The defence of Singapore is due fully to efforts of the Singapore Armed Forces. Do you agree? Explain your answer.

I agree that the defence of Singapore is due to efforts of the Singapore Armed Forces. The SAF is largely made up of a citizen army, where young male Singaporeans serve for 2 year in the conscript army. Thereafter, all soldiers are to serve in the reserves for a minimum of 10 years. During this time, soldiers under-go rigourous military training. The SAF is also well armed, with a powerful array of high tech weapons such as the Leopard tank and Apache helicopters. These deliver a powerful blow against any aggressors. As such, the SAF defence Singapore by making sure that any nation that attacks us would be sure to suffer heavy losses. This deters aggressors, as it would not be worth the expense and loss of life just to capture our small but deadly state. As with a scorpion with a powerful sting, we are thus able to scare away attackers as we will not be an easy meal, thus ensuring that Singapore can be defended. However, I disagree that the defence of Singapore is due fully to the effort of the SAF alone. Another factor is Total Defence. Total Defence was introduced in 1984 to involve everyone in the defence of the country. It consists of 5 aspects: Military, Civil, Economic, Social and Psychological. Through these elements, all Singaporeans are committed and play a part in the defence of Singapore. As such, this will deter an aggressor who knows that he will have to fight against every Singaporean who will do his best to stop the invasion. Singapore will not fall easily, and thus it will not be easy to defeat. Enemies will be deterred and hence our sovereignty will be ensured. Another reason why I disagree is that military co-operation that Singapore adopts with other nations also contribute to the defence of Singapore. The Singapore government actively fosters friendly ties with the armed forces of other countries. This is conducted through bilateral and multilateral military agreements, joint military exercises, training programmes and participation in the UN peace keeping missions. Singapore has military agreements with countries such as France, Australia, New Zealand and India. These strengthen ties between nations, so that should Singapore be attacked, we have allies who will be committed to assist us in our defence. This will mean that the aggressor will face not just Singapore, but many of her close friends. With such overwhelming international pressure, the aggressor will not wish to continue the attack, and Singapores sovereignty will be ensured. In the end, I think however, that the efforts of the SAF is far more important that total defence. This is because the basis of deterrence must be a military one. No matter how co-ordinated the people or how psychologically strong they are, without a strong military response, an invader can easily walk in and conquer a country. That is why there is a military element even in Total Defence. The SAF is the keystone of deterrence, the other elements of total defence merely makes it easier to sustain the SAFs military efforts. We cannot even depend completely on military cooperation completely as we have no control on how these countries will react when Singapore is under attack. Therefore , I strongly feel that the defence of Singapore is due manly to the effort of the SAF supplemented with Total Defence and military co-operation.