Part || of Total Defence Day Post

In the earlier post, I posted info on Total Defence Day. I am going to touch on Civil Defence and Economic Defence today.

Firstly, I'll touch on Civil Defence. Civil Defence provides for the safety and basic needs of the population on the home-front so that life may go on as normally as possible during emergencies. It involves training, with the help of the Singapore Civil Defence Force, the civilian population in rescue work, evacuation, first-aid and damage control.It aims to produce a civilian population familiar with procedures for survival and protection, and with arrangements for relief services and emergency supply of critical items like blood, water and food. The knowledge and assurance that loved ones are cared for will fortify the morale of our citizen-soldiers in military training or fighting at the front-line.

So, let's find a way to contribute to the citizen population and grasp the basic knowledge of the necessary ways to protect ourselves in an emergency.

Next, Economic Defence. This aspect mainly concerns the government, business and industry organising themselves in such a way that our economy will not break down in war or under the threat of war. It means putting in place contingency plans (meaning: like a back-up plan) to ensure that our offices and factories will be able to continue their operations during emergencies, even after National Servicemen (NSmen) and equipment have been mobilised to deal with the emergencies. Economic Defence involves the economic sector sharing material and manpower resources to meet the needs of Civil and Military Defence. At the level of the individual, Economic Defence requires the cultivation of a good working attitude and constant upgrading of one's skills. This is necessary to help Singapore stay ahead of the competition.

Although people of my generation might be to young to contribute to this aspect, lets all strive to be calm and wise when we progress to the working industry and to contribute to the economy.

Finally, I would like to give my opinion and my feelings towards Total Defence. I feel that although these 5 aspects have different lengths in terms of description, all of them are equally important. Singapore is a small country. It has a small population base and no natural resources. It is a multi-racial and multi-religious society, a young country whose roots are still being planted. All these make Singapore vulnerable not only to military attacks, but also to exploitation of our economic, social, political or psychological weaknesses by those who may wish to do us harm. Thinking back, when Singapore were attacked by the Japanese during the Japanese Occupation, Total Defence was not yet implemented. However, right now, Singapore have experienced no wars since Total Defence Day was implemented 25 years ago. This emphasises on the importance of Total Defence.

Thank You.