Nathan Hartono’s plan to divide Singapore foiled in dramatic new MHA music video

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has released a dramatic new music video starring Singaporean singer-songwriter, Nathan Hartono. In the video, titled “Foiled Once More” Hartono stars as the antagonist who plans to inflict harm on the city-state.

The campaign expands on SGSecure’s “What’s your Role” campaign, which aims to mobilise the community to join the fight against terrorism.

The new music video dives into the mind of a terrorist to uncover his motives. Played by Hartono, the terrorist plots and plans to destroy the city, divide the community and disrupt their way of life.

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However, the terrorist’s plans to inflict harm on Singapore are derailed due to Singaporeans’ resilience and harmony. Singaporeans are shown working together with the local authorities, as well as helping each other out in times of difficulty.

The film ends with the antagonist presenting an ominous warning. Eerily, he sings that he will be back equipped with the abilities to provide fake news and formulate a new plan of attack.

“It was such an interesting angle to take on such an important topic. I enjoyed the creative process of figuring out how to craft a story, a song, and a character at the same time. It gave me a lot to think about, especially about the aspects of our safety we take for granted,” said Hartono.

The video aims to put a spotlight on Singaporeans’ resilience, vigilance, and unity in the aftermath of an attack. It shows Singaporeans rising from the rubble to rebuild the city together, ultimately foiling the terrorist’s goal of destroying the social fabric, that extends beyond physical devastation.

“Our societal fabric is only as strong as its weakest link. The music video is a novel approach to conveying the importance of staying united as one people, and bouncing back with tenacity when a terror attack occurs. It takes a whole-of-society effort to keep Singapore, as well as our families and friends, safe from terrorist threats. Together, we make SGSecure,” explained Wilbur Sim, director of SGSecure programme office, MHA.

“In our continuous effort to build and sustain awareness about terrorism, we decided to leverage the antagonist’s perspective to demonstrate the power of unity and use it to encourage Singaporeans to play their roles together to keep Singapore safe,” said Nimesh Desai, chief executive officer, VML Singapore, which worked on the campaign. 

MHA and VML have also taken a step away from portraying terrorism as an all-consuming doom and gloom, it said. Instead, through this edutainment music video, it aimed to emphasise the strength of Singaporeans to show how an empowered and united community can help keep our home safe from terrorism.

The theatrical music video ends with a call out to SGSecure’s “What’s your Role” campaign, where users can fill in a short personality-type quiz on its website to find out different ways to contribute to Singapore’s security. The roles include: guardians, lifesavers, fact-checkers, lookouts, true friends and uniters.

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