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Total Defence pitches in to help less well-off
By Jermyn Chow
THIS year's Total Defence campaign will not just remind Singaporeans of the role they play in defending the country but also, for the first time, do its bit for charity.
The annual drive - started in 1984 to remind Singaporeans of the country's limited resources and each citizen's role in defending it - aims to raise $200,000 for beneficiaries under the Community Chest.
To raise funds, netizens will just have to click and download the music video of the song 'Home', which has been made popular by Singapore singer Kit Chan. It has been picked as the theme song of this year's campaign, taglined 'Home - keeping it together'.
For every download, $1 will be pledged to the Community Chest's beneficiaries by five organisations and companies.
They include the Lee Foundation, Sembcorp Industries, Aurigin Technology, the Singapore Turf Club and the Tote Board.
Ms Jennie Chua, chairman of the Community Chest, said funds raised will go to the elderly and less fortunate families to help pay for medical care, among other things.
More private companies are also jumping on the Total Defence bandwagon this year.
For instance, for every two origami frogs folded by its restaurant patrons, Sakae Holdings will donate Japanese bento sets to special-needs students from Minds Fernvale Gardens School and Canossian School, and senior citizens in Radin Mas constituency.
Sakae Holdings founder and chief executive officer Douglas Foo, who runs more than 50 restaurants islandwide and overseas, said Total Defence is 'everybody's business'.
'Private companies also need to operate in a safe and stable environment; if there is instability, then we will be affected too,' said Mr Foo, 40.
Colonel Lim Kok Siong, director of the Defence Ministry unit Nexus, which runs the campaign, said the efforts of private companies - the biggest ever in a Total Defence campaign - help to 'increase the outreach' to the public.
Total Defence Day, a grim reminder of a small country's vulnerability, is marked every year on Feb 15, to coincide with the same date in 1942 when Singapore fell to the Japanese during World War II.
This year's campaign will be jazzed up by the new spin given to the song 'Home'.
It will be sung by Ms Chan and 38 other artists including Ramli Sarip, Jacinta Abisheganaden and Stefanie Sun.
The Dick Lee-penned number will be aired on radio from next month and the video, produced by Ms Chan, will be shown on TV and the Total Defence campaign website, www.thisishome.sg.
The campaign will also include an online music video contest, with winning entries picked by organisers and votes cast by the public.
Twenty videos have been submitted since the contest started on Jan 2.
By Jermyn Chow
THIS year's Total Defence campaign will not just remind Singaporeans of the role they play in defending the country but also, for the first time, do its bit for charity.
The annual drive - started in 1984 to remind Singaporeans of the country's limited resources and each citizen's role in defending it - aims to raise $200,000 for beneficiaries under the Community Chest.
To raise funds, netizens will just have to click and download the music video of the song 'Home', which has been made popular by Singapore singer Kit Chan. It has been picked as the theme song of this year's campaign, taglined 'Home - keeping it together'.
For every download, $1 will be pledged to the Community Chest's beneficiaries by five organisations and companies.
They include the Lee Foundation, Sembcorp Industries, Aurigin Technology, the Singapore Turf Club and the Tote Board.
Ms Jennie Chua, chairman of the Community Chest, said funds raised will go to the elderly and less fortunate families to help pay for medical care, among other things.
More private companies are also jumping on the Total Defence bandwagon this year.
For instance, for every two origami frogs folded by its restaurant patrons, Sakae Holdings will donate Japanese bento sets to special-needs students from Minds Fernvale Gardens School and Canossian School, and senior citizens in Radin Mas constituency.
Sakae Holdings founder and chief executive officer Douglas Foo, who runs more than 50 restaurants islandwide and overseas, said Total Defence is 'everybody's business'.
'Private companies also need to operate in a safe and stable environment; if there is instability, then we will be affected too,' said Mr Foo, 40.
Colonel Lim Kok Siong, director of the Defence Ministry unit Nexus, which runs the campaign, said the efforts of private companies - the biggest ever in a Total Defence campaign - help to 'increase the outreach' to the public.
Total Defence Day, a grim reminder of a small country's vulnerability, is marked every year on Feb 15, to coincide with the same date in 1942 when Singapore fell to the Japanese during World War II.
This year's campaign will be jazzed up by the new spin given to the song 'Home'.
It will be sung by Ms Chan and 38 other artists including Ramli Sarip, Jacinta Abisheganaden and Stefanie Sun.
The Dick Lee-penned number will be aired on radio from next month and the video, produced by Ms Chan, will be shown on TV and the Total Defence campaign website, www.thisishome.sg.
The campaign will also include an online music video contest, with winning entries picked by organisers and votes cast by the public.
Twenty videos have been submitted since the contest started on Jan 2.
