Transcript of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean's Doorstop Interview to Local Singapore Media in Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA) during his visit to Exercise Wallaby 2010

Maybe you could start off by telling us about your impressions of the exercise and what you have seen so far?

DPM Teo: Well, this Exercise Wallaby in Australia is very useful to us. It is the 20th year we have been exercising in Shoalwater Bay Training Area thanks to the courtesy of the Australian Government, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and also the people of Rockhampton. We are very grateful for that. The exercise this year has allowed us to put through several frames of soldiers and allowed us to train integrated exercises including our Air Force and our Army together. It has been a very valuable exercise.

How do you think these overseas exercises augment the training that our servicemen, regulars and citizen soldiers' already have in Singapore?

DPM Teo: In Singapore, they can learn the basics, so they learn the basic drill to get the fundamentals right. However, they don’t have the same kind of space and they don't have the same kind of challenges that come from unfamiliar terrain, different kind of climate, topography and so on. I think Singapore is a bit too familiar so when they come out here they have to encounter real distances, different conditions and uncertainties which they were not faced with in Singapore. So they are able then to apply the basics and the fundamentals which they learnt and also I think it enables them to focus together and gel as a unit much better than when they are in Singapore and have other distractions. So when they are here, they know that there is only one thing they need to do, and that is to focus on training for the ten days, or two weeks, or three weeks that they are here, and that helps them to gel as a unit very well.
From your interactions with the National Servicemen (NSmen), how do you think they are coping with the new way we are fighting and the new battle concept?

DPM Teo: Well you can see for yourself that they are coping very well. During this particular visit, we have seen Full Time National Servicemen who are nine months old as soldiers. Together they are firing big guns and so on and working together as a unit. They are working together very well. At the same time, we see Operationally Ready NSmen who have been on their sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, in-camp-training (ICT) together. You can see that the camaraderie in the unit is very strong. Some of them have been actually together in the same unit for twelve years, so it is quite remarkable. So you have seen people who have been together nine months, and have trained and worked together as a unit, and you have seen people who have been together for ten, twelve years, continuing to work together as a unit. I think this is the strength of our National Service as well as our ICT system.
Can you comment more about how the SAF training in SWBTA will affect Singapore and Australia bilateral ties?

DPM Teo: Australia and Singapore have very strong bilateral ties that go back many many years. The training here has enabled us to build strong bonds of friendship and mutual confidence in each other. Hence, when we need to operate together, for example in peace keeping operations, or in stabilisation operations in Afghanistan, we have been able to do so very smoothly. We are very grateful for the training here and for the support that the ADF has given to us in our deployment s in Afghanistan. If you see this medical unit that is training here, well this is one example, we have deployed our medical units into Afghanistan in support of the ADF who are deployed in Uruzgan and Afghanistan.
Maybe you can elaborate a little about having the boots on the ground in an overseas training setting. In Singapore, you can actually simulate almost anything. Perhaps tell us a little about the value-add to the servicemen?

DPM Teo: I think for the servicemen, there is nothing like being able to exercise all the fundamentals on the basics that you have learnt. In an unfamiliar and challenging terrain, when you really don’t know what is going to come at you. That gives you a lot of confidence in yourself, in your skills and in your training and gives you a lot of confidence in your buddies and your unit as a whole. That makes a big difference.

More Resources

DPM Teo visits Exercise Wallaby 2010

Fact Sheet: Milestones in Singapore-Australia Defence Relations