Forward Engagement

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: Leadership and the Singaporean Think Tank

Think tanks mean many things to many people. But they are always created to serve the intellectual and political needs of specific groups, even individuals. Think tanks function as the reserve ‘brains’ of their various causes. They are deliberately licensed to engage in ‘blue ocean’ scenario planning when their political masters are overwhelmed by the daily tasks of meeting immediate deadlines. It is therefore quite common for think tanks to propose strategy and participate in the exchange of ideas. The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), based within the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), serves the national and international security interests of Singapore by acting as a renewable repository of ideas for its political leaders, while also hosting diplomacy through informal channels and teaching four Master’s programmes. Although RSIS is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, finding the balance between being the generator of constructive ideas and playing the roles of a good diplomat and inspiring educator has been tricky. This is, in part, due to the dynamic nature of engaging with academic responsibilities while tuning it for Singapore’s needs. The more significant challenge has been to respond to the shifting sands surrounding Singapore’s geopolitical situation, that is, the positions of China, Japan, India, and the United States (U.S.), and most definitely, Singapore’s relations with its ASEAN neighbours. Since the early 2000s, RSIS has also taken on added responsibilities in researching and advising the government of Singapore on terrorist threats in the region, along with its implications on the fragile fabric of national identity. In its ever deeper ‘blue ocean’ projections, RSIS has developed a core unit, the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), to provide specific and background studies on food security, climate change, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, to assist the various government ministries in forecasting the multidimensional challenges facing a world with diminished borders…

Since its inception in June 1996, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) has sought to position itself at the forefront of academic and policy-oriented research on international and security issues in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region. At RSIS, the research conducted by faculty and staff can essentially be organised into four broad categories: Asia-Pacific Security, Conflict and Non-Traditional Security, International Political Economy, and Area Studies. This research agenda is driven by five centres at the School — the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS), the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS), the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), and the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS)…

The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) has been and remains a key contributor to multilateralism through its keen involvement in multilateral research and in multilateral diplomacy. When RSIS started institutional life as the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) in 1996, the Asia-Pacific region was still coming to terms, politically and philosophically, with the end of the Cold War and the new opportunities and risks associated with its aftermath. On the intellectual front, security scholars and analysts have long debated whether the end of bipolarity and the relatively weak and minimalist form of multilateral institutionalism that emerged in the post-Cold War Asia-Pacific would lead to great power rivalry and possibly even war in the region. By no means monolithic, RSIS has played host to those opposing propositions, whilst creating space for thinking and debating about multilateral ideas and institutions germane to the Asia-Pacific and its sub-regions. Over the years and despite shifting trends in academic and policy-relevant knowledge and activity, RSIS’s interest and involvement in multilateralism have proved perdurable…

The following sections are included:

• Why Does the Dispute Matter?
• RSIS Research on the South China Sea
• My Own Research

In response to several defining episodes that impacted Singapore in the late-1990s to the mid-2000s — such as the Asian Financial Crisis and the ensuing fall of Suharto’s New Order government, to the discovery of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror plot and the SARS crisis — the Singapore government mounted a strategic review of its capacity for dealing with systemic shocks to national security. The result, by 2004, was the launch of the Strategic Framework for National Security, which called for the fostering of a whole-of-government approach to national security. This philosophy was emphasised because it was realised by then that national security no longer meant only the military defence of political sovereignty and territorial integrity. After all, tanks and jet aircraft were equally ineffectual against an extremist ideology or a superbug. Much more creative thinking was needed to sharpen and hone the reflexes of policy elites and the various government agencies — not just the security and intelligence agencies but indeed ‘all-of-government’ — to the more complex and uncertain, strategic environment that had been emerging since the end of the Cold War (1945–1991). To its credit, the government realised that it could not rely solely on in-house research expertise, as national security challenges were increasingly boundary-spanning and interlocking. Hence, it was felt that reaching out to academia was more important than ever. This was not an entirely new idea of course, since the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) had been set up in July 1996 as the academic partner of the Ministry of Defence. A decade on, however, it was clear that an expanded understanding of national security required additional research investment…

The Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) was established at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on July 1, 1996. At its inauguration, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam, observed that Singapore’s strategic environment extended beyond its neighbourhood. It was essential to continuously scan the security and strategic environment to gain a better understanding of the changes taking place in the Asia-Pacific and how they will impact Singapore…

One of my first duties when I came to the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) was to brief the RSIS international board members on the centre and the sort of work we do. Before successfully navigating my opening slide, I was asked to pause, and a distinguished academic (who shall remain nameless) enquired as to whether the description of CENS as a ‘world-class thought leader’ was a statement of fact or merely an aspiration. Momentarily flummoxed by the query, my answer was slow to emerge; I responded that CENS, with its modest staff of 15 researchers, recognised the challenge of being a small think tank seeking to rank alongside the global heavyweights conducting similar work, but nonetheless, we did not see an endlessly receding mirage. There was an end goal that we intended to reach — to grow into a genuine world-class institution under the umbrella of the now globally recognised RSIS brand. The exchange left an impression, and I began to reflect upon how far CENS has come, and what the future might hold as we bridge aspiration and reality…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• The Context
• Background
• The Post-9/11 Environment
• The Future

The following sections are included:

• International Trends and SRP
• Urgency of Inter-Religious Dialogue (IRD)
• IRD as Vanguard
• Religion, Violence, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
• Religion and Society

The concept of cybersecurity is so vast that even before ‘cybersecurity’ became the buzzword that it has become today, academics in different programmes and think tanks at RSIS had already been researching key issues relevant to Singapore’s Digital Defence, resulting in such varied perspectives as the study of Information Warfare as ‘Weapons of Mass Effectiveness’, proposed development of a Resilient Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Cyber Security Regime, analysing Israel’s Evolving Cyber Defence Strategy as a model for Singapore’s military innovation and strategy, Cyber Deterrence, Confidence-Building Measures, Cyber Terrorism, Cyber Warfare as part of disruptive defence technologies, cybersecurity risks of the Internet of Things (IoT), and the concept of ‘information operations’ that do not distinguish between peace time and war.

The following sections are included:

• Why Non-Traditional Security?
• RSIS Research on NTS Issues
• Highlights of RSIS NTS Research
• Our Other NTS Research
• Looking Ahead

Networking with other think tanks working on regional security issues was one of three functions the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) was mandated to do, alongside research and teaching. The intent was that through networking with other think tanks, IDSS would get a sense of the emerging issues and evolving trends of regional security which would impact on Singapore. This sensing of the issues and trends of regional security would feed into IDSS research projects and shape its policy analysis and recommendations, while trickling down into its teaching programmes. In moving to network with other think tanks, IDSS was trying to reach out and break into a network of institutes of strategic and international studies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which had been informally meeting since 1984 to review developments within the region…

The following sections are included:

• Establishment of NADI
• Role of the NADI Secretariat and NADI Website
• How Does NADI Support the ADMM?
• NADI’s Role in Promoting Defence Diplomacy
• Overview of NADI’s Work and Its Future Directions

In 2004, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) formally announced its vision to transform itself into a ‘Third Generation’ military force, or the ‘3G SAF’, one that would have enhanced capabilities via the exploitation of new concepts and technologies, and an improved ability to fight across a wider spectrum of operations. Along the effort to transform into the 3G SAF, the then Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Desmond Kuek, embarked on a three-pronged ‘ONE SAF’ strategy. Using the acronym ‘ONE’, the first prong is “Operationalising the 3G SAF by ensuring high readiness in full mission capability”. The second is to “Nurture 1st class people in a world class organisation”. The third is to “Engage all our people towards stronger commitment”. Professional military education was furthered under the second prong. This nurturing effort recognised that people are the SAF’s most valuable resource and expressed the SAF’s commitment to develop its people to lead and excel in their mission imperatives, by training and educating them well, and to bring out the potential in each individual and team…

The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) prides itself as being a part of Singapore’s development as a growing centre for military education and regional defence diplomacy. This chapter traces one strand of the growth of RSIS from the humble beginning of a military education outfit set within the SAFTI Military Institute (SAFTI MI) in 1996 to a forward-looking centre for education and research in military affairs. It also highlights the role of the Asia Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO) in engaging senior officers from around the world through a summer workshop in Singapore.

On July 13, 2012, the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting for the first time in its 45-year history ended in disarray. They failed to issue their customary joint communiqué, due to deep internal differences over the South China Sea disputes. Host Cambodia refused to release the pivotal document, claiming lack of consensus…

For over a decade now, there has been a misalignment between a shrinking market demand for and an oversupply of PhDs in all academic disciplines, but the problem is especially acute in the humanities and social sciences. The outcome of this mismatch is a growing army of underemployed and unemployed doctorates with crushed aspirations and ideals. According to a National Science Foundation survey, the percentage of new doctorate recipients without jobs in the United States (U.S.) jumped to 39% in 2014 (nearly 45% among freshly-minted humanities PhDs) from 31% in 2009, and fewer than half of them were expected to land tenure-track academic positions…

I joined the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) on November 3, 2014 as Executive Deputy Chairman. I succeeded Dean Barry Desker as the Chief Executive of RSIS. I had heard of RSIS often, as it frequently came up in my conversations at home and abroad with Singapore officials and foreign diplomats. I met several graduates, researchers, and teaching staff from the School over the years and was impressed with their focus on security issues, strategic concerns, and policy relevance. They always seemed to look at the future and to advance Singapore’s interests in an ever-changing world…

The following sections are included:

• Afterword
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• About the Editor
• List of Contributors (in order of appearance)