Speech by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen at MINDEF Volunteers’ Dinner

My colleague, Minister of State for Defence, Dr Maliki, 
Permanent Secretary (Defence), Chan Yeng Kit
Chief of Defence Force (Designate), Service Chiefs, 
Distinguished Guests, 
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to see so many old friends and familiar faces tonight. I am very glad that they invited the pioneer volunteers, it makes for good company. So we will get through the speech and presentation and you know, make this a relaxing night.

Many asked me while I was talking to you: "What you're doing here, aren't you busy, aren't you supposed to be busy elsewhere?" My reply to them is: "You are costing me a few votes but it's worth it. Don't worry, I will make it back to work harder next time I go back to my constituency."

Tonight we honor you as our volunteers who have gone beyond the call of duty, who have put in a lot of effort and many of you, sacrifices. And I think fundamentally because you believe that if we as Singaporeans do not do our part to defend Singapore, then no one else will.

Recently, I think it was Mediacorp or Channel News Asia that did a poll and asked Singaporeans what they thought of various government services, like defence, health, and education. And 97% of Singaporeans believed that the SAF is able to protect Singapore. That is amazing, because if you ask Singaporeans whether the earth was round I do not think you will get 97%. But it tells you how our society believes very much in our ability to defend Singapore, and on this Golden Jubilee, many of you know, compared to when we achieved independence, very few people believed that Singapore could be defended. With no strategic depth, limited manpower, how do you defend this place? And we recognize that the SAF bears full and ultimate responsibility to defend Singapore. But as a country, especially as a small island state, we are only as strong as we are committed and united. And because we have National Service, we are a microcosm of society and you saw the list of boards through the end credits, it is inconceivable that in the SAF you could have a deferring standard of justice, medicine, safety as compared to the rest of society. It is just inconceivable, it will break down. They expect the same standards, if not higher standards for the young men that they entrust to us, their parents entrust to us. So you as volunteers, have set an example for others to follow, to galvanise public support for our security. Your efforts, I will tell you, have made a difference. Many of you watched the recent National Day parade 2015. It went on very well but it could not have been successfully concluded without volunteers.

Celebrating Our Spirit of Volunteerism

Indeed NDP 2015 was the largest national day parade to date, we used certain ways to count the people and 250,000 people descended onto the Marina Bay. It was a non-event, which to us was very good. You did not hear news about crowds being crushed or taking hours to come out of the place. We had 7000 volunteers and performers at the Padang and the Marina Bay area. Without them acting cheerfully as ushers, cheerleaders, performers, extra pairs of hands here and there. We had to pack 1.2 million fun packs, physically. These were not factory lines, they had to physically take item by item and put it in 1.2 million packs. We brought in the Down Syndrome Association to join us, and it was a really heartfelt process, which I think as we distributed the packs, Singaporeans appreciated. And because of that, there was so much resonance and affection because we saw it as our showing and I think that is a great testament to the power of volunteers.

So each year, we hold this simple thank you dinner and express our heartfelt appreciation for what you are doing to build a strong defence for Singapore. I want to thank each of you for sharing your knowledge, your expertise, and skills, and I know that many of you are successful in your fields and have heavy commitments whether it is home, work or leisure. Despite this I am heartened to see new faces amongst us, who have joined this proud tradition of being volunteers for Singapore's defence. On behalf of MINDEF and the SAF, thank you for all your efforts.

Drawing Strength from MINDEF Volunteers' Expertise

Our volunteers currently serve on some 41 MINDEF boards and committees. I know that pioneer volunteers served when there were fewer and now they are in diverse areas such as medical, legal, finance, music and drama, and community engagement. You provide valuable advice on medical and healthcare policies for our servicemen, and adjudicate in legal appeals. Others have helped to enhance public commitment to defence. Your collective efforts help us to ensure higher standards and help us to benchmark against best practices elsewhere. One such example is Adjunct Assistant Professor Tong Khim Leng, who has served as a member of the SAF Cardiology Specialist Advisory Board (CSAB) since 2014. During her time on this board, she has helped us review our cardiac screening practices. You know from time to time we have sudden deaths because we have a whole cohort of young people who passed through us. Thankfully, this year I cannot remember an incident. But I remember over the last few years, we have very very fit young men. And you can imagine the trauma that the family goes through. This is the pride and joy of the parents, to the family, "He's a triathlete, and he competes and he has got such a wonderful spirit and to die precipitously at an event and the questions, and the guilt and to say whether you have done enough?" And these times, it causes us to reveal our screening protocols, but we do not have the expertise and have to ask our Cardiology board, "Are we doing the right things, have we missed something, can we do more?" Not only do they help us set higher standards, they give us assurance that indeed what we are doing conforms to the best practices. When you say that our screening protocols conform to the best practices everywhere, it is very different from myself or my staff saying that. That is the simple truth.

And beyond these advisory boards, we have visiting consultants. We are also privileged to have people like Mr Fong Saik Hay, who sit on the Board of Temasek Laboratories at National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore University of Technology and Design. And people like him enhance our research collaboration with some of the best brains at these universities. I said before that we face an overwhelming challenge, in 10, 15 years or so, we will have a one-third reduction of the number of people coming to NS every year. If I told you your company in 10 years' time will have one-third less of the staff, you will see the enormous challenge and we have to make up the good technology that we can, it is surmountable. And we need the best brains to pick on how we can surmount these challenges. He is the Chief Technology Officer at ST Engineering, serves as a bridge to the local defence industries and the academia. 

Drawing Strength from MINDEF Volunteers' Role as Advocates

MINDEF volunteers work tirelessly to strengthen the bonds between us and families, employers and general community. And here, we acknowledge the contributions of members of our newly restructured Advisory Council for Community Relations (ACCORD). And some of you were the first batch of ACCORD volunteers. Society is becoming more complex. You have competing sympathies, the young say, "Well the foreign workers come here, the foreign professionals come here, they don’t have to do NS, I have to do it. I lose out on my job, I lose out on promotions. Why is it that I have to do it and they don't. Even first generation PRs don't have to do it". We have to explain to them. And without that reach to the community to understand the overall concept, the overall burden that Singaporeans and Singaporeans alone will have to bear, it will be very hard for us to maintain this commitment to national service. And because you are part of the community, you are opinion makers, you are opinion multipliers, you help us to put out your views and meaningfully engage and convey the need for each individual to support defence.

I know that many of you have gone the extra mile, people like MAJ (NS) Bill Chua. You started volunteering in 1991. And you served as a member of the SAFRA Management Committee as well as ACCORD. And now you are sitting on the SAFRA Board of Governors.

Conclusion

All these examples I have stated are exemplary but they dignify all of you so let me thank you again for your invaluable contributions and service to our defence and Singapore. Your service sends a clear message to our potential aggressors - that our people are united and determined to protect our home, Singapore. And as MINDEF volunteers, to me, you are our most powerful advocate of the belief that Singapore is worth protecting. Your presence here today is testimony to our collective commitment. You are a source of inspiration to the next generation. This National Day Parade (NDP), we had a very special contingent. Many of you watched it, it was called the vintage parade. And these were not make-up people. They were real enciks from before. You know that Shamsuddin, he is 84 this year, I think. Tiger Hong retired from SAF 40 years ago. I do not think that he would have thought 40 years ago, that 40 years hence, he would be in the Padang marching again. And there they were, and we gave them a choice. Melvyn told me that he was in-charge and he told these pioneers who were marching, who were going on the NDP that "you have a choice to just walk in a dignified manner". They all turned him down and said they want to march. So they came every Saturday to drill for months and in between they talked to the younger people, told them stories about what were the days before and it was a wonderful national education exercise, much more effective than what we tried to do. And I think your personal legacies, your personal testimonies are indeed there, cry to future generations that this is our home, this is worth protecting as long as we are Singaporeans protecting it, then Singapore's future will bright.

Thank you very much.

More Resources

• Honouring MINDEF Volunteers