Senior Minister of State for Defence Mr Heng Chee How and Senior Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman were the Guests of Honour at the 'We Support NS' Appreciation Function held at Suntec Singapore Convention Centre this evening. The function is organised by Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD)'s Family & Community Council, to thank over 540 merchants and businesses, that are participating in the 'We Support NS' campaign this year. Participating merchants and businesses, comprising more than 1,400 outlets across Singapore, have showed support for National Servicemen (NSmen) contributing to Singapore's defence and security, by offering discounts and benefits to NSmen from the SAF and the Home Team.

Speaking at the event, Dr Maliki underlined the importance of National Service (NS) and community support for NSmen as they endeavour to keep Singapore safe. "NS continues to be the bedrock of Singapore's defence and the cornerstone of Singapore's prosperity and progress. Since 1967, more than one million NSmen have dutifully served NS and one reason is the strong support for NS by the public; in giving due recognition to the many generations of Singaporeans who have served NS with pride and honour… Merchants, businesses and hawkers, like you, present here today and those who are not here today, play an important role in showing appreciation for the contributions of our NSmen. Your strong support goes a long way," he said.

Dr Maliki also thanked all the merchants and businesses for participating in this year's, 'We Support NS' campaign. He said "We are thankful to have partners like you alongside us in this mission and look forward to have more merchants, businesses and hawkers next year, who will join us to show appreciation for our NSmen and their contributions to Singapore's defence."

Mr Heng and Dr Maliki interacted with participating merchants and businesses during the dinner engagement, to personally thank them for their support in showing appreciation to NSmen. Participating merchants also received Certificates of Appreciation during the appreciation function.