Oral Reply by Minister for Defence Mr Ng Eng Hen to Parliamentary Questions on Enlisting Women for National Service and Servicewomen in the Singapore Armed Forces

Ms Poh Li San: To ask the Minister for Defence (a) what is the current proportion of servicewomen in the SAF; (b) what is the current proportion of SAF servicewomen in senior leadership; (c) what measures will be taken to increase the proportion of SAF servicewomen and SAF servicewomen in senior leadership and to expand the roles that can be held by SAF servicewomen.

Ms Carrie Tan: To ask the Minister for Defence with regard to the enlistment of women for national service (NS) (a) whether there are any other considerations apart from having adequate NS population to meet our national security and defence needs; and (b) if so, what are these other considerations.

Minister for Defence, Mr Ng Eng Hen

In general, the questions raised by MPs Poh Li San and Carrie Tan deal with the role of women in the national defence of Singapore. Similar issues were raised during the debate in this House on the White Paper on Singapore Women's Development and my reply today will address the general theme as well as specific queries.

The proposal to enlist women into National Service (NS) is not new. In fact, it was debated as early as 1967 when NS was first introduced in this house. It was during the NS (Amendment) Bill. To the then-MP from Tiong Bahru, Mr Lee Teck Him, Dr Goh Keng Swee replied that we had not reached the stage where mandating NS for women was necessary.

The Government's position on conscription of women into military service remains. But it is important to state clearly why we hold to this position, so that this House and Singaporeans understand how we have sustained a strong support for NS and built up a credible SAF.

Basis for Conscription

Principle considerations that go to the heart of Ms Carrie Tan's questions, that men but not women were mandatorily enlisted when NS began, had less to do with gender equality, than the pressing need to quickly build up a military to defend Singapore. The British had announced in 1967 that they would pull out all forces from Singapore by April 1971, and that precipitated a live challenge.

An SAF had to be built from scratch and expeditiously because there were clear and present dangers that threatened our very existence as a fledgling nation. Dr Goh and his officials and the SAF pioneers' first preference was not NS but an army formed by regulars, men and women. They did not want to deal with the potential problems of NS – turning civilians into soldiers, equity, defaulters, deserters, training injuries and even deaths, among them. But a regular army would not have been sufficient to protect Singapore, so NS was started and this House passed the Enlistment Act subsequently in 1970.

The Enlistment Act, to effect NS, as it was originally drafted and stands, allow for both males and females to be enlisted – a "person subject to this Act means a person who is a citizen of Singapore or a permanent resident thereof…" It does not exclude women.

In fact, MM Lee Kuan Yew wrote in his memoir (From Third World to First: The Singapore Story), "I was keen to have our women do National Service as Israeli women did, because that would reinforce the people's will to defend themselves. But Keng Swee did not want his new ministry to carry this extra burden. As the other ministers in Defco (Defence Council) were also not anxious to draft our women, I did not press my point."

"An extra burden" - our founding leaders and Dr Goh were honest and professional in their assessment. Building up the SAF with male conscripts alone was difficult. I quote Dr Goh's words: "At that time, we were just beginning; SAFTI was just ongoing, probably producing its first or second output of NCOs and officer cadets. We had an acute shortage of training officers and commanders from NCOs upwards, and there the thought of raising a huge NSF army just made us shrink from the responsibility." We're used to the image of Singapore's founding fathers, in fact behind the brave exterior of the SAF's Pioneers, laid doubts and insecurities. Enlisting women would have been an "extra burden" they did not want to take on.

Today, NS is well accepted and the SAF functions well, so it is hard to imagine that Dr Goh and the SAF Pioneers would have felt overwhelmed. So much so that today we take NS for granted. But despite the enormous challenge our founders had, they persisted, overcame and we enjoy the fruits of their labour. In 1975, NS was expanded to bring in NSFs to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in 1981. NS has succeeded well enough in building a credible SAF with male conscripts, such that in 1983, when the topic of NS for women resurfaced, SAF's professional assessment then was "that the SAF could cope with the manpower shortage through various efficiency and technological means." Indeed this is the case today.

Despite falling birth rates, the SAF has maintained operational readiness with reduced manpower through the same use of technology and optimising resources. I have given many examples in this House of how this transformation has produced today's modern SAF that is more mechanised, motorised, lethal and effective despite smaller numbers of soldiers. Having reached this position of strength, should we for the sake of gender equality, introduce NS for women? Some proposed this idea during the debate on the White Paper, including to deploy these NS female conscripts as nurses or teachers. I think there are distinct pitfalls, if conscription is implemented for any other reason than the critical need of military defence, whether it is for men or women.

Compared to 1967, when we introduced NS, Singapore remains one of the few countries that NS is accepted, working well and enjoys strong public support. The main reason that we have this virtuous state of affairs is that we have kept the mission of NS clearly focused on the critical need for national defence. The primary reason for enlistment into the SAF must remain to train a soldier who is able to defend Singapore; and to repel if not defeat an enemy who wants to invade our home. Likewise enlistment into the Police and SCDF must be based on the national need for homeland security and emergency services. This stark raison d'être of NS, to fight and defend our country, and to ensure its security, is the foremost consideration that must undergird the mandatory enlistment of all national servicemen. It is very far off from the proposals to conscript women to serve in roles such as caregivers and healthcare workers, or to send a powerful signal of gender equality. These are inadequate justifications or reasons to mandate that someone must suspend individual liberties as a civilian, give up two years of his or her life; and if they do not, they go to jail, as our Courts have sentenced NS defaulters.

Further, the societal cost of enlisting women into NS now would far outweigh the benefits. Women will be delayed in their entry into the workforce. The immediate effect will be an accentuated decline in the size of our local workforce, and reduction of household incomes. Even if women are enlisted for non-military NS roles to augment our healthcare and social services, it may make manpower shortages in other industries worse. Over the long term, it will impose a great cost not only on women themselves, but also on their families, children and spouses and society as a whole. Is that cost justified to send a signal or to reverse stereotypes? From the Government's perspective, no. I think most Singaporeans would say no too, from a security perspective.

But if Singapore was ever threatened with an existential threat by an aggressor and have a sudden and great need to boost our military, I am certain that MINDEF and the SAF would call on the Government of that day to enlist not only women, but even teenagers and older men into military service to defend and save Singapore. The Ukrainians did exactly this when their homeland was invaded. They required women employed in a wide range of professions, aged between 18 to 60 years, to register for possible military conscription. Young men and elderly, who were well past their retirement age, also volunteered to fight on the front lines to protect their country. There was even a report published in Reuters, in February 2022, of a 79-year old Ukrainian woman who was filmed at a training ground handling a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

But we are not there today and hope never to be.

Women's contribution to defence and nation building

In considering NS for women, we should not inadvertently downplay or dismiss the already significant contributions that women do make in national defence and security by serving as Regulars and volunteers.

MP Poh Li San asked about the measures undertaken to expand the roles that Regular servicewomen can serve in. Our Regular servicewomen currently serve in vocations such as Infantry, Artillery, Armour, Combat Engineers, Pilots and Naval Officers, amongst others. Today, we have more than 1,600 uniformed servicewomen in the SAF who make up about 8% of our Regulars. In addition, more than 500 women have been trained and deployed as SAFVC volunteers (SVs) in a variety of roles since 2015.

Indeed servicewomen within the SAF, hold their own and many punch above their weight! Progression to senior ranks for all personnel is based on merit, capability and aptitude, as it is for all soldiers. Currently, women make up 5% of Regulars holding senior ranks of Lieutenant Colonel (LTC), Military Expert (ME) ME6, or Master Warrant Officer (MWO) and above. We hope to see this figure increase as the proportion of servicewomen in the SAF continues to grow. We need to look no further than members in this House for good examples – Ms Gan Siow Huang and Miss Poh Li San. As our first female Brigadier-General in the SAF, Ms Gan took command of the Air Power Generation Command, which is the largest formation in the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Ms Poh also started her career in the RSAF as a helicopter Search and Rescue pilot and was the Flight Commander of 125 Squadron. She was also the first female full-time Aide-de-camp to the President the late Mr S R Nathan.

Outside of the SAF, women serve as regulars in the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and SCDF and contribute to our national defence and security. Other than serving the SPF as a Police Inspector in the 1990s, Ms Sylvia Lim was appointed as a member of the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD) from 2012 to 2020, where she maintained support for our national defence among the community and business groups.

MP Poh asked about SAF's efforts to continue expanding the proportion of servicewomen in the SAF and those who hold senior leadership positions. We have stepped up our recruitment of women because the SAF wants more women to join our ranks and will make it more attractive for them to do so. For example, we facilitate flexible work arrangements such as part-time, job-sharing and telecommuting where possible, without compromising operational readiness. We have also implemented policies to help our servicemen and women take better care of their loved ones such as childcare and parent care leave, and counselling services to support their well-being. Aside from career progression and opportunities in the workplace, the SAF has also taken proactive steps to improve recruitment and retention. We set-up of the SAF Women Outreach Office (WOO) in July 2020. This provides dedicated focus to review policies and create a conducive and progressive workplace experience for our servicewomen.

Conclusion

Sir, let me summarise and conclude.

Compulsory NS comes with significant costs on enlistees and the society, and can only be justified, if it serves the critical need of national security and defence. This is the basis of the social compact and individual responsibility for NS, and those who do not comply are dealt with harshly. Historically, the SAF started the conscription of males that is able to defend Singapore today against potential aggressors and provide adequate deterrence. Likewise, the enlistment of males into the SPF and SCDF is sufficient for homeland security needs. There is currently no need for us to enlist women for NS.

We should not enlist women for NS to perform roles outside the SAF, SPF or SCDF even if that achieves some social good. The cost on women themselves, their families and society does not justify enlisting women into NS for those reasons.

Women are already contributing to nation building as regulars and volunteers. The SAF and Home Team welcome more women to pursue full-time careers or join their volunteer units.