The Warthog Singapore Built That The Taliban Don't Want To Know

British forces have brought a new weapon to bear against the Taliban who “simply don’t want to know” when it arrives on the battlefield, commanders have said.

The Warthog is a 22-ton tracked armoured vehicle whose off-road ability allows it to frequently outflank the fleet-footed Taliban.
The vehicle’s success has led to a rethink on British tactics as they are not only able to deliver troops, supplies but they can also bring down heavy firepower from unexpected directions.

It can carry up to a dozen soldiers who can be deployed either to fight insurgents or engage with the local population to build up an intelligence picture of tribal communities.

It has almost certainly saved lives after 11 Warthogs were hit in one tour by large IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) without anyone inside being killed although two were badly wounded.
The Warthog has also proved adept at being able to drive through the notoriously difficult terrain of Helmand’s irrigated “green zone”.

In one epic six week long battle earlier this year the vehicles provided a perimeter defence for the Royal Engineers as they laid a key road in central Helmand called Route Trident. Previously the Sappers had come under daily attack but with the heavy weaponry such as .50 calibre heavy machine guns and 40mm grenade machine guns the Warthogs kept the Taliban at bay.

With many ambushes happening in the easily defended Green Zone of tree-lined irrigation ditches the Warthogs allow troops to get behind the enemy’s backs.

“You can put Warthog into places you would not dream of with other armoured vehicles as it has very low ground pressure giving us the ability to move around the battlespace in a completely different way,” Major James Cameron, the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment squadron commander, the first to use the vehicle on operations.

“We have been able to manoeuvre in an extraordinary way. Literally we can go over ditches, swim rivers or go up ravines getting right in behind the enemy where they least expect us.

“We run on them at speed and before they know anything about it we are right on top of them.”

On one occasion Major Cameron was in an engagement with 30 Taliban in which he fired 1,200 rounds through his turret-mounted GPMG.

Towards the end of their six month tour radio intelligence has shown the Taliban commanders warning their men “don’t fire at the tank”.

The Warthog is unique in that it is the first armoured vehicle to be built for a Western army by an Asian company. Singapore based ST Kinetics won a £150 million contract for 115 vehicles as the MoD looked for a robust all-terrain vehicle.

STK managed to produce the first Warthog within nine months of the order, on time and ahead of schedule although there was a delay of several months as the armour protection was improved.

The Warthog is replacing the BAE Systems built Viking which is being withdrawn from service after almost a quarter of the fleet was destroyed by Taliban bombs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8681903/Taliban-dont-want-to-know-in-Warthog-fight.html

Ensuring There's Always Enough Water

 

 Singapore has 17 reservoirs today.

But do you know that we also have another reservoir across the Causeway?

The Linggiu Reservoir in Johor is FIVE TIMES LARGER than all of the 17 reservoirs put together. It was constructed by the PUB following a 1990 treaty supplementary to Singapore's 1962 Water Agreement with Malaysia.

Due to the presistent dry weather, the Linggiu Reservoir is now more than half empty.

While Johor is into their 4th month of water rationing, water here continues to flow steady.

This is an unappreciated blessing. It did not arise out of good fortune. It was the result of careful planning and conscientious implementation by PUB and the Government.

If the dry weather persists, we WILL eventually be affected. Imported water (which can meet half of our daily demand for drinking water) is under threat and steadily depleting.

Demand for water will increase. There is just not enough space in Singapore to collect and store all the water that we need.

[Although right on the Equator and in the tropics, Singapore is actually a severely water-challenged country. We spend a lot of time and devote a lot of resources in planning for the future. PUB always builds ahead of demand. Construction of Singapore's third desalination plant will soon commence. Plans for a fourth have just been announced. And you can be sure that we are busy working on the one after that.

Water security is a matter of life and death for us in Singapore. Our existence as a sovereign nation is directly contingent on enduring water security.

The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first Prime Minister, recognised this fact from day one, and worked tirelessly throughout his life to secure our water future. He once said: "Water dominated every other policy. Every other policy had to bend at the knees for water survival."

Singapore's water strategy comes in three parts.

First of all, we have to maximise our own yield. So we strive to collect every drop of rain that falls here. This means turning as much of Singapore as possible into a water catchment, and keeping our drains, canals and waterways pristine.

Second, we have to think of water as an endlessly reusable resource. In our minds, the H2O molecule is never lost. Water can always be reclaimed and re-treated so that it can be drunk again.

PUB is a world leader in this. Today, we are able to turn wastewater into sweet water for very little money. We reclaim every drop of sewage and turn much of it into drinking water again.

And third, because Singapore is surrounded by sea, we turn seawater into drinking water. When membrane separation technology made desalination economically viable, PUB adopted it with great zeal. And we continue to research better desalination technology to find less expensive ways of desalting water.

Our plan, in the long run, is for fully 80 per cent of Singapore's water needs to be met by desalinated and recycled water.
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Despite severely limiting geographic constraints, today's Singapore is not short of water.

As long as we at PUB continue to be smart and clear-eyed about our nation's water situation, and do our work well, there should always be enough water. This is possible only because we have used our imagination, researching and testing continuously, and have exploited technology to overcome our water challenges.

In this way, we have turned disadvantage into strength, and seemingly insurmountable vulnerability into endless opportunity.] - By Ng Joo Hee (excerpt)

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ensuring-theres-enough-water-always?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#xtor=CS1-10

Singapore's Ingenious Way To Save Water

 It rains a lot in Singapore — approximately 94 inches a year.

But rather than let that water evaporate wastefully on the streets and sidewalks, Singapore sets a standard the rest of the world would be smart to adopt: The city-state soaks up water like a giant sponge.

By recycling the rainwater through built-in runoff capture systems, Singapore can reduce both the costs of water purification and its environmental impact.

Scientists believe our global water crisis is only getting worse. By 2025, two-thirds of the world population will struggle to find water and 1.8 billion people won't have any at all.

Using recycled water could be a solution.

In China, roughly a dozen cities have started brainstorming what that might look like — turning so-called "grey infrastructure" into green infrastructure by adding the ability to store rainwater. Mostly, these plans address rampant flooding that could quickly clear small towns and villages.

But no country has such a robust system already in place as Singapore, where half the land area is equipped to capture rainwater in gutters, barrels, tanks, and reservoirs.

The most sophisticated of those systems is at the Changi Airport. Between 28 and 33% of all water used in the airport comes from captured rainwater, which is stored in two reservoirs.

One reservoir balances the flow of water when tides are high, while the other collects runoffs from runways and green areas.

Each year, the infrastructure saves the airport more than $275,000 for non-potable uses, like flushing toilets and performing firefighting drills.

Scattered elsewhere around Singapore are capture systems on top of high-rise apartment buildings, in which 86% of citizens call home.

Rooftop harvesting equipment saves roughly 14 cents per cubic meter of water over relying on nearby rivers and streams or purifying water that flows through soil.

When the rainwater isn't collecting on roofs, it's soaking into the urban environment at-large.
There's a fascinating backstory to Singapore's urban sponge scheme.

In the mid 1980s, Singapore's crisis of clean water got so bad that the country had no choice but to get creative. While it had plenty of rainwater, it had no way of capturing it. Water would mix with soil and other contaminants making it unfit for use. So, in 1986 Singapore took the first step in water conservation, creating the the Sungei Seletar-Bedok water scheme.

The existing Seletar Reservoir was dammed to divide it in half. The separation essentially allowed polluted runoff water to collect elsewhere, in the Bedok reservoir, which was designed for treatment, while the cleaner part of the storm water collected in newly created Lower Seletar Reservoir.

In the decades since, Singapore has transformed its culture into one that prizes its ability to reuse rainwater. Even residents in the outskirts have transformed their homes into capture systems as a means of watering their lawns or, with the right treatment, staying hydrated.

If other countries want to have any hope of avoiding a water crisis, they'll need to get as creative as Singapore.

ICA To All Travellers: Comply With Security Checks

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority will not hesitate to take firm action against those who refuse to comply with checks, in accordance with the law.

Its officers are empowered by law to conduct travel document and baggage checks on all travellers.

This follows an incident a week ago, when a traveller, “P J Wong” said he was stopped by an ICA officer at Changi Airport for a random luggage check.

He initially claimed he was held back without an explanation. In an effort to save himself from “being dragged away against (his) will”, he started filming the ICA officer with his mobile phone, though he was in a restricted area where photography and videography are not allowed.

In a news release on Friday, ICA reiterated that checkpoints are its "first line of defence, and security checks are critical to safeguard Singapore’s security”.

It added: “Additional checks and/or interviews may be conducted, when necessary."

ICA also noted that there are clear signs to advise travellers on areas where photography and videography are restricted.

The agency said it will not hesitate to take firm action, in accordance with the law, against travellers who refuse to comply with the security checks.

The traveller subsequently apologised for his actions. “I deeply regret that my rant last Thursday about my recent experience at Changi had gone viral,” he wrote on Monday. “I have taken down the post and I seek for understanding and forgiveness for my post and the comments I made. I hope everyone can let this matter rest.”

Source: CNA

AIRSPACE: A recurring theme that troubles the relation between Indonesia and Singapore

Excerpt:
Indonesian politicians and military personnel have also called for Indonesia to ‘take back’ areas over Riau within Indonesian airspace which have formed part of the Singapore Flight Information Region (FIR) since 1946, when the International Civil Aviation Organization allocated the area to Singapore based on operational and technical considerations. 

The FIR assigned to Singapore includes some of the territorial airspace of Malaysia and Indonesia, and such overlaps are common in many parts of the world including Europe, Africa and South America. The Jakarta FIR, for example, also covers Timor Leste territorial airspace.

While the Indonesians argue that this is their sovereign right as it is part of their territorial airspace, Singapore has managed the FIR as a public good focusing on operational efficiency and the safety of navigation in increasingly crowded skies. 

The Indonesian media frequently misrepresents Singapore’s management of the FIR claiming that Singapore profits from air navigation charges, delays planes taking off or landing at Batam to accommodate Changi’s traffic and discriminates against Indonesian airlines in flight level allocation. None of this is true.

The fees collected by Singapore are remitted annually to Indonesia and there is proper accounting between the two countries while traffic movements are handled solely on the basis of operational efficiency. A former Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff even claimed that Singapore would be “destroyed” if Indonesia took over the FIR, simplistically concluding that Singapore’s role as an air transport hub would be undermined and our entire economy would be ruined.

http://bit.ly/1OKLRSA

The Trouble with Indonesia-Singapore Relations

The haze enveloping Singapore today highlights the significance of our bilateral relationship with Indonesia. Just as we cannot escape the devastating impact on our health of ‘slash-and-burn’ techniques to clear forested land in Sumatra for palm oil plantations, as neighbors, emerging trends in Indonesia will have an impact on Singapore.

Generally excellent bilateral ties during the years when President Suharto led Indonesia from 1967 to 1998 have been followed by more challenging interactions as Singapore adjusted to the rise of populist democracy in Indonesia. There has been a sharp increase in bilateral exchanges over the years, both at the political and business levels as well as a rise in tourism, increasing student and community exchanges, together with Singapore’s emergence as a major investor in Indonesia and growing bilateral trade. But there are undercurrents which should not be ignored.

Recurring Themes

As hotly contested regional elections take place in Indonesia in December 2015, there is a risk that Singapore will be a target of criticism in provincial and district (kabupaten) electoral campaigns in Sumatra, especially in areas where power holders have worked well with Singapore such as in Riau and Jambi. Their critics will highlight the willingness of these incumbents to subordinate Indonesia’s interests to the lure of Singapore’s cash and benefits. A younger generation of internet-savvy Indonesians are also likely to take nationalistic postures and criticisms of Singapore risk going viral.

A recurrent theme in our bilateral relationship has been the mix of envy, fear and suspicion in the minds of some quarters in Indonesia, which has colored their perceptions of Singapore. They feel that Singapore has succeeded at Indonesia’s expense and that tiny Singapore should be grateful for benefitting from Indonesia. Commenting on the haze, Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said, “for eleven months, [Singapore and Malaysia] enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us. They have suffered for one month because of the haze and they get upset”.

In dealing with Indonesia, we should anticipate such a ‘big brother’ mindset, even from circles in Indonesia generally friendly towards Singapore. While President B.J. Habibie’s ‘little red dot’ reference to Singapore in 1998 has achieved iconic status in Singapore, most Indonesians are unaware of the reference and of the original derogatory usage.

Underlying the approach of many Indonesian policymakers is the belief that Singapore has no natural resources and benefits from exploiting Indonesia. The self-image is that of Indonesia as a pretty girl courted by everyone at the party. It is not perceived as a relationship of equals but one where Singapore is dependent on Indonesia. Bilateral relations are challenging due to three reasons: bad air or the haze; airspace and assets.

First: bad air

In 2013, at the height of the haze season, then-Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono complained that “Singapore shouldn’t be behaving like a child and making all this noise”. He added that Indonesia would reject any Singapore offer of financial aid to assist in quelling the forest fires unless it was a large amount.

Singapore offered Indonesia a Haze Assistance Package including aircraft, helicopter, satellite imagery and Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) fire-fighting teams and equipment while requesting concession maps and names of errant companies so that we could take action against them. These requests have either been ignored or rejected.

When asked why Indonesia declined Singapore’s offer of assistance, the Minister of the Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, said that if the offer of assistance was for 40 planes, and not just one, then maybe the offer could be considered. Indonesia last week accepted offers of aid from foreign countries, including Singapore. But it has taken weeks to come to this position. The irony is that it is Indonesian citizens in Sumatra and Kalimantan who are feeling the worst effects of the forest fires.

Second: airspace

Indonesian politicians and military personnel have also called for Indonesia to ‘take back’ areas over Riau within Indonesian airspace which have formed part of the Singapore Flight Information Region (FIR) since 1946, when the International Civil Aviation Organization allocated the area to Singapore based on operational and technical considerations. The FIR assigned to Singapore includes some of the territorial airspace of Malaysia and Indonesia, and such overlaps are common in many parts of the world including Europe, Africa and South America. The Jakarta FIR, for example, also covers Timor Leste territorial airspace.

While the Indonesians argue that this is their sovereign right as it is part of their territorial airspace, Singapore has managed the FIR as a public good focusing on operational efficiency and the safety of navigation in increasingly crowded skies. The Indonesian media frequently misrepresents Singapore’s management of the FIR claiming that Singapore profits from air navigation charges, delays planes taking off or landing at Batam to accommodate Changi’s traffic and discriminates against Indonesian airlines in flight level allocation. None of this is true.

The fees collected by Singapore are remitted annually to Indonesia and there is proper accounting between the two countries while traffic movements are handled solely on the basis of operational efficiency. A former Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff even claimed that Singapore would be “destroyed” if Indonesia took over the FIR, simplistically concluding that Singapore’s role as an air transport hub would be undermined and our entire economy would be ruined.

Third: assets and corruption

Indonesian politicians have also blamed Singapore for harbouring alleged Indonesian ‘corruptors’ and their ‘illegal funds’. In an interview on Indonesia’s proposed amnesty for financial crimes, the Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro, said: “We spend our time cursing corruptors but they are safe in Singapore.” He also cited a McKinsey study which estimated that the value of Indonesian assets in Singapore amounted to US$300 billion. Indonesian officials also claim that Singapore has obstructed their finance-related investigations.

When MAS announced that it would no longer issue the $10,000 note from October 2014 because of the risk associated with large-value cash transactions and high-value notes, Indonesian officials claimed that Singapore had given in to Indonesian “pressure”. Singapore has consistently and publicly refuted these allegations, and has in fact been assisting Indonesia’s investigation requests. But such claims will recur. The ability of alleged criminals to leave the country legally will be ignored. The Indonesian authorities have found it more convenient to blame others than deal with the real causes.

I had the experience of meeting a friend from my posting in Jakarta at the Nadaman restaurant in Singapore. He owed his creditors US$500 million and was a fugitive but had left Indonesia legally and was carrying a valid Indonesian passport. He left the restaurant after paying my bill with his diamond credit card! I was hosting some of my former colleagues and was surprised when I wanted to pay at the end of our meal so I asked the manager to see the bill. As the credit card was from one of his creditor banks, I concluded that we had all enjoyed the hospitality of his bankers!

This is not an isolated case. A tax official, Gayus Tambunan, who was convicted of tax evasion of 160 billion rupiah, was caught on camera watching an international tennis tournament in Bali in November 2010. He had earlier been seen shopping on Orchard Road with his wife, having travelled legally to Singapore. Relocated to a special prison in Bandung for those convicted for corruption, he was spotted having a meal at a restaurant in Jakarta recently!

 Regional spillovers

Singapore benefits when our neighbors enjoy political stability and economic growth. We want them to do well. However, we need to bear in mind that there are groups in Indonesia as well as Malaysia that do not share these sentiments. Their internal conflicts can also spill over into Singapore. As political contestation increases in Indonesia, Singapore has been an easy target to rally domestic support and deflect criticism. We cannot escape our neighborhood. A continuing foreign policy challenge will be to differentiate ourselves from our neighbors, even as we strive to get along with them.

 Barry Desker is Distinguished Fellow and Bakrie Professor of Southeast Asia Policy, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He served as Singapore’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1993. This article originally appeared as an RSIS commentary here and is republished with kind permission. 

 http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/the-trouble-with-indonesia-singapore-relations/?utm_content=buffer508f7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Singapore Is First Overall In The Global Dynamism Index

Singapore ranks 1st overall in the world in Grant Thornton’s Global Dynamism Index (2015 edition), up from 7 in the previous iteration of the index. 

However, the index also noted that Singapore's dynamism is held back by the reducing percentage of the population under 30 years of age.

Recall that Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, and indeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had said during the election campaign that one key challenge facing Singapore is how to keep the economy dynamic in the face of an ageing population and a shrinking workforce. 

This is the challenge and the reality that Singapore faces, which the opposition parties have avoided addressing, choosing instead to focus on 6.9 million infrastructure planning parameter. 

Today Singapore is first overall. The challenge is how to maintain this dynamism in the face of the demograhic challenges we have. 

http://bit.ly/1hTGYIa