Challenges Faced by Singapore Armed Forces: A Detailed Essay

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the challenges faced by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in fulfilling their domestic roles. It begins with a brief history of the SAF, highlighting its formation and evolution, and then delves into the various domestic responsibilities the SAF undertakes, including providing military aid, counter-terrorism measures, and assistance during natural calamities. The essay explores the increasing significance of these domestic roles in the post-9/11 era. It then examines the specific challenges the SAF faces, such as adapting to changing international security threats, the need to restrain from using arms in civilian contexts, interoperability issues in urban environments, balancing domestic and international humanitarian roles, the impact of the evolving regional geopolitical landscape, and the need to engage a more articulate and technologically adept Singaporean population. The essay concludes by emphasizing the complex and multifaceted nature of these challenges.

Running head: CHALLENGES FACED BY SINGAPORE ARMED FORCES
CHALLENGES FACED BY SINGAPORE ARMED FORCES
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
The armed forces are strongest pillars of any country as they play pivotal role in
providing safety and security both internally and externally. Apart from that, the armed forces
have added roles to organize and manage high-level events. However, the armed forces have
faced tough challenges especially playing domestic roles. The Singapore Armed Forces or SAF
is one of the most recognized armies in the world that has managed to conduct numerous events
in the country successfully. Recent example includes the Trump-Kim Summit that took place in
June this year at Singapore. Experts believe that Singapore is one of the safest places in the
world because of its top-rated intelligence and security services and its armed forces.
The aim of the essay is to enlist and explain the challenges SAF faces while playing
domestic roles. The essay will first provide a brief history of SAF followed by the successes it
has achieved over the years. Prior to that, the essay will focus on the domestic roles that the
armed forces have to play. The army was formed in the year 1966 although it had its humble
beginning in the 1920s when the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (SSVF) was formed
(Mindef.gov.sg, 2018). The essay will further discuss the history elaborately in the following
sections. Further, the essay will also provide a brief insight into SAF’s role in helping the
government during outbreaks or natural calamities. The “Peacetime Civilian Contingency
Operations” in which the SAF engaged shall be detailed in the essay as well.
Discussion
Although the postmodern narratives concerning the role of the armed forces rarely
include the domestic roles, a vital component it is that needs attention. As Forster (2005)
observes, “The armed forces have always been the architects of national internal order by virtue

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of their status, organization and equipment”. The armed forces provide military aid to the civil
powers during times when the civil powers could no longer control the situation concerning law
and order. Other than that, the armed forces also have counter-terrorism tasks within their own
borders for instance, some groups that protest in favor of a separate land. The campaign by
Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) to have a separate state in northern part of Spain and southwestern
France or the Irish people’s campaign for re-unification of Northern Ireland are some examples
(Bbc.com, 2018). The armed forces also provide military help to government departments, which
is another domestic role that they play. In addition to providing assistance to government, the
armed forces assist the civil community as well. These include providing assistance such as
rescue operations, supply of relief packages and so on during natural calamities. The assistance
that the Singapore Armed Forces provided during national crises including the 1986 Hotel New
World collapse, the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak fall under
“Peacetime Civilian Contingency Operations”. The peacetime contingency operations are
military activities that are normally short-term, include non-combatant evacuation operations,
peacemaking, and unconventional warfare, and so on (GlobalSecurity.org, 2018).
The need for increasing domestic roles of the armed forces became even more prominent
after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Homeland security became a major
issue post 9/11 and almost all the countries shifted their attention to homeland security. The
incident also increased the presence of the armed forces within the domestic arena because the
terrorists linked to the incident were able to accomplish their mission through civilians’ help.
Formed in 1966, the roots of SAF were sown back in the 1920s when in 1922, the SSVF
was formed. The SSVF had its roots in the 1901 formation of the Raffles Institution Army Corps
and the Army Corps’ history goes back to 1888 when the Singapore Volunteer Army was created

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(Mindef.gov.sg, 2018). It is therefore clear that the history of SAF spans centuries. It was formed
because of Singapore’s strategic location on the world map that provided excellent opportunities
for both foreign colonists and local settlers to exploit. The SSVF took part in several operations
including the Second World War. The war proved fatal for the SSVF as most of its members
were captured and after the War ended, the SSVF was reconstituted as Singapore Military Forces
(SMF) in 1954, the predecessor to SAF. In the initial years after Singapore’s independence in
1965, the SAF consisted only of two regiments of infantry that worked under the British
command and was dominated by non-Singaporean people (Mindef.gov.sg, 2018). After the last
of the British, Australian and New Zealand troops left the Singapore Army by 1989, it was
thought important by the government that Singapore have a large and capable army. Singapore
received assistance from the Israel Defense Forces under which the armed forces received
training on jungle warfare and acquired battle tanks as well.
The Singapore Armed Forces Day is observed every year on July 1 with a parade
conducted at SAFTI – the Singapore Armed Forces Military Institute. At the recent SAF Day
held on July 1, 2018, the country’s Defense Minister announced that the government would start
the transition period for SAF from third-generation to fourth generation by revamping its current
armory. Ng Eng Hen, the Defense Minister further praised the way the SAF successfully
contributed to the meeting of two powerful heads of state in the Singaporean soil – the US
President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Time.com, 2018). In view
of this, Mr. Eng Hen stated that the citizens could be proud of their army and in the fact that “the
country’s steady investments over the years into building a defense capability have paid off”
(Jun, 2018). However, the minister did not talk about the challenges that the army faces while

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conducting these domestic events. These shall be discussed in the following sections but prior to
that, it is important to highlight the achievements of SAF in both international and national front.
After its complete transformation during the 1989 after the last of the non-Singaporean
troops left, the SAF has achieved several feats. In 1990, the SAF was involved in the rescue
operations in Philippines after the country was hit by earthquake followed by the 1999 mission to
United Nations in East Timor. In the same year, the SAF also provided humanitarian work in the
Taiwan earthquake. In 1991, it successfully conducted Operation Nightingale (Mindef.gov.sg,
2018). Other important operations undertaken by the Singapore Armed Forces include the
Operation Flying Eagle in 2004 and the humanitarian mission to Nias in 2005. In terms of
adopting and incorporating latest technologies into the army, SAF has taken huge steps. These
successes show that SAF was mostly involved in peaceful operations within and beyond the
borders.
Within the domestic arena, SAF has been involved in numerous assignments and has
continued to provide extended assistance. The armed forces were involved largely in organizing
the state funeral of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew in March 2015 and that made the event finish peacefully
despite the presence of huge logistics (Chow, 2018). Singapore is probably the only country
where the military is involved in organizing mass civilian events such as opening ceremonies or
parades. Although deploying huge number of SAF personnel in organizing civilian events
guarantees discipline and success, it involves many challenges as well.
The first challenge comes from the changing international security threats. As Lee (2007)
states, “while the conventional threats to the city-state have not changed, the challenges facing
the world – and the Asia-Pacific region in particular – mean that the SAF cannot afford to stand

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still”. The emerging new threats have emerged due to the increased interconnectedness owing to
globalization. These threats include increased penetration and expansion of terrorist groups,
piracy networks and so on. The SAF will face the challenge of keeping away these threats from
the country along with organizing domestic events peacefully. The ministry must therefore
consider revising its strategy to expand the domestic role of SAF because it might harm its
promptness in performing operations of external security.
The second challenge that the SAF confront in playing the domestic role is the ability to
restrain from using arms and ammunitions. While the police are trained in de-escalating tensions
with least use of weapons, the armed forces personnel are rarely trained on this. When SAF
personnel confront a civilian armed with weapon, they might not be able to restrain from firing
because they are not trained to do so. Moreover, the scenario in the battlefield and in domestic
situation is different because it is not mandatory for armed forces to provide explanations for
killing or injuring someone. On the contrary, they have to give proper explanation if any civilian
is injured or killed during domestic events.
The third challenge faced by SAF in playing domestic role concerns the problem
connected to inter-operability. The armed forces spend most of their time training in non-urban
areas largely for non-combat operations done on a large scale. Due to this, the armed forces find
it difficult to play the domestic role because they do not have full knowledge of the urban
terrains. They are not familiar with the attitude and reactions of the public, the domestic
environment. Therefore, organizing public events or conducting similar other events do become
challenging for the SAF.

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Fourth, the increasing humanitarian roles across borders have made it difficult for the
SAF to concentrate fully on its domestic role. As mentioned earlier, the increasing
interconnectedness between countries due to globalization has made the affects of natural
disasters and epidemics have consequences globally. This has invariably increased the role of the
armed forces as well including the SAF. It has to deploy more personnel to help people in crisis
in other countries where a natural disaster occurs or a virus spreads because these have economic
consequences on other countries as well. Hence, in doing so, the SAF would find it challenging
to keep a balance between its domestic roles and international role.
The fifth challenge confronted by the SAF in competently playing its domestic role is the
changing regional geopolitical scenario. With China increasingly becoming an affluent part of
the Asia-Pacific region and its changing dynamics with the US, the role of SAF has become
vital. Singapore has had a strong defense partnership with the US but the emergence of China
has resulted in Singapore having heightened security and defense cooperation with it that also
included joint military exercises and high-level talks. While SAF move forwards with these
strategic interests, it becomes more challenging for it to concentrate on domestic affairs. The
challenging part is not only to concentrate on the domestic roles but also to make the citizens
understand the growing security challenges facing the country globally.
Next, the SAF faces increasing challenge making the Singaporeans especially
increasingly articulate population understand the need and relevance of the armed forces.
Singapore has mostly had a relatively peaceful history since its independence and this has made
the people become more expressive about the role of the armed forces. The people express views
about issues such as role of women in SAF, the defense spending and the National Services’
relevance amongst others. This provides a challenging role for the SAF to engage a population

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that is more IT perceptive, articulate and technologically adept. In doing so, it has to concentrate
largely on engaging in social media platforms, organizing community programs and such for the
new generation to understand the relevance of SAF. Carrying out the domestic roles amidst all
these become further challenging for the SAF.
With the above discussion, it is clear that the SAF faces mounting challenges on playing
its domestic roles. However, it is still important and needed for the SAF to continue to provide
domestic security and assistance and it must be done keeping a good balance between both.
One of the first important things to do is to identify clearly the activities that are
appropriate and permissible for the SAF to provide domestic security. However, it must also be
guaranteed that the SAF intervention within the domestic arena should be taken as the last resort.
The reason is that institutionalizing the domestic role of the SAF might weaken the actual role
that it is expected to play. Nian (2018) however argues that today, the armed forces are
institutionalized for numerous reasons among which; the domestic military assistance is one of
the most important. Further, the challenges faced by the SAF while playing domestic roles could
be reduced if clear plans are made to integrate the units in a “civilian-led command structure”.
This would ensure that the SAF personnel are aware of the law enforcement functions that
govern the civilian life and diminish the challenges of playing domestic role as well.
Apart from the above-mentioned ways, reducing the toll on the SAF in the domestic
sphere is also important because it hampers the Home Team’s capacity as well. When there is
overdependence on the armed forces for handling domestic concerns, it risks the development of
agencies under the Home Ministry in terms of training, function and mission. It is important that

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the agencies under the Home Ministry play the bulk of the role in domestic spheres rather than
the armed forces as it would ensure overall strength of the country.
The global trends concerning the domestic role of the armed forces provide instructional
hints for the SAF. Globally, the armed forces involvement in domestic affairs has increased. The
successful completion of events like the Trump-Kim summit back in June demonstrates the
increased ability of SAF in playing crucial domestic roles. It shows that the SAF is adept in
handling domestic roles despite the challenges it faces. However, as Mohamad Maliki Osman,
Singapore’s Senior Minister for Defence points out, the SAF has to work collaboratively with the
Home Team to find more ways to adapt to “the increasingly complex security environment”
(Zhang, 2018).
Conclusion
In the end, it can be stated that the challenges faced by the Singapore Armed forces in
playing the domestic role have increased over the years. As discussed in the essay, the changing
global environment has complicated the security scenario and this has posed further challenge
for the SAF. The complexities in global security have caused the governments to focus more on
the armed forces and their role in the domestic sphere. The threats, as identified in the paper,
have penetrated into the domestic boundaries as opposed to the previous years when it was
confined to internal borders. Owing to globalization, any global incident such as a natural
disaster or an epidemic affects other countries. In such situations, the SAF has stayed the ground
strongly and provided humanitarian assistance to numerous countries. Similar competency has
been demonstrated in playing the domestic roles as well although it faces various challenges. The
complex global environment has been identified as a great challenge for the SAF to perform its

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domestic role competently. Apart from that, the other challenges that have been identified in the
paper include the changing regional geopolitical environment, the challenge of adjusting into the
domestic milieu by the armed forces, increasing humanitarian efforts and so on. The paper has
also identified ways by which these challenges could be reduced. One of those ways is to work
collaboratively with the Home Team.

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