Putting Total Defence into action

What steps will you take to protect your home and your way of life? That's the question posed by this year's Total Defence campaign.

I will be a good neighbour. I will make time to volunteer in sports events. I will generate less non-biodegradable waste by using at least one less plastic bag per day.

These are what some Singaporeans said when asked what they would do to keep our home safe and strong. They were responding to the 2010 Total Defence campaign, which calls Singaporeans to action with its theme "I Will" - a personal pledge to do something to defend what we hold dear.

No contribution is too small, as five students from Yishun Town Secondary School well understand. In a self-made video watched more than 800 times so far, these students showed what they planned to do for Singapore in times of war and peace.

Said Ryan Yee Hao Yang, one of the students involved in the project: "We wanted to show that, as part of Total Defence, we will fight for Singapore in times of war. In addition, we will do our part for the environment by not littering."

This sense of ownership is precisely what the campaign is trying to evoke. Colonel (COL) Lim Kok Siong, the director of Nexus, the Ministry of Defence's central coordinating agency for national education, said that the campaign hopes to show that the key to Singapore's safety and security lies not only with its government and security agencies, but also with the personal contributions of its citizens.

"Last year, we asked a simple question of 'What Will You Defend?'. Many Singaporeans came forward with their personal reflections on what they hold dear in life and would defend. This year, we want to encourage Singaporeans to take action on their reflections by making a pledge to do it and, better still, to get other Singaporeans involved in the effort," added COL Lim.

Pledging to act

To encourage Singaporeans to make and fulfil these pledges, an "I Will" contest was launched on the website www.iwill.sg. The website lets Singaporeans submit videos and photos to document the process of fulfilling their pledges. Participants are also encouraged to involve their family, friends and the public using the social networking tools provided by the website.

The online contest has three main categories of prizes: Impact Awards, which recognise the pledges that are judged to have the most impact and success; Most Popular Videos; and Most Supported Submission. Enticing prizes such as Sony Vaio W laptops and Nintendo Wii video game consoles stand to be won.
In addition, 13 pairs of Golden Village Gold Class movie vouchers are up for grabs in a weekly draw targeted at rewarding new entrants.

Entries have been pouring in right from the start and so far, more than 100 entries have been submitted. Each is a colourful and heartfelt undertaking to go the extra mile for Singapore, and the Yishun Town Secondary School students' submission numbers among them.

The competition will end its run only on 15 Mar, so there is still plenty of time to tell the world what you can do to help defend Singapore.

For the less Internet-savvy, or those who simply prefer pen and paper, there are the ZoCards which allow Singaporeans to write down their personal pledges. These cards will be collected to form part of a specially commissioned art installation by local artist Casey Chen. This installation represents the collective will of Singaporeans, and will be displayed for the first time at an event held at Nanyang Polytechnic on 11 Feb to commemorate Total Defence Day.

Total Defence Day, which falls on 15 Feb every year, will be commemorated on 11 Feb this year because 15 Feb coincides with the second day of Chinese New Year.

"I Will" radio call-in contests will also run on radio stations Power 98 and 883 Jia from 25 Jan to 5 Feb.

Animating ideas

The fourth season of N.E.mation! continues to be a platform for students to express their thoughts on Total Defence using animation. More than 3,100 students have participated in the annual contest to date, and the numbers look set to increase in coming seasons.

In N.E.mation! 4, students were challenged to produce storylines based on the theme "Why I Care About Singapore". The question required participating teams to think about what they hold dear as Singaporeans, such as the country's rich heritage and the values that represent the Singaporean way of life.

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Ong Kheng Hoe, Deputy Director of Programmes and Development at Nexus, explained: "Although the message about Total Defence is a very serious thing, we recognise the potential of using creative animation to tell the story... We want to produce something that can resonate with the people out there."

Teams had to undergo several rounds of elimination based on their story ideas before 10 finalist teams were shortlisted. The 10 teams were then put through a gruelling three-week training and production programme by animation company Animagine to equip them with the necessary skills to turn their stories into one-minute animation clips.

To make things more exciting, finalist teams can, for the first time, garner support and call for votes using the popular social networking website, Facebook. Teams posted updates on the production process and some even put up behind-the-scenes videos to keep supporters excited about their progress. Fans are also kept up to date on the competition via Twitter updates.

The winners will be announced at the event held on 11 Feb to commemorate Total Defence Day. The team behind the best animation clip will win a fully-sponsored trip to visit DreamWorks Studios in the United States, while other winners stand to win cash prizes.

Protecting our way of life

Ultimately, defending Singapore's sovereignty and protecting its people depends on the efforts of every man, woman and child who calls Singapore home. The Total Defence campaign reminds us of the different roles that all of us can play in securing Singapore's peace and prosperity for our future generations. The question is, what will you do?

Social Defence

"I will play with my classmates, who are of many races."

Andrew Liam Quinzon Muir, Erl Stanley Djaja, Keynes Yeo, Jun Yan, Lutfil Hadi B Zamani, Thiruben S/O Thana Rajan and Udegbe Ugochukwu Ibrahim may seem very different from each other at first glance, but these soccer players from Queenstown Primary School will have you know that their brotherhood is as deep as any other.

Said Mr Adrian Yeo, Subject Head, National Education, Social Studies, from Queenstown Primary School: "Soccer has indeed helped them forge new and meaningful relationships. These boys share a close-knit friendship even when they are not training.

"In school, they engage in traditional games such as Hopscotch and Catch during recess. They also spur each other on by revising their school work together before their training and accompanying each other home after training."

Psychological Defence

"I will make Singapore proud and inspire Singaporeans to persevere when faced with an Everest."

To Ms Esther Tan, a member of the NATAS Singapore Women's Everest Team that scaled the world's highest peak, the common man on the street can accomplish extraordinary things.

"None of us in the team would have been singled out in a crowd to climb Everest, but we put in five years of hard work and training to make our Everest journey possible," she said.

As the faces for Psychological Defence, the team demonstrated how tenacity and strong bonds were crucial for the members to overcome their own little Everests over five years: having to juggle full-time jobs and training, as well as the lack of funds for climbing.

"Having one another around was a great help, because we reminded one another of why we're doing this, and that we're all in this together," she said.