GAINING CONFIDENCE TO DO MORE

More than 30 years ago, Permanent Secretary (Finance) Teo Ming Kian started his career in the public sector as a defence engineer in the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).

As a fresh graduate excited about dealing with the latest technology, he remembered the shock of seeing his "dilapidated office" in the old Tanglin Complex.

"My office came with bathtubs, but they were not filled with foam," said Mr Teo. "They were filled with stacks of files, because there was just simply no place for keeping files."

Mr Teo was sharing his memories with 300 guests at a dinner celebrating 40 years of logistics in MINDEF, held on 6 Nov at the Combat Service Support Command in Kranji Camp III.

Permanent Secretary (Defence Development) Tan Kim Siew was the guest of honour.

In his speech, Mr Teo recalled the early days of defence engineering, when he had "to try and convince others that designing and producing our own weapons was the right way to go".

Much has changed since then, for he had managed to persuade others in MINDEF to share his dream.

"Not only do we get successive generations of increasingly capable weapon systems," said Mr Teo, "we have built up a design and manufacturing capability, and a dare-to-try mindset; and it gave us the confidence to do a lot more."

This hard-won confidence also gave MINDEF logisticians the courage to "do things ourselves so that we're not held hostage".

He cited an instance when they walked out of negotiations with a "tremendously arrogant" foreign supplier.

"The importance of logistics, or what many today refer to as 'supply chain management', cannot be overstated," said Mr Teo.

"Whether as a force-multiplier for the Singapore Armed Forces, or as a competitive edge for our economy, logistics will remain crucial for us in the future, as it has been for us in the past."