by Bertha Henson
THERE was a time when people wondered if the Singapore Armed Forces will be running out of generals soon. It contributed two to politics in GE2011 and a non-uniformed person had to come in and fill the boots of the Chief of Army. Remember?
Major-General Ravinder Singh traded his civvies for green to replace Mr Chan Chun Sing, now Cabinet Minister and head of the National Trades Union Congress. It was at that time portrayed as a dutiful move by an Operationally Ready National Serviceman. Much to be admired. The other general who went white was Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, now Minister for Social and Family Development.
Anyway, in February last year, Mr Ravinder made way for then Brigadier-General Perry Lim. Now a Major-General, Mr Lim will step into the boots of Lieutenant-General Ng Chee Meng, who is stepping out of the SAF into… something that is so secret that everybody knows what it is.
You can’t say that the SAF doesn’t have rapid career progression. In fact, a look back at past military men turned politicians showed that many don’t stay long at their last SAF job. Mr Chan, for example, was in his post as Chief of Army for just one year (actually one day short of a year).
Among the older military men, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean was Commodore of the Navy for a little more than a year before he was roped in to stand in the Marine Parade GRC by-election in 1992. Former Foreign Minister George Yeo was Brigadier-General for a year before he entered the 1988 GE.
What about Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong? He lasted one year as Singapore’s youngest brigadier-general before standing in the 1984 general election.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew stayed the longest in his SAF job as the Navy Commodore, four years before he got roped into the politics in 2006.
If you add ministers Lim Hng Kiang and Lim Swee Say, who were career military men before moving into the civil service, you have seven out of 19 members of the Cabinet who once held high SAF appointments. It is not likely that the PAP will let Mr Ng Chee Meng hentak kaki if he gets elected. In fact, he looks like a prime candidate for a “safe’’ GRC if his boss, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, sticks to his recent statements that good candidates shouldn’t be placed at risk during the polls.
Dr Ng himself seems unfazed by the loss of top brass. He said earlier this month: “Each time people from the SAF are asked to go into politics because they have good leadership potential and are potential ministers, the SAF feels very proud. How do you make sure you don’t lose enough such that you can’t function?
“Well, as the Minister of Defence, if you want to pull too many of my chaps out, I can’t say no if they decide for themselves. All I can do is persuade or dissuade and say I need you. Yes, there’ll be some loss and we’ll be sad to see them go. But so far, we’ve been able to manage.’’
Well, we certainly hope that the SAF will be able to do so. It’s just too important an institution to have “just anybody’’ at the helm. It is the one organisation which every citizen will have to come into contact with, including sisters, wives and mothers of the men. And given the sort of sabre-rattling going on in the outer neighbourhood and efforts to recast the SAF as a 3G army which also has woman leaders and to recruit volunteers, the SAF looks like it is at a critical stage of development or evolution.
Besides the worry about talent loss in the SAF, the other common grouse is that the SAF swipes the “best’’ people who are then swiped into politics, leaving less talent for the private sector. A check of the post-SAF careers of some past generals show that they usually go somewhere in-between.
Major-General Ravinder Singh
Mr Ravinder was the Chief of Army from 2011 to 2014; he left in 2014 and joined ST Electronics, a Information Communications Technologies (ICT) System provider, as their Deputy President of Corporate & Market Development.
Lieutenant-General Bey Soo Khiang
He joined Singapore Airlines in 2000 as Executive Vice President Technical and was promoted to Senior EVP Technical & Human Resources two years later. He left SIA in 2011. Bey has been the Vice-Chairman of Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Group, a business management consultancy company, since 2011.
Lieutenant-General Ng Yat Chung
He became an executive in Temasek Holdings after leaving the SAF in 2007. In May 2011, he joined Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), a container shipping company, and is still its current Group President and Chief Executive Officer.
Lieutenant-General Desmond Kuek
Mr Desmond Kuek left the military in 2010, and subsequently became the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, till 2012. He has also had key positions on the boards of International Enterprise Singapore, the Housing Development Board, JTC Corporation, Defence Science and Technology Agency, and Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd and its various subsidiaries. He is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of SMRT Corporation.
Lieutenant-General Lim Chuan Poh
After retiring from active military service in 2003, he served in the Ministry of Education as a Permanent Secretary until 2007. Mr Lim has been the Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, from 2007, till present.
Lieutenant-General Neo Kian Hong:
He also took the civil service route in 2013, becoming Permanent Secretary (Education Development) in the Education Ministry.
One major exception was Lieutenant-General Ng Jui Ping, who took up an entrepreneurial role after he left the SAF and co-founded Pacific Andes Resources Development, a company that specialises in the distribution of fish, and its products.
The other common complaint is whether the induction of military men (plus other ex-elite civil servants) will breed a certain mind-set in the governing elite. It might be good to recall what Dr Ng said about the proportion of new candidates who come from the private and public sectors; he said that three out of four will be from the private sector.
Is someone keeping count?
http://themiddleground.sg/2015/08/01/when-the-military-men-come-marching-in/
THERE was a time when people wondered if the Singapore Armed Forces will be running out of generals soon. It contributed two to politics in GE2011 and a non-uniformed person had to come in and fill the boots of the Chief of Army. Remember?
Major-General Ravinder Singh traded his civvies for green to replace Mr Chan Chun Sing, now Cabinet Minister and head of the National Trades Union Congress. It was at that time portrayed as a dutiful move by an Operationally Ready National Serviceman. Much to be admired. The other general who went white was Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, now Minister for Social and Family Development.
Anyway, in February last year, Mr Ravinder made way for then Brigadier-General Perry Lim. Now a Major-General, Mr Lim will step into the boots of Lieutenant-General Ng Chee Meng, who is stepping out of the SAF into… something that is so secret that everybody knows what it is.
You can’t say that the SAF doesn’t have rapid career progression. In fact, a look back at past military men turned politicians showed that many don’t stay long at their last SAF job. Mr Chan, for example, was in his post as Chief of Army for just one year (actually one day short of a year).
Among the older military men, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean was Commodore of the Navy for a little more than a year before he was roped in to stand in the Marine Parade GRC by-election in 1992. Former Foreign Minister George Yeo was Brigadier-General for a year before he entered the 1988 GE.
What about Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong? He lasted one year as Singapore’s youngest brigadier-general before standing in the 1984 general election.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew stayed the longest in his SAF job as the Navy Commodore, four years before he got roped into the politics in 2006.
If you add ministers Lim Hng Kiang and Lim Swee Say, who were career military men before moving into the civil service, you have seven out of 19 members of the Cabinet who once held high SAF appointments. It is not likely that the PAP will let Mr Ng Chee Meng hentak kaki if he gets elected. In fact, he looks like a prime candidate for a “safe’’ GRC if his boss, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, sticks to his recent statements that good candidates shouldn’t be placed at risk during the polls.
Dr Ng himself seems unfazed by the loss of top brass. He said earlier this month: “Each time people from the SAF are asked to go into politics because they have good leadership potential and are potential ministers, the SAF feels very proud. How do you make sure you don’t lose enough such that you can’t function?
“Well, as the Minister of Defence, if you want to pull too many of my chaps out, I can’t say no if they decide for themselves. All I can do is persuade or dissuade and say I need you. Yes, there’ll be some loss and we’ll be sad to see them go. But so far, we’ve been able to manage.’’
Well, we certainly hope that the SAF will be able to do so. It’s just too important an institution to have “just anybody’’ at the helm. It is the one organisation which every citizen will have to come into contact with, including sisters, wives and mothers of the men. And given the sort of sabre-rattling going on in the outer neighbourhood and efforts to recast the SAF as a 3G army which also has woman leaders and to recruit volunteers, the SAF looks like it is at a critical stage of development or evolution.
Besides the worry about talent loss in the SAF, the other common grouse is that the SAF swipes the “best’’ people who are then swiped into politics, leaving less talent for the private sector. A check of the post-SAF careers of some past generals show that they usually go somewhere in-between.
Major-General Ravinder Singh
Mr Ravinder was the Chief of Army from 2011 to 2014; he left in 2014 and joined ST Electronics, a Information Communications Technologies (ICT) System provider, as their Deputy President of Corporate & Market Development.
Lieutenant-General Bey Soo Khiang
He joined Singapore Airlines in 2000 as Executive Vice President Technical and was promoted to Senior EVP Technical & Human Resources two years later. He left SIA in 2011. Bey has been the Vice-Chairman of Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Group, a business management consultancy company, since 2011.
Lieutenant-General Ng Yat Chung
He became an executive in Temasek Holdings after leaving the SAF in 2007. In May 2011, he joined Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), a container shipping company, and is still its current Group President and Chief Executive Officer.
Lieutenant-General Desmond Kuek
Mr Desmond Kuek left the military in 2010, and subsequently became the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, till 2012. He has also had key positions on the boards of International Enterprise Singapore, the Housing Development Board, JTC Corporation, Defence Science and Technology Agency, and Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd and its various subsidiaries. He is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of SMRT Corporation.
Lieutenant-General Lim Chuan Poh
After retiring from active military service in 2003, he served in the Ministry of Education as a Permanent Secretary until 2007. Mr Lim has been the Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, from 2007, till present.
Lieutenant-General Neo Kian Hong:
He also took the civil service route in 2013, becoming Permanent Secretary (Education Development) in the Education Ministry.
One major exception was Lieutenant-General Ng Jui Ping, who took up an entrepreneurial role after he left the SAF and co-founded Pacific Andes Resources Development, a company that specialises in the distribution of fish, and its products.
The other common complaint is whether the induction of military men (plus other ex-elite civil servants) will breed a certain mind-set in the governing elite. It might be good to recall what Dr Ng said about the proportion of new candidates who come from the private and public sectors; he said that three out of four will be from the private sector.
Is someone keeping count?
http://themiddleground.sg/2015/08/01/when-the-military-men-come-marching-in/
