13 October 2025
Welcome Remarks by Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, Executive Deputy Chairman of RSIS, at the 26th Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO) Opening Ceremony
Multilateralism as a Bulwark in a Changing Global Environment
Good morning, Minister of State, Mr Desmond Choo, our keynote speaker Dr Marty Natalegawa, our distinguished lecturers Dr Maliki Osman and Professor Peter Frankopan, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, APPSMO participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to the opening of the 26th Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO). We commemorated the silver jubilee of APPSMO last year. The world has changed much since 1999.
The theme for APPSMO this year is “Multilateralism as a Bulwark in a Changing Global Environment”. Multilateralism is often a delicate balancing act – where diverse interests must come together for the common good.
To set the stage for discussion and solutioning, we have put together three panels dealing with questions all of us are trying to address.
We are pleased to have eminent academics and practitioners join us at APPSMO and to share their perspectives on the challenges before us.
To set the scene for our deliberations in APPSMO2025, former Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Dr Marty Natalegawa, will highlight key developments and re-direct attention to the challenges we face.
Professor Peter Frankopan will deliver the APPSMO Distinguished Lecture. He is Professor of Global History at Oxford University and concurrently UNESCO Professor of Silk Roads Studies at King’s College, Cambridge. Professor Frankopan is also in Singapore to deliver the S. T. Lee Distinguished Annual Lecture. He will share with us his thoughts on “Solidarity in an Age of Shocks”.
For the concluding lecture of this year’s APPSMO, we have invited Dr Maliki Osman to speak to APPSMO participants. Until his recent retirement from public office, Dr Maliki had held different political appointments in the Singapore Prime Minister’s Office and Ministries of Defence, Education, and Foreign Affairs. He has returned to academia and is now a Distinguished Fellow at RSIS and Senior Adviser in the NTU President’s Office.
APPSMO 2025 aims to provide opportunities for dialogue, exchange and friendship. The rest is up to you. I wish you an enriching and fruitful engagement.
Thank you for your attention. A warm welcome to Singapore for all the foreign participants!
