Mindef, SAF focus on effective safety measures, not ‘posturing and politicking’: Ng Eng Hen

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will align their “incentives and disincentives, so we get the whole system moving” on safety, and this goes beyond “posturing or politicking”, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen in Parliament on Monday (Feb 11).

Dr Ng, who had earlier delivered a ministerial statement on the recent spate of National Service (NS) training-related deaths, was responding to a supplementary question raised by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Dennis Tan.

Mr Tan, who was among 11 MPs who posed supplementary questions, had asked: “At what point, and at what stage, would the Government think it would be necessary to send a signal to the entire force when they recognise there might be a problem at the systemic or greater level, requiring a senior officer, whether at formation, army, SAF, or beyond, to take responsibility for all this?”

Dr Ng said that the Government would “want to be careful that we do what we think works and makes a difference”.

“If senior leadership has to go because they have been involved, or have been derelict, then I don't think our population will stand for that. And if you think that improves the system, push for it,” added Dr Ng, who also stressed that Mindef and the SAF are serious about ensuring that a good safety culture is deeply ingrained in the system.

On Monday, Dr Ng delivered an hour-long ministerial statement on NS training-related deaths and the SAF’s safety enhancements.

He provided information on what happened to Corporal First Class (NS) Aloysius Pang, the actor who died last month from injuries sustained while carrying out repair works inside the Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer. An ongoing Committee of Inquiry (COI) is looking into his death.

Dr Ng also spoke about the COI’s findings on the death of CFC Liu Kai, the driver of a Land Rover that was crushed by a Bionix armoured vehicle during a training exercise in November last year.

Responding to Mr Tan’s supplementary question, Dr Ng said: “If (an independent review) decides that a change of the most senior leadership makes a difference… it is up to them to recommend.

“But for Mindef and the SAF, we want to deal with day-to-day issues, aligning our incentives and disincentives so we get the whole system moving, and making sure that the effect is felt on the ground, rather than posturing or politicking.”

Mr Vikram Nair, MP for Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC), also asked if there was a need to halt training across the SAF if an incident arose from human error. In his reply, Dr Ng said it would not “bring anyone any comfort or positive results” to “punish indiscriminately… (or) degrade what has taken many years for us to achieve” if such an incident occurred.

“Deal with the issue, (and) strengthen the system bit by bit,” added Dr Ng.

“Do we want a system where everyone is afraid? You walk into the room and everyone is frightened that if anything happens, his head will (get chopped)… more heads will (get chopped), up (and) down.”

A good organisation is one with people who are professional, “who know what they do, who are conscious” and “not out just to punish unfairly”, said the defence minister.

Other questions raised by MPs in Parliament included how the authorities could reassure parents, some of whom might be concerned over the recent spate of training-related deaths, as well as suggestions on what other areas Mindef can look into when beefing up the SAF’s safety culture.

Here are some of the MPs’ key questions:

Mr Vikram Nair (Sembawang GRC): In any organisation like the army, we know the work we do is inherently risky, and if any human error is made, incidents can happen. So are there any models of other armies, for example, where they have been able to achieve zero training deaths? Are there any armies we can learn from?

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Can we learn from other militaries? We have looked at figures to see what the injury and fatality rates are, and of course we want to benchmark and make sure we are somewhere there. That's difficult because you cannot compare like and like.

Conscript systems, like Taiwan or Korea… their data is shared in different ways, so it is not very comparable. There is a military that we can sort of compare training… the UK… but that's not conscript. That's regular service, and over a 10-year period, our safety records are just slightly better than theirs. That's not a reflection… they may have different terrain… so on and so forth.

Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade GRC): Looking at the examples given by the minister… it is actually about human factors — human factors and human errors. There are people who study human factor science and human factor analysis. Perhaps this is one area of focus, not just after an incident happens, but also perhaps as a preventive measure, to get human factor specialists to study some of the more high-risk... probably not all the activities in the SAF... activities that people are going to be involved in. How do we use human factor specialists to help us with this?

Dr Ng: (This is an) important, relevant point, and it is incorporated. Some of you will remember the RSAF (Republic of Singapore Air Force) in the 90s had a spate of very difficult incidents. It was gut-wrenching. Today, it is a far cry from there. That's exactly what they have incorporated, where they report near misses for equipment and near misses arising from human error. They separate it because the solutions are different.

All our services do it to some extent. The army is a much larger machinery, (with many) people running around, but we have got to get that into our system at every level. It will be up to commanders, and they are going to give it their all, because they know that this is their moral responsibility, this is their professional accountability, and this is something that we must get right.

Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC): With regard to the safety timeout called this time (after CFC (NS) Pang’s death), how does this compare to the length of time of safety timeouts called for previous training incidents? Were there any reasons for calling a longer or shorter safety timeout?

Many parents have come up to me and asked about safety and reassurances for their children. What I am heartened by is that none of the parents... have ever said that we should do away with National Service. Many of them preface their statement that (they) have also served, and (they) know that the SAF takes safety seriously. But with four recent incidents, they are worried, so how do we reassure them that safety is paramount… that their children will be taken care of?

Dr Ng: How different is this safety timeout from previous timeouts? It is significantly different. Previously, there was a period, then units would revert back to their original activity. But (Mr Yam) rightly pointed out, after four deaths, old practices must be changed. You must start with the basis that there might be something wrong and look for whatever this factor is.

The difference is, operational units carry on (and) we had a period of safety timeout, but it has been lifted only for certain activities. More complex ones, more high-risk ones, the (Chief of Defence Force) and his commanders want to be satisfied that not only are the (Training Safety Regulations) in place, but that there is adequate behaviour, adequate culture (change) that you make before you undertake that.

I am glad that the member has said that no parent has said that they want to do away with National Service. The parents will want to know that you are doing your level best and that you will pay attention. Singaporeans are reasonable, they know that you want to train.

What if we had the reverse situation, where everyone attends training, but nobody trains? I think we have to take what is good in our system and respond practically. The results must be of ultimate comfort for parents and we will do as much as we can, practically. Each time, (when the) COIs tell us there is a lapse, a weakness that needs to be addressed, what I need at every level — a safety consciousness, a safety culture. It doesn't come overnight.