Defense

Dr Goh was the minister for defense for Singapore from Singapore’s independence and to 16 August 1967. He made national service mandatory, a highly unpopular rule as Chinese parents believed that good sons should not be made to join the army and he built up the army from scratch. The Singapore Armed Forces was modeled closely after the Israel army. He was also responsible for setting up many government-linked defense technology companies, with the Chartered Industries being the first. He also set up a scholarship scheme for young officers in the SAF. Though Dr Goh knew almost nothing of military matters, he took a personal interest into everything happening in the SAF. A well-recounted incident by PM Lee Hsien Loong is that he and Dr Goh went to inspect a troop of soldiers digging a bunker with all of them working. He said that the soldiers should not all work at once, but should have 1/3 of them working, 1/3 of them resting and 1/3 of them guarding. Also, he took a special interest into developing ability and talent. The SAF needed commanders and staff officers with the leadership qualities, intellectual abilities and professional competence to build and operate a modern, high-tech defence force. He created Project Wrangler, a talent management scheme overseen personally by the Minister, to identify promising officers, and systematically track, groom and advance them to key command and staff appointments. He introduced the SAF Scholarship scheme to induct top talent into the SAF. But he did not forget the older officers, mostly non-graduates, who had got the SAF off the ground: so he implemented a programme to enable deserving ones among them to study for Master's degrees at Duke University in military history and strategy. This is why today we have a cadre of capable and committed SAF leaders who understand defence technology, appreciate the strategic context, and can make sound decisions on and off the battlefield to ensure Singapore's security. Without such a team, we could not have built up, nor could we operate the 3G SAF, a professional and credible deterrent force respected alike by Singaporeans, partners and other armed forces in Asia and around the world. For the first batch of SAF scholars (including PM Lee Hsien Loong), he presented each of them with two books 孙子兵法 and Liddell Hart’s Strategy.