TRAINING OF NATIONAL SERVICEMEN (Scarcity of land)

Mr Yeo Choo Kok asked the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, as land grows increasingly scarce in Singapore so that the problem of training a large number of National Servicemen becomes more and more acute, how his Ministry proposes to solve this problem.

The Minister of State for Defence and Trade and Industry (BG Lee Hsien Loong) (for the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence): Mr Speaker, Sir, over the past 10 years, troop training strength of the SAF has increased fourfold, from 35,000 to 135,000. But military training areas in Singapore have steadily shrunk from a total of 206 sq km to 80 sq km today. In particular, the live firing area in Pasir Laba has diminished from 28 sq km to 21 sq km with the construction of the four new reservoirs of Tengeh, Poyan, Murai and Sarimbun.

The remaining 59 sq km are gazetted as "manoeuvring areas". No live firing is allowed. Only the 14 sq km on Pulau Tekong are exclusively reserved for military training. A large part of the other 45 sq km is used for housing, industry, agriculture, cemeteries and reservoirs.

Even more training land will have to be released in the next few years. The efficient use of the remaining area is therefore a real challenge. Some of the measures Mindef has taken are:

(a) Conducting as much preparatory training as possible within SAF camps so that full benefit is derived when the troops are in the training areas. Training simulators have been installed for basic skills training at individual and crew level.

(b) Installing training facilities which make more intensive use of time and land. An SAF Wargames Centre has been set up to supplement field training for commanders. A Basic Combat Training Centre for reservists will be ready in July 1985, consisting of training stations, each designed to refresh the reservist on a particular combat skill. In this way many reservists can be trained simultaneously on the same plot of land.

(c) Reducing the area "sterilized" by rifle ranges. Bullet stoppers known as baffles are being installed in all the ranges. This frees the surrounding land for training and other uses.

The training areas are crowded with troops from many units sharing the same training grounds. Training during week-ends has become a normal occurrence for national servicemen and reservists alike. In populated areas, troops have to keep to tracks and roads to avoid encroaching on farms and private properties. Inevitably, realism in training is lost.

It is not possible to raise an army without allocating a minimum acreage for training. Housing, industry, and other economic and social pursuits must leave enough land to assure SAF operational readiness. Overseas training, which the SAF does in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and Brunei, is not a solution. Whilst friendly countries may accommodate small contingents of SAF forces to practise specialized manoeuvres, no country, however well disposed towards Singapore, can afford to allow us to train our whole army there all the time. Besides, the cost to us of doing so would be exorbitant. Land is scarce in Singapore, but the SAF must always be allocated its fair share of the land.

Less land will be required for SAF training if the land can be used as intensively as Pasir Laba and Pulau Tekong. The Government has therefore decided to set aside some plots of land exclusively for military training. These will be the training villages mentioned in the Addendum to the President's Address. Troops can manoeuvre freely without trampling on pig farms or orchid plantations. Units can practise their battle drills properly, and be systematically put through their paces. It will be a workable although not an ideal solution to our training problems.

Mr Yeo Choo Kok (Delta): Sir, could the Minister tell the House how much land is needed for these training villages, and where will these villages be?

BG Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, we are thinking of about eight training villages under SAF control, totalling 21 sq km. Despite having these training villages, the total amount of land which the SAF would have available will go down. Today we have 80 sq km. By 1988, even with the training villages, we will only have 66 sq km. Where will they be? They will be in places where the land use is compatible, places which have been reserved for long-term development but will be available for the next 10, 20 years, for example, Seletar, West Bukit Timah, and parts of Marsiling and Mandai.

Dr Lau Teik Soon (Serangoon Gardens): Sir, can the Minister of State state whether land has been set aside by Mindef for other than non-military purposes, for example, growing of fruit trees and vegetables.

BG Lee Hsien Loong: All land set aside by Mindef is for military purposes. Where we have an air base, a certain amount of land around the air base is sterilized because there are ammunition dumps and fuel dumps. These areas have to be set aside for safety reasons and for security reasons. You cannot build tall buildings on these areas, because they would get in the way of our aircraft. But rather than leave the land totally fallow, we plant trees, and if we are going to plant trees, where it is feasible, we plant fruit trees.