Aristocracy of Armed Talent: The Military Elite in Singapore.

• Author: Bradford, John
• Position: Book review

Aristocracy of Armed Talent: The Military Elite in Singapore. By Samuel Ling Wei Chan. Singapore: NUS Press, 2019. Softcover: 495pp.

Singapore's military is exceptional in many ways. Although the Singapore Armed Forces are relatively small and has never fought in a large-scale conflict, the nation's Total Defence doctrine, hightech edge, and deliberate decisions to gain operational experience by involving the force in complex international operations such as those in Afghanistan and the Gulf of Aden have earned it a reputation as being highly capable. Among the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) most unusual traits is its system for recruiting and retaining its military officers. Despite stiff competition with opportunities in the private sector and well-paid civil service, the incentives associated with military service has enabled the SAF to attract some of the nations' brightest and most ambitious leaders during both the initial build-up period and in the current era. This system has created a military officer corps institutionalized as a highly-educated professional cadre that leads the military and feeds the nations' top civil service and political posts while avoiding the civil-military tensions found in other Southeast Asian countries.

Central to the military's leaders is a cadre of "scholars", young capable officers who are enticed by scholarships to the world's top schools for undergraduate education and are commonly seen as standing a better chance to rise through the ranks more quickly and with greater institutional support than the other officers (sometimes called "farmers", p. 3) whom they serve alongside. Although unusual, perhaps even unique, the foundation and functionality of this system had not been fully analysed until the publication of Samuel Ling Wei Chan's Aristocracy of Armed Talent. Well-researched and balanced, this book delivers fresh ideas, plenty of new information and sheds light on some misconceptions about the scholar system, Furthermore, it ably situates its analysis of the Singapore's military leadership into the nation's larger historical, defence posture and civil-military landscapes. In doing so, it stands as an excellent companion to Tim Huxley's Defending the Lion City, another volume that ably tackles the big picture. With Huxley's volume now over twenty years old, Aristocracy of Armed Talent is a welcome addition to the literature.

Chan's research overlays the data gathered in twenty-eight interviews with...