SINGAPORE: Senior Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman said on Wednesday (Dec 13) that Singapore must be prepared should tensions build up in this region after Washington’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last week.
Dr Maliki said that the status of Jerusalem is a “sensitive and complex issue with a long history” and any “premature and unilateral action” to alter its status will impede progress for a peaceful resolution of the Middle East. He added that Washington’s declaration will further “destabilise the region and make efforts to combat terrorism all the more difficult”.
Dr Maliki was speaking at the 14th Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Senior Military Expert Appointment Ceremony at the Temasek club, where 99 servicemen and servicewomen were appointed Senior Military Experts (MEs). The graduating cohort comprised 18 from the Singapore Army, 38 from the Republic of Singapore Navy, 25 from the Republic of Singapore Air Force and 18 from Joint.
Senior Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman presenting the Sword of Honour to Military Expert (ME) 4 Ryan Goh Su-Shien at the 14th Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Senior Military Expert Appointment Ceremony (SMEAC). (Photo: Mindef)
In his speech, the minister said the current security situation in the world remains “tense”, while threats are constantly evolving: “The North Korean nuclear situation has caused great concern amongst the nations of East Asia and the US. Tensions in the South China Sea persist as countries assert their claims over the disputed waters.”
Referring to the Las Vegas mass shooting incident in October and the terrorist attacks in Europe involving vehicles being driven into crowds, Dr Maliki said these new terror methods are a reminder that we need to be “ever-vigilant and agile to adapt our means of defence against these threats”.
CYBER THREATS
With regard to cyber defence, Dr Maliki said that increased digitisation has contributed to a rise in the risk of cyber threats that have the potential to cause much disruption. He cited the IT network breaches of two Singapore universities in April, as well as Yahoo’s disclosure in October that three billion of its accounts were hacked in a 2013 data theft, the largest data breach in history.
To meet this emerging threat, Dr Maliki said that the SAF inaugurated the SAF C4 Command and the Cyber Defence Group in November, to strengthen Singapore’s defence against attacks in the digital domain.
He said the Military Domain Experts Scheme (MDES) scheme will deepen the SAF’s expertise in this area and facilitate its ability to groom the existing uniformed cyber security experts through professional upgrading, and recruit individuals with relevant academic background or experts from the cyber security industry.
