With strong Total Defence, Singapore has come a long way since 1965, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a Facebook post on Saturday.

He also posted a picture of MacDonald House, flying the Singapore flag. "Today is Total Defence Day. This is MacDonald House today, flying the Singapore flag, against our beautiful city skyline. With strong Total Defence, we have come a long way since 1965," he wrote.

MacDonald House was in the news recently after Indonesia named a Navy ship after marines Osman Mohamed Ali and Harun Said who set off a bomb at the building on March 10, 1965, killing three people and injuring 33. The naming of the ship had sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Singapore marks Total Defence Day on Saturday, to remember the fall of Singapore to the Japanese forces on Feb 15, 1942. A siren will be sounded at 12.05pm on Saturday as part of a Total Defence exercise, which will see the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) put its islandwide network of Public Warning System sirens into action. These sirens will be activated to signal that an "important message" will be made. When the "important message" signal is sounded, a SCDF broadcast, usually about the importance of total defence, will be played on all local radio stations. Members of public can learn more about the different signals and emergency procedures by visiting the SCDF website at www.scdf.gov.sg