Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said there was a greater focus on security and external relations issues in this year’s Budget. Noting that Singapore must continue to innovate and build new capacities to meet security needs, he also stressed that every Singaporean must play a part in keeping the country safe and secure, through the Total Defence approach. RSIS research fellow Graham Ong-Webb said the increased focus on defence and security issues, despite the proportion of spending staying roughly the same this year, could be aimed at sending a message to other countries. “It shows that we mean what we say and are willing to put that into resourcing to bolster diplomatic, defence and security lines to ensure that Singapore is not compromised in any way,” he added.