New sixth pillar incorporated into Total Defence poster
SPH artist designs poster to introduce new Total Defence element
Included among the various design themes and details in this year's Total Defence poster is one new element: digital defence.
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen announced in his annual Total Defence Day message on Thursday last week that digital defence will be introduced as the sixth pillar in the national defence framework, the first time since the framework was launched 35 years ago.
Incorporating the element of digital defence was the biggest challenge for Ms Ng Weng Chi, who created this year's Total Defence poster.
"Digital defence is difficult to show," said Ms Ng, 30, an artist with Singapore Press Holding's multimedia content provider Sweet.
"A lot of it is on screens and on phones, but it is not a physical action that you can draw out. You can't show people's phone because it is so small."
The poster took her nearly a month to complete.
Ms Ng included different aspects of digital defence, such as phishing and fake news, in her poster.
She used the narrative of a picture of a cat misinterpreted as a rabbit to show the perils of fake news.
DISTORTED
"You can see that it is clearly a cat, but as it travels, it becomes distorted, and in the end, everyone thinks it is a rabbit. It shows people interacting to distort the news."
To make the poster more relatable, Ms Ng included iconic sights in Singapore, such as Fort Canning Park, and also small groups of children playing traditional games such as five stones and hopscotch.
She hopes that turning the poster into a colouring piece will make it more interactive.
"You get people to pay attention to details because you have to look at what you are colouring. It is more than just appreciating the picture."
Nexus' director, Colonel Joseph Tan, said: "The Total Defence 2019 campaign poster is an extension of last year's puzzle and features many ways Singaporeans can put digital defence and the other five pillars of Total Defence into action in our daily lives... We hope that the poster can help children and the public better understand how they can play their part to keep Singapore strong."
Total Defence colouring contest
The New Paper readers stand a chance of winning vouchers worth up to $1,000 by participating in the TNP Total Defence Day Colouring Contest.
Simply download the colouring picture here, and fill it in with any coloured medium of your choice.
(Right-click this link to download the pdf of the coulouring page: totaldefence2019a4colouring.pdf)
Mail your coloured work to "TNP TD Contest c/o 86A Amoy Street Singapore 069905". Alternatively, you can also e-mail it to wearetotaldefence@gmail.com
The contest closes on March 3.
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