Defence Budget 2011

last SG · 2011-03-10T09:55:49+00:00

I don't think it was "increased" as a percentage, it's always been a fixed fraction of the GDP, and since last year we had a very large economy increase (28%...

Jamesbbb SG

I agree with Alize here, I think we are not gonna change any of this..

likeyou SG

If u cut down the ns to 12 to 15mth, u r cutting down expenses.

weasel1962 SG

Why are you guys fighting? calling each other dumb or treasonable?

If you can find 10 friends who give a shit, good luck. You can't change anything, period, ever. Better off trying to change the alignment of the planets in the solar system.

Likewise calling the defence budget good or bad value. These projects stretch back to before 2000, the cost has been spread over at least 12 defence budgets. You think the customer pay upfront and get the item the next day? At least talk about the cost before you debate.

Total defence is about psychological defence as well. Anything that saps the will of Singaporeans to defend the country should be resisted.

Ultimately may not change a single thing but rather than just give up, one should continue trying to do so.

CAF is right to state that any enemy only needs to succeed once. Defence needs to be constant.

Do you think relaxing the guard and allowing thoughts about lowering defences is consistent with the above?

weasel1962 SG

If u cut down the ns to 12 to 15mth, u r cutting down expenses.

The call to cut NS is more complex than that. Otherwise follow SDP line of thought, might as well cut the entire defence budget = cut down $12 billion in expenses.

Ice kosong SG

I don't know about anyone leading anyone's life cos I lead my own.

Having said that, voting for hunger strikes and demonstrations is incredibly "intelligent". Seen the Arab world lately? Libya?

Stating that a 25% cut in defence spending is dumb is being nice. That's actually the basis of a fifth column. If you don't what fifth column is, go google.

UK SDSR saw a 8% cut and that had the ex-first sea lord (CNV equivalent) writing that the defence of the realm is at risk. Now a "genius" wants to cut the defence budget by 25%. Only a person who "loves" singapore very much and want to risk its safety would do so. You want to vote these people? Go ahead, if you're really Singaporean. For me, No thanks.

A spade's a spade. You can call it whatever, I call it dumb when I see dumb. I see dumb dumb dumb written all over the so called shadow budget. Add clueless about governance, unrealistic, politically opportunistic and militarily risky to that.

u r a dumb soldier thinkin tat havin better weapon can sure win a war

ahtansh SG

2011 Defence Budget is to buy votes!

Citizen NSmen to get $9k award

By Gwendolyn Ng

SINGAPORE citizens who have served their national service will each receive $9,000 through a new award to be given by the Ministry of Defence (Mindef).

The National Service Recognition Award (NSRA) will help to fund the cost of operationally ready national servicemen's (NSmen's) education and also help them buy a home. Commanders will receive a larger sum.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who announced the implementation of the award at the National Day Rally yesterday, said: "It is a significant tangible recognition of the sacrifices, efforts and contributions of our national servicemen. It's for Singapore citizens only."

This will be a token of appreciation for the time and effort citizens give to serve national service, he added.

Mr Lee said: "National service makes a heavy demand on male residents and, I should say, on their spouses and families, too."

He elaborated that male Singapore residents not only have to serve two years of full-time national service and many more years as an NSman, but also try to build their careers and raise their families.

The sum will be paid in tranches at significant milestones of an NSman's service.

It will be deposited into their Post-Secondary Education Accounts and Central Provident Fund accounts.

Mindef will announce details of the award soon.

The award is one of the measures Mr Lee highlighted in a bid to assure Singaporeans that citizens come first.

He added that permanent residents who have completed their national service will receive the award when they take up citizenship.

He was addressing the issue of competition from foreign talent, where he pointed out that it was "not practical to make foreign workers and adult immigrants do national service".

However, Mr Lee pointed out that many PRs and first-generation citizens also do their part by serving national service.

Other ways in which the Government recognises the contributions and sacrifices of NSmen is through providing them with Safra clubhouses, allowances, tax reliefs and top-ups in government bonuses.

The award is good news to 20-year-old NSman Benjamin Huang, who said: "It's good to know that the Government is appreciative of our efforts.

"This will definitely help me pay my school fees when I go to university next year."

Ice kosong SG

"However, Mr Lee pointed out that many PRs and first-generation citizens also do their part by serving national service."

so he has forgotten that the older generation did served the NS too

slim10 SG

u r a dumb soldier thinkin tat havin better weapon can sure win a war

Sorry, I dun play politics and we all know the SDP strategy and your SDP rhetoric. And I'm not surprised you missed all the points stated.

Read the earlier posts. Psychological defence is not about having better weapons. Efficient tax expenditure on defence is not about just having better weapons either.

The will to fight is important. But if you had to defend your family with your bare hands or with a gun, which would you pick?

Be smart pls. Stop undermining Singapore's defence esp with clueless rhetoric. I feel pai-seh for you.

alize SG

orry, I dun play politics and we all know the SDP strategy and your SDP rhetoric. And I'm not surprised you missed all the points stated.

Read the earlier posts. Psychological defence is not about having better weapons. Efficient tax expenditure on defence is not about just having better weapons either.

The will to fight is important. But if you had to defend your family with your bare hands or with a gun, which would you pick?

Be smart pls. Stop undermining Singapore's defence esp with clueless rhetoric. I feel pai-seh for you.

When people say our weapons acquisitions are such good value, and the cost is never revealed, how should we believe in it? That is not spreading a true belief in defence, that is spreading faith. Blind unquestioning faith.

Weasel is right when he said "Total defence is about psychological defence as well. Anything that saps the will of Singaporeans to defend the country should be resisted."

In this case, you are promoting something that is not there except psychologically. Mindef said soldiers today want to understand why. And how well their lives are spent in war. Singapore is run like a company but funny leh, this company does not report to shareholders. By promoting blind faith, you are unwittingly undermining defence.

Just like when PM Lee said "not practical to make foreign workers and adult immigrants do national service". What is the meaning of "not practical"? There are so many service units like Ammo Command which are shorthanded, should they not serve there? If it is not explained to you, you should question.

alize SG

Its a big risk to spend just for the sake of spending. UK has the 3rd largest defence budget in the world and in a few years will have a navy and air force smaller than Turkey with less stealth a/c. Spent $8+ BILLION on a MRA-4 aircraft and finally had zero-aircraft which ended up scrapped.

If Singapore spent $8 BILLION on nothing, it will have no deterrence.

Friend, not all their fault la. If the world was at peace, we would have MRA-4 sub hunters, Commanche stealth copters, Crusader artillery, 300 F-22s instead of 187...

There has been a war for 10 years. They spent the money on Apache, Blackhawk, infantry and other weapons useful for the current war. Anyone would do the same.

Pure Emptiness SG

Our government should come up with more budget to build churches.

We should christianise Singapore !!!

alize SG

Our government should come up with more budget to build churches.

We should christianise Singapore !!!

I think you should scrutinize your own budget more closely.

likeyou SG

I dnt like them to use $9k to buy our hearts for serving ns.

Are we that cheap?

likeyou SG

Our government should come up with more budget to build churches.

We should christianise Singapore !!!

Go ahead and let us know the outcome.

Sepecat SG

Most of us have never experienced fear on a National scale like when the Japanese were coming closer and closer from the Malay peninsular towards Singapore in 1942 or when the Indonesians made good their threats to both Malaysia and Singapore by sending commandos and other dire situations in the recent past which the general public may not know about.

When you are aware of the seriousness of some of these "situations" especially the ones in the recent past, then if you as a true Singaporean will be very thankful that we have a very well equipped SAF and also 200,000 NSmen to fall back on in case things really go out of hand .

So I vote for a good defence budget and also support NS althought I had to sacrifice 2 1/2 years of my life for Singapore - so the 2 years NS of today looks good to me. But I will not be surprised if one day NS is only 18 to 20 months. But I will never support the abolishment of NS for Singapore.

But we must always question how many is spent to ensure that budgets are not abused or spent wastefully.

likeyou SG

But we must always question how many is spent to ensure that budgets are not abused or spent wastefully.

Yes, every countries must have its own defence forces.

Whether the defence forces are good or no good.

No abolish of ns will occured in spore.

But at least reduce the ns serving further down to 12 to 15 mths.

Afterall, what we need is capable, educated ns man to man the advance techonological weapons.

Sepecat SG

To Alize,

Please note that in fact companies do NOT tell their shareholders everything. In fact shareholders are not told many things. There is a lot of discretion when deciding on what and what not to reveal. Many times the shareholders will be the last to know.

For Defence Ministries & militaries everywhere, it is the same that they are all not 100 % transparent. Even the US President does not know what exactly is being funded or what monies goes for what in the so called black projects. Yes, it is of course open to abuse, but there is no perfect situation.

It is indeed not practical for foreigners to perform even the so called mundane tasks in the armed forces. For example I believe that many equipment like the air force fighters in Kuwait were maintained by foreign contract staff back in 1991 and earlier when the Iraqis invaded. The foreigners were the first ones to abandon their posts to leave the country when the bombs dropped and the bullets flew. Even had the Kuwaiti airforce be able to fight , there wud be no one to maintain the fighters to sustain a fight. If I were a foreigner working on contract maintaining a weapons system for my host country. I will do the same. It is not my fight anyway. My life is more precious than my job.

To likeyou,

Personally I think that 18 months is the absolute minimum for NS. There is actually a lot to learn and do to be fully trained & be competent. If too short , no point then in serving NS when you cannot get an effective or competent NSmen who is expected to immediately perform in time of need and crisis. The warning time to mobilize and be ready for action is usually short in times of crisis.

alize SG

To Alize,

You are absolutely right about Kuwait's reliance on foreign talent to maintain weapons. To many rich Arabs, maintaining equipment is beneath them and the contractors do it. Recently Oman spent $700 million on 20 HIMARS, we are spending $330 million for 38 because they bought a maintenance package. The unit cost of a HIMARS truck is $3 million. So you never know whether even our package is a good or bad deal.

No company will tell shareholders everything. Even MPs don't know everything, and I'm sure we are smarter than alot of MPs. In this case we know through outside data. We don't know the price of most other programs. Certainly there are good and bad ones we don't know about. Proposing a strong defence and money spent efficiently are two different things. If you are hiding the latter to give the image of the former, then you are sweeping under the carpet. You are left with a psychological defence only that many people will question.

I know I will never succeed in changing anyone's minds, let alone the situation. I only want to get people to think logically.

Ice kosong SG

zhou enlai did said to the us in korean war - "u can have have all the better weapons but u under estimated the motivation of our soldiers"

using scare tatics with better waepons n no motivated soldiers to fight a war, its just pathathic.

The defence budget is to support those garmen companies.

touchstone_2000 SG

I know I will never succeed in changing anyone's minds, let alone the situation. I only want to get people to think logically.

Middle East end users do not actually maintain the systems themselves. These are farm out to companies, very much like ST. The big difference there is that the size and type of commissions to be paid.

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