Introduction

Let me wish our colleagues and friends a good evening. As a political office holder, it goes without saying that I attend many meetings, and I will tell you that I categorise meetings into two. Meetings that I look forward to and meetings that I look more forward to. SAFRA falls into the latter. There are two reasons why I look more forward going to SAFRA meetings. One is the gathering of old friends, but the other reason is that SAFRA is a successful organisation. I think for those of you in leadership positions, you know what I mean. Not all organisations succeed, and you would know. SAFRA is doing well, and you want to just make sure that things continue. 

Tonight, we gather to recognise those individuals who helped make SAFRA and what SAFRA has become. It is now a brand name to families in Singapore. Objectively, SAFRA has become a brand name. If you meet a Singaporean overseas and you say “Oh, you know, we met in SAFRA,” they will understand you straight away. 

SAFRA’s Impact on NSmen and Families

So it first began in 1972, and why do I say it has become a brand name? Because it succeeded in providing high quality, tangible benefits to NSmen and their families at affordable prices. If you look at Goh Keng Swee’s original speech, that is exactly what he wanted. I paraphrase it, but he said, “country club facilities at affordable prices”. We purposefully made it affordable. But beyond the price and the accessibility, these benefits are purposefully located close to homes in HDB heartlands and that is our way of showing appreciation for the contributions of NSmen in defending Singapore on a daily basis. It also drives home the message that these benefits are only possible when there is peace and stability in our homeland. 

SAFRA, over the past 50 odd years, we can comfortably say, is part and parcel of life in Singapore. We have become used to it. The SAFRA Family Membership is affordable, purposefully, to enable spouses and children to enjoy the facilities. And SAFRA offers a wide range of facilities and programmes to bring families together and deepen their support for NS. 

If you think about the life cycle of families within Singapore, in the HDB heartlands, as a young child, their NS father, many of you as NS fathers, would have brought your children to SAFRA. And they would have gone on their own with other family members to swim, eat, attend pre-school or the many varied entertainment and educational facilities there, including signature events such as Our (NS) Family Camp and Sprint Kids. 

Now, when they grow up, when they become NSmen themselves, they would have gone to SAFRA with their platoon mates and bonded over drinks, food and other fitness initiatives. We have now the Prep4NS Membership for pre-enlistees and SkillsFuture@NS for NSFs. 

In the past year, SAFRA hosted nearly 600 unit cohesion activities (for) about 46,000 NSmen. This life cycle, from young, going to SAFRA because their father was an NSman, to themselves going to SAFRA, also when they have children, repeating that cycle, is now very much part and parcel of Singapore life.  

 Empowering NSmen in Their Journey and Connecting with Partners

In fact, here is a thought experiment. Think for some reason that we do not have SAFRA. Some bright spark decides that you want change it and SAFRA is gone from Singapore, I think it would be a loss. Hard to imagine life without it. And for the many people who have SAFRA near their homes, it is part and parcel of their lives. Mention the name SAFRA, and Singaporeans from all walks of life understand it, even if foreigners may not. And so what is SAFRA? It is Singapore Armed Forces Reservist Association. Some of us have forgotten the acronym.

And I am also glad that SAFRA extends support to NSmen with their careers and families. SAFRA offers bond-free sponsorships to some 30 NSmen each year for their tertiary studies. 

We also have the SAFRA Youth Network and various interest groups that connect people with shared interests, whether it is entrepreneurship, e-sports, music, and content creation.

Many of you know we opened our seventh clubhouse at Choa Chu Kang last year, I understand that when we opened, the residents there were very happy. President has attended it – President of Singapore, not only President of SAFRA – he was kind enough to attend it, as well as Prime Minister because it is his constituency. It is a much-needed facility there because Choa Chu Kang is building its facilities, and we are expecting more than 10 million visitors to the seven SAFRA clubs this year. Just imagine, 10 million visits. 

SAFRA also strengthens Singapore’s defence by fostering warm ties with our neighbours. One particular aspect which I am very happy about is the SAF Veterans’ League (SAFVL) under SAFRA. They organised the 36th Executive Board Meeting and 23rd General Assembly of the Veterans Confederation of ASEAN Countries (VECONAC) at SAFRA Choa Chu Kang. One of the best things we did was to give them a home in our SAFRA. I met some of them who were invited to our National Day Parade this year. And it shows, our veterans are now leading the charge in exemplifying the lifelong spirit of service among our volunteers. 

Thank You to SAFRA’s Volunteers

I am saying all these not only to make you feel good, which you should, but to help us understand that we can all take pride in making SAFRA an icon of Singapore. Not all countries succeed in these types of endeavours. It can be met with cynicism, it can be met with frustration, it can be met with indifference. None of these attributes or adjectives are used for SAFRA. Talk to the man on the street, talk to the family and they will say, yes, SAFRA is making a difference to me. My children enjoy it, I enjoy it. And it is only possible because there is a dedicated core of volunteers that drive many of our programmes to make SAFRA succeed. Obviously with outstanding management, but without this core of volunteers, it is going to be very difficult to keep this up. So we honour these outstanding SAFRA volunteers.

One such volunteer is CPL (NS) Soh Yi Da. He is the Chairman of the SAFRA Youth Network Committee (SYNC), and received the 10-year Long Service Award. As I said, the Youth Network brings NSmen together through programmes such as SAFRA Soundbyte, an e-sports tournament; and the SAFRA Entrepreneurs’ Marketplace, which is a platform for budding entrepreneurs. Each year, these initiatives reach over 30,000 participants.

Another volunteer, COL (NS) Toh Han Li, has been serving as the Chairman of SAFRA Jurong Executive Committee, and will receive the Meritorious Service Award (Bronze) today. SAFRA Jurong has engaged NS families through events such as SAFRA Sprint Kids, which features NS-inspired obstacle challenges for fathers and children to bond over. Last year, SAFRA Sprint Kids attracted close to 900 participants.

Time does not permit me to name all equally committed and outstanding volunteers. But know this, we are indeed grateful to all volunteers for their dedication and hard work.

Looking Ahead

SAFRA’s success is your success. But SAFRA must keep up with every new generation of NSmen and their families. You need to constantly refresh your facilities and programmes, and that is why I am also very glad that we have people from the business and industry that tell us that we may have outdated programmes. We need to refresh it. For example, SAFRA Jurong will be upgraded with new facilities; the Indoor Air Weapons Range at SAFRA Yishun will also be upgraded, and the EnergyOne gyms at Mount Faber and Toa Payoh will be revamped.

Conclusion

Let me thank all of you, and thank you for all your hard work.  I look forward to engaging you more tonight, enjoy your dinner and thank you very much again. 

Thank you.