Aristocracy of Armed Talent: The Military Elite in Singapore by Samuel Ling Wei Chan (review)

When Singapore gained its independence in August 1965, Singapore’s defence depended on two infantry battalions under the command of Australian-born Brigadier-General Thomas Campbell. By the time the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) celebrated its fiftieth-year anniversary in 2015, some 150 officers had served as flag officers. As explained in Samuel Ling’s book on flag officers in the SAF, Aristocracy of Armed Talent, The Military Elite in Singapore, these were officers promoted to hold the ‘one-star’ flag rank of Brigadier-General, and beyond that, the ‘two-star’ flag rank of Major-General, and a Lieutenant-General who would wear three-stars on his epaulette. These are the highest echelons of the SAF. Some flag officers are familiar names in Singapore. Retired Lieutenant-General Winston Choo held a flag rank for a record sixteen years, and retired Lieutenant-General Desmond Kuek hung up his uniform to enter public service as a civilian in 2010 after serving eleven years in a flag rank. There was also former Brigadier-General George Yeo who was promoted to flag rank in 1988 but left the SAF that same year to contest in the Singapore General Elections. He, and former Brigadier-General Lee Hsien Loong, who later became Singapore’s Prime Minister, retired with a flag rank less than a year after being promoted. Ling’s excellent survey and study of flag officers in the SAF draws out the contrasting lengths of service of retired flag officers mentioned above among other trends and stories of retired, and active, SAF flag officers.

Singaporeans are familiar with how the SAF operates since all male citizens are required to undergo military service. How the highest echelons of the SAF work are more often a bit of a mystery. That kind of information is scarce because publications on the SAF, and its history, as Ling rightfully pointed out, focuses on its technological development, institutional growth and expansion, war-fighting capabilities, and Civil Military Relations. There are numerous social studies on its citizen soldiers but not on its army generals, admirals or air chiefs. Ling breaks new ground by skilfully using oral testimonies of former flag officers that he interviewed to put together a social history of the military elite of the SAF and Singapore. Ling emphasises voices of officers of the military elite. They may have different starting points in the SAF but none of them started their military careers with the professed goal of achieving a flag rank before retirement. How they made it there is the subject of study in Ling’s book.

The book is an excellent piece of work on the social milieu of flag officers of the SAF. However, Ling also explores a popular myth in Singapore that the military elite in the SAF owed their promotion to flag rank to the SAF Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS) scheme introduced in 1971. The myth suggests that within the officer ranks of the SAF there was a privileged class of ‘scholar’ officers, a product of the SAFOS, who were destined for flag rank. Ling explores the myth by examining its origins, and used his interviews to suggest another way to read the tea leaves: the path to flag rank is marked by certain milestone appointments that an officer needs to attain by a certain point in the officer’s career and age. While the opportunities to hold these appointments may have been more open to those who were SAFOS recipients, promotion to the next rank was determined by the officer’s capability. While Ling explored the myth thoroughly, and despite the evidence offered, the conclusion he presented does not adequately address it.

The book is remarkable for the amount of research material featured and evidence presented. There are, however, chapters in the book that only added to the length of the book, an indication that there was perhaps too much material for one book, but...