Is Singapore at war?

One Douglas Chua wrote to the ST forum on 10 Aug that we need to buy the anti missile iron dome system to protect the island from rocket attacks by terrorists from Batam? What about terrorists finding themselves in strategic locations across the causeway firing rockets at aircraft in and out of Changi or at any part of Singapore? In this kind of ground to air attacks against planes, the dome will be practically useless.

The terrorist warfare is affecting many western countries and our neighbours, like it or not, at war or not, we are at war without our choosing. There is no need to declare that we are at war in this kind of modern warfare that conventional weapons and armies are totally hapless. All the mean machines, the super expensive toys like F35s are only good for show. The tanks, the destroyers, submarines, fighter bombers and what else are but a misconnect, meaningless against a moving and solitary target that does not look like a target.  But we must buy more expensive weapons, the more expensive the better, dunno for what, against who, against what kind of enemies when we should be deploying more people and resources in a real war that can hit us any moment.

Of course we are also at another war, a conventional one, In Iraq or Syria, and in Afghanistan and dunno where in the Middle East. We may  not be sending our combatants to engage in direct warfare, but in supporting roles to protect our medical teams, and air to air refueling or operating drones for recce missions, the soldiers are in the theatre of war, in a war zone, can be killed. Singapore has been part of the American Coalition of the Willing in the American wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. This is modern day League of Nations invasion of China in the 1890s.

Some bloggers were asking, does the govt need to discuss this and get Parliamentary approval, or even a referendum to go to war.  The question of are we at war is a denial of the reality. Can we really say that we are not at war when our soldiers are part of the American Coalition conducting warfare in the Middle East and Afghanistan?

Some may argue that we are not really at war. See, no casualties, and away from direct gunfire, maybe out of reach of enemy fire. And our boys and girls can always come back to have their char kway teow or chicken rice anytime in the comfort of our airconditioned restaurants and live life as normal.

How far do we have to go before announcing to the people that we are at war, engage in a war, and our soldier boys and girls are in the war zones? Up to what extent before there is a need to discuss this in Parliament and to tell the people that we are at war and since when were we at war?

Or would someone want to start another academic exercise to define what is at war and whether we are technically, literally, or legally at war?