SHARING SOMEONE’S THOUGHTS

I received this write-up from someone that I thought is worthy of discussion and some soul searching. Some of the thoughts put into this write-up may cause the displeasure of some, but let’s open our argumentative minds a bit to see if Strategic Thoughts piece makes any sense to use.

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY – MY TWO CENTS PERCEPTION by Synthetic Thoughts

The two clearly distinct roles of the Armed Forces (AF) are:
1. In peace – To Train for War
2. In a Declaration of War – Defend the sovereignty of the nation by engaging and destroying the enemy.

Having said that, let us now examine the ‘new tasks’ assigned by the government to the AF under the guise of a Blue Ocean Strategy.

Firstly, policing is NOT AN AF DEFINED ROLE. It actually skirts around the misuse of competent resources. Policing is the competency of the Police, and combat is the competency of the AF and never the two should mix. Yes, everyone is responsible for security they say, but surely there are levels of security and layers of responsibility by respective organizations.

My contention is that Military/Police joint patrols are uncalled for and smells of a hidden agenda.

Let us see some new developments.

The Territorial Army (TA) is re-designated into Parliamentary Constituencies. For what - Better Command - Better Control - Cost Effectiveness?

In fact, I always thought that the TA is to ‘mirror’ the structure of the regular force, and thus the Command and Control should be within the designated geographical HQ locations of the regular force. The manpower, training and logistics are all interdependent to achieve commonality and smooth adherence of the SOP. I shudder to think how the Command and Control is now reorganized to address the re-designation on TA units/formations into Parliamentary Constituencies. Pardon me for saying this -I smell a hidden agenda.

Then, there is an attempt now to increase a few fold the strength of the RELA, and for what? Has the internal security situation deteriorate so much that there is a need for this? Or has the Home Minister decided that he needs more clout to harass the public, foreigners, sinners, fornicators etc. Do we need a publicly funded private army (sort of) at the beck and call of politicians? Are these RELA also to be organized according to Parliamentary Constituencies? Pardon me again for saying this, but this is the public’s perception, and it smells something fishy here too.

Call me old fashioned, but I was made to believe that all the while, the separation of roles, tasks and powers of the Military and Police was healthy for the nation; well intended and in fact kept a sense of check and balance.

I feel now that there is compromise in this. So, what next?

Am I wrong to suppose that in the near future all security agencies in the country would come under a single ministry, say the Ministry of Security directly under the PM’s Department? And then, we have an individual in the nation’s executive to single handedly unleash the power of the military for political survival. This certainly is not my view of democracy. There is no perceived gain; only potential pain.

Such nonsense must cease, here and now.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION