CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

Defence Ministers of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) countries were in Singapore on 1 Nov to mark four decades of commitment and cooperation among FPDA member nations.

The Ministers of the member nations, namely Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom, also attended the 8^th FPDA Defence Ministers' Meeting (FDMM), arranged to coincide with the FPDA s 40th Anniversary Celebrations.

Chaired by Singapore's Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, the meeting was attended by Australian Minister for Defence The Honourable Stephen Smith MP, Malaysian Minister of Defence Dato' Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi, New Zealand Minister of Defence The Honourable Dr Wayne Mapp, and the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defence The Right Honourable Philip Hammond MP.

Speaking at a joint press conference later in the afternoon, the five partners reaffirmed the key contributions that the FPDA had made to regional peace and security over the past 40 years.

In particular, they were pleased with the progress made in FPDA exercises and activities, such as the joint and combined exercises, Bersama Shield and Bersama Lima, and the land-focused command post exercise, Suman Warrior.

The ministers noted that these multilateral cooperation and capacity-building efforts had grown in complexity and led to a range of practical outcomes of benefit to all partners and the region.

Commenting on the issues discussed at the meeting, Dr Ng said that the Ministers had "a good exchange of views" on the security challenges facing the FPDA.

He added that the Ministers had discussed ways to update the FPDA s relevance in light of new security challenges, for example, in non-conventional areas like maritime security, cyber-security, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, as well as the scale, scope and tempo of future joint exercises.

The five Defence Ministers also reaffirmed the strong commitment of their respective nations to the FPDA, and approved the recommendations of the 40th Anniversary Stock-take Paper that aimed at improving jointness, interoperability and people-to-people interaction through multilateral exercises.

Mr Hammond, who said that the FPDA remained UK's highest priority for defence relationships in South-east Asia, added: "The whole purpose of FPDA is to represent to potential threats to the security of Singapore and Malaysia a united front and awareness of the commitment of other nations to the security of Malaysia and Singapore. It is primarily about demonstrating a political resilience and sending a signal of deterrence and standing shoulder to shoulder."

The Ministers also observed the conduct of Exercise Bersama Lima 2011 at the Changi Command and Control Centre. This year's exercise involves 4000 personnel, 67 aircraft, 18 ships, two submarines and various support elements from the FPDA member countries, working together in a multi-threat environment.

After the press conference, the Ministers also viewed a static display of aircraft from the five countries that were participating in the exercise, including the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, the Lockheed P3K Orion and F-15SG Eagle, before calling on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana .

At a dinner held that night to mark the FPDA's 40^th Anniversary Celebrations, Dr Ng reiterated that the Defence Ministers had a clear articulation of the way ahead and thanked the countries armed forces for their hard work in making the FDMM a success.

During the dinner, a book titled The Five Power Defence Arrangements - the 4th Decade and Beyond was launched. The Ministers were each given a copy of the book which was produced by Headquarters Integrated Area Defence System (HQ IADS) to commemorate the anniversary.

As part of the anniversary celebrations, the Ministers visited HQ IADS at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base in Butterworth on 2 Nov, and were hosted to lunch by Dato' Seri Zahid. The Ministers later called on Malaysia's Acting Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Hj. Mohd Yassin in Kuala Lumpur.