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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