Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Public Education on Singapore's Foreign Policy, 4 October 2021

QUESTION

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs in view of the growing complexity of international developments, including the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, the creation of the Australia-UK-US alliance and the assertiveness of China, whether the Government (i) conducts regular assessments of public sentiment among Singaporeans in response to international developments and (ii) plans to conduct a sustained public education process to educate Singaporeans, both young and old, on Singapore’s core national interests.

REPLY

Foreign policy begins at home. Our diplomacy is only credible if we could maintain a domestic consensus on Singapore’s core interests and our foreign policy priorities. This is why MFA has undertaken sustained efforts to engage Singaporeans on our foreign policy through different means. For example, MFA works with MOE to engage our students in Junior Colleges, Millennia Institute and Integrated Programme Schools through sharing sessions by our retired ambassadors. These sessions cover our core national interests and how Singapore conducts foreign policy as a small city state in Southeast Asia. Such sessions promote two-way communication and allow our younger generation to share what foreign policy issues are top-of-mind. Through regular dialogues, we hope that our younger generation of Singaporeans can better understand the considerations when formulating and implementing our foreign policy.

2 In addition, MFA’s political office holders, senior management and our foreign service officers regularly engage  institutes of higher learning, think tanks, media and other fora on Singapore’s foreign policy and other geopolitical developments. MFA also regularly communicates key messages on Singapore’s foreign policy in a variety of formats and vernacular languages, through media interviews and digital media platforms, to reach out to Singaporeans across all age groups. What we aim for is a Singaporean public that is well-informed, that recognises the geostrategic forces at play and understand our national interests.

3 MFA does not conduct regular polling of public sentiment in response to international developments.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

4 OCTOBER 2021