one recreation of Singapore within a metaverse, also known as the Singverse. Hosted on the online game platform Roblox, players will be able to learn more about the six pillars of TD (Military, Civil, Economic, Social, Digital, and Psychological Defence) by engaging with interactive elements within this digital world. The TD@Singverse comprises six mini games for each of the TD pillars. To access the TD@Singverse, players will have to download the Roblox client and sign up for an account. Players can then navigate to the client’s homepage and access the “Experiences” page by clicking the “Play” button. The game can be found via the search bar, and users can begin exploring this digital world by clicking the green launch button.

Figure 3: Digital Screenshot of Singapore in TD@Singverse

ACCORD and TD@Singverse. The outreach of TD@Singverse was largely supported by ACCORD members from the ACCORD Educational Institutions council, to call for the students’ support to join TD@Singverse and engage in the TD-related activities within the metaverse.

Link and QR Code. Users can access the TD@Singverse via https://go.gov.sg/tdsingverse or through the QR code.

Figure 4: QR Code for TD@Singverse

TD Sandbox Project 3: TD Foam Blasters Challenge

TD Foam Blasters Challenge. Officiated in 2017, Urban Tactical SG (UTSG), a local Foam Blaster Community Group, organises regular foam blasters games for kids and families, as well as for advanced players at Residents’ Committees (RC) and Community Centres (CC) such as Pasir Ris CC and Geylang Serai CC. To put TD into action, the TD Foam Blasters Challenge is played in the form of a tournament at common amenities such as basketball/futsal courts. There will be two teams of eight players each (the defender vs. the attacker). For the defenders, the goal is to deliver packages which symbolise the six different TD pillars such as medical supplies and technological equipment, representing Civil Defence and Digital Defence respectively, to different destinations while defending themselves against foam blasting activities by the attackers. At the end of the game, the total number of packages delivered, and the time taken for the defenders will be tallied. Throughout the gameplay, different roles and elements of the other TD pillars e.g., Social and Psychological Defence will be featured as well, as players work together to overcome challenges for a common objective. The challenge aims to foster stronger community ties, as well as promulgate the awareness and importance of TD values.

Figure 5: Photo of kids engaging in the Foam Blaster activities

ACCORD and TD Foam Blasters Challenge. The outreach of the TD Foam Blasters Challenge was supported by the ACCORD Family and Community council with the conduct of three play-tests and two actual play-dates during the TD Foam Blasters Challenge’s launch from 21 to 24 February at SAFRA Chua Chu Kang. The facilitation support led to a successful week of foam blasters games for all participating families and friends.

Link and QR Code. For more information on UTSG and their upcoming foam blaster games, users can access UTSG’s Instagram page (@urbantacticalsg), or via the TD Sandbox Linktree at https://go.gov.sg/tdsandboxinformation, and its QR code.

TD Foam Blasters Challenge

More Resources

More Singaporeans Taking Action for Total Defence with Support from ACCORD

Fact Sheet: Key Achievements of the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD)