SINGAPORE: Replying to a question from Member of
Parliament (MP) for Aljunied GRC Sylvia Lim on the risk of
corruption in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Senior Minister of
State for Defence Chan Chun Sing said MINDEF, like the rest of the
government has a zero tolerance policy towards
corruption.
He said Singapore's defence procurement process is
widely recognised to be of the highest standards.
Ms Sylvia Lim had commented on Singapore getting a
"D+" rating in a Transparency International (TI) report.
"In political oversight, TI even singles out our defence supply
committee as being provided with minimal information to guide
decision-making. I think we should continue to review how much more
information about MINDEF's spending can be shared with
parliamentarians and the general public to reduce corruption risk.
Australia and Germany managed to be graded "A", and the USA was
graded "B" even though arguably, they have equally compelling
security concerns about transparency. Can we be a bit more
transparent?
"It is interesting that every now and then, international
publications such as Jane's Defence reviews make revelations about
specific purchases of military hardware by the SAF, and yet we seem
to survive the disclosure. Has the government closed its mind on
the issue? Or is it studying how the MINDEF can move towards more
oversight to minimise corruption risk?"
Mr Chan said: "Suppliers know that MINDEF has high expectations and
that we drive a hard bargain when it comes to pricing. We have also
been described as a "reference customer"- that means that when
Singapore buys a platform, it sets a benchmark for cost
effectiveness of that platform. We have studied the TI report in
detail and will decide where more information can be released, so
long as it does not compromise our security goals. We are confident
that our current systems and processes to guard against corruption
remain robust. Nevertheless, we will regularly view our processes
to ensure that we remain corruption free."
- CNA/ck
