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

• Main Author: Chan, Mervyn Jing Wei
• Other Authors: Kei Koga
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Social sciences::Political science::Political institutions::Asia::Singapore
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/158903
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

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.