One of the main reason why we are currently in better situation
than the countries that you mentioned was indeed as you suggested,
through diplomatic means and trade. (Except for Sweden, which I
couldn't understand why its in "perilous situation") Over the years
since our independence, we had develop a much closer relationship
with our most potential aggressor, Malaysia and Indonesia than say
Israel could ever hope for with perhaps Iran.
However, one of the main factor that made this possible was our NS
policy which directly contributed to our military defence. Our
independence coinncide with the period of de-colonisation where a
good number of former colonies were thrown into turmoil immediately
after their colonial master withdrew. It was also a period where
Indonesia lay claims to a large number of these decolonised
terriority such as Aceh and East Timour. There was geniue cause
then to believe that we could be a target. And indeed, during the
60s till 70s there were a few operations launched against us.
Increasing our military defence through NS then was also to prepare
against any possible communists attacks which was a common cause of
concern during the cold war period. MCPs and Viet Congs were all
not too far away both in terms of geography and time.
More importantly, a relatively strong military defence will be a
good deterence for any potential aggressor. As a Singaporean
scholar had pointed out, our military's role then was like a
scorpion sting, although we caannot neccesary defeat our enemy, we
certaintly can make them pay such prices that they would rather not
invade.
One might then ask what is the purpose of NS now then? Earlier on,
I had used the example of Israel's relationship with Iran (in
bold). Ironically, 30 years ago, the two states were the best of
friends in the middle east. Iran was the first and few middle east
state to recognise Israel and together with Iraq, were the closest
allies of the US in the region. The sudden Iran revolution changed
everything overnight and suddenly Iran is talking about wiping
Israel off the map. We have witnessed the potential of Indonesia
being thrown into political disorder and it is really uncertain if
our friendship with our neighbours would remain unaffected if there
is a change of power. The previous Indonesia President, Gus Dur had
talked about an alliance with Malaysia to "cut of our water supply"
(even though Indonesia didn't supply us water). But it just proves
that crasy SOB can land their hands on power sometimes and being
crazy SOB, they will do crazy stuff. Having a strong military
defence is not only a "gentle reminder" for these potential crazy
people to wake up for a while, but also if necessary, to really
fight and win any conflict. Which with our current capability, is
highly possible, again with a fair degree of contribution from
NSmen.
Investing in defence also pay off in the long run. A strong
military defence helps create a stable area for investment. Nobody
would dare invest in Singapore if we can be taken out easily.
Israel may not have secured peace by winning almost every war, but
they are certaintly still on the world map. Something that would
definitely not be possible without the IDF. And although the IDF
was unable to remove threats from neighbouring states completely,
it was able to limit them. The recent Hizbollah attacks (one that
is said to be proxy of Iran) 's damage was kept to the minimum
because the IDF are constantly disrupting the Hizbollah rocket
launchers. Just because AIDs is an incurable disease doesn't mean
that the patient give up his/her treatment completely, at least the
treatments can keep the illnes under control.
While violence indeed cannot end violence all the time, it
certainly is capable of creating a space and leverage for
diplomacy. Your enemy would not be bothered to talk to you if they
can crush you with a finger.
I agree with your points of working hand in hand with our
neighbours, but military defence may not always hinder it. In fact
a good number of diplomacy is done primarily through military
exchange and assistance. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia had a
number of joint exercise which improves our relationship and the
three navies are trying to work together to stop pirarcy.
Singapore's defence is one of the best in the region and various
military personnel had confirmed Singapore's standard. Although we
cannot survive a nuclear bomb attack, but it doesn't mean we should
give up our defence completely. Most human are going to die of some
disease at some point in time, this doesn't mean we might as well
just give up our immunity system. A nuclear attack is disasterous,
but in reality, who is going to use it on us? Non-state actors such
as terrorists might consider it, but thats precisely what our
military intelligence are for. Much of the billions that we invest
are spent on intelligence gathering and Singapore is also reputed
within the region for its intelligence gathering ability.
