SINGAPORE — For all its relative military might compared with neighbouring countries, Singapore is especially vulnerable to cyber or information warfare, at a time when some countries around the world are seriously building up their capabilities on this front, warned a military expert on Wednesday (March 14).

Testifying at the first day of the public hearing conducted by the Select Committee studying online falsehoods, Assistant Professor Michael Raska from the Nanyang Technological University’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies underscored the threats posed by unconventional warfare against Singapore’s “traditional security conceptions of defence and deterrence”.

“Of course, there has been a lot of work that Singapore has done in terms of the (five pillars) of Total Defence, but the key question is, really, whether Singapore can cope with the multi-type spectrum of attacks that could happen,” said Asst Prof Raska, whose research focuses on East Asian security and defence. He was one of eight individuals and groups who gave evidence on Wednesday.

His views prompted Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam — one of 10 Members of Parliament on the Select Committee — to question how “attractive” a target the Republic may be to a country that “feels it is not militarily able to challenge Singapore”.

In response, Asst Prof Raska noted that “disinformation campaigns” could make Singapore particularly vulnerable despite the substantial military power it has achieved over the decades. “Singapore’s defence capabilities are second to none in the region. Singapore has always had the strategic edge in terms of military power, but, again, these changing type of conflicts invites strategies that may offset anyone’s military inferiority,” the expert said.

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) must thus be able to strengthen security resilience beyond conventional territorial deterrence, he suggested. The Republic must also leverage its international partnerships to strengthen deterrence in a range of areas — from intelligence to cyber and law enforcement readiness, he added.

On Wednesday, the Select Committee also heard from veteran lawyer Shriniwas Rai and several representatives from various religious groups — including the National Council of Churches, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore, and the Singapore Buddhist Federation — who spoke about the vulnerability of Singapore’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious society against the onslaught of misinformation online.

Among other things, they called for greater education, especially for young Singaporeans, to debunk myths about respective religions.

“If religion in a general context is introduced into the (educational) system… that would be absolutely helpful for the students, who wil learn not only religion, but culture. The vast richness that (education on) religion can bring to all of society is bountiful,” said Mr Andre Ahchak, who is the director of communications at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

In 2015, Asst Prof Raska published a book about hybrid warfare titled “Military innovation in small states: creating a reverse asymmetry”. He wrote that such warfare may take the form of propaganda that is “subtle, incremental and obscure”, and the target states may not even know that they are being challenged.

“It is one issue to be able to identify fake news on the spot, but it is very difficult to spot manufactured stories that include messages that, in the long run, can change perceptions on particular issues or create divisions. These are very, very subtle,” Asst Prof Raska told the Select Committee. Cyber-enabled “information attacks” today can create similar political disruptions as those created with the use of force, he stressed.

In his 23-page written submission to the committee, Asst Prof Raska singled out how social media in particular serves as a platform for both state and non-state actors to seed ideas and deliver tailored information campaigns with the aim of influencing perceptions of events or the environment in real time.

“In other words, effective use of social media in conflicts will become as important as winning the military campaign,” he said, adding that conflicts in East Asia are already taking shape in such forms.

China, for instance, is increasingly adopting “strategic psychological operations”, such as by manipulating messages conveyed in the media, to influence defence policies and perceptions of its target audiences abroad.

Elsewhere, the Russian strategic community has also identified “the mind of the enemy” as its main battlespace, and “influence operations” are of strategic importance to that end, said Asst Prof Raska.

The United States has developed its latest cyber strategy premised on objectives including building and maintaining ready forces and capabilities to conduct cyberspace operations; defending military information networks, securing data and mitigating risks; and developing viable cyber options and plans to control conflict escalation and shape the conflict environment at all stages.

In recent years, the SAF has embarked on several initiatives to beef up cyber defence.

Last November, a new C4 Command was inaugurated to coordinate and implement C4 (Command, Control, Communications and Computers) and cyber defence operations and capabilities. It will operate and defend SAF networks that support a full spectrum of SAF operations in both peacetime and war. A new national service vocation of “cyber defenders” was also created.

About 20 members of the public attended the hearing on Wednesday. Among them was civil activist Teo Soh Lung, who said she was there out of curiousity, and she hoped to better understand different perspectives on the issue.

Declining to be named, a 24-year-old working in a technology-related field said she found the testimonies “informative” in addressing a “complicated” phenomenon.