Singapore's association with Israel and the US has earned it the tag of 'Israel of South-East Asia'. We have the highest per capita defence spending in the world after Israel in the developed world, but a useless conscript army that's full of bloody kuniangs, ah quas and porlumpars.
Everyone knows that all that defence spending goes to prop up defence-related GLCs and line the pockets of cronies. On top of that, old fart is so paranoid about a coup that he has to prematurely retire his top echelon officers and give them cushy jobs and directorships in GLCs, and even invent jobs like school operations manager for ex-majors to quell possible discontent. Coup prevention is a very expensive exercise.
Now we're paying the price. In the wake of 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, we're now the only S.E. Asian nation singled out as a prime target for terrorists. Despite billions of dollars spent procuring US weapons and arsenal, don't expect Uncle Sam to come to your aid when your airport and MRT stations are blown up.