was reading up about the Brunei Royal Land Forces on Wikipedia
and it set me thinking about how Singapore could reorganise the
Guards and Commandos formation into an elite regular force
supplemented by NSFs. Think of a hybrid between the
French or Spanish Foreign Legions and British Gurkhas.
The combat support formations such as logistics, signals,
maintenance,armour and engineers would still be maintained by NSFs
but the combat arms would have a regular force; therefore there
would be a greater degree of professionalism and morale among our
visible fighting forces.
Brunei's regular army is currently 4 battalions strong;1st, 2nd
& 3rd with Support Battalion providing roles such as
maintenance, armour recce, combat engineering and etc.Each
battalion has 5 rifle coys' and a HQ coy excepting support
battalion. This is drawn from a population in excess of 381 371 as
of July 2008. They possess a budget of 4.5% of GDp (2006 fig).
The current SAF as of 2007 had an operating budget of 10.58
billion or 5.04% of GDP. Due to conscription we draw from a
population of 4.48 million (2005 fig), of which roughly a fith is
foreign born so should be excluded.
We have a paratrooper-capable Commando battalion
with SOF capability that's a non-div asset and1 ADF along with the
Guards formation under 21 Div.Evidenced by Tim Huxley's review of
the SAF in "Defending the Lion City" and as seen by Operation
Flying Eagle and the landing at Meulaboh,we have superb combined
service cooperation and logistical capability.
Given available money (unless government spending overseas has
reduced availability of financial resources), it should be well
within our reach to reorganise around a majority professional corps
of soldiers with NSFs supplementing them in support roles such as
signals, logistics, maintenance and driving.
There are benefits to having these units being wholly
professional. It would allow for us to maintain a force of greater
skill,professionalism,fighting spirit and commitment compared to
having the currently conscript-majority army (we all know the
fighting spirit of an NSF).
It would hopefully negate the decidedly low morale among the
current cadre and in itself act as a force multiplier by having a
professional force, as well as allowing us to fulfill manpower
requirements as well. The limiting factor of conscript training is
having to train according to the lowest common denominator.
After certain thoughts,countries from which we could recruit
from are the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia,
Burma(perhaps),Bangladesh,Nepal and India.
The political reality is that by drawing from these populations
we avoid a possible clash of interests with the Malay-Muslim
majority militaries of our neighbouring countries,by virtue of
lacking Muslim/malay soldiers who may act as a possible fifth
echelon within the military.
They have a culture that is different enough to allow
recruitment and integration within the SAF.
Incentives offered would be paid housing,highly subsidised
healthcare and free education for dependents as well as
passport/citizenship/PR after a period of service of 6 years.They
could also be offered education in English as well as upgrading
their skills until the diploma level from polytechnics.
This has the dual role of bringing in extra migrants who may
settle down or not in Singapore and boosting the available military
manpower.
Philippines: majority Catholic population,general level of
poverty would allow for indoctrination.Opportunities available to
them would be a major incentive,given the pay level.
Laos:mainly Buddhist culture.same as Phillippines - poverty
would make incentives provided attractive.
Cambodia: same as Laos.
Burma:unsure but possible.
might have to rethink
Bangladesh: majority Muslim population but with a culture very
different to the Malay-Muslim ethnic identity.Prevailing poverty
would motivate them to join.
Nepal: Gurkhas.Do your own research. Example based on Indian and
British Army Gurkhas.
India: Large, diverse population with several major population
centres and regions from which men could be recruited. Several
areas with traditions of military service going back generations,
as witnessed in history of the regiments of the Indian military.
Vast pool to select from.
All countries noted have growing populations with a level of
economic development lower than Singapore as well as endemic
corruption within their government systems.
With the exception of Bangladesh and India,all are lacking
substantial Muslim populations,avoiding the problem of a fifth
column of resistance from within.
Similarly Laos and Cambodia provide an ideal in that their
Buddhist faith would allow integration into the majority
Buddhist/Confucianist/Taoist Chinese-majority culture of
Singapore.
Comments?