ASEAN Regional Forum Meeting of Heads of Defense Universities, Colleges and Institutions

By Ian Li

The ASEAN Regional Forum Meeting of Heads of Defense Universities, Colleges and Institutions (ARF HDUCIM), a Track 1 Forum of the ARF met in September on the theme of “Building Partnerships and Capacities to Meet Emerging Security Challenges in the Asia-Pacific Region”. Organised by the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), on behalf of the Ministry of Defense, Japan, the ARF HDUCIM provides a platform for key defence educational institutions of member states to share professional military education and best practices. The annual meeting was held in Tokyo from 25 to 29 September 2018.

The theme for 2018 was further sub-divided into three topics: i) Emerging Security Challenges, Capacity Building and International Cooperation, ii) Roles of Defense Universities, Colleges and Institutions in Fostering Future Strategic Leaders, and iii) Building and Enhancing Partnerships in the Present-Day Security Environment.

Singapore was the co-chair for the meeting. COL Simon Lee, Deputy Commandant SAFTI Military Institute (SAFTI MI) and concurrently Commandant of the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College (GKS CSC), led Singapore’s delegation. The delegation also included Mr Eddie Lim, Head of the Military Studies Programme at RSIS, LTC Vincent Liew and Mr Benhur Sebastian, both Directing Staff at GKS CSC. Mr Eddie Lim, representing Singapore, spoke on the topic of “Emerging Security Challenges, Capacity Building and International Cooperation”.

The Singapore’s presentation was well received and led to discussions thereafter on what constitutes a proper military response in the event of humanitarian disasters, and how international cooperation among defence institutions can help prepare military officers to engage in such events.

RSIS will be co-organising the event with SAFTI MI in 2019 in Singapore.