Conscription in Singapore - History

History

The NS (Amendment) act was passed on 14 March 1967, as the Singapore government felt that it was necessary to build a substantial military force. The country had only about 1,000 soldiers at independence. In the late 1960s, the British government had decided to withdraw its troops and bases East of Suez, including troops stationed in Singapore. That prompted the government to implement a conscription program for the country's defence. It adopted a conscription model drawing on elements of the Swiss and Israeli national conscription schemes. This was done with the help of Israeli military advisers, who were closely involved in the establishment of the Singapore armed forces.

The stated rationale behind conscription is twofold. Firstly, because Singapore has a population of about four million (as of 2004), an army solely of regulars would be too small to defend the country. Secondly, national service is supposed to support racial harmony among the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities. Malays were virtually excluded from conscription from the beginning of the draft in 1967 until 1977 and, after the policy was eased, were assigned mainly to serve in the police and civil defence (fire brigade), not in active combat roles. In 1987, Lee Hsien Loong (then Second Minister for Defence) stated that "If there is a conflict, if the SAF is called to defend the homeland, we do not want to put any of our soldiers in a difficult position where his emotions for the nation may be in conflict with his religion" and in The Roar of the Lion City (2007), military analyst Sean Walsh claimed that "official discrimination against the Malay population remains an open secret". The Ministry of Defence contests the charge, noting that there are "Malay pilots, commandos and air defence personnel" and stating that "the proportion of eligible Malays selected for specialist and officer training is similar to the proportion for eligible non-Malays."