Ix Shen receives the NS Advocate Award
For his community engagement work in sharing his experiences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and using that to inform Singaporeans about national defence, Ix Shen received the NS Advocate Award for Individuals at the Total Defence Awards 2023. He tells us about the question he is asked the most, and what lessons Singapore can learn from the war in Ukraine.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Congratulations.
00:02 I feel very honoured.
00:14 When I initially volunteered to help generate awareness for the Total Defence,
00:20 I wasn't expecting any award.
00:22 But having an award, it feels that my efforts have been acknowledged,
00:25 and I feel very honoured for it.
00:28 The focus groups are very wide.
00:31 So every listener and question comes from different specific fields of interest.
00:37 I would say that most Singaporeans that I've come across, everyone is very interested in.
00:43 So the questions are very wide and vast, which is also very interesting.
00:47 So my approach is, as long as you ask a question, I'll try my best to answer it.
00:53 Most people want to ask, how is it like to survive an invasion?
00:57 My answer to that is, you have to manage your own fears and uncertainties,
01:05 and prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
01:08 The younger generation, I hope that they will not take peace for granted.
01:13 Because we do have the generation of Singaporeans that have experienced
01:18 military conflicts or security issues as well,
01:21 and they have very valuable experience to share.
01:24 I hope I can encourage them to step up and speak out.
01:28 Wow, I think Singapore always knows how to defend ourselves.
01:36 I think what I can do is really to generate awareness that we need to defend ourselves.
01:41 The defence part is really well planned out and well prepared.
01:45 But it's the awareness that can slack through time and complacence.
01:51 So this is where my contribution comes in.
01:54 We always have to be aware.
01:57 I see that peace is an artificial state.
02:01 Peace only exists because the people want it to exist for the time being.
02:07 It's not natural.
02:08 [Music]
02:10 [Music]
02:11 [Music]
02:13 [Music]
02:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]