SINGAPORE: Brigadier-General Tan Chee Wee has been appointed the first Inspector-General of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), The Defence Ministry announced on Friday (Feb 22).
BG Tan, who is currently Director of Joint Operations, will assume office on Feb 27. He will also concurrently assume the role of Chief of Staff – Joint Staff on the same day.
Last month, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) announced that an Inspector-General’s Office will be set up to ensure that “command emphasis on safety” is applied and enforced across all units.
READ: SAF to set up Inspector-General’s Office to ‘scrutinise and enforce’ safety processes
“As the first Singapore Armed Forces Inspector-General, my immediate focus is to introduce concrete actions in three areas: promote the open reporting culture, ensure the quality of safety inspections and strengthen our safety culture,” said BG Tan.
“I will work closely with the SAF senior leadership to make sure our people continue to have a culture whereby people train safe and they are protected while defending Singapore. I want to make sure that our soldiers and our commanders work towards zero training fatalities while they conduct realistic training.”
On Tuesday, BG Tan accompanied Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong to visit the 295th Battalion, Singapore Artillery (295 SA), where they were briefed on the safety training operationally ready National Servicemen were undergoing as part of their in-camp training.
Chief of Defence Force LG Melvyn Ong (centre) with the first Inspector-General BG Tan Chee Wee (fourth from right) receiving a brief during their visit to the 295th Battalion, Singapore Artillery. (Photo: Mindef)
During the visit, BG Tan said that his immediate focus as Inspector-General is to introduce concrete actions to promote open reporting, ensure the quality of safety inspections and strengthen the safety culture across SAF.
In his statement, BG Tan added: “My immediate priority is to visit ground units across the SAF, and this will allow me to firstly assess the health of open reporting and safety culture in our units, and secondly, also evaluate the Service’s safety inspection system.”
“With these findings, I will then recommend to CDF proposals that will further enhance the SAF’s safety management as well as strengthen its safety culture.
“My team and I are committed to improve training safety in the SAF,” he added.
LG Ong (centre), accompanied by BG Tan (first from right), interacting with Operationally Ready National Servicemen from 295SA. (Photo: Mindef)
BG Tan joined the SAF in 1993 as an Air Traffic Controller in the air force. He previously held a number of senior appointments in MINDEF and SAF, including Commander of Air Defence and Operations Command, Director of Policy Office, Defence Attaché (Washington) and Head of Air Plans.
