Fact Sheet: Updates on Total Defence Initiatives

2024 marks 40 years of Total Defence (TD) in Singapore, since it was first introduced
in 1984. To commemorate 40 years of Total Defence, MINDEF has launched a year-long Total Defence Campaign to raise Singaporeans' threat awareness and strengthen our readiness and resilience for crises and disruptions.

HIGHLIGHTS OF EXERCISE SG READY

The inaugural Exercise SG Ready was held at various locations across the island from 15 February 2024 to 29 February 2024. This exercise was co-led between MINDEF and 3P partners comprising schools, businesses, public sector agencies, and community organisations. Involving the simulation of disruptions of power, water, food supply, digital connectivity and a civil emergency arising from wide spread cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and drone attacks from an anonymous actor, the exercise was aimed at increasing Singaporean' readiness for crises and disruptions by getting individuals, communities and businesses to think about the question, "Are you ready for disruptions?", and to put TD into action by putting in place their own contingency plans for disruptions.

More than 800 education, community, commercial, and government organisations, participated in Exercise SG Ready. Participating organisations simulated approximately 250 disruptions of power, 300 disruptions of food or water supply, nearly 200 evacuation drills, and 200 cyber disruptions of which 10 or more were connectivity-related, and 20 or more were disinformation-related.

Students experienced lessons without fans or lights to simulate power disruptions. To simulate food disruptions, some students got to try ready-to-eat meals developed by the Singapore Food Agency and SATS, while others experienced limitations to the range of food served in their canteens.

The Public Utilities Board (PUB) conducted a water supply disruption at Yung Sheng Road where more than 200 households collected water from PUB's water wagon and water bag filling machine. About 12,000 members of the public visited the Civil Defence Shelter Open Houses at Dakota, Potong Pasir, and Tan Kah Kee MRT stations to learn how selected underground MRT stations can be converted into public shelters to protect civilians during an emergency.

More than 160 businesses validated their contingency plans for either simulated disruptions of power, water, food supply, digital connectivity or a civil emergency. Some of them went on to conduct simulated phishing exercises referencing Cyber Security Agency's playbooks, which were developed in consultation with Microsoft and Google.

TOTAL DEFENCE EXHIBITION

As part of public engagement and outreach, the TD Exhibition showcases how Singaporeans' contributions safeguards Singapore's way of life over the past 40 years, and inspire Singaporeans to continue doing their part to keep Singapore prepared for crises and disruptions.

The anchor exhibition is held at the Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC) from 22 Jan to 17 Mar 2024 and will make public appearances at various community spaces and partner- related organisations, including the National Library Atrium in April 2024, and SAFRA Choa Chu Kang in June 2024. Visitors can also pledge their support for Total Defence. These pledges will be collated on a digital map of Singapore, showcasing Singaporeans' commitment for Total Defence. Visit https://www.go.gov.sg/sg101td for the roving schedule.

TOTAL DEFENCE CONVENTION

 The TD Convention will be held on 25 Apr 2024, with Senior Minister of State for Defence Mr Zaqy Mohamad as the Guest of Honour. The Convention will be jointly organised with the National University of Singapore, and aims to provide a platform for up to 300 TD practitioners and partners to come together to encourage collaboration on TD engagements. The event will feature local and international speakers, plenary discussions and interactive workshops, covering topics on building societal resilience and readiness in disruptions and crises. There will also be a showcase of TD Sandbox projects to inspire partners and practitioners to lead their own ground-up initiatives in support of TD.

TOTAL DEFENCE SANDBOX INITIATIVES

To encourage Singaporeans, especially youths, to have greater ownership and play an active role in TD, the TD Sandbox was launched in 2022 for the public to submit proposals to encourage more TD actions amongst Singaporeans. The TD Sandbox aims to raise awareness on the emerging threats Singapore faces and spur innovative solutions to address these threats.

 Since its launch in 2022, MINDEF has received a total of 174 proposal submissions through various channels. In support of TD40, MINDEF plans to implement four new innovative proposals to help expand outreach for TD:

a. TD@Singverse by Finute Pte Ltd: The team created a virtual Singapore in the metaverse called Singverse within Roblox which is a massive multiplayer online role- playing (MMORP) edutainment game. In TD@Singverse, youths can explore and interact with TD elements in the virtual world and learn more about the six pillars of TD through mini-games.

b. The TD ScamGuard Initiative by Team SudoX from NUS: an online community on the Discord platform where volunteers can gather to identify and fight scams. The initiative aims to create opportunities for Singaporeans especially youths to play an active role in the fight against digital scams in Singapore.

c. Cyber Youth Singapore's Research and Advocacy Project on International Cyber Conflicts: a research project which aims to (1) advance the Youth, Peace, and Cyber Security agenda and advocate for the responsible and peaceful use of the digital world, (2) raise awareness of digital threats among Singaporean youths to foster vigilance on disinformation campaigns and radicalisation and (3) advance the youth- in-tech movement in Singapore through recommendations that can spark conversations and promote youth's perspectives on global cyber conflicts internationally.

d. Urban Tactical Singapore Foam Blasters Challenge: a TD-themed challenge using NERF guns where participants will carry and defend packages which represent TD pillars.

More Resources

Infographic: Exercise SG Ready

Speech by Senior Minister of State for Defence, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, at The Committee of Supply Debates 2024