Winning public trust at home, shaping defence norms globally: The biology grad who found her place in MINDEF

The question she dreaded most was simple: “Why is MINDEF doing this? I don’t understand.”

To her, it would mean the public could not see the purpose behind a policy, the reason for a decision or the role defence plays in Singapore’s everyday security.

Keloth Sonia does not serve in uniform. But from the communications branch of the National Service Policy Department (NSPD) at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), she has found her own way to contribute to nation building – by helping Singaporeans understand why defence matters, and why the work of protecting the country must be shared by more than those on the front line.

Her latest assignment is handling communication matters related to the refreshed Medical Classification System (MCS).

“Let me tell you, I was so terrified in the weeks leading up to the announcement,” the 27-year-old manager says with a laugh.

“I knew citizens in Singapore were going to comment on it, on Reddit, on Instagram. That kind of kept me on my toes, to make sure that our target audience had a clear understanding of the new policy.”

As a communications officer, she and her team had performed extensive research to determine how to best communicate the new policy, especially to the people that it was most relevant to: namely, NS pre-enlistees and their parents.

“Every Singaporean family has someone going through or has gone through national service,” she says. “As such, every policy change involving NS automatically affects every single household.”

Not only that, but as the bedrock of Singapore’s defence and stability, any kind of misinformation about NS that results in a loss of public trust could be irreversibly damaging.

As a result, any communications about NS – especially those regarding such a massive change in the MCS, which has been around since the 1970s – are taken very seriously in the NSPD.

“As a citizen, whenever I read about policy announcements and changes, I am keen to find out why the change happened and evaluate how the policy solution addresses the issue,” she says.

She provides those answers in her current role. “It is not just about telling the public what changed, but also why we changed it,” she adds. “It is important that the public has confidence in the decisions that are being made.”

The perfect compromise

If you had told a 17-year-old Sonia – a science student with a keen interest in genetics and cell biology – that a decade later she would be in charge of disseminating information to the general public about NS policies, she would probably not have believed you.

Her inclination towards biological sciences had initially started her down the path of being a teacher.

But taking General Paper classes in junior college had impressed on her the importance and uniqueness of Singapore’s geopolitical position, and how security should not be taken for granted.

“There were a lot of incidents that were happening in 2016 and 2017, and it dawned on me that the peace and security I had grown up with could be taken away in an instant,” she recalls.

“It made me realise that what we have has to be safeguarded, and I kind of wanted to be part of that force safeguarding it.”

However, she hesitated at the thought of taking on a uniformed role in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). One of her major concerns was the fact that she had consistently performed poorly in physical training tests as a student, particularly the 2.4km run.

“There was no way I would have passed IPPT back then,” she jokingly says, referring to the Individual Physical Proficiency Test that all medically fit SAF uniformed personnel must take and pass.

Still, she wondered if there was a place for someone like her in defence – someone drawn to the mission, but not necessarily to life in uniform.

Then, while looking through scholarship options, she came across an advertisement for the Defence Merit Scholarship, which she eventually took up to study biological sciences at the Nanyang Technological University and public policy at University College London (UCL).

The scholarship, she says, felt like a way for her to finally give back to a purpose that she could believe in. It opened her eyes to the role that non-uniformed officers could play in shaping policies and supporting Singapore’s security from behind the scenes.

“I thought it was the perfect compromise,” she adds.

Learning on the job

Immediately after graduating from her postgraduate degree from UCL, she took up her first role in the International Security and Emerging Technologies (ISET) branch of MINDEF’s Defence Policy Office (DPO).

Obviously, studying about DNA replication and transcription is markedly different from organising international conferences on artificial intelligence usage in the military and cybersecurity – the latter of which ended up being a significant part of her work in the DPO.

“Just when you think you’re done with ‘learning’, the world of work comes as a whole new ball game, with lots more to learn,” she says.

The learning curve is steep, she admits.

“There were many times when I felt worried that I wasn’t ‘good enough’,” she says. “But what mattered more is that I kept wanting to learn and improve. I also had the privilege of having great colleagues and mentors, who were always there to support and encourage me.”

During her time in ISET, she was able to attend and even organise several regional and international conferences.

One example she is most proud of was being a part of the organising team for the inaugural Responsible AI in the Military Domain Summit (REAIM) Regional Consultations (Asia), held in Singapore in February 2024.

The REAIM conference was jointly initiated by the Netherlands and Republic of Korea, and was the first multilateral conference on the responsible development and use of military AI.

In 2023, the ISET branch was approached to organise an Asia-focused Regional Consultation for REAIM, the scale of which was something that had never been undertaken before by the department.

As a result, she and her team in ISET worked closely with the Military Transformations Programme from S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, bringing together defence and foreign affairs officials from 15 countries.

She also made numerous trips to the United Nations in New York as part of the Singapore delegation, representing the nation in discussions on international cybersecurity and responsible behaviour in cyberspace via the UN platform on ICT security.

“I could never have imagined an opportunity like this in my wildest dreams,” she says.

Having finished her term in the DPO, she then decided to turn inward to the NSPD to get some experience with domestic affairs.

Appropriately for someone whose interest in MINDEF was first piqued by an advertisement, she was then assigned to communications, where she has been for the past nine months.

She says: “The wide range of opportunities, ranging from representing Singapore’s positions at international platforms to domestic policies that affect our national servicemen, have made me feel proud, like I am truly contributing and making a difference.”

Find out how the SAF offers opportunities beyond uniformed roles and can give you a head start through its scholarships.