The Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) goal of zero training fatalities "sears into the consciousness" of every commander and soldier the importance of training safely in peacetime and signals that safety lapses will not be tolerated, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told the House.
And while this target is a difficult one to attain - it was achieved in some years and there is no guarantee that it can be done in others - the SAF still has to aim for it, he added in Parliament yesterday.
"Which mother, shall we say, can lose her son?" Dr Ng said in reply to Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC), who said SAF's zero-fatality goal was unrealistic.
Mr Singh, who filed an adjournment motion on national service, said: "As a result of the expectations created, every time a training fatality occurs, the public pressure on the Ministry of Defence and SAF commanders down the leadership chain takes on a very corrosive edge."
"This damages not just the SAF, but the institution of national service too," he added in an 18-minute speech covering training safety and operational readiness in the SAF.
There have been four training-related deaths since September 2017 - the most recent on Jan 23, when actor Aloysius Pang died after being injured in an accident during a military exercise in New Zealand.
Mr Singh, 42, who is an operationally ready national serviceman in the army's combat engineers and holds the rank of major, said that following Mr Pang's death, Mindef's narrative appeared to have shifted towards a zero-accident mindset.
And while national servicemen understand what this means - that Mindef takes safety seriously - the public focuses on the word "zero". A zero-fatality goal is one that cannot be achieved, even in industries with notoriously strict safety standards like aviation, Mr Singh said.
Dr Ng replied that Mr Singh was "right, in a way", but he had come to the view the SAF should aim for zero fatalities, based on the experiences of SAF's own commanders.
Dr Ng referred to a speech by former defence chief Bey Soo Khiang last year during a safety symposium, where he talked about how the goal of zero accidents started.
Mr Bey, who was also air force chief from 1992 to 1995, said the Republic of Singapore Air Force's grim accident record in its first 20 years prompted him to think hard on whether it had lost sight of its mission of deterrence.
Dr Ng cited Mr Bey as saying: "Each accident erodes deterrence... Even before we started fighting the war, we had already lost 50 fighters, so our peacetime exchange ratio with respect to our potential threats must look quite bad. At the individual level, the whole idea of training in peacetime is to deter and when deterrence fails, be there on the first wave. But you will not be there if you kill yourself during training. Then the training is in vain."
Dr Ng also responded to Mr Singh's suggestion to review Section 14 of the Government Proceedings Act, which protects armed forces personnel and the Government from civil suits. Mr Singh said the law could be tweaked so immunity is waived, where a commander "behaves recklessly, maliciously or displays a wilful disregard for safety considerations" during training. He said such a change would serve to protect the institution of NS by making it more accountable.
But Dr Ng said there is accountability for commanders and NSmen, with those who have been derelict or who have not done their duty criminally prosecuted. "Not just civilian payouts in the courts. They go to jail. Their lives, in that sense, and careers are ruined. And justly so if they deserve it," he said.
Mr Singh also gave several suggestions, such as tapping experienced officers, warrant officers and specialists who are retiring, and hiring them as members of safety-related outfits in the SAF.
