If this is the oratorical ability of our SAF ex-Chief of Army, we'll probably scr*wed

If you haven't had a chance to hear how an ex-Chief of Army speaks, you may want to watch this Razor TV clip of MG (Ret) Chan Chun Sing speaking at the YPAP 25th anniversary on the topic, "100 Years and Beyond for Singapore".

He's basically telling us what most of us already know. That Singapore's small size means we at forever at risk of being swallowed up by larger neighbours. And he goes on to cite two fairly obscure examples of Lanfang republic and Sultanate of Demak. Citing these examples as why city-states or small independent states cannot survive without a strong defence force.

He cites the question on why Lanfang republic didn't defend itself and instead relied on tribute to Qing dynasty for its defence. MG Chan goes on to exhort citizens not to buy insurance as the Workers' Party is using the insurance analogy for voters to vote in more opposition members of Parliament as a check and balance against over-dominance of one political party. The hokkien vernacular comes out:

"mai liao lui, mai buay sar-lah insurance"

(loosely translated: don't waste money, don't buy the wrong insurance)

It is interesting to note the hesitant applause after his punchline above at around 4:26. Personally, I also don't get his joke because he's stringing together two things are are very different, i.e. the Workers' Party is not mandating a total dismantling of the defence force but rather that funding of its proposals can come from budget rationalisations e.g. cutting defence budget. Mind you, this is cutting by small % and not advocating for a total dismantling of the defence forces. MG (Ret) Chan is trying to counter that by using this obscure example of two states most people have never heard of and attributing to them nebulous reasons for their collapse i.e. it's because they didn't "defend" themselves.

I won't go into his other policy observations but suffice to say the following points strike me:

1. As a President's scholar, why does he speak like a warrant officer with O levels instead of someone with a degree from overseas?

2. His public speaking style is totally, for lack of a better word, "ah-bengish". During my reservist, I meet so many specialists and officers who speak much better than that. And he was the previous Chief-of-Army. I wonder what type of meetings they had at Mindef with him speaking that way.

3. Was he deliberately dumbing down his delivery style to "connect" with the PAP rank and file or it this really his natural speaking style? If this is the way he conducts his briefing for the top brass in charge of Singapore's defence, then seriously, I think we're all scr*ewed because communication skills and leadership comes hand in hand.

Top leaders don't have to be top public speakers but if you are to convince and lead 3G (or even 4G) leadership, where the bulk of your NSF and NSmen have diplomas, degrees and some post-graduate qualifications, speaking like my BMT ex-regular platoon sergeant who was not highly educated is not the way to go. Don't forget, in a shooting war, the reservists form the bulk of cannon fodder, not the NSFs and regulars by numbers.

Majulah Singapura.

P.S. Found this interesting "open letter" to MG (Ret) Chan Chun Sing on hardwarezone forum. It appears that what we see in the video is truly when he is. Let the voters decide.

P.P.S This post got tweeted by none other than Mr. Brown - thank you SIR!

P.P.P.S. Check out MG (NS) Chan's Facebook comment as reported by ST Online Buzz.

P^x degree Script: Other interesting commentary on Army Boy Chan Chun Sing talking c*ck (Where Bears Roam Free). Wake up Chun Sing (Singapore Election Watch).