Considerations in Enlistment of Women for National Service and Current Proportion of Servicewomen in SAF and Senior Leadership

Ms Carrie Tan asked the Minister for Defence with regard to the enlistment of women for National Service (NS) (a) whether there are any other considerations apart from having adequate NS population to meet our national security and defence needs; and (b) if so, what are these other considerations.

Thank you. In general, the questions raised by Ms Poh Li San and Ms Carrie Tan deal with the role of women in the national defence of Singapore. Similar issues were raised during the debate in this House on the White Paper on Singapore Women's Development and my reply today will address the general theme, as well as specific queries.

The proposal to enlist women into National Service (NS) is not new. In fact, it was debated as early as 1967, when NS was first introduced into this House. It was during the debate on the National Service (Amendment) Bill. To the then-Member of Parliament for Tiong Bahru, Mr Lee Teck Him, Dr Goh Keng Swee replied that we had not reached the stage where mandating NS for women was necessary.

The Government's position on the conscription of women into military service remains today. But it is important to state clearly why we hold to this position, so that this House and Singaporeans understand how we have sustained the strong support for NS and built up a credible SAF. The principal considerations which go to the heart of Ms Carrie Tan's questions, that men, but not women, were mandatorily enlisted when NS began, had less to do with gender equality than the pressing need to quickly build up a military to defend Singapore. The British had announced in 1967 that they would pull out all forces from Singapore by April 1971 and that precipitated a live challenge.

An SAF had to be built from scratch and expeditiously, because there were clear and present dangers that threatened our very existence as a fledgling nation. Dr Goh Keng Swee and his officials and the SAF pioneers' first preference was, actually, not NS conscription, but an army formed by regulars, men and women. They did not want to deal with the potential problems of NS – turning civilians into soldiers, equity, defaulters, deserters, training injuries and even deaths, among them. But, a regular army would not have been sufficient to protect Singapore. So, NS was started and this House subsequently passed the Enlistment Act in 1970.

The Enlistment Act to effect NS, as it was originally drafted and stands, allows for both males and females to be enlisted, the precise clause – a "person subject to this Act means a person who is a citizen of Singapore or a permanent resident thereof…" It does not exclude women.

In fact, Mr Lee Kuan Yew wrote in his memoirs "From Third World to First: The Singapore Story", and I quote, "I was keen to have our women do National Service as Israeli women did, because that would reinforce the people's will to defend themselves. But Keng Swee did not want his new Ministry to carry this extra burden. As the other Ministers in Defco" – meaning Defence Council – "were also not anxious to draft our women, I did not press my point."

"An extra burden" – our founding leaders and Dr Goh Keng Swee were honest and professional in their assessment. Building up SAF with male conscripts alone was difficult. I quote for you Dr Goh's words: "At that time, we were just beginning; SAFTI was just ongoing, probably producing its first or second output of non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and officer cadets. We had an acute shortage of training officers and commanders from NCOs upwards, and the thought of raising a huge NSF army just made us shrink from the responsibility."

We are used to the image of Singapore's Founding Fathers. In fact, behind the brave exterior of SAF pioneers, laid doubts and insecurities. Enlisting women would have been an "extra burden" that they did not want to take on.

Today, NS is well-accepted and SAF functions well. So, it is hard to imagine that Dr Goh Keng Swee and the SAF pioneers could have felt overwhelmed – so much so that, today, I think we take NS for granted. But, despite the enormous challenge that our founders had, they persisted, overcame and we enjoy the fruits of their labours.

In 1975, full-time NS could be extended to bring in NSFs for the Singapore Police Force (SPF) as well as for the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in 1981.

NS has succeeded well enough in building a credible SAF with male conscripts, such that in 1983, when the topic of NS for women resurfaced, SAF's professional assessment then was "that the SAF could cope with the manpower shortage through various efficiency and technological means." Indeed, this is the case today.

Despite falling birth rates, SAF has maintained operational readiness with reduced manpower through the same use of technology and optimising resources. I have given many examples in this House of how this transformation has produced today's modern SAF that is more mechanised, motorised, lethal and effective, despite smaller numbers of soldiers.

Having reached this position of strength, should we, for the sake of gender equality, introduce NS for women? I think that is the question that some people have put forth. Some proposed this idea during the debate on the White Paper, including to deploy these NS conscripts as nurses or teachers. I think there are distinct pitfalls, if conscription is implemented for any other reason than the critical need of military defence, whether it is for men or women.

Compared to 1967, when we introduced NS, Singapore remains one of the few countries that NS is accepted, working well and enjoys strong public support. And the main reason that we have this virtuous state of affairs is that we have kept the mission of NS clearly focused on the critical need for national defence. The primary reason for enlistment into SAF must remain to train a soldier who is able to defend Singapore and to repel, if not defeat, an enemy who wants to invade our country. Likewise, enlistment into the Police and SCDF must be based on the national need for homeland security and emergency services.

This stark raison d'être of NS to fight and defend our country and ensure its security is the foremost consideration that must undergird the mandatory enlistment of all National Servicemen. It is very far off from the proposals to conscript women to serve in roles such as caregivers and healthcare workers, or to send a powerful signal of gender equality. These are inadequate justifications or reasons to mandate that someone must suspend individual liberties as a civilian, give up two years of his or her life; and, if they do not, they go to jail, as our Courts have sentenced NS defaulters.

Further, the societal cost of enlisting women into NS now would far outweigh the benefits. Women would be delayed in their entry into the workforce. The immediate effect will be an accentuated decline in the size of our local workforce and the reduction of household incomes. Even if women are enlisted for non-military NS roles to augment our healthcare and social services, it may make manpower shortages in other industries worse.

Over the long term, it will impose a great cost not only on women themselves, but also on their families, children and spouses, and society as a whole. Is that cost justified to send a signal or to reverse stereotypes? From the Government's perspective, no. I think most Singaporeans would say no, too, from a security perspective.

But, if Singapore was ever threatened with an existential threat by an aggressor and have a sudden and great need to boost our military, I am certain that MINDEF and SAF would call on the Government of that day to enlist not only women, but even teenagers and older men into military service to defend and save Singapore.

The Ukrainians did exactly this when their homeland was invaded. They required women employed in a wide range of professions, aged between 18 and 60, to register for possible military conscription. Young men and the elderly, who were well past their retirement age, also volunteered to fight on the frontlines to protect their country. In fact, I had a few emails from retired Singaporean males who offered to come back into the SAF, I am not sure why, when Ukraine was invaded. I sent them a polite reply and said, "we do not need you, yet."

There was even a report published in Reuters in February 2022 of a 79-year-old Ukrainian woman, who was filmed at a training ground handling a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

But we are not there today and hope never to be.

In considering NS for women, we should not inadvertently downplay or dismiss the already significant contributions that women do make in national defence and security by serving as Regulars and volunteers.

Ms Poh Li San asked about the measures undertaken to expand the roles that Regular servicewomen can serve in SAF. Our Regular servicewomen currently serve in vocations, such as Infantry, Artillery, Armour, Combat Engineers, Pilots and Naval Officers, amongst others. Today, we have more than 1,600 uniformed servicewomen in SAF who make up about 8% of our Regulars. In addition, more than 500 women have been trained and deployed as SAF volunteers (SVs) in a variety of roles since 2015.

Indeed, servicewomen within SAF hold their own and many punch above their weight. Progression to senior ranks for all personnel is based on merit, capability and aptitude, as it is for all soldiers. Currently, women make up 5% of Regulars holding senior ranks of Lieutenant Colonel (LTC), Military Expert (ME) ME6, or Master Warrant Officer (MWO) and above. We hope to see this figure increase as the proportion of servicewomen in SAF continues to grow.

We need to look no further than Members in this House as good examples – Ms Gan Siow Huang and Ms Poh Li San. As our first female Brigadier-General in SAF, Ms Gan took command of the Air Power Generation Command, which is the largest formation in the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Ms Poh also started her career in RSAF as a helicopter Search and Rescue pilot and was the Flight Commander of 125 Squadron. She was also the first female full-time Aide-de-Camp to the late President, Mr SR Nathan.

Outside SAF, women serve as Regulars in SPF and SCDF, and contribute to our national defence and security. For example, other than serving in SPF as a Police Inspector in the 1990s, Ms Sylvia Lim was appointed as a member of the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence, ACCORD, from 2012 to 2020, where she maintained support for our national defence among the community and business groups.

Ms Poh Li San also asked about SAF's efforts to continue expanding the proportion of servicewomen in SAF and those who hold senior leadership positions. We have stepped up our recruitment of women because SAF wants more women to join our ranks and will make it more attractive for them to do so. For example, we facilitate flexible work arrangements, such as part-time or job-sharing and telecommuting, where possible, without compromising operational readiness. We have also implemented policies to help our servicemen and women take better care of their loved ones with childcare and parent care leave, and counselling services to support their well-being. Aside from career progression and opportunities in the workplace, SAF has also taken proactive steps to improve servicewomen recruitment and retention. It set up the SAF Women Outreach Office (WOO) in July 2020. This provides dedicated focus to review policies and create a conducive and progressive workplace experience for our servicewomen.

Sir, let me summarise and conclude.

Compulsory NS comes with significant costs on enlistees and the society and can only be justified if it serves the critical need of national security and defence. This is the basis of the social compact and individual responsibility for NS, and those who do not comply are dealt with harshly. Historically, SAF started the conscription of males and is able to defend Singapore today against potential aggressors and provide adequate deterrence. Likewise, the enlistment of males into SPF and SCDF is sufficient for our homeland security needs. There is, currently, no need for us to enlist women for NS.

We should not enlist women for NS to perform roles outside SAF, SPF or SCDF, even if that achieves some social good. The cost on women themselves, their families and society does not justify enlisting women into NS for those reasons. Women are already contributing to nation-building as Regulars and volunteers. SAF and Home Team welcome more women to pursue full-time careers or join their volunteer units.

I would like to thank the Minister. I have two supplementary questions. Firstly, given the declining birth rates and also a shrinking male population over the next 10 to 20 years, other than transformation using technology, does MINDEF have plans to further increase the recruitment of full-time servicewomen to augment the numbers to meet operational needs?

My second question is on flexible work arrangements (FWAs) for our servicewomen. Beyond no-pay leave and current FWAs, what else can MINDEF offer our servicewomen, so that they can spend a few years to start their young families and still come back to the force to contribute?

Mr Speaker, the short answer to the first question by Ms Poh Li San is: yes, we are stepping up recruitment not only for women, but Singaporeans across the board. Thankfully, and I suppose, expectedly, we are counter cyclical when it comes to the economy. Our recruitment has been fairly successful and our attrition quite low. But, despite that, we recognise that there are falling numbers. As I had said, even with the decline in manpower and our birth rates, we have been able to keep SAF's effectiveness and operational readiness.

In terms of how we are adapting SAF and MINDEF to be a choice workplace for Singaporeans, it is an HR challenge – let me frame it that way. In other words, despite being a military, how do you attract and recruit Singaporeans – males, females – who want to join you? We are taking this challenge seriously. We recognise that COVID-19 has precipitated a number of changes, which will not go back to status quo ante.

We have peculiar security needs, so, working from home is harder. In lieu of that, let me give an example. Instead of working from home – you cannot work from home because our IT systems are often, for classification purposes, separated from the grid – we have set up work near homes. So, now, servicewomen and servicemen can go near their homes to a secure system and do their work. We have set it up now over in northeast, southwest and central Singapore.

And just like the whole-of-Government and Civil Service, we are seeing how work away from office – rather than near home or at home – is very much, we believe, an entrenched concept. If you try to fight it, you will not become an attractive recruiter as an organisation. We are going to embrace it, but see how it works.

Speaker, I generally agree with what the Minister for Defence has explained on the women's role in the defence of Singapore. However, I think it is also an appropriate instance now to raise the issue: is the sharing of the burden of the defence of our country now being reviewed, in view of the fact that we have a rising population, but we continue to have a declining number of male enlistees? So, is there a review being done as to how we can ensure that the sharing of the burden of the defence of this country is being done properly?

Mr Speaker, I have gone to great lengths in describing that SAF, even from its inception, had made use of technology and optimising resources, so that we can build a credible and strong SAF, even despite declining enlistees. So, the assertion by Mr Leong Mun Wai goes completely against what I have said in the last 15 minutes. He either does not believe me or thinks that SAF is not credible, and, therefore, the rest of his questions are not germane.