Desmond Choo wants Safra to go from social club to a defence movement

SINGAPORE – Those waiting to be called up for national service may soon get to shoot air rifles at Safra Yishun’s indoor air weapons range even before they shave their heads for basic military training on Pulau Tekong.

Besides weapons handling, pre-enlistees may also get a preview of NS life through a confidence-building programme, as part of Safra’s new initiatives to bring defence closer to the community.

Safra is reorganising its role – from being a network of clubhouses for operationally ready national servicemen to being a movement that sustains Singaporeans’ collective will to defend the country, said Minister of State for Defence Desmond Choo on Aug 22.

Following the 2025 General Election in May, Mr Choo was one of two backbench MPs that Prime Minister Lawrence Wong appointed to the Cabinet, with the other being Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim.

In a wide-ranging interview with the media on Aug 22 about his new roles, the long-time unionist said he also intends to bring together resources from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and Ministry of Defence to help uniformed regulars find a good second career after they retire from the Singapore Armed Forces.

Mr Choo, 47, took over as Safra president from Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad in July.

He also became co-chairman for the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence, and took on greater responsibilities in the labour movement as NTUC deputy secretary-general. These were roles previously held by Mr Heng Chee How, who retired from politics at GE2025.

Mr Choo said a focal point of his role in Mindef is to be the bridge to the larger community. Hence, he is making “a big push” to bring defence closer to Singaporeans through Safra.

“We hope that people, from their kids all the way to their parents, can experience what NS is like, what the army is like, close to home,” he said, noting that shooting courses for pre-enlistees could begin in 2026.

“That is what Total Defence should be like, and Safra has a big role to play in helping people to experience those efforts.”

Given his twin roles in Mindef and NTUC dealing with job transitions, Mr Choo said he intends to ensure that SAF servicemen and women have “a complete career”, which includes a strong second act after they leave the armed forces.

The retirement age for commissioned officers is 50 years old, and up to 55 years old for warrant officers and specialists.

This can be done by ensuring that their training in the SAF is industry-accepted, that regulars are exposed to the private sector, and even for reservist training to achieve milestones that could potentially be recognised by employers, he said.

While the SAF has made tremendous strides on this front, “now it’s about whether we can open up more opportunities for them”, he said, citing roles in the upcoming Tuas mega port and positions in the social sector.

“I know how good our people can be, but now the challenge is to get people on the outside to also have that similar recognition of them,” he said.

“(This is) so that as they serve, they know that they can do their absolute best, and when their time in Mindef, SAF is up, they can have a second career they can look forward to.”

‘The trade-off is sleep’

In balancing his new role in Mindef with his NTUC work and grassroots duties as MP for Tampines Changkat, Mr Choo said something had to give, and that was sleep.

On one occasion, he finished a Meet-the-People Session (MPS) at midnight and was at Paya Lebar Air Base at 5am to see off a Republic of Singapore Air Force C-130 aircraft delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Mr Choo wakes up earlier than previously to read his e-mails while exercising on a stationary bicycle. More lunches are now smoothies so that he can work at the same time, he added.

“You are in a Mindef job, you got to look the part... You cannot go to a unit and run with the guys and be out of shape,” he said.

Despite the heavier workload, Mr Choo said he has maintained the cadence of his block visits in Tampines Changkat, especially as many new Build-To-Order (BTO) flats are coming up in his constituency and may need his attention.

For instance, the weekend before this interview, he was in Tampines timing the intervals between bus arrivals to see where best to locate new bus stops to serve the new BTO developments.

“That is the expectations of what the Member of Parliament should be doing, and we need to hold ourselves to those standards,” he said.

Mr Choo said the groundwork of meeting residents is a part of the job he enjoys.

“It’s tough because you have a long day (in the office) and then at 7.30pm, you go and meet your residents at their block,” he said. “But there’s no substitute for being in somebody else’s home to understand what’s happening to them, to bring help to them and forge that relationship.”

Asked how he makes time for a home life – he has two daughters, aged seven and 10 – Mr Choo admitted that his wife does the heavy lifting at home, “and for that, I’m always eternally grateful”.

He tries to snatch some time with his children in the mornings before they go to school, and to end work by 5pm on Mondays so that he can have a quick dinner with his family before heading off to the MPS.

What keeps him going are the Post-It notes his daughters paste on his door every night that tell him about their day and to which he is expected to write responses.

Some of the notes come with a treasure hunt that leads him to snacks like Hello Panda chocolate biscuits, which he has to finish. “They do check, and they do get upset when I don’t finish them.”

He said: “You do miss those times whereby you can’t do what other parents do – taking your kids out for a full day. It’s just not possible with our work cadence.

“But in a way, we found our own space.”