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EPILOGUE
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SIXTEEN
V. SHIFTING SANDS ALONG CAREER PATHS
the local Command and Staff College, which conducted its first course in Fort Canning in
1972, was considered promising career-wise. Meanwhile, the first tentative steps were made
to set up training camps or bases overseas. Periodic large-scale land force exercises were also
negotiated with Australia and New Zealand. Establishing overseas training bases provided
alternative pioneering opportunities for First Batch officers.
By about the mid-1970s, the First Batch was shaking out into some sort of rank order
among themselves and the overall hierarchy in the SAF, but the frontrunners from the
succeeding batches in SAFTI were already catching up. At the same time, MINDEF was
enticing National Service officers, especially those with good degrees, with both contract
and full career opportunities. The Government generally embarked on a programme
of installing, throughout the civil service, advanced management policies for which top
university graduates were indispensable, especially systems engineers. Compulsory National
Service for male graduates under the tertiary institutions category ensured MINDEF of
their services for two years at least, though this tended to be in field duties. The loophole
created by stipulating three years full-time service for officers was plugged around 1970
by a revised provision that
all
National Servicemen with Higher School Certificate (GCE
‘A’ level) and above would have to serve two and a half years regardless. This made a
commission worth trying for, though many diehards remained until employers began to
see the failure to qualify for a commission as a black mark. But, the new policy provided
MINDEF a better catchment of officers to fill the growing regular establishment, which
in turn began to impact the hitherto elite status that the First Batch had been enjoying.
A more serious squeeze was applied to their expectations at the end of 1970, when the
first five national level scholarship (Public Service Commission and President’s Scholars)
awardees were inducted into National Service. From then on, every year would see a
number of such enlistees, to which would be added additional members as the Government
opened up more scholarships—such as the SAF Scholarship—the winners of which
would be announced after later selection exercises. The terms for the scholars included
provisions for them to serve their bond in the SAF and stay on if they chose. The scholars
automatically became the
crème de la crème
of the SAF and could reasonably expect to
attain the rank of Colonel within ten years after they returned from their degree studies.
The scheme was continually massaged to include postgraduate studies and dual tracking
in the Administrative Service, etc. Around the beginning of the 1980s, the issue gained
notoriety due to the categorisation of career officers in the SAF into ‘scholars’ and ‘farmers.’
As a tentative measure to keep the pre-scholar regulars onside, MINDEF put in place a scheme
to upgrade some of them educationally. A cooperative degree programme was arranged with