Absolute control: why the SAF does not intervene in domestic politics

In a region where Armed Forces often intervene in domestic politics, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has emerged as one of the strongest military forces in the region, yet oddly remaining in barracks throughout the entirety of Singapore’s independence. In this paper, I will attempt to explain the p...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chan, Mervyn Jing Wei
Other Authors: Kei Koga
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/158903
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:In a region where Armed Forces often intervene in domestic politics, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has emerged as one of the strongest military forces in the region, yet oddly remaining in barracks throughout the entirety of Singapore’s independence. In this paper, I will attempt to explain the puzzle of the lack of SAF intervention in Singaporean domestic politics. I attribute this anomaly to the barriers and routes to power for members of the SAF Officer Corps, creating clear channels for office-seeking SAF Officers to fulfil their political ambitions outside of the SAF, and the general lack of will within the SAF and its Officer Corps to seize power. I will also contrast the SAF to the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF), to further reinforce the arguments in this paper.