By ANNA SATHIAH Associated Press Writer

Letter: Sunken Russian sub offfers lesson for S'pore

FOR decades, this small city-state has been an oasis of peace and prosperity in southeast Asia, a region known for its poverty and instability.

A string of Western corporations opened regional headquarters here, knowing its free-market economy, modern infrastructure, shopping malls and top-flight health care would make executives and their families feel right at home.

Yet, despite that calm, Singapore spends more on defense than many of its much bigger neighbors. Its multibillion-dollar defense budget pays for modern tanks, warplanes and submarines for its military and nuclear fallout shelters for civilians.

By any measure, its defense capabilities are huge for a country that is one-15,000th the size of the United States.

Its military "is quite substantial and out of proportion to the military threat" in the region, says Robert Karniol, the Asia-Pacific editor for Jane's Defense Weekly, a respected defense journal.

Nearly 10 percent of its 3.2 million people are in the military - 50,000 as full-time professionals and 250,000 on standby as reservists. By comparison, neighboring Malaysia has a military estimated at 115,000 men and Indonesia has about 300,000.

Singapore's strong emphasis on defense through deterrence is the result of its turbulent history.

The island still has bad memories from World War II, when Japanese troops invaded the then British colony from Malaya. In 1965, two years have being cut loose by London, it was expelled from the Malaysian federation, with which it has had periodic disputes.

Since then, Singapore has kept a wary eye on the region, which has seen major wars in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, political instability in Thailand and ethnic and political unrest in Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar.

As a state with an ethnic Chinese majority, it sits nervously between its two much bigger direct neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia, which have large Muslim majorities.

Despite its limited resources, space and manpower, Singapore has made defense a key pillar of its national agenda. A Defense Ministry manual titled "Defending Singapore in the 21st Century" clearly defines the goal: total defense that encompasses all aspects of society.

Constitutionally, the government can spend up to 6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product on defense each year. For the current financial year, the defense budget totals S$7.4 billion (US$ 4.3 billion), or within the 4 percent-5 percent range of recent years.

By comparison, Thailand's current military spending is 1.5 percent of GDP, Malaysia's is 2.1 percent and Indonesia's 1.7 percent, according to official reports and estimates.

Singapore keeps its military up to strength with the draft, while most countries in the region, including Malaysia and Indonesia, do not have compulsory military service.

Every able-bodied Singaporean male must do 2 or 2 1/2 years of full-time military duty. Afterward, he undergoes annual training for 13 years. Warrant officers and specialist remain liable for service until age 40 and officers until age 50.

Military service is tough, Jason Ng, a 26-year-old who now works in sales and marketing, says of his army stint that began six years ago.

"They really push you to the limit," he says.

Singapore's current focus is on boosting military technology and strengthening defense ties with other countries to better cope with future conflicts as well as unconventional threats such as terrorism and cyber-crime.

The island has military ties with many other countries and with alliances such as the Five Power Defense Arrangement - which includes Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Britain - and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Singapore also has agreements that allow it to train its servicemen in other countries and store some of its military equipment there.