Chan Chun Sing on AI in Defence (full ST Forum session)

Caption language: en · Fetched: 2026-07-07

Hello everyone, I'm Ubin Sada, deputy opinion editor at the Straits Times. Welcome to this edition of the ST forum where we have invited our forum contributors to submit their questions on the topic of national service and defense. The topics are of course on many people's minds in light of the global conflicts we are seeing and the uncertainty as well. So, a timely topic we felt from all the submissions that we've had, we've selected several and we've invited those forum contributors right here on the show to ask your questions in person to none other than defense minister and coordinating minister for public services, Chanun Singh. Welcome to the program, Minister Chan. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me. >> Thank you so much for your time. Thank you to our contributors for being here as well. Uh, Minister, shall we start? >> Sure.

Sounds a PSLE oral. >> PSLE oral. All right. Another contentious subject. Uh all right. So the first category uh I think you can guess AI and technology. Uh so and we have three uh questions on that category from Dr. Desman Y uh Gary Young and Jezerie Quark. Uh so we'll get started with the first question on the SD forum uh from Dr. Desmond Y. Dr. Y is of course one of our prolific forum contributors on healthcare issues. Please take it away. >> Yeah, thank you Minister Chan. Uh my question is our birth rate is dropping but at the same time when more better and better AI use especially in warfare so uh it's going to be a challenge in the near future or maybe later on that our population is dropping so much that you have difficulty finding soldiers but yet we have AI to help us compensate for that.

So I wonder is Mindv prepared for the day that may come and how is the end how is the mind going to cope with uh are we going to have changed the design how we use AI to overcome this challenge are we going to have a different form of service and is Mind planning to broaden the type the pool of contributors to national service and lastly when do you think the time will come? Okay, a very broad question. Uh I want to get the other question as well on the same topic from Gary Young. He's also one of our forum contributors. Gary, please go ahead. >> Great. >> Hi, Minister. Uh my question is with advances in AI, facial recognition, data analytics, information available on social media like LinkedIn for example, I can easily search for a key SAF profile with profile picture.

I mean all this can be potentially used to identify and target military personnel especially the the key personnels. So should Singapore reveal I mean re review how much online exposure our military personnel have especially those in sensitive appointments. >> Thank you for that. I wonder if the minister has his profile on LinkedIn. Uh >> I try not >> rethinking that now. >> I try not to. >> Okay. >> But it's too late. [laughter] >> Just one more question on this topic of AI from Jes medical student. Okay, Jess. >> Go ahead, Jess. >> Okay, so my question is in light of AI, digital warfare, autonomous systems, and growing cyber security threats, what are the ethical dilemmas we must think about as we apply these technologies for national defense? >> All right. Thank you very much, Jes. Okay.

Um there are some implicit uh background information perhaps I should share with everyone so that we can get a discussion going. Um this thing about birth rate manpower there's one thing that's very unique about the Singapore armed forces and that is we have a conscription armed force. We are not like some other military whereby you run short of men because this year you can't recruit people. As far as the SF is concerned we know our manpower projection 18 years ahead of time. And for us we always remember this. We must cut our code according to our cloth. If there are so many people out there in 18 20 years time, you design your force structure, you design your operations concept, you go and buy the technologies that are required to complete your mission 18 years in advance.

So there's no excuse in the last minute and you say I turn out I'm surprised I don't have enough manpower. So that is the first thing. Second thing is that u AI is just the latest perhaps technology in a long line of technology and the SEF has never operated on the assumption that we will be able to outnumber others. In fact, leveraging on technology for our finite manpower has always been one of the keystone concepts since 1965. I mean you think about it, you've immobilized the entire Singapore will be still be smaller than many other countries, right? And increasingly it's not about the quantity of the manpower that matters and it has never just been about the quantity of manpower. It's also the quality of the manpower.

So whether it's say AI or before that any other machines any other technology the question is how do we best adopt technologies that complement our manpower that can meet our mission needs. Now it's not about just chasing the latest facts and if people say that oh I want to do this uh AI thing we all go and do AI but you know AI is like some people say no if AI is the answer can we be clear what's the question right so what are the real needs that we have so that's why when you see SAF buying equipment is never about buying the latest the most uh the shiniest kind of things it is about spending wisely to buy those things that we need for our operational purposes. And when we spend, it's also very important that we don't end up just spending what we call the up paying the upfront price, but we adopt an entire life cycle approach.

Nowadays, you have seen how people weaponize the supply chains, right? You don't want to end up buying stuff and then sometime down the road you cannot maintain the stuff. And one of the things that we are very conscious is never have a feast and famine strategy because you can't stretch your defense dollar. You can't buy helicopters and next year you say, "Oh, I got no time to maintain it and then I I leave it alone. " and then when I have time I come and resuscitate the thing. It doesn't stretch the defense dollar and it's not about money, it's about the talent. To build up a credible defense force, you need consistent investment in our people.

The talent to translate those monetary resources that the public gives us to stretch the defense dollar and have real capabilities because if you spend more and you don't have the capabilities to translate that into real cap capabilities is just called price inflation. You're still buying the same thing but paying more which is what happening around the world today. So now the next thing is how do we manage the operational security risk and this actually happens way even before AI. The SAF has to always find a very fine balance. How to keep certain things secret and yet how to review certain things in order to send the right messages to the potential adversaries. Now you cannot tell people everything for obvious reasons. People will find ways to bypass you and overcome you and negate your advantage.

But if you don't tell people anything and for the what we call the informed observers, if they miscalculate, we are also in a difficult situation. So the way uh that we tell people what we want to tell people must be at a time of our choosing. It's a bit of an art and science. When we communicate with people, it must be no uncertain term that you get a message that we are trying to communicate. We are not trying to be aggressive. We are not trying to show that we can overcome all challenges. We are also to tell people that we have certain capabilities but we will keep those capabilities to ourself. And there's always this thing that in the SF our mark of success is when we have built up the capabilities ahead of the threat. We have operationalized those capabilities. We never have to use that in actual ops.

We retire those capabilities and nobody knew about it. For us that is success. That is another normal day in Singapore that we will be all be very happy with. But for every normal day in Singapore is an extraordinary effort behind in order to make all things normal. The best analogy is that swan you know floating on the water. The SAF is the lake peddling under the water to make sure that we are okay. And that's our job. We are paid to worry before anybody worries and to rejoice after everybody rejoice. So how to make sure that we communicate this very carefully. That's why you see that we review certain capabilities or slices of certain capabilities at certain intervals at a time where we feel that we need to do so. We will not do it too early.

We are not going to do this to show off but we do this both to reassure ourself and our people and at the same time tell others what we are capable of. But therein lies the dilemma and this is something that I will need ideas from you. You don't tell our people enough, our people might not lose, our people might lose confidence. You tell our people too much, then you might also get to the other side. How do you find that balance? This is the art and science of defense deterrence communications all these years. But I must say that I'm very proud.

I've been very thankful of generations of NSF and NSmen who have operated on so many classified systems and today they are still largely classified because unlike regular armed forces where you are working with a select group of people we have people from all walks of society and that shows the maturity of our NSF and NSmen and for that I'm very thankful for that. [clears throat] On the issue of ethical dilemma, it's not just about AI. Actually, even prior to that, in any military operations, you must have what we call the man in the loop. It cannot be so autonomous whereby you just take decisions and you don't know what you're hitting. There are many things that AI can do. They can help us to speed up the process which we interpret information, acquire targets, select the weapon system to get the target effects.

All that is part of automation. Some people call it AI, some people we call the Excel spreadsheet. But it is how you make decisions better and faster. But what is invariant in all these processes that we design is that [clears throat] you must have what we call the man in the loop. Right? So not so much to slow down the process but you must have put it into your processes that you cannot have a d what we call the dereliction of duty where you just pass on this to an algorithm that you do not understand. So that is our operating philosophy. But for me, [clears throat] I will do what I can with the resources that the public have entrusted to Mindv and SAF to get the best equipment for my soldiers. Because if ever they go into operations, I want my people to have the best chance of success.

But ultimately, the best chance of success is not just about the kind of equipment that we have, but it is also the vigilance, the training, and the commitment of our people that makes us stand out. >> Thank you so much for those answers. Uh but just before we quickly move to the next topic, I just want to extend a little bit on the point about TFR and ask you if the mind despite all the amazing efforts in terms of how we think so far ahead doesn't see TFR as an existential problem for national defense. Okay, it is always a challenge because we started in 1965. We never have enough people for all the things that we need to do. So we must always maintain our discipline.

But having said that, our society is becoming more diverse and because of technologies, because of the advancement in warfare, we will also be able to have more opportunities for people to contribute to defense. In the past, we really have this concept called total defense where people can contribute beyond military defense. But today, even just for military defense, there is scope for us to have many more people to contribute. So I just give some examples. A lot of time people talk about the SEF as if it is only about the 50,000 high readiness score the 250,000 NSmen. But I'm very sure including many of you the seniors here who have served in the SEF you are part of our NS alumni. I'm sure if anything happens to Singapore you all will pick up a rifle and fight. And you and we have 750,000 XNSmen in Singapore.

And beyond that we have the ladies who will form part of the family support structure. Today for the mind more than 10% of our regulars are ladies and is growing. Going forward we expect more. Today we have the SEF volunteer call where the females, the new citizens also get a chance to serve and that's why we also see an opportunity for us to enlarge the number of opportunities for fellow Singaporeans to serve so long as they clear the security requirement. Now the other interesting thing is this is our system doesn't work just on the two plus 10 meaning the two years of NSF and then the 10 years of uh NSmen. In fact, many of our NS commanders, they come back and contribute beyond 10 years. And I'm sure there are many of you here today because they come on and lead and guide the junior [clears throat] units.

Now, beyond that, increasingly we have many vocations whereby it's not just about the physical demands. So, for example, the dis, the [clears throat] digital the digital and uh intelligence service, the longer they are there, the sharper they are, the better they are. So you see another area whereby we can expand opportunities for people to serve and today many of them actually volunteer to extend their service beyond the 10 years including people in the media industry because information warfare is another aspect of the warfare that maybe previously was less spoken about. So today there are many opportunities to serve and today the beauty of the SEF is that we have turned a constraint into an opportunity.

People in other country might think that oh you know you have a conscription armed forces maybe that is a sign of weakness but how do we turn a conscription into a strength. First thing is that now we draw on the talent and we have always drawn on the talent from across the entire spectrum of society. So our commanders are people who are chosen by their peers to lead and if you can lead in the SCF it says something about you because your peers have chosen you. The other thing is that we have the best ideas from across the entire spectrum of society and I have many stories whereby the best ideas comes from our NSF and NSmen. Take the flying of the drones. We were one of the first people to fly the drones without all these complicated joysticks. Our first module was from a PlayStation. Where did the idea come from?

It came from some pre-enlisties from a poly technic who was going into uh the SEF and say that why can't we design the control stations for the drones using the PlayStation and you see the quality of these ideas come from our NSF and NSP and that's what makes the SAF strong. >> Thank you minister for the answers. We'll jump right to the next topic which is on defense spending and we have two questions under this topic from Thiaga Raju and Lim Chong Leong. Uh Thiaga will ask the first question. He is of course one of our regular forum contributors on sports. Uh can we get a microphone to Thiaga Raju please? >> Go ahead. >> Okay. Good evening Minister Chan. Okay.

My question is uh with Singapore facing an aging population, declining birth rates and growing health care and social needs, how does the government determine the appropriate balance between defense spending and other national priorities? What circumstances would warrant recalibrating the balance in the future? >> Okay, thank you so much for your question. The second question on the same topic uh comes from Mr. Lim Chong Leong. Could we get the microphone to him? He's of course a retired psychologist, another one of our foreign contributors. Go ahead. >> Hello uh Mr. Chan. Um my question uh is rather general but at the same time quite direct to you. Um the the question basically is that uh the SCF has been uh sending uh our soldiers overseas for training uh for the last five decades. Right?

They are my concern here is that they are undergoing training in a different environment, different culture and also different kind of circumstances. But at the end of the day they have to come back to Singapore to defend Singapore. is a different totally different environment. So in that sense is it relevant is it still achieving the purpose the objective and and also going forward I think with modern warfare uh going high-tech um is there a need to have such long training periods uh and is there a possibility that duration of NS can be reviewed? Thank you. >> So two questions, one alluding to the cost effectiveness of training and the other of course recalibration. Yeah. >> Okay. How do we determine how much we need to spend on defense? >> Uh defense is a bit like buying insurance for ourself ever since 1965.

And since our founding uh leaders till now we have made a commitment that we will spend up to 6% of defense if need be. We have never reached that in recent years but that is as high as we can go. Recent years we have always spent u 3 plus%. But our commitment is not just how much we spend on defense. Like what I say just now, the most important thing is to spend consistently because there's no point trying to splurge on defense when you don't have the capacity to convert it into real capabilities. But nowadays, it's not just how much money you spend because the capabilities correlation with money spent is not linear. Some people spend a lot of money on big platforms because these are things that you can show off in a parades and so forth, but those may not be the most effective.

There are some things that we spend on we never show people and it will always be this balance or what we call the high low mix what we call the obvious one and the not so obvious one that we will always have this balance and our duty in the defense sector is always to make best use of what is available to us to build for the long term to build ahead of time and I can speak on behalf of this government we will spend what we need to defend ourself because if we can't defend ourself self and if people and push come to the shaft and if people push us around and if we can only ask when people ask us to jump we can only ask how high but we cannot ask why then we are gone then we are finished. I always have this saying that I learned from one of my chief previous chief defense force when I was a young officer.

We have to get it right first time every time all the time. Other people who wish us harm just need to get it right one time any time. Remember the SQ11 uh the SQ rescue in the 1990. Okay, maybe some of you are not born. You imagine it went to operations, people hijacked our plane, our commandos went in. If we have failed, what message would they have sent to people about our equipping, our training and so forth? So we just have to get it right first time every time all the time. So there's not much margin for error. Now that's very important to remember. But having said that we must spend wisely. Now how do I know as a defense minister that we are spending wisely? What are the benchmarks? Well there are a few things that we can look at. Number one again because we have an NS population.

If there's a lot of wastage of resources, our people will be the first one to jump on us and give us the feedback and we will improve when we buy things is a backhanded compliment when people say that the SF are the one of the toughest negotiators that we become a reference customer to people. People say that if they can sell to the SAF, they can sell to many people because they know that our processes are robust that we don't have hanky panky whereby the budget says this and then the actual amount spent is something else right in fact [clears throat] we make sure that we buy not just upfront but we also buy to make sure that we can sustain the capability throughout the entire life cycle of the equipment. So these are some indicators but are we perfect? No. That's why our job is to make sure that we constantly challenge ourel.

Can we even do better? So today one of the dilemas for defense is this. People can understand the fleshy platforms that people buy. But there are many new things that may not cost as much but may have other more little effects but we cannot show people. So actually the dilemma is not so much how much we spend only but it's also what can we spend what can we review and what can we what must we not review until a time of our choosing right so for example people talk about drones I always like to remind people this particular episode now we can talk about it 10 years ago in one of the national day parade we already had a drone show of 300 drones in a synchronized formation flying over the marina bay so of course at that point in time everybody really enjoyed the drone shows.

But for those of us in the defense industry, we knew what that meant 10 years ahead of time. And that was already 10 years in the making because even 20 years ago when I was in service, we were already aware of such potential opportunities. But some of these things you cannot show people and some of these things you cannot review where we spend. Therein lies the dilemma. But I can assure you that the discipline is very tight in mind on [clears throat] how we spend because every cent that we spend is public money. We must do justice to what we spend. Now on the second thing about training um I don't mean to be facitious but I don't think the SEF just operate in Singapore. Uh the SF trains overseas and actually it has become a big plus that the SAF trains overseas. There's this standing joke that we use to rob the air force.

Uh because they train in Europe, they train in Asia, Australia, Thailand, they train in America. So last time we used to laugh at the F. The F was very proud. The sun never set on the RSAF. So the rest of us look at them like that's because God don't trust you in the dark. So we laugh at them. But nowadays nobody's laughing at anybody because the SAF, the the army, the navy, they also train around the clock, round the world. But this gives us something. Every different place that we train gives us a new dimension of capability. It gives us a new dimension of capability. And we know that we must diversify where we train because you also cannot be held ransom by training only in one place.

You must make sure that if one place for whatever reasons stop training or stop being able to allow us to train there, we must be able to continue our operations and different operation systems can only be trained at certain parts. That's how we piece the things together. Well, just to give an example in 2004, I guess you all still remember operation flying eager where the tsunami happened in 2004, Boxing Day tsunami. Why is it that the SAF was able to mobilize and deploy so many thousands of soldiers, ships and planes in such a short time? Actually, it's all thanks to the years of training that we have to do overseas. For us, moving house, deploying overseas has become part of the norm. In fact, we were one of the first to reach Malubo. We were one of the first one to be able to set up many things to help others in need.

When the air traffic control tower was down in Ache, the SAF was able to deploy there overnight and then the next day the airport in Banda Ace could continue to operate and it can continue to flow. All these capabilities we turn a constraint into an opportunity. The fact that our people train overseas from the US to Australia to Germany and elsewhere requires a lot of logistic support and capabilities. And when we practice it every day, we become better and better with. We are very thankful for all the defense partners that we have that allow us to train in their countries for different parts of our training. But because of that, I think the SAF has become stronger and I think we'll continue to want to do that.

Now if you break it down today when you talk about the dis the digital and intelligence uh service there is no geography they train with partners from Europe to America to Asia everywhere. You talk about the air force they train in Europe they train in Asia they train in the US. You talk about the navy, they sail not just in this part of the world. They sail to far away places to stretch their system to train hone their capabilities. Right? You talk about the army. Today we train in Germany, Australia, Thailand, the US and Brunai and many other places. And because of that, every place gives us a new dimension of capabilities and we never make the assumption that we will only operate in Singapore. Can I minister just get your quick thoughts on one particular point about defense spending?

You mentioned how countries have weaponized supply chains in the last few years. Uh how is that factored into MindPep's defense spending in terms of how we're navigating this? >> When I was in the service, we always remember three Rs. When I when I became defense minister, we have four Rs. The four Rs that we always remember is how to be ready, relevant, resilient and respected. Respected is an outcome if you get the first three Rs corre correct. Resilience is a very important thing for us. Resilient means that you can continue to operate your systems. You can continue to operate even if there's a disruption to your supply chains is if there's a disruption to the way or constraint to the way that you used to operate. So this requires a lot of discipline, planning and training. How do we make sure that our operations are not disrupted?

Stockpiling things that we need to buy from other people. Diversifying the supply chains that we rely on other people. Having our own domestic capabilities to build up capabilities ahead of time, then we know that we cannot be held ransom. But having said that, even in the unfortunate circumstances whereby supply chains are really disrupted, then we must have backup operational concepts that allow us to continue to keep Singapore safe and those required years of planning, years of training. You can't start scrambling only when things get disrupted. That's why sometime people say that oh is it why is it that when people other country buy a plane so cheaply and then we buy a plane so uh that cost so much more. That's because there are many ways to buy a plane.

You can buy a plane empty skeletal or you can buy a plane with the complete radar system, the munitions, the spare parts. You make your choice as to where you want to spend. So we are very serious about this because we never take this lightly. We always work on the assumptions that in any crisis the supply chains will be disrupted and that's why we need to make sure that we have our own capabilities. We diversify we have our own stockpile. >> Thank you minister. The next topic total defense uh we have three questions uh from Justin Khan, Pakash Nadarajan and Muhammad Zul Azan. So can we get the mic to uh Justin first? He is a law student. Uh, can we get him to ask the first question on the topic of total defense? Do we have a microphone for Justin, please? Thank you. >> Go ahead, Justin. >> Thank you, Minister.

So, before any invasion, an adversary could target Singapore's internet, trains, payments, and essential services to create confusion and panic. [snorts] So, my question is, how ready is Singapore for this kind of pre-war attack? and what role should national service play in preparing citizens to respond? >> Thank you. >> Thank you Justin. Uh the second question from Prakash Pra who is a sustainability entrepreneur. Praash please go ahead with your question. >> Thank you minister and ST forum for providing the opportunity to raise this question. Countries like Finland, Sweden and Estonia have broadened their defense beyond the military into cyber civil resilience and whole of society preparedness.

For instance, Estonia has a volunteer cyber defense unit within its defense league involving cyber skilled volunteers and professionals who who help strengthen national cyber resilience training and crisis support. What lessons should Singapore draw in rethinking the future of fairness? >> Thank you very much Praash. And the last question on this topic from uh Zulazan. Thank you. Please go ahead. >> Good evening Minister Chan. National service should be broadened to include new vocations in the military, police and civil defense such as nursing, paramedics and community care. Will the government consider enlistment into such vocations for females and also new citizens as we confront low birth rates? Thank you. >> Okay, maybe I should pull the audience for a change since the zoo suggested enlisting females. Uh, everybody has a vote.

>> Yes. No. >> If yes, put up your hands. >> Yes. So we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. 10. Yes. Nose. >> One. >> None of the women. >> How how about how about this? Voting is compulsory. [laughter] Everybody make a choice. Okay. So we have 10 yeses. And uh how many nos? >> How many nos? Could we have your hands or no? >> One, two, three, four, five, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Okay. So sounds like you are somewhere split down. Will you for change? Can I just ask those who say yes and no, why do you say yes or no? >> You you say yes or no? >> I say yes. >> Oh, you say yes. And the reason microphone Yes, please. >> From a perspective of gender equality, >> gender equality.

If we want to equalize opportunities in every aspect for >> men and women in Singapore, we should try to >> also like level the sociological like um standpoint because we tend to view NS as taking away time from our our lives. But then in my opinion is actually quite beneficial and we are preventing women from accessing this kind of beneficial point of of like okay >> a bit of a equal opportunity equal pain theorem. >> I mean it's also because like as a student my friends who are girls they have expressed like anxiety over needing to immediately transition into university or like work. Whereas for boys we can go into national service. Uh-huh. >> And I mean it's a whole different kind of experience and it's disconnected from the stresses of everyday life. >> Oh, I see. So, NSD stress you. Okay. Very good. Okay.

How about those who will say uh you say yes, right? So, let's hear from someone who say no. Any who, >> anyone who put up your hands to the nos uh >> anyone uh would like to explain your no. >> I think all the women here said no or voted no >> already. All the women said no. Miss Shami, please go ahead with your uh point about women in national service. >> Thank you. Um I strongly feel that girls should go for national service. Uh maybe just 6 months and just nursing or you know first aid because all the nurses who are right now here most of them are foreign foreign nurses. So if there's a crisis or war they will all go back to their country.

and who will tend to the sick and the you know wounded >> and also I think girls should play a part in giving something back to Singapore like the boys are doing um it'll really do them good because I can see the life now that the girls lead and the life we they had is so different there it's more like fun of course they work hard also most many of them but otherwise shopping centers and so many all the time shopping and eating you know and uh so I think I think parents will agree because I'm sure it'll really do them good >> okay >> to take some training and um give some support >> okay >> and they also because they also want equal rights right I I hear everybody saying we want equal rights so if equal rights then you must do something also for society >> oh thank you mine thank you so much minister Please. >> Okay.

So, I'll take the first three the question. >> You take the three questions. Question. >> So, indeed um actually we came up with this concept of total defense many years ago. We added a new pillar the sixth pillar on uh cyber and digital more recently. But indeed for us I always have this saying you know in Singapore when if ever we get into operations if there's a war there's a conflict there's no front line back line we are all on the line. We are all on the same line and all of us must play a part in different ways. It doesn't mean that everybody will do the same thing but we believe that everybody can do something and everybody should do something. So now having said that that's why we constantly look at countries uh in Scandinavia in other parts of the world to see what's their experience like.

Now maintaining conscription is not easy because if you want to do conscription it must be universal. You cannot have conscription whereby you excuse this person and that person and then you have a lot of suspicions about why you got excused because one of the things that we learn when you talk about the other countries is this. If your conscription is not universal and if your conscription ever give rise to any suggestion that there's some favoritism as to who get enlisted, who get deferred, who gets to at least at the time of their choosing, the conscription system will collapse. It must be fair. It must be universal. And it must serve an operational need. And the last one I must emphasize actually in our constitution it says all a body Singaporeans can be enlisted. It is a policy decisions that we have enlisted the male since 1967.

Now what does this mean? It means the following things. We are very conscious again learning from the other military experiences. Never enlist people for the wrong reasons. Never enlist people just for the sake of looking equal or pretending to be equal because everyone who is enlisted there's precious time and you must make sure that they serve a precious operational role. You don't enlist people if there are no clear operational rules whether men or women they are not here to be spare man power and nobody likes to be made to feel like they are spare man power where there are excess people running around just because they're just trying to fill up their time. So we are very tight in the way we manage the system to make sure that anyone that we enlist they must have an operational role.

So even somebody who in the traditional sense of not being combat fit because from the physical perspective they cannot meet certain requirements. We always challenge oursel how we can make that person feel engaged and feel that they can contribute much more. Today fortunately for us technology has changed and the number of vocations have also changed. So for example in the past somebody who is flat foot is considered non-combat fit. Now you may not be able to run uh and walk long distances but that doesn't mean that you cannot do anything. Our previous uh system tells people what they cannot do. Actually we need to change the mindset. That's why our new system we want to people to focus on what you can do and not what you cannot do.

And what you cannot do at one stage of your life doesn't mean that you cannot do that for the rest of your life because we do change. and what you previously did not have the skills to do when you were younger and you become older you can also contribute. So for example maybe when you were young you were not a medical doctor and but by the time you become a medical doctor and in your NS you can contribute in the medical field more in the past you may not be a media personality and you may not know the information operations but now that you have acquired the skills we can now best match you that's why in the SAF beyond the two plus 10 years actually we are moving towards a more dynamic system whereby people will be able to contribute according to what they can and what they want.

Now this is again very important what they can and what they want. What they can is easier to assertain because if you are in the media industry you can contribute something. You are in the medical industry you can contribute something but it's also what you want that is important. Some people come from the media industry it's like hey friend I've been doing this day in day out in my CV life. Uh when I go back to NS I just want to break you know I don't want to do the same thing. Can you make sure that I don't do the same thing?

There are people who do that but there are also people who say that you know I've been in the media industry for my whole life can I just contribute this so we try to find a better match for that and the other thing that has changed is that with technology today if you can swipe a phone you can do many things including flying a drone and many many other things seriously I have with me in BMTC the basic military training center in Tong I have some what they consider non-combat fit by previous definitions but they are some of the best drone operators that we have they are teaching all our recruits to fly the drones to raise the drones to use the drone to pick up uh imageries. They have used the drones to drop stuff. These are basic skills. So the way we define combat fit has also changed.

So that's why we want people to move away from this combat fitness concept that just based on your muscular skeletal uh abilities. We want them to think about it from a broader sense, right? We call it are you operationally deployable? Are you operationally ready? rather than this one-size fit or combat fit and it will evolve with time. So we will certainly expand that. Now on the issue of uh men, women and new citizens of course we also know that actually there are many women who would like to acquire some experiences of national service. It could be military defense, it could be elsewhere. Uh we have also new citizens that would want to make a contribution and I think this is a positive sign.

It is not like in the past whereby many years ago when we first started national service many parents were very worried and say that you just go in and do the minimum don't get injured and come out safely. Today I think the mindset is more of if I have to spend two years or 10 years uh of my NS time then I want to make the best use of my time.

I want to be able to say that I've contributed something and very importantly I think the culture has also shifted because we have more NS commanders who have graduated from the system and these people they are in CV street saying that very often nowadays in employment people ask what do you do in NS not so much as what you do but what have you learned what what skills have you acquired and I think it's a positive sign and it will be very difficult for someone to say that oh I went to the NS I promised myself to do the least then the employer will look at you like uh Okay, there's one particular attitude but I think people want to be proud of what they do and if regardless of rank there are private soldiers, there are corporals who will volunteer and some of them will even extend their service when it comes to critical missions and we have those many examples and growing number of them.

That is a good testimony of the kind of culture that we have in our society where every able body person who wants to and can do something want to do something. So what are we doing along the ideas that you have mentioned? I want to expand the SAF volunteer call. I want to expand the number of volunteer opportunities even for non-uniform personnel for some of the females or some of the new citizens to come in and join us because today for every 10 applicants to join the SF volunteer corp I only take in two. I need to increase my capacity so that people have a chance to contribute and it may not be like what you mentioned. It may exactly as what you mentioned it may not be just in the combat line. There could be people they can do security trooper, they could do cyber, they could do drones, they could do logistics, they could do medical.

And I fully agree with you and I hope that when I expand the number of SAF volunteer call opportunities and if you say that there's a course that specialize in uh medical or uh care whether is it elder care or psychological care, I hope more people will come and join us. But my aim, my personal aim is really to have a culture where every able body Singaporean feel that if I want to do something, I have the opportunity to do something. So when we design our new multi-m mission range complex, it's just besides uh the new MRT station. You go inside down there. If your security cleared, you want to maintain your currency, whether you are ex NSman, whether you are a person with the SAF volunteer call or maybe in time somebody just a Singaporean security cleared and you want to do something like that to keep your currency. Why not?

And that to me is the most powerful deterrent message because when somebody wants to do bad things to us, they know that they are not just dealing with the SAF, they are dealing with the whole of nation and that to us is very important. So I'm going to make available more opportunities for people to contribute according to their different abilities and I think we will have people responding even if we cannot change the rule overnight to say that everybody must serve and sometimes one of the most powerful thing is this when people volunteer their time rather than to say that you serve uh is mandatory to do so they do it even with more gusto and I have seen many of the s volunteer court including new citizens females that have gone over and beyond their call of duty just like the NSmen and NSM NSF that we have.

>> Thank you so much for the questions. We want to get to the next topic as quickly as we can because we've got still quite a number of questions we like to get through. So next topic is social cohesion and we have three questions on this topic. Uh Shamim Maldina Irwan Jamil and Lakshmanan. So the three of you will ask questions on this. We'll start with Miss Shamim with your question. Could we get a mic to her please? Thank you. >> I am concerned about the growing spread of misinformation. In a crisis of conflict, misinformation can be as damaging as a physical attack because it can weaken social cohesim and public confidence. How does Singapore plan to equip national service personnel and the wider population with the skills to identify, verify and respond to misinformation? >> Thank you, Miss Shami.

The second question on the same topic, uh, uh, yes, please go ahead. >> Okay. Uh, good evening, uh, minister. Decades ago, Singapore discontinued with this subject called religious knowledge. Okay. Uh so you talk about uh fast forward to today's time uh in this time and age you talk about the youngsters they learns about religions through various platforms for example uh influences uh the social media and also AI generated content but in doing so there are security implications that can affect our social cohesion. So do you think that there's a case of us revisiting of uh reintroducing some structured religious educations in our schools? Thank you. >> Thank you very much for the question. The last one on this topic, Laxman, please. >> Thank you. >> So we've been talking about conscripting females and so on.

So on that line, my question is how do we make each generation see national service as a commitment that is worth carrying forward and how can Singapore ensure that future generations will also continue to do so? Thank you. Thank you very much for your questions minister. All yours. >> Okay. So [clears throat] what you have pointed out is very right. Uh throughout history we always say if you can win without fighting that is the highest level. And how do people aim to win without fighting? And that is by destroying other people internally which is to cause divisions to cause people to break up because once you lose your unity you are fighting amongst yourself and people don't have to fight us. And that is something that we never take for granted.

This unity and cohesion that we have today is always a work in progress because we all come from different backgrounds. We have different beliefs, different religions, different backgrounds uh and all that kind of things. And all these are potential fault lines that people can exploit. So what do we need to do is a evergreen effort for us to keep incalcating in our young that we need to understand our own interest as fellow Singaporeans really regardless of race, language, religion, regardless of the background or where you have come from. We will never be a country that is united by a common history but we can be a country that is always united by a common future a sense of shared values and that is my vision and what I believe that we must do for Singapore.

So in the world of uh overload uh in the world where the world is overloading with information when I was ine I always say this it's not so much about transmission of knowledge that is most important now that the computers can help us do those that the internet can help us do but how do we equip our people with these 3Ds the ability to distill discern and discover and this is my mantra since day distill because there's so much information. How do you make sense of what is real, what is false, what is true, what what is fake, what is correct and then that is to distill. But the second one is even more important. How to discern right? The computer will not tell you what is right and wrong. And that goes into the value system of what we hold dear to ourself. What is right in some other societies may not right by us.

For example, some societies believe that it's okay for people to take drugs. Our society doesn't believe in that but that is our belief. How do we help our people to distill than to discern the discovery part is a different one which is about creating new value propositions for ourself uh as a society as a country but this is ongoing work and today in a very strange way a lot of people outside our country would like Singaporeans to agree with them. Now that itself is a backhanded compliment that people at least border with what we think but because people border with what we think they are also trying to shape what we think. So they will give tell us all kinds of things that we read. And in Singapore we are such an open and connected society. There's no if you like geographical buffer.

There's no time delay in the way the information reaches us. Anything that's written in English, Chinese, Arabic or many other languages, they come straight into our information space. And when our people get pulled in different directions, how do we maintain that sense of unity? No, a simple thing like when people start asking should we be pro country A or should we be pro country B? That's already the wrong question to ask. We should ask ourself what is Singapore's interest and from Singapore's interest how do we navigate this? So we don't want to be other people's proxies. We don't want to be divided by other people. But in order to do that we must have ongoing work not just in mind but starting from all the way to Mind.

And maybe that's why they sent me to MOE that mean definitely is a [laughter] it's a continue one for us to actually get our national cohesion right but I would say that this just don't just stop at Mindap because when they leave and they go into adulthood and beyond this is a constant work the day when we become complacent and think that we got it right that we have arrived will be the most dangerous day because we forget that we have to keep building on this the simple question of why I think is the best place to do religious education. We better leave this to the religious authorities. But MOE is in a good place to do national education where you learn to respect each other despite our differences. You learn to create common space for one another. And you don't just learn one particular religion or to respect one particular religion.

you learn what other people are thinking and not to be judgmental about why people are different from me but despite our differences how can we build a better and a future together on that diversity of beliefs that we have so that is why I think we have moved from just religious education on one particular aspect to a more broad-based national education respecting different religions and respecting different people then the question that L asked is a very important one How do we keep convincing ourself that this is important? I've always asked this question whenever I meet many of the MOE students uh when I was ine and even before that. What makes us a Singaporean? Why do we want to be a Singaporean?

And if we look back at the history of Singapore for the last 700 years, it was only the last 61 years that we have been independent where we were able to say when people ask us to jump, we can say why. Before that, we were always part of some larger empire. But to be independent is not easy. It can be tiring. We have to take care of our economic development. We have to take care of our defense. We have to take care of our social cohesion. We have to take care of building a system that our fellow Singaporeans can be proud of and want to be part of it. Today, Singapore is relatively successful. It's easy for many people to say that I want to be a Singaporean. But I've always said this, it's not just being a Singaporean when times are good. Then we are just Singaporeans out of convenience.

But to be a real Singaporean, you must be out of conviction regardless of race, language, religion, regardless of our background. That even when the chips are down, we will say I will be here in spite of. Now, how do we get that to be done is never easy. In the last 61 years, our economic success has bought us time. We were relatively successful and today there's no shortage of people who want to be Singaporeans. But we always have to remind ourself this very question. If tomorrow's things don't go as well, will our younger generation say that I will stay here and rebuild this place? Even if it goes down into the water, we will rebuild this place. And that is what I think will define us as fellow Singaporeans. And for us in mind, we will want to make sure that our people have the means to be Singaporean.

But as a country, we must make sure that our people have the will to want to be called Singaporeans because it's not easy. But the price of all this, the goal of all this is that we get to determine our future. And that is something that I think goes beyond the SAF. It is about our whole of nations effort to get this message across for us to inspire our next generation to say that beyond the material well-being that we are able to provide for it is something intangible something more something that we all cherish and we will pay the price in order to achieve what we want.

that the last 61 year shall not be an aberration in history but the last 61 years is a platform upon which we will build something even better that for generations to come there will be many people around the world who will look up to Singapore and say that if only I can be a Singaporean I think that will be the day that we will constantly strive towards okay next topic uh we will move on to youth and we have just two questions uh first one from Tanihuen full-time student studying accountancy See uh could we get the mic to him then after that will be Prashant. Uh could we have Chishuan for mic to Chishuan please? Thank you. >> Good evening. Go ahead.

>> Uh recently minister you mentioned in the Shanga dialogue that domestic confidence and cohesion are vital for a country's external foreign policy and defense in an era where online discourse can be deeply polarizing. How can we foster a stronger shared sense of national identity among a younger generation that may feel disconnected from traditional concepts of total defense? >> Okay, it's uh second question is from Prashant. Could we get the mic to Prashant please? Thank you. [clears throat] >> I'm in. My question is beyond the phys physical training of NS, how do we further strengthen and equip our youth and the wider public with the critical thinking and emotional resilience needed to prevent domestic division?

>> I think you have addressed the issues of domestic division uh on this topic, but I [clears throat] guess this is focused on the youth. Mhm. >> So if there's something you'd like to say that channels towards that, >> I think, [clears throat] excuse me, >> actually I have a lot of confidence in Singapore's youth. I don't believe in this thing called strawberry generations. I just believe that every generation have their own challenges and our people will rise to the occasions.

But I believe from what I have seen in MOE and Mindv our people want to be inspired to a higher cause and it is important for us those who have walked the path to play the role to give them the sense of confidence that they can aspire to something bigger for not just for themsel but for Singapore which is why I always when I was ine I always say this do not just define our success by our achievements whether is in academic or non-academic try to define define our success by our contributions because we will become a very powerful country when we all can define our success not just by our achievements but also by our contributions regardless of your academic background regardless of your jobs everyone can play a part and that is the most powerful thing because I don't think getting people to be Singaporeans is a transactional thing that I give you this and you become a Singaporean even if people start off with this it must end up in a higher plane whereby I I am here foot stop I am here in spite of that will be the kind of psychological resilience that we aspire to go towards uh pro questions about thinking this is something that we kept we have been working on ever since the day I joined the SAF I'm not saying that we have arrived I'm just saying that we have gotten a bit further but it's always a work in progress because your question is a very important one it's not so much about thinking uh critical thinking because people have different definitions of critical thinking.

The important thing in Singapore is that how do we have a culture whereby we don't just tell people what to do and how to do but we tell people why we are doing something and when they understand that why they are doing something they can come up with ways that will even surprise us just to share a simple example once upon a time I was a division commander we had a two-sided exercise whereby there was a third exercise already three four nights have not slept I gave the orders to the And I gave the plans to my commander and I told them the why. I told them this is the objective that we are trying to secure [clears throat] and this is the reason why we have to secure this objective. I told them my baseline plan what I call the phase one because I really cannot take it. I really need to go and sleep after 3 4 days.

I need at least 2 three hours. So I thought I'm going to zonked up for two three hours and I come back and then we'll work on the phase two plan. They didn't wake me up until 6 hours later. And I woke up. They told me that sir we are at this particular place. I said you must got it wrong. My plan was for you to wake me up after 2 hours and you should have reached this particular place. Say no no no sir we have gone so far. I was very surprised and asked why say it's okay sir don't worry you didn't give us the plan. You didn't tell us what to do. You didn't tell us how to do but you told us why we need to do what we do and we just got it done. So you can continue sleeping if you want. So I said no no no better better check what you are doing right.

[laughter] But I think this is an example that I have personally experienced where when our people understand the why you'll be pleasantly surprised the power of our young people and not so young people how they are able to come up with ideas that transcend what we even thought was possible. >> Great. Thank you so much for those questions. Uh next topic on careers we have three questions uh from Ethan uh polytechnic student studying psychology Dr. Tanoy uh the gynecologist and Amos Laauo marketing executive can we start with Ethan uh with the first question on the topic of careers? Evening Minister. Um my question is what what are some tips and advices that you would give someone who is trying to look for a career in like the combat vocations within the SCF? >> Oh my advice. >> Yes. A very career-minded question. Okay. Yes.

>> Uh the second one uh from Dr. Tan. Could we get a microphone to him please? Thank you. >> Uh good evening minister. I believe you might have covered some of uh some of the aspects in my question but um I serve full-time uh national service in a largely administrative role uh because I was non-combat fit and I was later converted to serve as a medical officer after medical school. Uh I had some specialized skills in medical simulation training that could have been actually useful for military medicine but yet it took uh years before I was actually transferred uh to the relevant setting and even then I think those skills were not meaningfully used.

So with the recent refresh of the medical classification system uh MINDV appears to be moving from broad pass labels towards a more functional uh assessment of medical exemptions, deployment eligibility and trainability. Um this is a welcome step. And how can Mindv ensure that this new approach does not simply improve uh just medical classification but also lead to a more deliberate mapping of Singaporean skills to national defense needs across their whole NS uh life cycle. >> Okay, the last one from Amos. Please go ahead. >> Evening minister.

So with the rapid rise of the gig economy, fractional freelancing and remote work for foreign startups, how will MIND evolve its support structures so that self-employed or non-traditionally employed Gen Z's or future generations wouldn't face the asymmetrical career and financial penalties during their reser cycles. Thank you. >> Okay. Um for Ethan, I should say this. I never chose my vocation. I never even chose the SEF as my first choice in my career plan. I wanted to be a librarian. They sent me to the SF. You know, life sometimes like Forest Gum say life is a box of chocolate. You don't know what you get. But I've learned something in life. You try to do what you love at the beginning, but as you go along, you must love what you do. Because what we get out from something is also what we put in. Right?

And I think that is the simplest advice I can give to everyone because from my own journey I did not always get to do what I wanted to do. Maybe because of my family background, maybe because [clears throat] of circumstances, but whatever it is, we make the best of what we can and there's always something that we can get out of it depending on how much we put into it. Um, to Dr. T's question, that's exactly our dissatisfaction with the old system. And that is why we want to make sure that we have a dynamic [clears throat] system whereby we can update our repository of skills and deploy them most meaningfully. It may still not be a 100% match but every percentage point nearer that is something that we will strive for and we'll keep doing this.

But it's a combination of like what I say what you are able and what you are willing uh but what you are able and what you are willing may be a bit different depending on different people. And for uh Amos actually we do even before this gig economy we do have people who are self-employed and so forth and there are existing structures to support the gig workers or the self-employed workers as we used to call them and as the numbers grow our support structures will also evolve and actually for example um how they come for in training nowadays we have given much more flexibility because of the way things are done in fact now we we get the other complaint that maybe mv has gone too far so I give you some example.

In the past, you did your fitness test, you go back for incam training for two, three weeks and you do your fitness test somewhere there. In the past, if you want to go and do your marksmanship training, your shooting training, you have to go back for your incam training and within the two, three weeks of your incam, you will do it there. Nowadays, we say on time on target, you book a time, you go and do your fitness training and it doesn't even need to go within the two, three weeks. Some people love it because they can plan their time accordingly. Some people is like a yellow last time it was only during these three weeks I have to worry about my fitness training. Now you asked me do they own time on target then it imposes on me. So different strokes for different folks right uh now shooting uh with the multi-m mission range complex.

Last time you must go in as a unit. If you have to do day shoot you must go there at 5:00 to get ready for the day shoot by 7:00. You want to do night shoot you must make sure you can't start before 8:00. I can only complete after midnight.

Nowadays you go to the mission multi-m mission range complex within a few hours you finish both your day and night shoot because they just switch off the lights for you to keep shooting whatever targets you want you get it done so I think we'll constantly try to improve our system to facilitate the currency training of our people but at the end of the day the most important thing is that our people wants to do it and they want to do it right and that gives us confidence and it takes us a lot of a lot of people are very surprised and by our initiative to allow our NSmen to take their physical training on their own to take their marksmanship training on their own because it shows a certain discipline uh self motivated to go and get things done rather than have someone to keep going after you and I think it's a it's a powerful culture that we have.

>> All right minister the next quest next topic we have is on inclusivity uh and we have two uh questions one from Karim Lim and another from Hannah Al-Had. So we'll start with Karine who is a COO at a healthcare company with your question first. >> Go ahead Karine. >> Hello Minister. >> Um so as a mother of three boys um including one with autism I often wonder what national service and national contribution will look like for him. Um as warfare becomes increasingly dependent on um AI cyber cyber capabilities. How is Singapore rethinking the role that neurodeiverse individuals can play in def uh defending the nation? >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. And the second question from Hana Alhadad. We have your Hana, please. Your question. >> Good evening.

Um I want to say I too believe that this generation, the young generations are not the strawberry generation and they are looking to be inspired. Uh my question is given the growing number of Singaporeans living overseas and in an age of AI, cyber warfare and global mobility, should national service continue to require physical presence in Singapore for them to serve or should it evolve to recognize other ways of contributing to Singapore society um Singapore security? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Inclusivity from different dimensions. Uh very quick answer. Yes. >> Uh Karine, your question goes back to exactly what we say because warfare has changed. The number of opportunities that and the type of opportunities that we have for different people with different skill set have just expanded and we just have a very simple rule.

Anybody whom we enlist will be able to execute their duties safely for themsel safely for the team and that is our responsibility because our responsibility is to everyone who serve and if somebody has some skills that they can be deployed safely for themsel and safely with the team then we will look at that for Hannah's question uh if people are overseas I think even if they live overseas we would like them to come back and serve together for a certain time And that's because I think in the military when it comes to the crunch there is something that is very unique very precious that we all treasure and that is the camaraderie the sense of being able to work together. I think despite all this work from home and uh all this remote working I think there are certain things about human nature that doesn't change.

If I know Mubin and he's my buddy and we have been fighting and operating together, come hell and high water, we'll be together. But if I know him as a avatar, not very sure, right? So I think uh yeah, today there are many people who go overseas and we have accommodations for people to continue to serve uh at a time when they're overseas to come back at different times. There are in fact more options now compared to the past and this will continue to evolve but I think there's a certain basic level where not everything can be done uh virtually or remotely. Yeah. >> All right. Thank you so much. Uh we will go to the last topic because of the time as a factor. So the two questions we have on this topic which we are calling difficult decisions. Uh first question from Mr. Go Ket and the second from sets.

Uh so the first question from can we get the microphone to Mr. Go uh on and he's of course a real estate investor who's also part of Singapore's first Mount Everest team. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead. >> Good evening minister and everyone. I've always wondered um where would Singapore stand if a war breaks out in the South China Sea? Uh maybe involving Taiwan and two superpowers. In short, who will we offer our neighbor bases? And uh the idea is not so far-fetched because uh Greenland could dawn the American flag and uh you know we have to think of our own defense in this kind of scenarios. >> Okay. The second question set. Yes, that's a microphone for you. >> Please go ahead. Yeah. Yes. So, this is my question.

What is one difficult decision you make today to strengthen Singapore's long-term security even if it were likely to be met with resistance or unpopularity in the short term? >> So, that's literally a difficult decision, right? So, here we go. >> It's okay. Every decision is difficult. The only easy decision was the one I took yesterday. [laughter] Okay.

Jokes aside um EK's question very serious uh question actually the first order of question that we have to ask ourself is always this what is Singapore's interest and there must always be a context to what we do and why we do what we do so it cannot be hypothetical and we should not go around and u uh get ourselves into hypothetical situations because uh that might also let people read the wrong things but I can guarantee you what are some of things that we will And this is not waiting for conflict to happen whether in South China Sea or anywhere else. The first thing that we always do is be very clearey about what's Singapore's interest. What do we have to do to secure Singapore's national interest?

Number two, what do we have to do to understand those bigger forces that is shifting in the global geopolitical dynamics and ask ourself when everybody is pushing and jostling where can we get caught? How can we not get caught? If we don't want to be caught, then we must have some real capabilities where people don't see it in their interest to push us around. And that is hard work. That is why I always say that when we build up our defense ecosystem, you must build up two things. The ability to have deterrence with real capabilities and the ability to have diplomacy with a very clear eye understanding of what people are thinking about.

So whether is it the Shangrila dialogue or any of the bilateral or multilateral forums that we spend time and effort engaging the partners it's not about going there to have coffee or tea it is about going there to deeply understand what people are thinking about and some of these things require time has the thinking shifted very subtly and if you detect shifts then we have to ask ourself what's our response ahead of time you cannot wait for people to start to have shifted then we respond When people start shifting, we have to keep recalculating what's in our best interest. And the second thing is that then we need to understand. If we want to partner others, the question is not whether we want to partner others. The real question is whether people want to partner us.

And nobody will like to play with us and partner us unless we have real capabilities. Whether is it in the defense technology field, whether is it the army, air force, navy or dis, nobody will want to exercise with Singapore for the fun of it, they will only want to spend their time and resources if they believe that we have a credible armed force that can value add to the relationship. And if we do all this well, we hope not to have to answer that question.

But if we have to answer that question despite all this despite what is beyond our control we will certainly answer those question when the time come in the best interest of our country and you will be contextual now what's the most difficult decisions it's very interesting question I've never really thought about the most difficult decisions because every decision can be difficult but every decision can also be very easy because it depends on what's our starting point actually questions Decisions are never difficult. If we start from the premise of what is it best for Singapore, what is it best for Singaporeans? I think sometimes people get into this situation where they think the decision is difficult because it may impact themsel their own interest.

But once you are able to separate your own personal interest, set that aside and always focus on the larger picture of what's good, what's important, what's necessary for the country and our people. Actually, things will become easier and that is always our guiding principle. Never end up putting our personal interests ahead of the country, ahead of the force. then we will get into a very complicated sol situation because no matter how hard the decision is so long as we have the conviction that this is good for the country even if we have to pay the price in the short term we will go for it. You look at the spirit of what we have today 196567 we started national service. Was it a difficult decision? Yes. Why did our forefathers do that? because they have the conviction that this is necessary for Singapore.

Can you imagine if Singapore didn't have that decision made many years ago? Many of you as I p you just now would have agreed that now will be even more difficult to make such a decision. But every generation will have to make those difficult decisions so that the future generations do not have to suff suffer the consequences of those decisions not being made. But this is easy to say, not easy to do because in the world of politics today, a lot of countries are caught up in the short term and they are looking at a shorter and shorter term cycle. There was a real story. George went for a multilateral meeting overseas. that he talked about five year plan, 10 year plan and people turn around and ask him why are you so confident or so arrogant that you will you're talking about five year plan, 10 year plan as if you will still be around.

But our point is that if we don't have such long-term perspective, don't have such long-term plans, we will certainly not be around. But we're going to give it our best shot by making all the decisions that are necessary not just for this generation but for the next generation. If we have to tighten our belt to acquire capabilities ahead of time, we'll tighten our belt to acquire capabilities ahead of time. If we have to make difficult decisions to as you all suggested review how we do national service, we will have to do it because our responsibility is not just to this generation. Our responsibility is to the future generations as well. Although you can say practically the future generation, they are not here to vote for you yet. So why do you bother? But if everybody thinks like that, then we are not responsible leaders.

Then we are really politicians and not political leaders. And long may it be that I hope that we have good political leaders in Singapore, not good politicians in Singapore per se. Because we don't want people who just want to make short-term decisions and do the easy things but leave the tough things behind. And in today's world there's no shortage of examples where people have left the tough decisions whether is it infrastructure is it the way they run their finances and the subsequent generations are suffering from this. We want to distinguish ourself as fellow Singaporeans as a place where people look up to look forward to partnering us because we do the right things no matter how tough it is. But in the government frankly speaking it's not a joke. There's never easy. There's never a easy day. The only easy day was yesterday.

And but we are prepared to give it our best shot so that the miracle for the last 61 years will not just be a flash in the pan. I hope and I'm not stressing you. I hope you will be the generation that will organize NDP 10065 because you are at the correct age. in 39 years time you will be part of the leadership team together with the rest of the SUSS members who are here and finally on that note if we are so fortunate to be around may you invite us to NDP 100. Thank you very much. [laughter] >> Thank you very much minister. Thank you. Thank [applause] you to all of you. Appreciate. [music] Thank you so much. >> Thank you all so much for coming. Heat.