History Performance Task: Report Singapore adopts a twin approach of diplomacy and deterrence in its current defense strategy.

Through its bilateral ties with other countries and membership in international organizations such as ASEAN and UN, Singapore collaborates with foreign countries to negotiate on peaceful terms and avoid conflict. If the adversary knows that if it continues its attacks, the other country will respond with all its military might to help us. This will make the enemy hesitate and think twice about attacking Singapore, and can help buy us more time for preparation if war was to break out. However, Singapore cannot depend solely on diplomatic ties . Singapore must be able to protect itself against any form of threat. Singapore is over-reliant on other countries like United States or Europe for their weapons supply or expect other countries to come to our assistance in times of need. In 1942, a cause that lead to the fall of Singapore to the Japanese was our overdependence on the British to sent reinforcements to us. But as they had priority in Europe's ongoing war with Germany, they were unable to dispatch sufficient men and resources to Singapore to defend the fortress. Poor leadership of Percival who surrendered hastily to the Japanese, not even knowing that the Japanese were already short of ammunition and men and air support lead to our downfall. This emphasizes on the importance of being resilient. Hence, Singapore cannot afford to rely militarily on another nation and place the burden of Singapore's sovereignty on the shoulders of another. We need to build up on our self-reliance, and deterrence is an essential factor in this. Singapore prepares through total defense and National Service. Though there is a shortage of manpower due to limited local population, our military forces are well-trained and operationally ready. The shortage in manpower can be compensated by exploiting technology. We should avoid recruiting soldiers from foreign countries to fight for us during war as the Allied Forces deserted us in 1942 because they felt no sense of loyalty and belonging to Singapore and hence, deciding not to put their lives at stake for just another country like Singapore. The total defense strategy deters potential aggressors from attacking Singapore, as they know that they would be facing not just the SAF but also the whole of Singapore. In order in increase our deterrence level, Singapore also needs adopt a forward based defense strategy, where higher intelligence service of the SAF Intelligence Corps can obtain accurate and timely intelligence on the movement of the adversarys forces and is able to launch a first strike before they build up their forces to launch their attack on Singapore. This will allow us to gain the upper hand and be one step ahead. Also, we should be diligent and not make misleading assumptions as we did in 1942. Therefore, Singapore cannot rely solely on either diplomacy or deterrence as it is insufficient to protect Singapore, thus both are required. (498 words)