“I witnessed for myself what resilience is like, and I really hope that if that moment ever comes for us to experience something like that, we can find that strength and the willingness inside us to unite as one,” Mr Shen said.
“We do not want to be tested, but I’d like to believe that (our resilience) is there.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING PREPARED
Speaking on Total Defence Day, which marks the day Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942 during World War II, Mr Shen spoke about the relevance of preparing to protect Singapore.
He said that going through National Service, which is part of Singapore’s military defence, prepared him “in some ways”.
As part of his reservist activities, he had a “live deployment” to protect key installations in Singapore in the wake of 9/11, he said.
“From that experience, I knew, when you really need to protect what you hold dear to yourself, everything else becomes second place. Because you have a role to do and you step up,” he said.
Returning from war-torn Ukraine, Mr Shen said he was mentally prepared that Singapore would be a different environment.
“Everyone is a lot more peaceful and the context of war is not on everybody’s shoulders,” he said, adding that he cannot expect people to jump into “preparation state” despite it being Total Defence Day.
Mr Shen said he wanted to use the context of Total Defence Day to help Singaporeans understand the importance of preparedness.
“What I need to emphasise is: preparedness is just as important as being strong and being positive,” he said.