Speech by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, at the Overseas Service Medal Presentation Ceremony

Chief of Air Force,
Chief of Army,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very glad that all family members are here and I am happy to see you as a family here. A good evening to all of you. It gives me great pleasure to be here today to present the Overseas Service Medal. These awards recognise the contributions of 56 SAF personnel who have served in the multinational stabilisation and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, and in support of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste, or UNMIT. Singapore's contributions to these missions reflect our commitment as a responsible member of the international community, whether it is through the collective efforts for the global fight against terrorism or doing our part to bring peace and stability to troubled regions. We are a very small nation. When I visit these multinational efforts, it's obvious we are not the biggest player there. We are a small nation, there are others who are contributing even larger resources to these missions. But when we deploy our soldiers to these theatres of operation, we want to go beyond just being present. We are not there just to show that we are there, we want to make an operational difference to mission success, wherever we are deployed. We have sent over 350 SAF servicemen and women to Afghanistan since 2007 because it is the frontline of the global fight against terrorism. Our deployments there support the larger efforts to prevent extremists from using Afghanistan as a base to export terrorism to the rest of the world, including Singapore. Some of you may know that the Jemmah Islamiyah cell had been disrupted some years ago. Some of the members have trained in Afghanistan. Our efforts there would have positive impact in helping to shape the future of Afghanistan. But as your loved ones would tell you, that significant challenges remain. The Afghan National Security Forces are on track to take over security responsibility from the International Security Assistance Force by 2014. The first tranche of three provinces and four cities, this is home to about one-fifth, 21% of the Afghan population, has already began to hand over, in other words, take over the security responsibility this year.

When you talk to the people there, they say that in some provinces, the everyday life of the Afghan people has improved and we saw in the video how our medical teams treated casualties and the local people, whether it is from gunshot wounds or IEDs, and the people there appreciate our deployment. But I must also say that it's not just our efforts to the international fight against terrorism or to help the Afghan people, we benefit, the SAF benefits. With each successive deployment, our servicemen accumulate valuable experience which is then shared with the rest of the SAF. Some of the things that we do there in various operations give us the opportunity to hone our skills and strengthen our system because it is a challenging and unfamiliar condition, and the challenges are real-time. In other words, our Imagery Analysis Teams there know that the information they analyse and put together, products that they produce can deter terrorist cells or insurgent activities, and can prevent deaths.

Our trainers there benefit from working alongside their foreign counterparts. They get to benchmark, compare experiences and different standards. We also recognise that the missions that we undertake when we send our soldiers to these areas are difficult and come with operational risks. Rocket attacks and IEDs remain commonplace, but I am proud to say that our soldiers demonstrated skill, professionalism and resilience in carrying out their duties to enhance the security conditions in Afghanistan. And when I interact with them, they knew the risk but they handled it well - neither too complacent and neither paralysed so that they couldn't carry out their mission.

I also received feedback from ISAF commanders that our contributions have been significant in supporting the multinational effort. In actual fact, they showed me their headquarters, and they showed that they have expanded the ops room to accommodate more Imagery Analysis Teams (IAT). They said, "These are for your Singaporeans". So in short, we are making a difference and punching above our weight. I sense a deep measure of respect for the SAF. So when you speak to military, trainers, imagery analysis, security forces that provide security, the commanders, in not so many words, are saying, "I hope this person can stay longer, or you would send me more, right?", and that's a good sign. Our military institutional trainers (MIT) are training the artillery school in Kabul from April to September this year. LTC Toh Sze Choon led a group of 10 SAF military institutional trainers working alongside their counterparts from Australia, Canada, Mongolia, Slovakia and the US in running training courses for Afghan officers, NCOs and other ranks. Each successful training course and live firing exercise conducted improved the ability of the Afghan National Army so that they can take charge of their training, and security of their country.

From March to November this year, we also deployed IATs to Oruzgan. These were six-man teams led by LTC Koh Har Yong and LTC Yeoh Keat Hoe. They augmented the ISAF's surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities by interpreting the images. We sent two 13-man SAF medical teams, led by LTC Yee Kok Meng and LTC Foo Chek Boon, which were also deployed to the field hospital at the same base to provide emergency medical support, primary healthcare and pre- and post-operative medical care. They attended to over 500 patients, including men and women and children, and more than a hundred trauma cases over a six-month period. The mission in Afghanistan is by no means over. There remains a lot to be done before the ISAF can fully hand over security responsibility to the Afghan National Security Forces in 2014. In this regard, the SAF will continue to contribute to the multinational efforts in Afghanistan next year, 2012. Specifically, the SAF will deploy a five-man MIT team to Oruzgan from February to November 2012 to partner the Australian Defence Force in training Afghan National Army commanders to detect and identify IEDs.

The SAF will also be deploying two staff officers to the Combined Team-Oruzgan Headquarters from January to December 2012. In addition, we will be extending the deployment of our 10 MITs in the artillery school in Kabul and our six-man IAT in Oruzgan till December 2012. The SAF has also done good work in Timor-Leste. This evening, we recognise MAJ Mohamad Rafi Bin Eusope and MAJ Jaiganth S/O Arumugam, who were deployed to Timor-Leste for a year under UNMIT. MAJ Mohamad Rafi and MAJ Jaiganth served as a Military Information Analyst and an Operations Officer respectively, to support Timor-Leste's national reconciliation and the restoration of public security. I want like to thank all 56 of you for a job well done. I know you have all faced up to the challenging missions in Afghanistan and Timor-Leste with confidence and competence. You have discharged your duties professionally, and done Singapore and the SAF proud. I commend you for keeping the Singapore flag flying high.

Let me also take this opportunity to convey my deep appreciation to the family members. I know that it is not an easy time when your loved ones were away but because they knew that you were taken care of, it allowed them to focus on their missions in Afghanistan. I can tell you that it wasn't an easy time for them, but I know that in Kabul, for example, they had to be in a camp with enclosed walls. There isn't much to do, it's not a very big camp. You know that they are bored when they can run half marathons on treadmill machines. So your steadfast support allowed our servicemen to focus on their missions and to contribute to the best of their abilities, and I think they have done you, the SAF, and Singapore proud. Thank you very much.