Speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the SAF50 Dinner

Pioneers of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Past and Present Servicemen and Servicewomen in the SAF, and fellow Singaporeans.

I am very happy to be here, back at the parade square of Pasir Laba Camp. This was the original site of Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute (SAFTI) from 1966 to 1996 - where SAF trained its leaders. It holds many memories for us, especially the SAF Pioneers who are here, and also the rest of us - parades, drills, extra drills, and commemorations. The last time I was on this parade square, was 10 years ago for the 40th anniversary of the SAF. It does not seem so long ago but we have all grown a little bit older since then, and I am very happy tonight to be back here, connecting with many old friends and comrades. Just a few minutes before we came in, I met a complete chain of command, people who have commanded me. 'A' Company Commander - Mohamed Iqbal, Juliet Company, School of Infantry Section Leaders. I had a Battalion Commander Ng Jui Ping, then Major, School of Artillery. I met my old Brigade Commander, Syed Hashim Aljoffery, Lieutenant Colonel, 3 SIB (Singapore Infantry Brigade). I met my old Chief - Chan Jwee Kay, Chief of Artillery. And I met my old Chief of Defence Force Mr Winston Choo, he is with me tonight. We salute all of them.

Singapore has enjoyed 50 years of peace, it is partly because our regional environment has been stable. The Americans have played a benign stabilising role in the region, other countries have not been at war. But we have also enjoyed peace because we have a strong SAF. Our ability and resolve to defend ourselves was never in doubt. Therefore people took us seriously, respected us, and we could be friends and partners with our neighbours.

For this, we have to thank our servicemen, the pioneers, the regulars, and the NSmen. The pioneers who answered the call of duty to defend Singapore, who served in the Singapore Volunteer Corps and the Vigilante Corps (which later became the People's Defence Force). The pioneers in 1 SIR (Singapore Infantry Regiment) and 2 SIR, before we separated from Malaysia and became independent. Those were early days and dangerous times. Konfrontasi was a live battle, and there were skirmishes in our neighbourhood. We saw active service, but our pioneers kept us safe and trained the first batches of our NSmen. People like Senior Warrant Officer (SWO) (Ret) William Wee, who was in the Singapore Naval Volunteer Force. He was on the frontlines during Konfrontasi, patrolling our coastline. He said, "We had no time to worry about anything. We couldn't. If you are scared to die, then why be in uniform?" Or Captain (CPT) (Ret) Shamsudin bin Shadan, the "King of the Parade Square" - this one especially" who is with us this evening. He joined the Volunteer Corp and after we split from Malaysia, and had to organise our first National Day Parade in 1966. He put together a marching contingent in just 50 days. He drilled the troops again and again, so that on 9 August 1966, as they marched past City Hall, they marched past smartly and we cheered them with pride. He is going to be the oldest participant in the Vintage Parade on 9 August 2015 this year! It was that pioneer fighting spirit that started us off on our journey. We thank them.

We thank our regulars, who made the SAF their careers, their lives, and formed the core of the SAF, who enabled the NSmen to build up their skills, to become not just competent soldiers, but also capable formations, platoons, companies, battalions, brigades, divisions, squadrons. They built the SAF into a professional and formidable fighting force. I must especially mention the first batch of officers who trained in the Officer Cadet School (OCS). They were truly "one of a kind"! In fact, when they wrote a book about their history, they titled it "One of a Kind". It was a very vivid account of their experiences and I am very glad that they have published the book "One of a Kind" and republished it for this SG50, and DPM Teo launched it a week ago. So I was very happy to meet many of them, the regulars and the first batch at the SAF Day Parade at SAFTI Military Institute earlier this month. One of them was Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) (Ret) Timothy De Souza, he was one of our first fighter pilots. We sent him overseas to train in Britain and he flew the Hawker Hunter. He was a pioneering member of the first Black Knights! He was there when we started our air force and saw how rapidly it was built up. In fact, he helped to build it up. So I think on National Day when he watches the aeroplanes zoom past, I hope it will bring back many fond memories. 

I would like to thank the many generations of NSmen, who sweated it out, trained hard, served full time National Service and the Operationally Ready National Service, especially the early batches of NSmen who started the ball rolling when we implemented National Service in 1967. The training was tough, and conditions were often far from ideal. But they took it in their stride, and told their family and friends when they went home, "It was a hard life, but a good hard life". I just met one of them this morning when I went down to Bukit Merah for a visit.  Somebody tall and erect, welcomed me. He said "Men of Steel", I said "Arty NCO (Artillery Non-Commissioned Officer)", he said "yes, first batch, we man-packed the mortars from Taman Jurong all the way to Pasir Ris". And he looked like he could still do it. So batch by batch our NSmen sweated it out, and went as the phrase goes 'from Boys to Men.'

I would also like to thank Singaporeans who have supported the SAF and supported our system. Parents who sent their sons and daughters to serve the nation. Families of our Regulars and our NSmen, people who come to see their sons get passed out, commissioned, pinned on wings, wore berets and remembered, and said "I did that too". People like the parents and godparents of LTC Mohd Nizam bin Yahya, the SAF Day Parade Commander this year. I met him, he introduced his parents and godparents and they were so proud of him when they spoke of him and took pictures of us together. And to the population at large, who support and take pride in our soldiers and the SAF. 

I am happy tonight that we have 2-generation SAF families here. SWO Jennifer Tan, currently Division Sergeant Major, 2 PDF (People's Defence Force), who was our first female NDP Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM). She has three sons and all of them have joined the Army as regulars and they are all in the Armour Formation! We have Brigadier General (BG) (Ret) Wong Huat Sern, the former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, he is here tonight with his father LTC (Ret) Wong Geok Seam, who was a pioneer army regular with the SAF at the Ammunition Base. He was a logistics officer. I am sure both of them, grandfather and father, will have lots of advice to give to Huat Sern's son, who will enlist in three years' time. 

I would also like to thank our partners who have helped us to build the SAF. The close partners of the SAF - SID, DSTA, DSO, and Singapore Technologies. Because together, you have helped keep Singapore safe and secure, and helped build the SAF to become a credible force. I would also like to thank our overseas partners, who have been generous with their training areas, with combined exercises, with training courses, and advice and experience. The SAF could not have made this journey alone. We have defence partnerships and agreements that we have signed with many partners all over the world. So today we have servicemen in America, in Australia, in New Zealand, in Brunei, in Thailand, in India, and in France! Sometimes in Germany too. And I am sure all of us look forward to the training overseas, all of us look forward to coming back to meeting together, to trading war stories about the good old days in uniform over dinner. 

So to commemorate this journey, I am glad that we will be launching a book, "Giving Strength to our Nation: the SAF and its People". It collects some of these stories that will remind us of the SAF's contributions. Contributions to domestic crises - be it in floods (1969), be it during the cable car incident (1983), be it the Hotel New World disaster (1986), or the SQ 117 hijack (1991), or SARS (2003), or the haze just two years ago (2013).

There was one story in the book, contributed by SWO Selvanathan. He was a winch man, who winched down from the helicopter to rescue the trapped passengers from the cable cars, after we decided to send in the helicopters as the way to rescue the passengers who were stuck, when the cable cars were trapped on the wire that January night in 1983. He winched down, strong winds, calmed the passengers - some children - strapped them up, took them out, winched them up to the helicopter and went down. There were two helicopters. He took one of them and altogether, we brought out 13 people, stranded in the darkness, probably terrified. After 30 years, we met again just now - it was a very good feeling.  

We also have many friends overseas, whom I think we should remember tonight. People we have helped when we went on Ops Flying Eagle during the Tsunami in Indonesia (2004-2005). People will remember INTERFET in East Timor when we went on a UN mission (1999). People we worked with searching for the Air Asia aircraft just a few months ago, civilians caught in the floods in Kelantan, people suffering from forest fires in northern Thailand, or further afield in Afghanistan, Bamiyan (2007-2012), in Iraq (1991-2003), in Nepal (2015), or in the Gulf of Aden (ongoing). So we have had many, many experiences. We have been lucky we have not gone to war. But short of war, we have seen many operations and we have had many successes. 

And this year we had one special mission: Operation White Light, the State Funeral for Mr Lee Kuan Yew. The SAF poured your heart and soul into this, executed it outstandingly well, and you did Singapore proud. Thank you all for all that you have done, SAF, over the past 50 years! 

I hope the next 50 years will be as peaceful as the last 50. But 50 years is a very long time. Nobody can be sure that there will not be tensions or conflicts in Asia. And if there is trouble, we cannot depend on being lucky enough to avoid problems. So we must be ready to defend ourselves if any troubles come our way. And the last 50 years have taught us that come what may, we will always need a strong SAF. Therefore, the SAF needs to keep itself up to date with the latest technology to adapt and find new ways to fight smarter and more effectively. 3G SAF, 4G SAF, 5, 6, 7G SAF. But most of all, it needs the support of the soldiers, the sailors, of the airmen, and also of all the Singaporeans. And Singaporeans will only support the SAF if we are all, in the first place, proud to be Singaporeans. And to be proud of being Singaporeans, this has to be an outstanding country, one which we all have a stake in, one which we all have helped to build, and one which we will defend, as the SAF Pledge says, "with our lives".

So we expect full commitment from all the SAF servicemen. NSmen willing to serve the nation, always ready to do their duty. Regulars who take pride in their uniform, because being a soldier is not just a job but a calling. And a new generation with the pioneer spirit. I think the first generation of pioneers will be long retired, but their spirit must live on in all of us. And their values - their values of courage and self-sacrifice, of service to the nation - must be handed down from generation to generation.  

Last year, the SAF held its first integrated military parade, with one unit going into the MINDEF reserves, one unit passing out from recruit training. We witnessed a symbolic moment. CPL (NS) Lee Hong Chen represented his 600-strong battalion which had completed its ORNS cycle, and was standing down for the last time. CPL Lee represented the battalion, held the State Flag, and he handed it over to Recruit (REC) Marcus Chin, who was his nephew. And REC Marcus Chin represented a new batch of BMT soldiers who had just been called up, and were just starting their National Service. Passing the torch. So one officer from CPL Lee's battalion said it was the first time he saw many of his men cry. Why? Because handing over the State Flag was more than just an MR Parade. It stood for handing over the sacred duty to defend Singapore.  And the SAF must continue to have that spirit and to hand it down from generation to generation. Then we will always be secure, then all of us and our families can sleep easily at night.

So as we celebrate the 50th year of the SAF, I salute all the past and current leaders of the SAF, the men and the women of Singapore who have contributed through your service and to support our nation. Thank you. Thank you for being soldiers. Thank you for guarding and keeping Singapore safe. Thank you very much.

More Resources

• PM Lee Thanks SAF for 50 Years of Giving Strength to the Nation