Introduction

A very good morning to all of you. Thank you for joining us bright and early this morning. We are going to have a fireside chat and as a good Infantry man, I will keep my speech short. I just want to thank three groups of people, and then we can have the fireside chat.

Unchanging Mission of the SAF in a Changed World

First, I would like to thank all the NSmen who have served and continue to serve our nation today. The peace that we have today is not something that we take for granted. This is my first SAF Day as Minister for Defence, but it is my 36th SAF Day and Singapore’s 60th SAF Day. I used to write speeches for ministers for defence for SAF Day, and one particular minister for defence would always start off with this same line every year: “Singapore has enjoyed another year of peace”. We always wondered why he started off every year with this sentence. But that one simple sentence – “Singapore has enjoyed another year of peace – meant so much to all of us, it also meant so much had been done behind the scenes for this to happen. So, thank you to all the servicemen across all generations. Thank you very much for your service.

Support for Defence and the SAF

Secondly, I would like to thank all the employers who are here today. Your support is critical to our mission success in the SAF. Without your support and you taking care of our NSmen in their civilian work, I am quite confident to say that none of the servicemen and women would be able to focus on their task when they are called for training courses, in-camp training, and so forth. We all know every NSmen has dual roles. You not only work hard and strive hard in your civilian career, but very often, very few know the hard work that you put in behind the scenes to keep pace with the training required to keep yourself fit, and to keep yourself updated with the technologies that we are using. All these contribute to the safety and security that we have in Singapore, which in turn allows us to be an oasis of calm amidst the troubles of the world.

Today, when we go out to compete for an investment across the world, when an EDB officer goes across the world to try and knock on someone’s door to try and convince them to put their investment in, the first few questions that they asked have always been the same across generations: “How will I know if my investment in Singapore will be safe? How will I know that the rules will not change? How will I know that the quality of people that you have will be able to meet my business needs?” But first and foremost, for every investor, the first question is: “How do I know that my investment will be safe?” This comes even before “What is my ROI when I put my investment in Singapore?” For that, I want to thank employers for your support for our NSmen, without which, we will not be able to achieve what we have. Thank you very much for your support. 

Last but not least, I must thank all the family members who are with us today. There is a saying in the MINDEF/SAF that “When one family member serves, the whole family serves”. For every one of us who has gone through this, I think you would certainly resonate with this saying. That is why in my recent interview with the media, I said that the SAF is not just about the 50,000 high-readiness core, it is not just about the 250,000 full-force potential that we can mobilise, but it is also the 750,000 NSmen who have served, and the 1.5 million families who are behind all these people who have served. When people look at Singapore, and people want to know whether Singapore has a strong and credible defence force, they do not look at just the machines that we have. Machines, money can buy. But when they talk to our people, when they talk to our NSmen, when they talk to the employers of the NSmen, and talk to the families of our NSmen, only then will they truly understand the strength of our defence. The strength of our defence is drawn from all walks of society. Every man, every family member, every family, who has served is part of our defence.

That is why, in recent months, when I meet my foreign counterparts, when they ask us about our commitment to defence, we do not try to just try to impress people with how much we spend on defence, which is already higher than many other countries, but they were most impressed when we shared with them, our National Service system, and that behind the 50,000 high-readiness core, 250,000 full-force potential, 750,000 NSmen, there is 1.5million families behind each and every one of them. You will notice that I said that there were 750,000 NSmen who have served. I do not like to use the word ex-NSmen, because I have been told by people who have MR-ed, who have gone into the reserve, that they will never be an ex-NSman, and one day, if the button is pressed, when they are called upon, I am sure that these 750,000, many of them, will respond to the call of duty. Even before that, many of them are contributing in their ways as a family member, grooming the next generation, as an employer, as a better colleague, and all these are really the strength of the SAF.

So, thank you to all the family members and employers, and thank you to all the NSmen who have served across the generations. The peace and security that we have today is testament to your commitment and effort. Thank you very much.