References

• http://www.totaldefence.sg/content/imindef/mindef_websites/topics/totaldefence/about_td.html (Total Defence, Singapore - Home)
• http://www.totaldefence.sg/content/imindef/mindef_websites/topics/totaldefence/about_td/5_Pillars/_jcr_content/imindefPars/0012/file.res/TD_Booklet_30Dec2008.pdf
• http://www.totaldefence.org.sg/td2005/overview.html (TD2005- Total Defence Singapore)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Defence_%28Singapore%29 (Wikipedia)
• http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/publications/cyberpioneer/news/2010/february/11feb10_news.html
• http://www.ne.edu.sg/fiveaspects.htm (Total Defence - the MOE National Education Website)
• http://www.mha.gov.sg/isd/ct.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_race_riots_in_Singapore (Race Riots) 
  
  

How can we do our part for Singapore?

All of us can contribute by enquiring on the necessary knowledge as well as being aware of what is going on in our daily lives and being alert of our environment at all times. Maintaining a good relationship with others contributes too.

How does Total Defence contributes to keeping Singapore strong on all fronts?

According to the photo above, the five pillars shows how each pillar contributes to keeping Singapore strong on all fronts. It shows how some simple actions done by anyone and everyone in our daily lives can help defend Singapore in terms of crisis.

5. Psychology Defence

Psychological Defence" is about loyalty, commitment to Singapore, and having the will power and resilience to overcome challenges. This is the component that would determine if Singaporeans will stay to fight or abandon the country when it is in trouble.

• Loyal and committed to our country

When Singaporeans are united in pride and passion for our country, we will stand up to defend what is ours and protect our independence as a nation.

• Having the will and resilience to overcome challenges

Whatever the crisis or challenge, our ability to overcome challenges depends on how mentally strong we are. It is this will and the commitment of our people that will decide how strong we are as a nation.

•  Example of psychological defence: protecting the lim bo seng memorial Lim Bo Seng Memorial at Esplanade Park

• If ‘heritage’ is composed of nothing but memories, Singaporeans can now deposit any random old photos and childhood anecdotes in the Singapore Memory online portal, and then pat themselves on the back for accumulating ‘virtual heritage’. But that’s not even collecting history.

•  Standards for Heritage Protection 

Heritage protection involves scientific and technical studies in order to assess the historical, aesthetic, spiritual and other values of a site, and to counteract any threat against the physical site. Perhaps Singapore just does not believe in any global standard or any international convention. Never mind the 2003 Intangible Heritage Convention. Singapore has not even ratified the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention, for which Bukit Brown might qualify as a cultural landscape. The people of Singapore should be alert of protecting something memorable that will set their mind set of treasuring the history of Singapore. This will act as a psychological defence to unite the Singaporean against any threat.  

4. Social Defence

Introduction

Social Defence is about Singaporeans regardless of races and religions living and working together in harmony to keep the social fabric strong. To build a strong Social Defence, there must be racial and religious tolerance and respect, as well as equal opportunities for all regardless of race, language or religion. Social Defence also refers to every citizen, especially those with the ability, education and training, having the social conscience to contribute to the larger community and country. This includes showing care and concern for the less fortunate and underprivileged, as well as active participation in volunteer work.

“Living in harmony, looking out for each other.”

Singaporeans of all races and religions living and working together in harmony
As Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-religious society, maintaining racial and religious harmony is critical to ensuring peace and stability in Singapore. Singaporeans need to understand and be sensitive to the cultures and traditions of one another and build strong bonds across different ethnic groups in order to strengthen our social cohesion.

Looking out for one another

As one people, we have a duty to contribute to the community by helping the less fortunate and underprivileged among us, regardless of their race, language, religion, age or nationality. By doing so, we can further strengthen social cohesion, and build a gracious, compassionate society.

Impact of Social Defence

The race riots in 1964 are examples of poor Social Defence. The two riots in July and September took away 36 lives, caused 560 people injured and a significant damage to property and vehicles. The cause of the September riot was the murder of a Malay trishaw-rider by a group of ethnic Chinese. If there were racial and religious tolerance and respect, the incident would not turn out to be a race riot that caused more deaths.

Despite that, in the last 40 year we were able to build up and strengthen our social defence and leave no place for any racial and religious conflicts to achieve peace and harmony in Singapore.

1964 Riots

Building Social Defence

There are many ways to promote and build on Social Defence and the rest of Total Defence such as:

·         -Education (E.g. Seminars in schools, textbooks)

·         -Media (E.g. TV commercials, N.E.mation)

           -Others (E.g. Racial Harmony Day)

Mr Teo interacting with students from Queenstown Primary School, who were featured in this year's “People for Total Defence” series of advertisements for Social Defence.

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