In the 5th century BC, during the invasion of Thermopylae, 300 Spartan soldiers
stoically withstood the onslaught of some 200,000 Persian soldiers for days on end.
Today, 2,500 years later, we can find a small country with the same philosophy
of resistance, determination and popular mobilization.
And no, as surprising as it may seem, we are not talking about Israel.
So VisualPolitik fans, do you have any idea which small country we may be talking about? 3,2,1...
Okay, yes, I know, the surprise factor is not our forte, because the answer is basically
in the title of this video, but we had to at least try to drum up some excitement.
So yes, you got it right: in this video we are going to talk about Singapore.
And not just the Singapore we all know and love,
but the least known Singapore, the most military, intimidating and fiercely strong.
Almost, you could say, the very Sparta of the XXI Century.
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or click the link in the description. That’s K-E-E-P-S dot com slash visualpolitik.Singapore
is a small country, very small, practically tiny.
However, despite having fewer than six million inhabitants and an area of just
280 square miles or 730 square kilometers, an area roughly equivalent to that of New York City
and half the size of others such as London or Mexico City, Singapore is a military power.
Yes, yes, you heard correctly. We are talking about a first-rate military power
that by itself would be able to stand up to almost any country in the world.
Because it turns out that Singapore has one of the best-equipped armed forces on the planet.
Specifically, Singapore's armed forces have just over 70,000 full-time professional personnel,
some 400,000 part-time personnel and more than 1.2 million military-trained reservists.
Because yes, in Singapore there is compulsory military service for all
men for two years. It is called NS. And so, the regular armed forces,
whether full-time or part-time, account for 8% of the country's entire population. At the same time,
the military trained and available population represents almost a quarter
of all the inhabitants of this city-state. And that's not all. Since 2015 this country
has also had a volunteer army, known as the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps,
which is also open to women and which allows membership up to the age of 45 years.
In probably no other country in the world is the population so involved in the armed
forces. And we’re just getting started. As you all probably already know, in modern
warfare, the number of available soldiers is not the most important element in achieving victory.
Above and beyond the number of troops is the available technology and military equipment.
Singapore, being one of the world's wealthiest countries,
has not skimped on this over the past few decades either.
For example, Singapore has more fighter aircraft than the air forces of countries such as Canada,
Sweden or the Netherlands. In terms of capacity, they even rank above the air forces of countries
such as Spain. And we are talking about advanced equipment acquired from the military industry
of the United States, Israel and Europe. In fact, Singapore was the first country in
all of Southeast Asia to get its hands on the fifth-generation F-35 fighter.
Obviously, as you can imagine, the military budget of this country is not exactly small,
especially considering that it is a city-state with fewer than six million inhabitants.
Well, in 2021, this city's military spending exceeded $11.5 billion,
which is almost three times the military budget of neighboring Malaysia and 25%
more than the military spending of Indonesia, a country with 46 times the population.
To put this in perspective, we are talking about a budget similar to that of a territory
as under threat as Taiwan. Pretty amazing, right?
Singapore is a very prosperous territory with a lot of legal security. It’s one of the enclaves
where the capital of millions of investors and companies from all over the world end up.
And that’s a status that needs protection. And with the data in hand, it seems that
they are very, very clear about this. Since gaining its independence in 1965,
this small Asian country has had three major military strategies.
Three major military strategies that explain their perception of the world and
that have shaped their relatively large and well-equipped armed forces over the years.
Because VisualPolitik viewers, nothing of what we have told you is by chance.
Listen up. (THE POISONED SHRIMP)
The first military strategy, Singapore's great defense strategy, came shortly after its
independence under the celebrated Lee Kuan Yew, the historic first Prime Minister who designed
today's Singapore and ruled for 20 years. The fact is that after separating from the United
Kingdom, integrating into Malaysia and then being expelled in just two years, Lee Kuan Yew was very
clear that in order to survive, Singapore had to become a place that no one would want to invade.
An idea that he expressed very clearly in 1966 in one of his best known quotations.
("In a world where the big fish eat small fish and the small fish eat shrimp, Singapore must
become a poisonous shrimp. [...] "If you eat them, you will get digestive upsets." – Lee Kuan Yew)
When Lee Kuan Yew uttered these words, Singapore's situation was radically different from its current
status. At that time Singapore was a poor country, with hardly any allies,
surrounded by somewhat hostile neighbors and having to survive in a world torn in two.
Singapore had to be able to defend itself. The goal was that invading this enclave
would become such a costly operation in terms of money, lives and military resources that
no country would be tempted to do so. Singapore's defense had to be able to
inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy even if it did succeed in overrunning
the city. If that happened Singapore would become the poisoned shrimp.
[This strategy, by the way, is very similar to the one that many analysts advocate Taiwan
should adopt to defend itself against China. Now, the question is, how to achieve all this
in practice? How does a country become a "poisoned shrimp"?
Well, basically in three ways: by arming themselves to the teeth, preparing for
combat and making powerful friends. The fact is that when Singapore became
independent and began to go its own way, the city-state barely had two infantry battalions,
one old cannon and no fighter planes. An army had to be built practically from scratch.
To achieve this, Lee Kuan Yew gave his Minister for the Interior and Defense, Goh Keng Swee,
a secret order: Singapore needed to strengthen ties with Israel, Egypt and India.
And guess what? Of the three countries, the most effusive response came precisely from Israel,
a country desperate for "friends" abroad. So not only was Israel one of the first states to
recognize Singapore, but in October 1965, barely two months after proclaiming full independence,
the Hebrew army was already at work helping to design the armed forces of this new country.
Of course, it was not that simple. The collaboration between these two
countries had to be as discreet as possible. So discreet that no one would know about it.
Why? Well... Think for a moment about the two countries surrounding the city-state:
Malaysia and Indonesia. Two large Muslim countries that,
at the time, like virtually all Muslim countries, had Israel in their sights.
So if Singapore did not want to be seen as a hostile element and run the risk
of justifying an invasion, it had to be inventive. Take a look at this.
(The first military advisors sent from Israel to Singapore were called
'Mexicans' in order to be discreet – Mothership) And, take note, because in order to make it
credible, Israel selected members of its armed forces for the operation whose features would
allow them to pass as Mexicans. So no blond or extremely white-skinned soldiers and officers.
This particular anecdote is told by Lee Kuan Yew himself in his memoirs published in 1998.
The fact is that out of this collaboration came the so-called "Brown Book," a master plan
captained by the then Israeli IDF deputy director of operations, Rehavam Ze'evi.
("I want you to remember several things. One, we are not going to turn Singapore
into an Israeli colony. Your task is to teach them the military profession,
to put them on their legs so they can run their own army. [...] Second, you are not going there
in order to command them but to advise them. And third, you are not arms merchants. When
you recommend items to procure, use the purest professional military judgment." – Yitzhak Rabin,
former Chief of the General Staff and Prime Minister of Israel)
And so, in just three months, the Israelis created an entire military
strategy and doctrine whose central axis was to build a citizen army of conscripts,
to be trained and led by a small, highly professional and well-equipped regular force.
Does this structure remind you of anything? Exactly,
it is exactly the same model that is still in force today.
The fact is that to achieve this goal and get the country to have twelve battalions ready to
defend the city in less than a decade was why compulsory military service was established.
The idea, basically, was to ensure that the entire nation could be mobilized if necessary.
And that this enormous capacity would be the great bastion of the city's defense.
But of course, as the country became richer and the armed forces became better equipped
and better trained, it became clear that the military strategy needed to be updated.
Well, that moment came in the 1980s. From that moment on, Singapore's military vision helped it
evolve into a major military power. Listen up.
(PORCUPINES AND DOLPHINS: SINGAPORE IS HERE)
A decade and a half. That was all the time it took
Singapore to go from being an impoverished fishing colony without an army to being in a position to
act militarily beyond its own territorial limits. And this was precisely the basis for Singapore's
second military strategy, known as the porcupine strategy, which began to be implemented in the
early 1980s and brought about a huge change. Singapore no longer had the need to assume,
to accept that it could end up being invaded, even if at a high cost, which was basically what
the idea of the poisoned shrimp was all about. They now had sufficient training and equipment
to convert their passive defense model into a much more active one. This doctrine was in force
until the arrival of the new century and was the necessary step to finish building a modern army.
And so, following the porcupine doctrine, Singapore not only became an important
customer of the US, Israeli and European military industries – which in itself
gave it enormous influence – but it also developed its own local military equipment industry.
An industry that has allowed Singapore to become one of the 30 largest arms exporters by volume
worldwide. Among its most successful equipment we can highlight the SAR21 assault rifle,
the BRONCO military all-terrain vehicle and the TERREX armored transport vehicle,
as well as a host of drones and howitzers of all kinds.
But that is not the end of it. Singapore is currently applying its third major strategy,
known as the dolphin doctrine.
Shrimp, porcupine and dolphin. This is just like a nature documentary.
But why the dolphin? Well, you see, the dolphin
is a tremendously agile animal that is able to use this agility to even attack sharks,
despite not being as strong as them. And that is precisely the idea.
Under this doctrine, Singapore is building an impressive air force,
very strong and very agile, capable of anticipating any threat. In other words,
to achieve total air superiority in the region.
To achieve this enormous power of response and anticipation,
the current Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong,
has launched an ambitious plan to adapt the entire military structure to this new mission.
Among the key aspects of the new strategy is the replacement of the aging F-16 fleet with
fifth-generation F-35Bs as well as the renewal and expansion of its Navy fleet,
which currently operates six multi-mission frigates based on the French La Fayette class.
It also highlights the acquisition of key weapons such as German second-generation Leopard tanks,
indigenous Hunter combat vehicles, in service since 2019, and the US Lockheed Martin M142
HIMARS missile launcher, of which Singapore already has two dozen units.
This is how Singapore first became a militarized city, then an impregnable fortress and now a
military player capable of applying the maxim that "the best defense can be a good offense".
But wait a minute, because not everything rests on their arsenal.
Singapore has been enhancing military synergies with its allies for many years,
especially through military training. Singaporean soldiers currently train
in countries as disparate as the United States, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan and
South Africa, and frequently participate in large-scale defensive military exercises.
In addition, Singapore has also sealed important defense agreements with Uncle Sam,
agreements that include access to Singaporean military bases for US soldiers....
(Singapore renews military bases pact with US amid deepening defense ties with China – SCMP
Washington renews pact granting US forces access to Lion City's bases
until 2035, underlining the city state's importance to America's Asia strategy)
(Navies of 21 countries kick off US-led
drills in Southeast Asia – AL Jazeera SEACAT exercises underway in Singapore
and virtually as Beijing and Moscow also hold drills in China’s Ningxia)
Of course, all this does not mean that Singapore is a belligerent actor, not at all. It is one
thing to get along well with the United States and quite another to get along badly with China.
And here Singapore has, shall we say, a certain advantage:
69% of the Chinese have a positive image of this city-state, whose model Deng Xiaoping
himself took as an example for implementing the reforms that have built the China of today.
Singapore is something like a combination of Sparta's military vocation and
Switzerland's historical neutrality. This, VisualPolitik community, is a great
financial marketplace, a haven for capital and business from all over the world. For this,
both strength and neutrality play a key role. Be that as it may, this is the less familiar face
of Singapore. Its role as a military power despite having fewer than six million inhabitants and less
than half the area of the city of London. Now if you found this video interesting
don't forget to like and subscribe to VisualPolitik if you haven't already done so.
Thank you very much for being there. All the best and see you next time.