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A Matter of Duty: A Memoir of My Time in the Singapore Armed Forces (1967-1982)
Paperback
Publisher Price: $29.90
ISBN13: 9789815306699
Publisher: Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute
Published: Oct 29 2025
Pages: 262
Weight: 1.05
Height: 0.71 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
A Matter of Duty needs to be required reading for all SAF officers and MINDEF professional staff. It is a lively, candid, engaging and, at times, surprising memoir that explains how the formative years were used to turn bits and pieces into a comprehensive and organised armed forces that are now a core institution of the country in an astonishingly short time. The array of different challenges and problems that had to be overcome to give Singapore the robust deterrent it now has will inform all readers, and surprise many, and no stone is left unturned herein. One hopes that the current and future generations of their successors tackle their duty with the same resolve displayed by Tan Chin Tiong and the mentor who called his generation to duty, the father of the SAF, Dr Goh Keng Swee.
Many books have been written about Goh Keng Swee, but none were about his work in the Ministry of Defence, where he raised the SAF almost from scratch, starting with only two infantry battalions in 1967. This book breaks the trend as it provides a captivating account of Dr Goh's monumental work in the SAF's early military history as seen through the eyes of Tan Chin Tiong, the prototype soldier-scholar who answered the call of duty to assist him in the endeavour. Mr Tan highlights in readable prose how numerous Singapore and SAF institutions, policies, and practices familiar to our citizens and national servicemen bear the personal and farsighted imprint of Dr Goh. This book is recommended reading for all those who serve in the SAF.
-Kumar Ramakrishna, Professor and Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University. Author of Extremist Islam: Recognition and Response in Southeast AsiaThe author writes with clarity as well as with authority and candour. Drawing on his extensive personal involvement, he provides fresh insights into many aspects of the development of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) between the late 1960s and the early '80s under the ministerial leadership of Dr Goh Keng Swee. Among the many facets that he discusses are the development of the SAF command structure; the crucial influence of Israeli as well as German military advisors on the young SAF's organisation, doctrine and training; the origins of SAF Armour; the early phases of the SAF's overseas training arrangements with other countries; and the establishment of the Singapore Civil Defence Force. This book should contribute significantly to understanding how the SAF developed and came to play such a successful role in assuring Singapore's security. It will be of interest not just within the local, regional and international expert communities concerned with Singapore's defence, security and civil-military relations, but also to those who have served in the SAF.
-Tim Huxley, author of Defending the Lion City: The Armed Forces of SingaporeAlso in
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