One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

SETTING UP SAFTI

FOUR

II. THE IMPOSSIBLE IMMEDIATELY, MIRACLES A LITTLE LONGER

If Singapore’s recent history conspired to make Pasir Laba a nap shot for the siting of

SAFTI, it was the nominated head of the Israeli Advisors, Jak Ellazari who played midwife.

Ellazari was slated to take over a division in Israel, but the Israeli Government accorded

such a high priority to the Singapore mission that it was prepared to take out people of the

highest calibre and Ellazari accepted the sacrifice. Following a meeting between the Israeli

Ambassador to Thailand and Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in the aftermath of separation

from Malaysia to discuss Israeli assistance in building up an armed force for Singapore,

an Israeli General Staff Officer visited Singapore to put together a plan for the training of

military commanders in Singapore.

The Chief Advisor’s assignment was to implement the

plan. He arrived sometime towards the end of 1965 to chart out the immediate steps. He

first met Dr. Goh at Empress Place where he handed over the plan, but over the weekend,

MID moved to Pearl’s Hill and it was here that the meeting based on the contents of the

plan was held with Dr. Goh. From the time of his arrival however, the Chief Advisor had

prepared for this meeting by trying to familiarise himself with Singapore, a process which

had started in Israel through discussions with a Singapore study team. He sought to gauge

the Singaporean pulse as well as identify a suitable training area—a real challenge in the tiny

republic! Before going to Pasir Laba, he had visited the off-shore islands of Pulau Ubin

and Pulau Tekong and concluded that Pasir Laba had the best configuration for military

training as well as live-firing—an overriding priority—for which hills were indispensable as

stop-butts. Ellazari describes MID then as “consisting of Dr. Goh Keng Swee, Mr. Bogaars,

Ronald Wee and Jumbo (sic)”

but at the meeting, Dr. Goh, who had pre-digested the plan

completely, cut promptly to the chase and asked Ellazari what concrete steps were to be

taken immediately. Ellazari pushed for the selection of Pasir Laba as the site for the school,

the identification of instructors and the initiation of the instructors’ preparatory course, all

of which were apparently agreed without further ado.

Ellazari arranged for a visit to Pasir Laba that very afternoon with the Public Works Department

(PWD) Engineer, Ho Pak Thoe. The meeting with Dr. Goh had convinced him to accelerate

the programme and he decided to take the initiative to make appropriate major changes without

consulting his superiors in Israel. Whereas the initial proposal had been to set up a temporary

facility for the training—perhaps in a Works Brigade Camp elsewhere—while the permanent

training school was being constructed over a year, Ellazari asked Pak Thoe if he could put up

the absolute minimum facilities required (in line with the proposed permanent structures) for

the first batch of trainees in three months at Pasir Laba itself. Pak Thoe apparently said without

hesitation that it would be tight but he would do it. This positive response persuaded Ellazari

to work on the idea that the permanent structures would be built concurrently in phases with

the training of the first intake, the advantage being, among others, that the training area would

be at the doorstep. Pak Thoe’s response was all the more remarkable because at the time he