SINGAPORE – A 104-year-old church building along Victoria Street which once served as the headquarters of the Portuguese Mission in Singapore will be gazetted for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

The three-storey Parochial House of St Joseph’s Church, which is currently the lodgings of the church’s rector, was inspired by mediaeval Gothic architecture.

Speaking at the church’s celebration on Thursday (June 30) to mark the milestone, Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for National Development said: “(The Parochial House) is a building that fully deserves its conservation status. It’s also a good complement to the main church building which is in itself a national monument.

“The House has stood in Singapore for close to 104 years… It has survived the 2nd world war and three generations, still going strong, marking its importance as a landmark in Singapore’s history.”

He also noted the building style of the Parochial House, which is an example of traditional Portuguese baroque style, with distinctive features such as pointed Gothic arches at the facade, and pinnacles decorated with crockets, a hook-shaped decoration, adorning the roof.

It also contains nine sets of Portuguese-style painted ceramic tiles that can be found in palaces, churches and important public buildings in Portugal.

A storyboard that traces the history and significance of the Parochial House was also unveiled at the event.

Father Alex Chua, the Rector of St Joseph’s Church, said: “It is an honour for the Church to have its Parochial House recognised and conserved for its architectural, historical and social heritage.

“We hope that this gazette will help reinforce the sense of heritage for future generations of Singapore Catholics and non-Catholics alike.”

Close to 7,200 buildings here have been conserved since the start of URA’s Conservation Programme in 1989.

This article was first published on June 30, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – In a first for full-time national servicemen, pre-enlistees entering national service next year will be able to express their interest in what vocations they will like to serve in.

They will be given a range of vocations to choose from during the pre-enlistment process, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Tuesday (June 28) in his annual media interview ahead of SAF Day on Friday (July 1).

Operational needs will still be the primary consideration for assigning servicemen to vocations, said Dr Ng. “I can well imagine that there are certain interests that are more popular than others and unfortunately like popular schools, although every vocation is a good vocation, you have to match interests to vocations.”

This implementation of one of the 30 recommendations from the Committee to Strengthen National Service was one of the announcements Dr Ng made during the interview, which touched on the challenges facing Singapore’s national security and how the Singapore Armed Forces is adapting to meet them.

Terrorism remains a clear and present threat, he said. To better combat the threat of terror here, a new unit, the Army Deployment Force, will be set up, which will respond rapidly to terrorist attacks here alongside the Home Team.

The battalion-sized force, staffed by regulars, will also work with the Island Defence Task Force and Special Operations Task Force in times of emergencies. It may also be activated for overseas humanitarian or peace support operations.

Even as the SAF restructures internally to better respond to threats at home, the problem of terrorism is too big to handle alone, said Dr Ng. “We have to step up our collaborations with other agencies, share information, combine resources for operations to deal with terrorists.”

Singapore continues to support joint patrols between Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines in the Sulu Sea, and Dr Ng reiterated that Singapore is still on board to join these patrols. He added that he has offered the use of the Navy’s Information Fusion Centre as a resource to these patrols.

Domestically, lower birth rates pose a demographic challenge, as Singapore will face a one-third reduction in its manpower by 2030, he said. Because of this, the SAF will have to “do more with less”, and work not only harder, but also smarter, through the use of technology.

The expansion of Changi Air Base due to the relocation of Paya Lebar Air Base will give Singapore the chance to build a modern, smart air base from scratch, he said, complete with greater automation and unmanned systems.

The Navy is working on a fleet of unmanned vehicles as a countermeasure to naval mines, which can be used to detect and dispose underwater explosives.

Furthermore, to attract top engineering and science talents to Mindef, the ministry will be offering a new Mindef Defence Science scholarship, which will be on par with the prestigious SAF scholarship.

These efforts all aim to continually improve the SAF, said Dr Ng, so that “we are always prepared, ready to meet today’s challenges, as well as adapt to new challenges on the horizon and even unseen ones”.

“We have the continued need to do this, to invest in resources, to call upon Singaporeans to do their NS duties so that the SAF can protect Singaporeans and defend our nation.”

This article was first published on June 30, 2016.
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