{"id":20540,"date":"2022-07-24T21:35:42","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T13:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianhalloffame.sg\/?page_id=20540"},"modified":"2022-07-24T21:35:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T13:35:43","slug":"kirpa-ram-vij","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/indianhalloffame.sg\/?page_id=20540","title":{"rendered":"Kirpa Ram Vij"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1658507093882{border-radius: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”20541″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1658669438709{margin-top: 100px !important;margin-left: 120px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1658669739304{margin-top: 100px !important;margin-right: 120px !important;margin-bottom: 100px !important;margin-left: 120px !important;border-right-width: 10px !important;border-left-width: 10px !important;border-radius: 10px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Kirpa Ram Vij<\/h2>\n

IHF-SG Excellence Award For Armed Services Achievement<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Director, General Staff of Armed Forces, 1970\u2014 1974. First Chief of Armed
\nForces of Singapore.<\/p>\n

Kirpa Ram Vij is Singapore\u2019s first Chief of Armed Forces and Brigadier-General. He was seconded to the SAF when Singapore gained independence in 1965, and there he helped to start the SAFTI and the Singapore Command and Staff College. Brigadier General (retd) Kirpa Ram Vij believes that being at the right place at the right time, and of course hard work, will propel you to whatever you want to be.<\/p>\n

His family migrated to Singapore when he was 12 years old in October 1947 prompted by his father\u2019s older brother and his wife who had already resided in Singapore since 1928. His father was a sundry pushcart salesman buying things from wholesalers to sell the things to shops at Arab Street. After two years of residence in Singapore Kirpa started his primary education at the Rangoon Road Primary School. He used to help his father whenever time permitted after school. But his father wanted him to concentrate on his studies.<\/p>\n

After completing his primary education he joined Raffles Institution for his secondary education and he was a prefect and a quarter master in the cadet corps. A turning point in life emerged. His ambition was to become a teacher after finishing his secondary education but fate had other plans for him.<\/p>\n

His form teacher Philip Liau instead advised Kirpa to pursue a university education as after graduation he would be able to secure a teaching bursary. The education system works differently now. So, Kirpa took geography and graduated in 1960.<\/p>\n

After graduation he joined the Singapore administrative service and was posted first to the Land Office and then Ministry of Finance. While serving the administrative service, he continued his love for the uniform by serving the Singapore Volunteer Artillery in which he was a member. Sometimes he would take leave from his work to participate in military courses conducted by the British army establishment and came out top of the class to earn a sword of honour. In the 1960s during the \u2018confrontasi\u2019 (a policy of confrontation by Indonesia from 1963 to 1966, in opposition to the formation of Malaysia from the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore) and later the racial riots of Singapore, he was mobilised and he proved his capabilities of serving the Nation diligently.<\/p>\n

While he was an administrative Service Officer with the Ministry of Finance in 1965, his senior, permanent secretary (PS) George Boggars summoned him to his office and told him he would be transferred to a new ministry to helm a new position. But least did he expect that he would be asked to take responsibility in a new role not as a civilian but as a uniformed officer at the newly created Ministry of Interior and Defence. He was sent off to meet the then-Minster of Defence, Dr Goh Keng Swee.<\/p>\n

Then PM Lee Kuan Yew had asked Dr Goh Keng Swee to take over the newly created Ministry of Interior and Defence and organise it. In turn, he requested Kirpa to set up a military training institute for the Armed Forces. Dr Goh had full confidence in Kirpa\u2019s capabilities after his experience in the Singapore Volunteer Artillery and the military courses he had undergone with the British Army where he had scored excellently. So, Kirpa was set in motion in his new posting. Singapore had adopted the Israeli method of National Service.<\/p>\n

In order to learn the intricacies of training methods, he went to Israel and observed all the technics. Once he was sure that their methods would suit our environment, he request the Israeli government for assistance. His request was promptly accepted and Israeli military training officials and advisors were dispatched to Singapore. Thus, the beginning of military training and the setting up of Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute (SAFTI) in Singapore. He felt his greatest moment was when the first batch of officers graduated from the SAFTI.<\/p>\n

He served the Army excellently and received many accolades during his impeccable service to the Nation. His contributions to Singapore\u2019s nation building are manifold, from establishing the SAFTI, serving as a diplomat, helping in the growth of the National shipping industry and serving the Indian community.<\/p>\n

He was first appointed in1969 as commander of the first National Service Brigade and later became the first director of the Command and Staff College. In 1970 he was appointed as the Director General Staff (head of Army) and served in the capacity for four years. He was the first Singaporean to be the Army Chief. He later returned to the administrate service for a year and then was dispatched as an ambassador to Egypt and concurrently to Lebanon, Yugoslavia and Pakistan. He was nostalgic about serving in Pakistan as it was his birth place.<\/p>\n

After his stint as a diplomat he was roped in to the National Shipping Line, Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) as the general manager and then as a liaison officer when NOL went for IPO. He retired from NLO in 1995. He was an advisor for the Hindu Endowment Board and Executive Committee member of SINDA, director on the board of Gateway and the vice-president of Indian Education Trust.<\/p>\n

‘I\u2019m quite clear on where | stand. | have no other country in mind,
\nwhere | could be. My childhood experience, traumatic as it was, taught
\nme something. We had to leave home. We established ourselves in
\nSingapore, and this is where we went to school. I\u2019m thankful Singapore gave me a chance to contribute,\u2019 shares Kirpa Ram Vij. (Ref
\n-Izyan Nadzirah).<\/p>\n

He is married to his wife Nirmal since 1962 and have three grown up children; eldest daughter Archana, son Aravind and youngest daughter Anjna. All are married with children.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1658507093882{border-radius: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”20541″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1658669438709{margin-top: 100px !important;margin-left: 120px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1658669739304{margin-top: 100px !important;margin-right: 120px !important;margin-bottom: 100px !important;margin-left: 120px !important;border-right-width: 10px !important;border-left-width: 10px !important;border-radius: 10px !important;}”] Kirpa Ram Vij IHF-SG Excellence Award For Armed Services Achievement   Director, General Staff of Armed Forces, 1970\u2014 1974. First Chief of Armed Forces of Singapore. Kirpa…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":13046,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20540","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nKirpa Ram Vij - Indian Hall of Fame Singapore<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Welcome to Indian Hall of Fame Singapore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/indianhalloffame.sg\/?page_id=20540\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kirpa Ram Vij - Indian Hall of Fame Singapore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to Indian Hall of Fame Singapore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/indianhalloffame.sg\/?page_id=20540\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Indian Hall of Fame Singapore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/228094381301418\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-24T13:35:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/indianhalloffame.sg\/?page_id=20540\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/indianhalloffame.sg\/?page_id=20540\",\"name\":\"Kirpa Ram Vij - 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