By Recruiting more from the Armed Forces, is the PAP preparing for a coup? Is our government a stratocracy (a form of government headed by military chiefs)?
Have you ever wondered why so many of our top civil servants and ministers are top military generals?
Is the government preparing for a coup by ensuring that they have the military on their side? We have already seen how easily the military can throw out the government like it did in Thailand.
We heard recently that more army personnel are joining the Government linked companies, and they are already in the ministries and the PAP.
We have Desmond Kuek, in SMRT and Lui Tuck Yew, a Rear Admiral , in the Ministry of Transport. Both have totally no experience in the field.
The list goes on: Tan Chuan-Jin , in Ministry of Manpower and Chan Chun Sing as the Minister for Social and Family Development as well as Second Minister for Defence.
Why does the Government sacrifice those with talent and relevant experience in the field and choose to hire men from the armed forces instead.
In other countries, for the betterment of the countries, they chose somebody with relevant skills and knowledge in the field in order to give valuable input to improve the country. It seems that in Singapore, the most relevant qualification is a high rank in the military.
What is their motive?
We already have Teo Chee Hean and Lim Hng Kiang are all from the army;
Another shock: there are swarms of military men in the GLCs.
Even in Mediacorp an important tool for government propaganda. Army in mediacorp? Serious ?
Since when are military men good at acting and production of shows? Insurance? Commercial shipping? Properties? Where in the army do you learn property management, sales and development?
Here is a list that I have compiled of various top civil servant and GLC positions filled by military men:
The list is organised by their rank, name and previous top post in the Military followed by their current position in a GLC or public body.
Lieutenant-General Bey Soo Khiang, Chief of Defence Force - Executive Vice President of Singapore Airlines and Director of SIA Engineering
Lieutenant-General Ng Jui Ping, Chief of Defence Force - Director of NTUC Income Insurance Cooperative
Lieutenant-General Winston Choo, Chief of Defence Force - Director of Australand Holdings (CapitaLand unit), Keppel FELS Energy and Infrastructure, and Keppel Capital
Major-General Lim Neo Chian, Chief of Army Deputy - Chairman of ST Engineering, ST Marine, ST Aerospace, ST Electronics, and ST Kinetics, and Chairman of ST Kinetics
Major-General Raymund Ng Teck Heng, Chief of Air Force - Senior Vice President of Singapore Airlines
Brigadier-General Wesley D’Aranjo, Deputy Secretary for Defence - Director of Singapore Zoological Gardens
Brigadier-General Boey Tak Hap, Chief of Army - Chief Executive of Singapore Mass Rapid Transit
Rear-Admiral Kwek Siew Jin, Chief of Navy - Chief Executive of Singapore Power
Brigadier-General Michael Teo, Chief of Air Force - Director of Singapore Aerospace Industries
Brigadier-General Gary Yeo, Director of Joint Intelligence Directorate - Deputy President of ST Aerospace, Chairman of ST Aerospace Systems, ST Aerospace Supplies, ST Perth Aerospace Engineering, and VisionTech Engineering
Brigadier-General Lee Fook Sun, Director of Joint Intelligence Directorate - President of ST Electronics
Rear-Admiral Larry Loon, Chief of Staff in the Navy - President of ST Marine
Brigadier-General Patrick Choy, Division Commander - Executive Vice President (Marketing) of ST Engineering, Senior Vice President and Director of ST Kinetics
Brigadier-General Andrew Tan, Division Commander - Senior Vice President of ST Kinetics
Brigadier-General Chin Chow Yoon, Commandant of SAFTI Military Institute - Chief Executive of Bintan Resort Management, Chairman of Bintan Resort Development Corporation (Singapore Technologies unit)
Brigadier-General Low Yee Kah, Senior Officer in the Armed Forces - Senior Vice President of ST Engineering, General Manager of Unicorn International
Colonel Lau Kee Siong, Assistant Chief of General Staff - Managing Director of Embrace (Singapore Technologies unit)
Colonel Michael Low, Assistant Chief of General Staff - Chief Operating Officer of DataOne Asia and Managing Director of DataOne Singapore (Keppel unit)
Colonel Lee Wai Mun, Assistant Chief of General Staff - President of ST Synthesis
Colonel Tham Kui Seng, Assistant Chief of General Staff - Chief Executive of CapitaLand Residential, Chairman of Australand Holdings, and Director of Raffles Holdings
Colonel Ng Eng Ho, Chief Signal Officer - Chief Executive Keppel T&T, Director of Keppel Communications, Keppel Telecoms, and MobileOne (Keppel and SPH unit
Colonel Foo Jong Ai, Chief Signal Officer - Director of InfoComm Development Authority Chief Executive of Netrust (Keppel unit) and Chairman of 1-Net (MediaCorp unit)
Colonel Quek Poh Huat, Senior Officer in the Armed Forces - Chairman of SISIR President of Temasek Holdings, Executive Director of Singapore Power, and Director of Singapore Telecoms
Colonel Kee Teck Koon, Director of SISIR and National Science and Technology Board Chief Executive and Director of The Ascott Group (CapitaLand unit)
Colonel Tay Kok Khiang, Head of Air Logistics in the Air Force - Deputy President and Chief Operating Officer of ST Aerospace, Chairman of STA Engines, STA Systems, Aerospace Engineering Services, Singapore Precision Repair and Overhaul, STA International Structures, and Deputy Chairman of Singapore Technologies Training and Simulation
Colonel Tan Nga Kok, Division Commander - Vice President and Executive Director of ST Engineering
Colonel Poon Choon Liang, Chief Supply and Transport Officer - General Manager of Singapore Food Industries...
Colonel Quek Koh Eng Senior Officer in the Army - Executive Director of Chartered Ammunition Industries (Singapore Technologies unit)
Colonel Goh Chee Kong Commander of Officer Cadet School - Executive Director of SMRT Corporation
Colonel Tan Hong Huat Senior Officer in the Armed Forces - Senior Vice President of SembCorp Industries and Director of Sembawang Kimtrans
Colonel Chua Tiong Guan Senior Officer in the Armed Forces - Managing Director of ECO Industrial Environmental Engineering (JTC and Singapore Power unit)
Lieutenant-Colonel Ed Ng Brigade Commander - Executive Vice President of CapitaLand and Director of Raffles Holdings
Lieutenant-Colonel Tay Siew Choon Commanding Officer - Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Singapore Technologies, Chairman of Singapore Computer Systems, Green Dot Internet Services, NexGen Financial Holdings, Asia Business Venture Holdings, SNP Corporation, KRDL Holdings, Vertex Management and Vertex Ventures, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of Green Dot Capital, Deputy Chairman of Vertex Venture Holdings, Director of Singapore Technologies Telemedia, SembCorp Industries, PSA Corporation, Chartered Semiconductor, ST Telemedia
Lieutenant-Colonel Teo Kian Bin Deputy Head of Joint Plans - Chief Executive of Netrust (Keppel unit)
Lieutenant-Colonel Fong Choon Khin Senior Officer in the Armed Forces - Vice President and Chief Information Officer of MediaCorp Singapore
Lieutenant-Colonel Chang Cheow Teck Senior Officer in the Air Force - President of VT Systems and ST Engineering
Lieutenant-Colonel Yoon Kam Choon Senior Officer in the Navy - Administrative Officer Chief Executive of TradeOne (Keppel unit)
Lieutenant-Colonel Chong San Chew Senior Officer in the Armed Forces - Group Corporate Planning and Business Development Manager of Comfort Group, Director of Comfort Courier Services, ComTrucks, Barcelona Motors, Comfort Myanmar
Lieutenant-Colonel Tang Kok Fai Senior Officer in the Armed Forces - Executive Director of SembCorp Industries
Lieutenant-Colonel Chua Hwee Song Senior Officer in the Armed Forces - Deputy Director of National Science and Technology Board Deputy Director of TIF Ventures (EDB unit);
Huge numbers ? Why are there so many army personnel holding high positions in the government linked companies?
Will the oppositions ever take over Singapore? the answer is NO!
Like in Burma , North Korea and formerly Indonesia, where those in the armed forces are rewarded in high places, we seem to be following the same foot-steps, even though they have no relevant experiences in the field.
Burma and Indonesia have given up on this military Junta which was found to be full of complacency and corruption but the PAP are still full swing into it. What is going on?
First they were in the Government offices, then they came to GLCs, are they building up something?
Every election, there is a drop in support for the PAP, for them I believe, it is a ticking time bomb, it is only a matter of time before opposition will take over Singapore, no matter how many foreign mercenaries they brought in, their supports keep dwindling.
Is it possible that when it happens, they want to have the military on their side so that they could hold a coup?
Under the military governments in Burma and Indonesia, the people suffered heavily. There was widespread corruption, poverty, huge income gaps, nepotism and cronyism.
Look carefully, we are following the same footsteps with so many military men in top positions.
Even our PM, himself is a general and we have so many ministers who are army personnel and we have huge numbers in government link companies.
They are there to do the battle. And who are the enemies? The citizens.
History tell us, countries with a high concentration of military men in key positions lead to inefficiency and corruption which will lead to the downfall of a country. But why is our government failing to see it?
Aziz Kassim
