Speech by Senior Minister of State for Defence, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, at The Committee of Supply 2025 on 3 March 2025

Introduction

Mr Chairman, Minister for Defence Dr Ng briefly mentioned SAFRA Bayshore earlier in his speech, allow me to provide more details. SAFRA was set up in 1972 to recognise national servicemen and build bonds among servicemen and their families. I cannot emphasise enough the role that the families play in supporting our servicemen through their National Service (NS) commitments. Today, the seven SAFRA clubhouses across Singapore provide servicemen and their families with affordable recreational facilities and lifestyle offerings. I am pleased to announce that MINDEF will build a new clubhouse in the Bayshore area, to better serve our servicemen and their families in the East. It will have a direct access to the MRT, which will provide greater convenience to users. Ms Denise Phua had asked for an update, and she will be pleased to know that SAFRA Bayshore will be SAFRA’s largest clubhouse – about 50% larger than the average SAFRA clubhouse, and will offer unique family, entertainment and recreational facilities. We plan for SAFRA Bayshore to be ready in a few years’ time, and to replace our oldest clubhouse at SAFRA Tampines, built in 1988.

Dr Ng and SMS Heng also updated the House on our efforts to ensure that the SAF remains effective and ready to defend Singapore, and this is amidst a more challenging geopolitical environment. We must also be prepared for the risk of various kinds of disruptions caused by climate change, cyber-attacks or civil emergencies. Many of these disruptions are not limited to the military domain, but have impacts on the wider society.

To answer Mr Saktiandi Supaat’s questions, the threat of such far-reaching disruptions is part of the reason why Total Defence, our concept of a whole-of-society defence, remains as relevant and useful today as it was in 1984, when we first started Total Defence. Looking back, some of the disruptions we face today – food, water, and power disruptions – are similar to those we faced back in 1984. However, as our lives became more interconnected and more fast-paced, these disruptions have the potential to be more severe and more far-reaching than before. Other sources of disruption are more recent, such as disruptions caused by cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure, or extreme weather arising from climate change. We have experienced some of these disruptions in the past, and we must be prepared for such disruptions in the future. The six pillars of Total Defence – military, economic, social, civil, digital, and psychological – working in concert have allowed us to respond to different crises that jeopardised Singapore’s future over the past four decades. 

These pillars provide us with a strong foundation for our defence, and based off a public poll that we conducted last year, we are glad that most Singaporeans are willing to partner with us, to play their part in bringing Total Defence into action. However, the same poll found that Singaporeans were less confident about our preparedness to withstand crises and disruptions. As such, MINDEF and the SAF have been working with Singaporeans to strengthen community resilience and readiness for disruptions, particularly through Exercise SG Ready.

Strengthening Community Resilience and Readiness for Disruptions

Mr Alex Yam and Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked about Exercise SG Ready and MINDEF’s efforts in strengthening societal resilience. Last year, we conducted the first Exercise SG Ready, to prepare Singaporeans for disruptions to food and water resources. I reported last year that over 800 organisations participated in simulated disruptions of our water, our food, and our power supplies, as well as cyber disruptions. The positive response has rallied more organisations to come on board this year.

Over the past two weeks, MINDEF, together with the Energy Market Authority, conducted the second edition of Exercise SG Ready, focused on enhancing community preparedness for power disruptions and cyber-attacks. This year, over 1,200 organisations participated in the exercise, including schools, communities, businesses and government agencies. Over 600 participating organisations also took the opportunity to exercise their business continuity plans. For example, Senoko Energy simulated a total blackout of their power plant, where all of its generators were shut down and restarted using back-up generators. Several multinational and local financial institutions also reviewed their readiness plans through a Table-Top Exercise organised by Quantedge Capital. Close to 200 organisations also took part in a coordinated phishing exercise, of which half were Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). 

This year’s exercise was also unique in spotlighting the need to care for the vulnerable segments of society during major disruptions, as part of SG60. For example, corporates like HP Inc. have adopted Active Ageing Centres to support seniors in times of crises, ensuring that no one is left behind. MINDEF also supported the Singapore Association for the Deaf in developing sign-language educational videos on emergency preparedness for the Deaf community, to ensure that they are aware and prepared for cyber or power disruptions.

Aside from disruptions caused by accidents or malicious actors, we also have to prepare for the risk of disruptions arising from climate change. Climate change is not just an existential threat for a low-lying island like Singapore. Its effects are being felt today in the form of extreme weather events. 2024 was one of the hottest years on record, and in January, we felt the effects of climate change in the form of prolonged rain and flash floods because of the monsoon surge. 

To prepare our community for disruptions caused by such extreme weather, we conducted a community Table-Top Exercise with PUB in November last year. The event brought together over 50 grassroots leaders, residents, youths and business representatives to discuss an extreme flooding scenario, and how to plan and prepare for such a scenario, in partnership with community groups. We will continue to hold more of such exercises to increase our community preparedness and resilience, bringing together the experience of our community leaders, the experience of our business representatives, and the energy of our youths.

These exercises covered some of the likely disruptions that we may encounter in the coming years, and I am glad that many Singaporeans today are more prepared to face these disruptions.

Beyond preparing Singaporeans for disruptions caused by climate change, MINDEF and the SAF are also part of the Singapore government’s sustainability efforts to safeguard Singapore’s future. 

MINDEF/SAF’s Contribution to Sustainability

To reduce our carbon emissions growth, we had committed in 2021 to deploy more solar panels in SAF camps and bases, to achieve a target of 50 mega-watt peak of solar capacity by 2025, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 13,000 four-room HDB flats. Over the past three years, we have been installing rooftop solar panels in our SAF camps, as part of HDB’s Solar Nova programme. By the end of this year, we will have solar panels in most of our camps. On top of that, we will be building a solar farm within Sembawang Air Base this year. The solar farm will comprise 18 mega-watt peak solar photovoltaic systems, and will generate energy equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 4,700 four-room HDB flats. This will lead to cost savings of approximately $1.9M a year for the SAF, and bring us closer to achieving our emissions reduction target for 2030. The locations for these solar panels were carefully selected to ensure that our operational effectiveness will not be affected. This included detailed studies to ensure that the glare from the solar panels will not pose a danger to military aircraft. We will continue to expand solar deployment to other MINDEF/SAF camps and premises where operationally feasible. 

We are also on track to achieving our other sustainability targets, including a 10% reduction in water and energy utilisation and a 30% reduction in Waste Disposal Index. For example, the RSAF has built a super low energy flight simulator building in Tengah Airbase, which consumes up to 40% less energy than previous designs, and the Chinook wash shed, which uses up to 60% less water per wash. In 2024, the estimated amount of water saved was equivalent to the average daily amount of water used by 1,500 four-room HDB flats. We have also implemented trials of the Smart Utilities Metering System at three SAF camps, with good results of up to 10% reduction in electricity consumption. We will begin rolling them out in all SAF camps and bases in the next few years, which will further help us to maximise the resource efficiency of our buildings and infrastructure.

Mr Don Wee asked about how MINDEF is investing resources to contribute to sustainability. Through these initiatives, I will assure Members that MINDEF and the SAF are committed to achieving our sustainability targets in line with the Singapore Green Plan 2030.

Partnering Singaporeans to Strengthen Commitment to Total Defence

Chairman, looking forward, it is pertinent that we continue to partner all Singaporeans to strengthen our collective commitment to Total Defence, so as to safeguard Singapore’s future. We need to continue to advocate for and engage Singaporeans on the need for Total Defence, to build a strong, secure and cohesive nation. 

Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked for a summary of our initiatives last year to commemorate 40 years of Total Defence. Aside from improving our community resilience through the Exercise SG Ready, we also focused on inspiring Singaporeans to act and energising our Total Defence practitioners. Let me give you an update on the key initiatives. From February to October last year, we conducted a Total Defence Exhibition at 52 locations around Singapore, where we showcased examples of Singaporeans putting Total Defence into action. Over 300,000 Singaporeans were encouraged to reflect and make pledges in support of Total Defence. We also engaged and energised over 300 National Education and Total Defence practitioners through the inaugural Total Defence Convention, organised jointly with NUS. Practitioners from government agencies, educational institutions, community groups and businesses were able to come together to exchange best practices, network and discuss ideas around the theme of "Building Societal Resilience and Readiness in Crises and Disruptions".

This year, we will continue to engage specific groups to strengthen community resilience, while engaging all Singaporeans to strengthen commitment to Total Defence. One of the ways we will do this is through the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD), which Ms Rachel Ong spoke about. 

ACCORD runs a wide range of community outreach initiatives, bringing society together, to champion and advocate for Singapore's defence and for NS. Some Members of Parliament such as Mr Don Wee, Ms He Ting Ru, Mr Neil Parekh, and Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim are also active members of ACCORD. ACCORD has existing programmes reaching out to pre-enlistees, youths, new citizens, Permanent Residents (PRs), national servicemen, families, and women. This year, ACCORD will focus on engaging businesses, particularly SMEs, leveraging on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between MINDEF and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) last month. Under the agreement, SBF will conduct activities to engage businesses in support of Total Defence and national resilience and will conduct cybersecurity training and exercises for businesses to strengthen their digital defence and resilience. Since 2021, ACCORD has also been conducting virtual visits to the BMTC for Singaporean families residing overseas, ensuring that both pre-enlistees and their parents have greater access to NS information and feel more connected to the NS journey. Following good feedback from the attendees, we will open the virtual visits to all pre-enlistees enlisting in 2026, along with their families, to allow more family members to take part in the BMTC tour and understand more about the importance of NS.

Ms Rachel Ong also asked about how we are encouraging and enabling conversations about Total Defence, especially with our youth. One way we do so is through our MOU with Temasek Foundation, which was recently renewed, to provide CPR and AED training as well as Psychological First Aid (PFA) certification training for all nine Uniformed Groups. Over the past two years, over 10,000 cadets have undergone CPR-AED training, and have been equipped with emergency preparedness skills to react to critical medical emergencies in the community. We will extend this initiative for an additional year, to continue equipping cadets from uniformed groups with valuable knowledge to identify and respond effectively to medical emergencies. Such initiatives strengthen our community resilience and our readiness for crises. 

We also want to continue strengthening our engagement of Singaporeans, through presenting our defence stories and messages in new and exciting ways. Mr Wan Rizal asked for an update on our MINDEF/SAF museums. Last August, our Singapore Air Force Museum was handed over to Defence Collective Singapore to operate, alongside the Singapore Discovery Centre and Singapore Navy Museum. The Singapore Air Force Museum will undergo a refresh this year to update its galleries and introduce more engaging and immersive programmes. Beyond the fleet of aircraft on display, the refreshed museum will feature precious artefacts and equipment from the early days of the RSAF, telling the story of the growth and innovation of our Air Force. The public can look forward to visiting the refreshed museum in early 2026. Looking further ahead, we can look forward to the reopening of the Army Museum of Singapore in Jurong in 2027, after it completes a major revamp, and the opening of the NS Gallery in 2028.

These refreshed museums will inspire visitors to defend what it means to be Singaporean, and this is part of our overall effort to explore new and innovative ways to expand our reach and put Total Defence into action. 

Encouraging Innovation in Support of Total Defence 

This brings me to my last point – encouraging innovation in support of Total Defence, which Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked about.

For the past three years, I have mentioned the Total Defence Sandbox, as our flagship initiative to call for and implement ideas from Singaporeans on how the community can put Total Defence into action. Through the programme, we have received a total of 258 innovative proposals.

This year, I would also like to highlight the Total Defence-themed Hackathon YouthxHack as an initiative that empowers our youth to put Total Defence into action. The four-day event organised by Cyber Youth Singapore last year involved over 160 participants across 36 teams, coming up with innovative ideas to strengthen the digital, social and economic pillars of Total Defence. Let me highlight one example. In response to the Hackathon’s challenge to enable the public to distinguish between trustworthy and malicious interactions, one of our hackathon teams developed the “5Seconds” initiative to provide a secure and scalable communication method between businesses and customers. The application enables convenient and secure communication over email and SMS through encryption, eliminating concerns over phishing and bolstering public trust in our digital communications. Since the hackathon, the team behind “5Seconds” has participated in several events to showcase their solution, including the Association of SMEs Artificial Intelligence Festival Asia event in January, sharing their solution to help improve the digital defence of our companies. 

These are just some examples of the projects we have received from youths over the past year, which we are supporting. The active participation and creativity of our youth give me confidence that together, we can build a strong, secure and cohesive nation capable of dealing with any crisis. 

Conclusion

Mr Chairman, I would like to close by reiterating that the world we live in is a challenging one, and the threat of disruptions in the future is all but certain. MINDEF has been and will continue to invest in Total Defence as our best preparation and our best response to these disruptions. We are doing our part towards meeting the sustainability targets, as part of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, to safeguard our collective future. I am heartened that Singaporeans have also been preparing and equipping themselves, and contributing in creative ways towards strengthening Total Defence. We will continue to partner Singaporeans in this shared responsibility of keeping Singapore strong for the future. I am confident that together, we can build a strong, cohesive and secure Singapore for many generations to come.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.