TURNING PLEDGES INTO REALITY THIS TOTAL DEFENCE DAY

In line with their pledge of "I will help raise social awareness among my peers and contribute meaningfully to Singapore", three final-year students from the Nanyang Technological University NTU) Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information took it upon themselves to organize a charity drive to help less fortunate youth.

Titled "The Red Box Project", donors were asked to fill up re-decorated old shoe boxes with thoughtful gifts such as stationery and books for less fortunate children and youths in centres run by The Salvation Army, Beyond Social Services and the Children's Cancer Foundation.

Said one of the team members, Mr Collin Kam: "We believe that charity begins at home! The Red Box Project was derived from the concept of giving red packets during Chinese New Year, and we thought to give red boxes instead of red packets."

Their initiative was inspired by this year's Total Defence campaign theme "I Will", designed to make Singaporeans think about different ways and things that contribute towards the five cornerstones of Total Defence - military, civil, economic, social and psychological - and to act upon these thoughts.

"We want to get our fellow youth more involved and more aware of social work. We managed to engage other friends to pitch in as well, in areas such as logistics, labour and distribution," added Mr Kam.

His team's efforts were showcased at the Total Defence Commemoration Day at Nanyang Polytechnic on 11 Feb, where Guest of Honour Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean spoke about how the defence of Singapore's sovereignty and the protection of its people and land stem from the individual effort of every man, woman and child, who calls Singapore home.

"When taken together, the many 'I Will's' become 'We Will'. Total Defence today is about both 'I Will' and 'We Will.' It is only when we come together with a shared goal, pool our resources, and pull together in a common effort that we can overcome any challenge or threat," noted Mr Teo.

As part of the Total Defence outreach initiative this year, an island-wide distribution of "I Will" ZoCards featuring a "People for Total Defence" series of advertisements allowed Singaporeans to write their personal pledges on the back of the cards.

During the commemoration event, homegrown artist Casey Chen unveiled a specially commissioned art installation consisting of five elaborately-designed stainless steel letters spelling out the words "I Will", which he said represents "our collective will to defend all things dear to us in Singapore".

Students from Fairfield Methodist Secondary School (FMSS) were similarly present to share how they turned their "I Will" pledges into reality by distributing food and necessities to the elderly residents of Queenstown estate, and painting the homes of the less fortunate living in one-room HDB rental flats.

Mr Teo interacting with students from Queenstown Primary School, who were featured in this year's People for Total Defence series of advertisements for Social Defence.

Said Brendan Cai, a Secondary Four student from FMSS: "We wanted to do a Total Defence campaign which would be memorable to all students... something unique about this campaign is that it is student-driven, though guided and mentored by teachers."

"Besides rallying students to help out on 31 Jan, we also asked them to donate food rations so that we can pack them into hampers and give them to less fortunate families," he explained.

This year's Total Defence Day commemoration also included a prize presentation of the nationwide animation competition, N.E.mation! 4.

Mr Teo presented the top prize of a fully sponsored trip to the DreamWorks Animation Studio in the United States to the winning team, NJC Design Club from National Junior College.

Commemorated yearly on 15 Feb, the day Singapore fell to the Japanese during World War II in 1942, Total Defence Day serves to remind us of the varied roles that all of us can play in securing Singapore's peace and prosperity for future generations.