Enemy in sight: Local film to show Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) battling the Enemy on home ground

For the price of a cinema ticket, you can discover how Singaporean film maker/comedian/cross-dresser Jack Neo addresses the age old question: "Who is our Enemy?"

His upcoming film, Ah Boys to Men, due to premiere on 8 November 2012, promises to pit local thespians and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) war machines in a "war scenario". It's a description that is likely fan the interests of Singapore watchers from Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur as they wait anxiously for how the Enemy will be depicted in this quasi-action flick.

The Singaporean Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) e-zine, cyberPioneer, said:"While the film promises to entertain with a light comedic touch, Mr Neo revealed that there would also be plenty of exciting action scenes and use of CGI (computer-generated imagery). Expect to see real Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) hardware such as Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles in action during a war scenario where the Singapore heartlands are invaded by enemy forces.

"With support from the Ministry of Defence and SAF, the crew were also able to put several of the 'recruits' through a two-day training programme to familiarise them with the military lifestyle and latest equipment used."

Wow.

It would be instructive for defence buffs and social commentators to see just how MINDEF/SAF calibrates the signature of the Enemy, because this is a description that officialdom has assiduously avoided in past years.

What we've seen thus far are intensive campaigns that tug at the heart strings of Singaporeans by asking them what they will defend and whom they hold dear. We have had the horror of the Japanese Occupation during the Second World War drummed into our psyche. Privations from shortages of water and food are sometimes replayed in school during Total Defence Day when school kids are deprived of nourishment during recess time. And the race riots.

What we've seen offialdom avoid is a clear and unambiguous description of the Enemy. Instead, the SAF's capability development has been described by the politically correct and non offensive sounding term "multi spectrum". The SAF's transformation is explained on the grounds of being capability-based and not threat-based. The two are different in philosophical orientation but may attain the same end result in terms of military hardware, if you pause to think about it.

We have been told that to name a likely or possible enemy is to make a definite one. So all these years, we have had to contend with the SAF shadow boxing during war games around the world with Enemy combatants from no one particular country or countries.

For those aware of the fragility of Singapore's geo strategic position, the difficulty of MINDEF policy officers and MFA wallas in describing what Singapore needs to guard against doesn't take much imagination.

It is clear that Jack Neo's film is receiving more than tacit support from MINDEF/SAF, which isn't a bad thing because if the film is going to be made anyway, then MINDEF/SAF might as well have cinemagoers impressed with the SAF with National Education (NE) messages discretely sewn into the dialogue/plot/background like product placements so common in blockbusters.

From a defence information management point of view, the portrayal of the Enemy is dicey on these counts:

First, the absence of official literarture on the Enemy may make the young or the impressionable or the sinister-minded use Jack Neo's film as the benchmark for which the Enemy is calibrated and described. If SAF war fighters are sent to fight aliens (Battleship, Battle: Los Angeles, Independence Day, War of the Worlds, Mars Attacks), then the years many of us have spent serving National Service (NS) might be seen as a farce.

If the Enemy comprises terrorists set loose in the heartlands, then would this not count as a job for the police or Special Forces rather than something for the full force potential of the SAF to tackle, swiftly and decisively?

If the Enemy consists of soldiers from Malaysia and/or Indonesia on the war path, we can expect our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive Third Party Notes from the aggrieved party, not to mention lots of bad press from north and south.

Second, the impression that the SAF is trained, organised and equipped to fight a terrestrial Enemy on homeground is not only wrong, but dangerous as it may seed wrong impressions of the SAF. Heartlanders and ill-informed citizens of this island nation may harbour the impression that this is the kind of land war the SAF has in its drawer plans. And the question of how long Singapore's fighting forces can prevail if the Enemy is allowed to invade home ground may shake confidence among citizens and new Singaporeans.

Granted, this film is part comedy part action flick made in good fun. But it is perhaps more than coincidence that it will premiere in a year when Singaporeans mark 45 years of National Service.

For those of us who know how the system works, you can bet officialdom will milk maximum PR value from Mr Neo's venture by getting the good and the great to say what this film reminds us to defend and how valuable the SAF is to Singapore's defence and security and how we should never take peace and stability for granted.

We know all that. But tell us again, who is the Enemy?


Please take part in the latest poll -->