Speeches
Speech by Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Defence, at the 140/25 Officer Cadet Course Commissioning Parade on 14 Mar 2026 at SAFTI MI
14 March 2026
A very good evening, and congratulations to all the graduates of Officer Cadet School.
At this moment, I want you to remember that you are not here just because of your hard work alone. You are here because of the guidance of your commanders, the love and support of your families and what Singapore has enabled you.
As you go forth to take over the next generation of leadership in the SAF and our country, I just want you to remember three things – Vigilance, Dare and Care.
In the last couple of years, there have been no shortage of global conflicts across the world. Many of them, if not most of them, started not because people did not have the best intelligence systems, or they did not have the best equipment. Even very well-equipped armed forces have fumbled, because they have found themselves in complacency, thinking that it will never happen to them. And in their generation, they will not need to stand their ground and defend what they have, and they were wrong.
For Singapore, every day of peace is another hard-won achievement. Yet, we must remember that for every day of peace, it will become even harder for the next generation to remember why you serve. So, as you go forth and lead the men and women in the SAF, always stay resilient, always stay humble and keep learning. Learn from your foreign counterparts, learn from those around you and learn from anyone, anywhere across the world.
Whatever that OCS has taught you is but the beginning of your lifelong journey of learning and service to our country. Never for a moment in the rest of your life should you ever think that you have learnt enough. All the TTPs and SOPs[1] that you have been taught were written by the blood, sweat, and tears of the previous generation. There are no guarantees of success in the next step. Which is why the second thing that I want you to remember is dare.
Dare to try and dare to break new grounds, because yesterday's lessons are not guaranteed for tomorrow's success. When I was a young officer like you, I knew I had to ask the same question as well. Very often, when faced with unforeseen circumstances and unfamiliar environments, I ask myself: “Should I just follow the rules, or should I, more importantly, understand the reason and the rationale behind the rules and then innovate along the way?” When I was Commander 9 Division, I was tasked as an Urban Warfare Commander in the SAF. At that point in time, we had no urban warfare doctrine. It was up to my generation to figure out what to do. There was no one to teach us, and we had limited opportunities to learn from others, because everyone else was also trying to figure out what to do.
This is where your training and your values system come in. If you think that you should just follow the rules, then we will be woefully inadequate for tomorrow’s operations. Even in the last completed mission, when we flew our MRTT to the Gulf[2] to evacuate fellow Singaporeans, the mission crew had to innovate along the way to meet and overcome the unforeseen circumstances. That is the spirit that I hope that you will always have with you.
Last but not least, always remember what we have been taught as officers of the SAF. Take care of our men and women, and we will take care of the mission together. Never get the sequence wrong. Always take care of the men and women under your charge for us to accomplish the mission together. Upon your shoulders rests the hope of our nation. Your job is not so much to win the Best Unit Competition or any other awards – some of you may, some of you may not. But regardless of whether you win the Best Unit Competition or any other awards, I expect you to take care of the men and women under your charge. When their families send their loved ones to be under our command, it is our responsibility to return them to their families safe, stronger in character and more ready in operations. That is the promise that you must give to the families of all the men and women under your charge. That is more important than winning any awards.
And in Singapore, we pride ourselves that we never define success by how well we do for ourselves, but how we enable the next generation to do even better than us. That was how I was brought up, and that will be how I will want to bring you all up. And in your generation, you will do even better than my generation. The second generation of Singaporeans, they set this as their goal, to enable the next generation to do even better than them. I am sure Singapore will be able to defy the course of history to reach SG100 and beyond.
On your shoulders rests the hope and aspiration of our nation. And as officers of the SAF, you must always remember the Chinese saying, “先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐"[3]. You will only rejoice when everyone else can rejoice, and you will always have to think ahead and worry about the future before anyone does that.
If you can keep to these three values, I am sure upon your shoulders, we will see a more glorious, a more united Singapore on 9 of August 2065. Thank you.
[1] Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are among various operating guidelines in the SAF.
[2] The SAF successfully supported the return of 299 Singaporeans and their dependents from the Middle East through two deployments of the RSAF Multi-Role Tanker Transport to Saudi Arabia.
[3] One of Song Dynasty Scholar Fan Zhongyan’s most famous sayings.
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