Are you ready for 7 million people on tiny Singapore?

[3Boys]

Iluvmygals:

1. It's not the size of the dog in fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog...so are we defensible....yes if we have a whole country of 3boys....

Well, thank you. It's just that I believe in the Singapore story, and I choose to educate myself about it.

It's ok to be critical of policies, but one MUST understand what one is criticising.

It's funny to be accused of being in an ivory tower if all I put forth is publicly available stats.

[Mdm Koh]

I think we cannot assume that the money we spend on defense is on weapons and technology that will benefit Singapore in the event of an actual attack. First, Singapore invests a lot in intelligence. Apart from hunting down terrorists, this is also used to monitor us, Singaporeans.


Second, what’s the proportion of the budget that is going into the salaries of the ministries’ directors?

Until we have a rough spending breakdown from the ministries involved in defence and security, I will refrain from assuming that the billions of dollars are being used to upgrade our weapons.

[3Boys]

Mdm Koh:

I think we cannot assume that the money we spend on defense is on weapons and technology that will benefit Singapore in the event of an actual attack. First, Singapore invests a lot in intelligence. Apart from hunting down terrorists, this is also used to monitor us, Singaporeans.


Second, what's the proportion of the budget that is going into the salaries of the ministries' directors?

Until we have a rough spending breakdown from the ministries involved in defence and security, I will refrain from assuming that the billions of dollars are being used to upgrade our weapons.

http://www.questia.com/library/98854885/defending-the-lion-city-the-armed-forces-of-singapore

F-15 and Apache attack helicopter squadrons don't appear by magic, they must be bought and paid for. Landing ship tanks and submarines don't come out of the water by themselves. Docks must be built, crews trained.

I think we can safely assume a huge amount of spend goes into hardware and training. Don't take my word for it, go read the book yourself.

Knowledge is power.

I hope you are not expecting that Mindef provides a breakdown of spend, in the form you desire, or that a failure to do so results removes their right to spend. Why give away proprietary information to our rivals?

[ChiefKiasu]

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record... but some OOT posts were embargoed since my last announcement of moderation action...

[limlim]

JannettLee:

Sorry hor, I didn't ask to abolish NS completely but asked to cut defense budget to very minimum.

Why spend so much money? we are not going for war, even if we do, you thought we can win the war ?

I believe the doctrine have never been to win war.. but to deter/avoid one.

How to deter enemies from attacking us? By establishing a capable and effective armed forces, by making the enemies-to-be realise that they have to pay a huge price if they were to attempt to invade. And the price would not be worth what they might gain, if any.

[limlim]

3Boys:

I must say I feel a little disappointed that not more people weighed in against the ridiculous notion that our island is not defensible.


Having dutifully served NS and ICTs over the years, and having held some positions of responsibility in that time, I have no doubt that there is no country in the region that can mount a successful invasion of Singapore, and it is down to the professionalism and strength of our armed forces, not the presence of foreigners. If you are not familiar, here is a good book to read.

Thanks to ABTM.. :evil: :evil:

Aerial dogfight over Singapore air space....

[limlim]

JannettLee:

I learnt new thing today! I didn't know that we can defense Nuclear Weapon from Russia and China. :yikes: I always thought that they don't even need to come out 一兵一卒can already 轻而易举拿下 those countries which do not have any nuclear weapon. They have Nuclear Weapon but still are not considered to have ability to project forces ? :skeptical:

So the powerful countries throw a nuke and destroy everything?

And they gained NOTHING in return but a mess of radioactive wasteland and still have to dig into the pocket for the cost of a nuclear bomb too..

[limlim]

Iluvmygals:

Keeping defense budget to the minimum means building a stone wall around the circumference of the island and putting a few guns on sentosa!

:evil: :evil:

Sounds familiar....., and the fall of the \"Impregnable fortress\" to become Syonanto ..?

Is history a compulsory subject nowadays.....?

[Just relax]

3Boys:

I must say I feel a little disappointed that not more people weighed in against the ridiculous notion that our island is not defensible.

Not to worry 3Boys I think there are more than enough of us who are aware of what our country is capable of and I know from my own interactions with our chaps who have gone on peace-keeping missions around the region that our neighbours actually appreciate the seriousness by which we take the defense of Singapore.

And I seriously do not think we can afford to actually reduce our defense expenditure because the nature of the threats to Singapore are constantly evolving. The SAF is a deterrent not only as against hostile military action but also as against terrorist attacks. The SAF is a component of the Total Defence doctrine and whatever people may say, the fact is Singapore can mobilize a deterrent force despite its small size. Psychologically this is critical for a small country as well.

[3Boys]

Just relax:

3Boys:

I must say I feel a little disappointed that not more people weighed in against the ridiculous notion that our island is not defensible.

Not to worry 3Boys I think there are more than enough of us who are aware of what our country is capable of and I know from my own interactions with our chaps who have gone on peace-keeping missions around the region that our neighbours actually appreciate the seriousness by which we take the defense of Singapore.

And I seriously do not think we can afford to actually reduce our defense expenditure because the nature of the threats to Singapore are constantly evolving. The SAF is a deterrent not only as against hostile military action but also as against terrorist attacks. The SAF is a component of the Total Defence doctrine and whatever people may say, the fact is Singapore can mobilize a deterrent force despite its small size. Psychologically this is critical for a small country as well.

Thank you.

I believe the majority of Singaporean NSmen, whilst fully aware of the shortcomings of NS, ICT and various other irritations that we will complain and bitch about to each other, very few will actually believe that the armed forces, as a whole, are incapable of defending us, or will throw in the towel at the first hint of trouble.

We must not throw the baby out with the bath water.