Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen presented The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Scholarship to 10 recipients, SAF Merit Scholarship (SMS) to 20 recipients as well as the Defence Merit Scholarship (DMS) to 13 recipients at a ceremony held at the Istana this evening.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Ng challenged the scholarship recipients to live up to the high expectations of being a defence scholar and urged them to continue to uphold the high standards. He said, "Those who have gone on this path before you and there have blazed a trail and set high standards that you must now aspire to… If each generation shows the same unwavering determination to take up the duty of defending Singapore, I am confident that we will be able to confront uncertainties with courage and resilience, and emerge stronger as a nation."

Introduced in 1971, The SAF Scholarship, formerly known as SAF Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS), is a prestigious scholarship second only to the President's Scholarship. The SMS and DMS scholarships were introduced in 1983 and 2002 respectively. All three scholarships aim to recruit top students from each cohort of school-leavers to join MINDEF and the SAF. This year's scholarship recipients, who have demonstrated academic excellence and outstanding leadership qualities, will be pursuing their undergraduate studies at reputable local and overseas universities.

Upon completion of their tertiary education, The SAF Scholarship and SMS recipients will return to the armed forces to assume a variety of challenging appointments that will groom them for senior command and leadership positions in MINDEF and the SAF. The DMS recipients will return from their studies as Defence Executive Officers. They will be groomed for senior management positions in MINDEF by taking on varied job challenges to hone their skills in critical defence areas.

Present at the award ceremony were senior officials from MINDEF and the SAF, members of the Public Service Commission, in-service scholars, school principals, as well as the parents of the 43 scholarship recipients.