MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

More Efficient Use of Manpower

With the build-up of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) practically complete, the next task is to improve the quality of our personnel. This is all the more necessary because of the expected manpower resource constraints. With declining birth rates, manpower available for National Service has been diminishing over the years. We have taken various measures to ensure that manpower is more efficiently used in the SAF, to reduce the total manpower requirement. Wherever possible, manpower establishments have been trimmed down through the introduction of mechanisation and labour-saving devices. Computerisation has been introduced and will be expanded in both scope and capacity to achieve more effective management and control of manpower and logistic resources.

A computerized system of allocation of technically qualified National Servicemen to technical vocations has been implemented. These National Servicemen will be able to fit better into industries when they leave the SAF. The pre-service experience of the National Servicemen is also considered in the deployment of such men so that they are properly utilized in the SAF. More women are being recruited into the regular service to fill posts which can be held by women so that combat fit men may be released and effectively deployed in combat units. The need to introduce National Service for women still exists but need not come about in the immediate future.

Development of Leadership in the SAF

As part of the overall effort to improve the quality of our manpower resources, the education level and skills of our regular SAF personnel are being improved. We will place much greater emphasis on continuation education. More part-time GCE 'O' and 'A' level classes will be conducted for regular Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and Officers respectively. English classes are also being conducted for our regular NCOs. In addition, the SAF NCO Club conducts regular courses related to educational, cultural, social and sporting activities.

To phase out dialect speaking in the SAF, language training will be expanded for both regulars and National Servicemen so that all SAF personnel will acquire a working proficiency in at least one language (English, Mandarin, Malay), National Education Courses designed to instil a greater sense of awareness and better understanding of the political and economic environment in the region are currently being conducted for regular and National Service officers and will be extended to reservist officers.

There is a need to build up a corps of professional NCOs in the SAF to supervise the training of our National Servicemen and eventually our reservists. The SAF Boys' School trains boys who are interested in soldiering as a career for combat, technical and service roles in the SAF. The School provides these early school leavers with the opportunity of continuation education which will equip them with skills for their future employment in the SAF. Graduates from the School will eventually form the corps of our regular NCOs in the SAF.

Improvement of the Reservist Corps

The SAF Reservists Association (SAFRA), established to cater for the cultural, social and recreational needs of the SAF reservists, will continue to play a dominant role in organising activities to enhance the educational level and cultural life of reservists and their families. In addition to the present SAFRA Centre in Toa Payoh, plans are in hand to build at least two new centres in areas like Queenstown/Clementi and Bedok/Chai Chee where there is a large concentration of reservists, to foster a greater sense of esprit de corps among them.

Control of Drug Abuse

Drug abuse in the SAF is controlled by thorough detection among National Service enlistees and in-service personnel, followed by a comprehensive programme to rehabilitate addicts which will continue in force even after they leave the SAF. All measures will be vigorously pursued to stamp out and deter drug taking in the SAF so that National Servicemen who become drug takers leave the controlled environment of the SAF with a greater likelihood of becoming useful citizens.

DR GOH KENG SWEE Minister of Defence