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149 Officers Graduate from Command and Staff Course
26 October 2010
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean interacting with graduands of the 41st CSC and 11th NSCSC at the graduation ceremony.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean presented certificates to 149 graduands at the Singapore Command and Staff College's (SCSC's) Combined 41st Command and Staff Course (CSC) and 11th National Service Command and Staff Course (NSCSC) Graduation Ceremony held this evening at the Istana. The graduands comprised 109 regular officers and 26 National Service (NS) officers from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), one officer from the Singapore Police Force and 13 international officers from 10 countries - Australia, Brunei, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and the United States.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Teo reiterated the SCSC's aim of producing senior SAF officers capable of understanding the impact of political, social and economic events on military operations and doctrines. He said: "The 3rd Generation SAF can expect to operate even more extensively with both regional and international partners on a wider spectrum of missions, as this trend towards multinational cooperation continues. The officers leading the 3rd Generation SAF will thus need to be trained to operate within this new strategic environment, where countries forge multinational cooperation in areas of shared interests."
Mr Teo also urged the graduands to continue to exhibit qualities such as keenness of mind, leadership, and the ability to be self-critical, honest and tough, Mr Teo said: "These qualities date back to our first Minister for Defence, the late Dr Goh Keng Swee, who believed that officers who lacked the "steel in [their] soul" would falter when making hard decisions in the heat of war, endangering not only the lives of their men, but the safety of the entire SAF and of Singapore itself." To show Singapore’s firm resolve and commitment to uphold Dr Goh’s legacy of developing a "thinking SAF", Mr Teo stated that the SCSC will be renamed the "Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College (GKSCSC)" next year in honour of the late Dr Goh Keng Swee.
Mr Teo also presented awards to four top graduands: MAJ Yee Kok Meng, MAJ Ooi Loong and ME6 Hoo Soo Pin, who won the Top Army, Navy and Air Force Graduate Awards respectively in the 41st CSC, as well as to MAJ (NS) Allen Chan, who topped the 11th NSCSC. The 41-week CSC and 32-week NSCSC, which prepare officers for senior command and staff appointments in the SAF, are the highest level of formal military education offered in Singapore for regular and NS officers respectively.
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