Why the military elite run Singapore

Written by Adjunct Professor Samuel Ling Wei Chan of UNSW, Canberra, the book — Aristocracy of Armed Talent: The Military Elite of Singapore — has triggered much debate on why there are so many Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) scholars in the upper echelon of the civil service and government-linked companies.

Allow me to share my perspective.

1. There is no denying that the Singapore government grooms talents. In fact, the government is no different from any large private sector company which has its scholars whom they fast track and earmark for the c-suites.

2. Just like private sector companies, the government hunts for talents. Those with potential, are courted to join the civil service by being offered scholarships. The best and brightest are offered the prestigious Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS) that is ‘owned’ by the Public Service Commission (PSC) but administered by the different Ministries.

3. Depending on which Ministry the talent chooses to take the scholarship from, these scholars serve in those ministries but do not belong to them. They are considered national resources and are on the admin service officer scheme. As such, they can be deployed anywhere depending on needs decided by the PSC.

The reason there are so many national talents who are "SAF Scholars" is because many of them choose the SAF over the other Ministries. Each Ministry (and private sector companies) compete for the same pool of talents. So if you understand the facts that…