Singapore's Armed Forces in UN Peace Operations
Most people think of Singapore’s military as a small defense force guarding a tiny island. Chapter 35 tells a very different story. It is the story of Singapore soldiers wearing blue helmets in war zones around the world.
This is part of my retelling of “50 Years of Singapore and the United Nations” (Tommy Koh, Li Lin Chang, Joanna Koh, 2015, ISBN: 978-9814713030).
This chapter is written by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) itself. It is an institutional piece, not credited to one author. But the stories inside are personal and vivid. Missile attacks in the Gulf. Death threats in Afghanistan. Years of peacekeeping in Timor-Leste. Over 1,500 SAF personnel have participated in 15 UN peace operations since 1989. That is a serious commitment from a country most people do not associate with international military action.
The SAF Philosophy: Small but Useful
The SAF’s approach to peace operations is very practical. They know they are a small force with limited resources. So they do not try to do everything. They pick missions where they can make a real difference. They develop niche areas of expertise. Medical support is one. Military observation is another.
The logic makes sense. If you cannot send 10,000 troops like the big countries, send 30 medical specialists who can save lives that nobody else can. Quality over quantity. Classic Singapore.
The SAF first put on the UN blue helmet in 1989, when they joined the UN Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia. Since then, they have been to Angola, Afghanistan, South Africa, Guatemala, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Nepal, and Timor-Leste.
Operation Nightingale: Missiles and Medicine in the Gulf War
The most dramatic story in this chapter is from January 1991. The Gulf War. Iraq had invaded Kuwait. Britain asked Singapore to send medical personnel to support a 600-bed hospital. The SAF agreed and put together a 30-person medical team in days. The mission was named Operation Nightingale.
The team flew out on January 18, 1991. They were stationed at King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia, inside the unfinished Terminal 4, working alongside the British Royal Air Force. They were about 400 kilometers behind the battle lines. That sounds safe. It was not.
On January 20, at 11 pm, the missile alert went off. The team grabbed gas masks and chemical suits and ran for cover. Long silence. False alarm. They could breathe again.
At 1 am the next day, the real thing came. Missiles launched from a battery near the camp shook the entire building. SCUD and Patriot fragments rained down. The warnings over the loudspeakers went from red alert to black. Black meant chemical contamination. As one team member put it: “It’s indescribable. Frightening. Earth-shattering.”
The team had to take nerve agent pre-treatment tablets daily. When rumors spread about Iraqi Anthrax and Plague biological weapons, they had to get vaccinated against those too. The mission leader later recalled: “There was an underlying fear in our minds as we faced the spectre of chemical attacks daily.”
But they kept working. One of the high points was when the SAF surgical team performed the first surgery in the operating theatre since the hospital’s deployment. The whole hospital watched. They even recorded it on video. The flight surgeon, Major Richard Tan, was the only qualified flight surgeon at the entire 205th General Hospital. He personally flew forward to accompany casualties back on C-130 evacuation flights.
Over 54 days, the team treated 210 casualties, including Iraqi prisoners of war. Then they flew home. The chapter notes they benefited professionally from working with peers from the US, UK, France, Canada, and Sweden. And from the experience of making do with frequent shortages in supplies. Most importantly, the chapter says, the team was now operationally ready for war.
Timor-Leste: The SAF’s Biggest Mission
Timor-Leste is where the SAF made its largest contribution to UN peace operations. The numbers alone tell the story. Ten medical teams sent between 1999 and 2002. Combat peacekeepers deployed from 2001. The mission stretched from 1999 to 2012. Thirteen years.
Here is the background. On August 31, 1999, the Timorese people voted for independence from Indonesia. The response was violent. Indonesian forces and anti-independence militias went on a rampage. About 1,400 Timorese were killed in three weeks. Homes, schools, water systems, and nearly the entire electrical grid were destroyed. Nine UN peacekeepers died.
The UN Security Council authorized multinational missions. Singapore was one of the first countries to respond. A 370-strong SAF contingent arrived in September 1999, with two Landing Ship Tanks, logistics teams, and medical teams. This was also the first SAF peace operation that included female personnel.
In May 2001, the SAF sent its first-ever combat peacekeepers to Timor-Leste. The conditions were brutal. In Suai, where the helicopter detachment was based, temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius. Just 50 kilometers away, at Belulik Leten near the Indonesian border, the winds were bone-chilling cold. The SAF soldiers took turns doing seven to ten-day shifts at Observation Post Castle, a hilltop position overlooking the border.
Each batch served up to six months. There was no mobile phone coverage. Soldiers wrote letters to their families because satellite phone calls were too expensive. One soldier, Staff Sergeant Adenan Mohammad Eskan, was there when Timor-Leste was less than a year old, the same age as his daughter. He said: “I volunteered for it, and got selected. I’m very proud and happy. This has been the most memorable and significant experience I’ve ever had in the Army.”
Special bonds formed between peacekeepers and villagers. Language barriers were broken with smiles. The locals were grateful to have troops protecting the peace in their new country.
The last SAF peacekeepers left Timor-Leste at the end of December 2012, when the UN Mission in Timor-Leste completed its mandate. The chapter puts it simply: “We had kept the peace.”
Afghanistan: No Weapons, Only Courage
The Afghanistan story is the most personally dangerous one in the chapter. And it stands out because it was not peacekeeping. It was peacemaking. There is a real difference. Peacemaking means using diplomacy to get warring sides to stop fighting. And the catch is that peacemakers cannot carry any weapon or military equipment. Not even for self-defense.
In May 1997, Singapore sent Lieutenant Colonel Lo Yong Poo to the UN Special Mission in Afghanistan (UNSMA). His job was to visit frontlines, assess military situations, talk to militia commanders, and try to negotiate ceasefires. Visiting the frontlines meant getting caught in rocket and artillery fire. Sometimes stumbling on dead and decomposing bodies.
In September 1997, things got worse in northern Afghanistan. Lo was sent to Mazar-I-Sharif to help evacuate UN personnel. The journey that should have taken half a day stretched to four days. The team was robbed twice by gunmen and detained by local militia for several hours. Another militia group had to negotiate their release.
When Lo finally reached Mazar, the situation had gotten so bad that 15 UN personnel and two NGO workers were evacuated to the neighboring province the next day. Two peacemakers chose to stay behind. Lo was one of them. They believed that maintaining the UN presence would give locals some hope that the UN did not desert those in need.
It was a brave decision but things only got worse. All attempts to negotiate with local authorities failed. Then one of the warring factions issued a death threat against them. That was the signal to leave.
Three helicopter evacuation attempts were aborted because of bad timing and weather. After more than three weeks stuck in Mazar, a friendly helicopter passing by managed to pick them up and fly them to safety.
When Lo returned to Singapore in May 1998, he was awarded the SAF Medal for Distinguished Act, given for bravery in adversity. He was one of only two SAF personnel to receive this award for service in UN peace operations.
Lo reflected on the experience by saying: “The relative peace and harmony enjoyed by our own multi-racial, multicultural society in Singapore is a sobering contrast to the violent racial and religious upheavals in Afghanistan and is something for which we can be truly thankful.”
Beyond Boots on the Ground
The SAF’s contributions go beyond sending people into conflict zones. They also share expertise with the UN system.
Since 1995, the SAF has been seconding qualified personnel to management positions in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Department of Field Support (DFS). They also participated in the UN Military Units Manual Initiative, chairing the Maritime Working Group and contributing to the Aviation and Engineer Working Groups. The manuals were presented at the final conference in December 2014.
The full list of 15 missions is impressive for a country this size. It includes election supervision in Namibia (1989) and South Africa (1994). Military observation in Angola, Iraq-Kuwait, Ethiopia-Eritrea, and Nepal. Transport and aerial support in Cambodia. Medical support in Guatemala. And of course the long commitments in the Gulf and Timor-Leste.
My Take
This chapter surprised me. I did not know that Singapore’s military had this level of involvement in international peace operations. 1,500 personnel across 15 missions since 1989 is not a token effort. It is real, sustained commitment.
The Operation Nightingale story is gripping. Thirty people sent into the middle of a war, with SCUD missiles landing and chemical attack warnings going off constantly. They treated 210 casualties and came home as a better medical team. That is real-world training that no exercise can replicate.
The Afghanistan story is even more intense. An unarmed military officer, alone with one colleague, staying behind in a city descending into chaos because he felt the UN should not abandon people in need. That takes a particular kind of courage.
But the Timor-Leste story is the one with the most lasting impact. Thirteen years of continuous commitment. Medical teams, combat peacekeepers, helicopter detachments, observation posts. Singapore was one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. For a small country with no direct strategic interest in Timor-Leste, that says something about how seriously Singapore takes its international responsibilities.
The pattern we see throughout this book shows up again. Singapore is small, so it finds niche areas where it can contribute the most. It does not try to match the big countries in numbers. It competes on quality and commitment.
About the Author
This chapter is written by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The SAF has contributed to UN peace operations since 1989. More than 1,500 SAF personnel have participated in 15 missions, serving as military observers, medical officers, election supervisors, combat peacekeepers, and management staff. The SAF also regularly seconds qualified personnel to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support.
Previous: Singapore’s Weather and Climate Story with the WMO