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Speech by Mr Chan Chun Sing, Second Minister for Defence, at Committee of Supply Debate 2015
6 March 2015
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Madam Chair, the cornerstone of our defence is our commitment to defend what is ours. What we cannot defend, and what we are not committed to defend, will not be ours.
This commitment depends not just on the generations of national servicemen who have served in the SAF. It also depends on all Singaporeans who may not directly serve in the SAF. It further depends on the support of all institutions and organisations in our society.
Commitment of National Servicemen
To engender the commitment of our National Servicemen, we must train our servicemen well, train them safely, be good stewards of their time and talent, and last but not least, to give due recognition to our national servicemen where it is due.
Fitness
Dr Intan asked about our fitness regime. Fitness is the basic building block of our national servicemen's capabilities. We want our national servicemen to be fit for their operational duties, for themselves, for their families and for our country.
We have announced that from 1 Apr 2015, the IPPT system will evolve to a three-station regime to make it easier to train and to encourage our servicemen to excel. Since last year, we have also provided our NSmen more time - 12 months - to train, to prepare and to meet their fitness standards.
We have since introduced IPT-in-the-Park to make it more convenient for NSmen to access training. We have also trialled the use of iDAT and FitBit for NSmen to take greater ownership of their own fitness training.
We did all these to partner our NSmen in their fitness journey, even as they meet their other family and economic responsibilities.
All these measures will also complement the SAF's vocational fitness regime to prepare our NSmen and NSFs for their operational demands.
Safety
Dr Intan also asked for an update on our safety system. In the area of training safety, we have made various improvements to our training and medical systems to better take care of our national servicemen.
The SAF medical service is working closely with the National Health Service to leverage each other's capabilities to care for all servicemen and all Singaporeans as a continuum. For example, we recently opened the SAF Cardiac Fitness Centre, and this is integrated with the National Heart Centre. Such collaboration will allow us to leverage on each other's resources and benchmark the SAF's health and medical standards with the wider national system.
From Jan 2015, the SAF also has put in place the Emergency Ambulance Service which works with private ambulance operators to allow serious casualties to be directly evacuated to hospitals while receiving treatment on-route.
At the tactical level, we have leveraged the soldier tracker system to keep track of our soldiers in difficult terrain and small unit operations. This system is not just operationally useful; it also provides greater confidence to our evacuation system.
The SAF is also working behind the scenes to evolve our work-rest cycle to better manage the physical demands on our soldiers. This will regulate their physiological strains while achieving optimum performance in their operational duties.
To reduce heat injuries, heat stress monitors have also been introduced to closely monitor localised weather conditions.
Stewards of Time and Talent
To be good stewards of our servicemen's time and talent, and as part of the Committee to Strengthen NS (CSNS) recommendations, MINDEF and MHA will be adjusting the pre-enlistment medical screening and administration schedule.
Today, 45% of our pre-enlistees enlist within four months of graduation from their post-secondary education. In future, 90% - double of what we have today - will enlist within four months. The rest will enlist within six months. This will impact more than 20,000 pre-enlistees each year.
Let me now touch on time management.
The learning style of our youth has changed. We must similarly evolve our training pedagogy. MINDEF will continue to widen the use of LEARNet to save an estimated 15% to 20% of training time to be reinvested into hands-on practice for our soldiers.
We are also redesigning our training equipping system to allow our national servicemen to focus more time on their training, rather than on administrative duties. For example, we are currently introducing the new Tactical Engagement System equipping station that will come on line this year. This new station will allow us to fully equip an infantry or armour battalion with the Tactical Engagement System for training within half a day, much less than the 24 hours required previously.
For mobilisation and equipping, I have shared last year that what used to take 24 hours to equip a brigade-size force will now take much less time than that. And the time saved can be used by the soldiers to conduct their refresher training as the Commanders get their battle plans ready.
MINDEF also engenders commitment in our people by being good stewards of our servicemen's talent and energies. The SAF works on the principles of meritocracy. We deploy soldiers to vocations based on merit and that which best make use of their capabilities, aptitude and commitment. It does not make sense for us to do otherwise, because people are the most precious resource that we have.
Recognition
MINDEF and MHA will continue to recognise our national servicemen. The NS Recognition Award, or NSRA, will now evolve into the NS HOME Awards. HOME stands for "HOusing", "Medical" and "Education".
Previously, a national serviceman would receive $9000 to $10,500 across the three milestones in his NS journey. Going forward, he will receive an additional $6000 in Medisave grants. From Sep 2015 this year, we will advance part of this additional grant to help cover our NSmen's Medishield Life premiums while they are serving full-time National Service.
Since implementation in Sep 2014, more than 56,000 national servicemen have benefitted and about $270 million has been disbursed under this scheme.
SAFVC
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin, Mr Low Thia Kiang and Mr Alex Yam asked about the Volunteer Corps. Madam Chair, let me now touch on engendering the commitment of Singaporeans for those who do not directly serve in the SAF.
Actually, to be frank, all Singaporean families contribute to the SAF directly and indirectly. Generations of parents, spouses, girlfriends who have encouraged and supported their sons, husbands and boyfriends in national service have contributed directly and indirectly to our defence.
Come March, another group of people will demonstrate their commitment to our defence in a different way. They will form the SAF Volunteer Corps or SAFVC, continuing the proud tradition of the Singapore Volunteer Corps, way before the SAF was even in existence.
The first intake of the SAFVC will begin training in Mar 2015 and it is this month. Since recruitment started last Oct, we have close to 900 applicants. We expect to take in 100 to 150 volunteers this year. They are a good mix of Singapore citizens and first generation PRs.
They will also serve in a variety of roles alongside our national servicemen. What they bring to the table are not just operational capabilities for the defence of the country. As importantly, if not more, they bring a new dimension of commitment to the defence of our country. Through their actions, they have demonstrated their willingness to go that extra mile to defend what is ours.
ACCORD
In response to Mr Low Thia Khiang's questions, different SAFVC will have different capabilities and they will be matched according to their capabilities where their deployment is effective. We will also seek security clearance for all SAFVC as what we will do for our national servicemen. No difference.
Mr Ong Teng Koon asked about ACCORD. Societal support forms the final pillar in our commitment to defence.
Since last Aug, we have revamped ACCORD to form three Councils - the Employer & Business Council (EBC), the Family & Community Council (F&C), and the Educational Institutions Council (EI). This is to provide greater representation across different sectors in society (and) tap their ideas and network to strengthen our commitment to defence.
Let me also at this juncture thank the three Co-Chairs - Mr Tony Chew, Ms Claire Chiang and Ms Indranee and their many sub-committees, who have worked very hard over the last few months to come up with the many recommendations that we have before us today.
MINDEF has accepted all their recommendations for this year. We will progressively put in place the many good ideas that they have recommended.
Let me provide some updates on the EBC, while MOS Maliki will provide updates for the other two Councils subsequently.
The EBC has recommended that we revamp the Total Defence Awards to recognise more people and organisations across different sectors who have contributed to the defence of Singapore.
For example, instead of just recognising the employers and companies, we should also recognise the colleagues and immediate superiors who have been supportive and who have made a difference to the national servicemen when they answer the call of duty.
Another example. We know that different industries and different sectors face different challenges in supporting their national servicemen. Somebody in the trade sector will need quite different support from somebody in a factory. We also know that the challenges of the SMEs and the big MNCs are quite different. Hence, we will work with the respective trade associations and business chambers to revamp their awards and to recognise more from the different sectors and different sizes of companies.
The EBC also recognises that many skills - especially leadership, organisation and management skills - picked up by our NSmen are invaluable to their business operations. The performance of our NSmen in the SAF also provides valuable signals to the companies on the potential, the energies, the capabilities and the commitment of their employees. Hence, MINDEF and the employers have agreed to work together to let the employers better know the talent and attributes of our NSmen, who are their employees, and so that they can better appreciate the talent of their employees - our NSmen - and better make use of those talents within their organisation.
The EBC has also recommended for MINDEF to work closer with the employers to keep them informed of their employees' upcoming in-camp training schedules. This will allow employers to better forecast their employees' work responsibilities, to afford our NSmen peace of mind in preparing the discharge of their national service duties.
The outreach done by the EBC has also provided many employers fresh perspectives on the work of our national servicemen. Many of them have given me positive feedback on what they have learnt about their employees - our Nsmen - what they do in camp, their level of commitment that they demonstrate in their recall exercises and so forth. All these have generated a fresh sense of commitment towards our national defence because now our employers better understand how their employees - our national servicemen - work not just for their respective companies in peacetime, but also for the collective defence of this country, without which their businesses would not be able to flourish.
Knowledge and understanding are the first steps in our societal support. We will continue to strengthen this partnership with the employers and businesses to provide the strongest support for our national servicemen.
Conclusion
Madam Chair, the most powerful weapon of the SAF lies in the commitment of our people.
I once met a young soldier from another country. His military did not have the advanced technology that we have. He knew that his military is not as capable as ours. But he looked me in the eye and told me that should anyone dare to come into his motherland uninvited and mean them harm, he will personally chase them out - even if he has only a bamboo spear in his hand.
I respect his spirit and determination. I think there is much that we can learn from this young soldier.
Yes, today the SAF is a capable military and we can defend what is ours. But this capable military will come to naught if we do not have the gumption, the will, or the determination, or the unity to defend what is ours.
On the other hand, if we can couple our advanced military capabilities with that steely determination, if we can engender the commitment of our people, our entire society - our NSmen, all Singaporeans, all businesses, all socio-civic organisations, then I must say we have a formidable, if not invincible defence machine.
Madam Chair, let me now invite MOS Maliki to provide further updates on the work of ACCORD.
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