Singapore to provide training for RBAF

THE Royal Brunei Technical Services (RBTS) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singaporean firm ST Education & Training (STET) for the provision of education and training solutions to the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF).

Kelvin Chng Teow Hiang, senior director of STET, said the agreement is a continuation of an existing MoU established in 2005. Strong relations between the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) has enabled the appointment of STET as a training facilitator for the RBAF.

Previously, STET has provided training for RBN's sailors and officers in generic subjects such as navigation, firefighting, engineering, outboard motor handling.

STET has the same arrangement with the Singapore navy, where it is a strategic training partner and provides almost 30 per cent of RSN's training, said Kelvin.

"We call it the integrated training workforce, and most of our trainers are people who are retirees, or people who have left the navy and started a second career with us," he said.

The training for RBN will take place in Brunei and Singapore, but the number of trainers STET will deploy will depend on RBN's requirements for the courses it conducts.

"The collaboration between STET and RBTS is a positive venture, a win-win situation," he added. Dato Paduka Hj Mustappa Hj Sirat, chairman of the Brunei Darussalam International Defence Exhibition (BRIDEX) 2009, said the agreement will "continue and expand the scope of cooperation between RBTS and STET".

STET, established in 2002, is a strategic training partner of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), primarily in the area of training education services. The training delivered by STET includes maritime security, search and rescue operations and maritime domain operations.

Under the partnership with the Singapore navy, STET also provides a number of services, including subject matter expert services, which is the provision of consultants to participate in the design and development of training simulators, computer-based courseware and instructional aids and models.

The Brunei Times