[Article first posted by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on his Facebook page]
<<Beyond paper qualifications>>
SAF has many examples of commanders without degrees or even diplomas who rose up the ranks because of the value they bring to the SAF. Bobby Lin, 43, is one fine example. When Bobby joined the Army 25 years ago, he only had 3 "O" level passes. Not for want of trying – in fact, he took the exam four times.
Bobby decided to change tack, stop the paper chase, and focused instead on doing his job well. And he performed well in various roles - Ops Specialist in the Joint Ops Department, Company Sergeant Major with 5 SIR, Training Coordination Specialist with the War Game Centre, and Resource Manager for Training Area in the Training Resource and Management Centre. Because he was hardworking, trustworthy, paid attention to details and took care of his men well, he won respect and his confidence grew. By age 35, he was promoted to 2WO. Now he is the Command and Control Intel System Warrant Officer at Headquarters, Army Intelligence.
The maturity and confidence that came with experience put him in a much stronger position to succeed in all subsequent endeavours. No surprise then, that Bobby successfully obtained his Diploma in Business and Management Studies from Nanyang Polytechnic earlier in May. But it was not paper qualifications that enabled Bobby to do his job well or gain respect but his skills, attitude and positive values.
He is a solid SAF commander.
Ng Eng Hen
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/ngenghen.defenceminister
Editor's Note: No one is expecting the proportion of degree holders and non-degree holders to be equal in all sectors, and nobody expects the salaries of these two groups to be identical because then there is no point in studying more for a degree.
However, there is no need to impose a hard ceiling on non-degree holders who have demonstrated that they are capable.
Currently, those without degrees or diplomas cannot even become an commissioned officer. It doesn't matter how good you are, the top position you can ever attain is a non-commissioned warrant officer with a salary of $5k.
If these non-degree holders can demonstrate that they are more capable than degree holders, there is no reason not to promote them faster than SAF scholars that keep getting parachuted into high ranking positions.