The long Sembawang Road has been the home to many military camps and bases – Nee Soon Camp, Sembawang Air Base, Dieppe Barracks, Khatib Camp and Chong Pang Camp. The road ends at Sembawang Shipyard, which was the former Singapore Naval Base (or HMS Sembawang).
The early seventies was a transitional period that saw a mixture of military personnel of different nationalities stationed at Sembawang Road’s camps. With the withdrawal of the British in 1971, a new tripartite force called ANZUK was formed by Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom between 1 November 1971 and 31 January 1974 under the five-nation defence agreement (together with Singapore and Malaysia) to maintain a defensive presence in the region.
Under the ANZUK command, Nee Soon Barracks, Dieppe Barracks, Kangaw Barracks and the Sembawang Airfield were consolidated under one Sembawang Garrison. Kangaw Barracks (present-day Sembawang Air Base), previously occupied by the Australian troops, was returned to Singapore, whereas Dieppe Barracks was taken over by the 1st Battalion of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (1 RNZIR). At the other side of Sembawang Road, the former Khatib Camp was built and used by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).
Royal Malaysian Navy
The old Khatib Camp was used by the RMN between 1970 and 1980 to train its navy recruits. The site, located opposite of Dieppe Barracks, was acquired in 1964 when Singapore was still part of the Federation of Malaysia.
According to some sources, before the sixties, this site was used by the British to train their soldiers to drive military vehicles. A looped asphalt road was built for the training purpose, but the British troops would also sometimes use it to hold mini races for jeeps, motorcycles and dirt bikes, attracting large cheering crowds from the nearby camps and villages.
After RMN acquired the site, they cleared the vegetations and built a camp initially for an army infantry battalion. It was not until 1970 that KD Sri Pelandok, the Royal Malaysian Naval Training School, took over the premises for training purposes.
But by 1978, the RMN had moved most of its facilities to its KD Malaya at Woodlands. The role of Khatib Camp was reduced as a storage place. In 1980, the RMN shifted its remaining facilities back to Malaysia, where their new naval base at Perak’s Lumut had just turned operational.
The RMN returned Khatib Camp to the Singapore government in 1982. It was part of a series of agreements signed between the two governments during Malaysia’s Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s official visit to Singapore in December 1981. KD Malaya, the only remaining RMN base in Singapore, was eventually handed over to Singapore in 1997.
New SAF Camp
After Singapore took over RMN’s Khatib Camp, it was redeveloped into a new Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) camp. The new camp, also named Khatib Camp, was completed by the Public Works Department (PWD) in 1983 at a cost of $90 million. It was part of the Ministry of Defence’s (Mindef) long-term plan in 1978 to develop new SAF camps and complexes in Singapore. Occupying an area of 108,300 square metres, the new Khatib Camp was designed to have a stadium, running tracks, medical centres, shooting ranges and obstacle courses.
The SAF Boys’ School was one of the first establishments at Khatib Camp, shifted from its old premises at Changi Air Base. However, it barely lasted a year before it was closed to be replaced by the new SAF Education Centre in 1984.
It was a new “Learn As You Earn” scheme introduced by the SAF, which aimed to attract “N” and “O” Level students to join the SAF after their graduations. At the centre, which was well-equipped with lecture rooms, science laboratories, audio-visual rooms and a library, the students could study, train and learn military skills, while being paid $470 a month. The response was overwhelming, as more than 500 youths applied in the first year of the scheme.
Khatib Camp, throughout the years, also served as the home for the Singapore Artillery, Singapore Combat Engineers and Singapore Air Defence Artillery (SADA).
These schools and units formed Khatib Camp’s history and heritage. Their legacies are reflected in the names of the camp’s inner roads, such as Artillery Avenue (named after Singapore Artillery), Youth Drive (after SAF Education Centre) and Shorad Avenue (after SADA; shorad stands for short-range air defence).
Home of the Gunners
Khatib Camp is well-known as the “Home of the Gunners”, serving as the headquarters for the Singapore Artillery since 1983, the same year when the camp was completed.
The Singapore Artillery was Singapore’s oldest military formation. It began in 1888 when W.G. St Clair, editor of the Singapore Free Press, set up a 96-member Singapore Voluntary Artillery. This voluntary artillery unit was the first to use the Maxim Gun in the British Empire and also the first to be equipped with coastal guns that were installed at Pulau Blakang Mati (present-day Sentosa). After Singapore’s independence in 1965, the unit was restructured into the 20th People Defence Force (Artillery), and subsequently became the 20th Singapore Artillery Battalion in 1968.
The Singapore Artillery’s headquarters was originally based at Taman Jurong Camp in the early seventies. It was shifted to Kangaw Barracks in 1976, and then to Khatib Camp in 1983. After Singapore Artillery’s departure, Kangaw Barracks was handed over to the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and became officially known as Sembawang Air Base.
The Singapore Artillery celebrated its 100th anniversary on 22 February 1988, and held a grand military parade at Khatib Camp. It also organised an overnight 100km relay by 800 runners that started and ended at Khatib Camp. In the same year, SAF introduced the FH-88 155mm Field Howitzer, a powerful artillery gun that was locally developed and produced by defence engineers. It was first presented at Khatib Camp for the 23rd Battalion of the Singapore Artillery.
Open Houses, Parades and IPPT
In 1986, SAF organised a large open house at four camps and bases – Khatib Camp, Taman Jurong Camp, Paya Lebar Air Base and Brani Naval Base. It offered the public a chance to view the latest military equipment, try the weapons and even taste the army food. The open house was a success, as it attracted tens of thousands in visitorship.
From the late eighties to the nineties, Khatib Camp was also the designated venue for many parades, including the annual SAF Day Parade and a rare colours parade in 1991. Colours are distinctive military flags awarded to armed forces units.
In this colours parade held on 20 October 1991, then-Singapore President Wee Kim Wee (1915-2005) presented 25 new colours to the SAF. The old colours, 21 of them that had been used by the SAF for the past 15 years, were retired.
In 1991, a new flexible scheme was implemented by the SAF to allow each and every reservist to choose his convenient date, time and venue to take his Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT). Khatib Camp, along with Maju Camp and Amoy Quee Camp, were selected as the three IPPT test centres.
This benefited up to 200,000 reservists who were required to take the annual test. A new SAF cloth sleeve badge – the IPPT badge – was also introduced, in 1993, as an award to those who did well in their physical fitness tests.
Khatib Neighbourhood
While many other SAF camps are situated a distance away from the residential estates, Khatib Camp has been surrounded by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats since the mid-eighties. These flats, part of the Yishun New Town, were constructed between 1984 and 1987.
There are also several schools around Khatib Camp. Yishun Innova Junior College, started as Yishun Junior College, was established in 1986. Naval Base Secondary School relocated from Sembawang’s Bah Tan Road to become Khatib Camp’s neighbour since 1988. In the same year, Peiying Primary School (formerly Poi Eng Public School) also moved into its new Yishun Ring Road school campus from Upper Thomson Road.
The Khatib MRT Station was opened in 1988, providing much needed convenience to the many batches of Fulltime National Servicemen (NSFs) posted to Khatib Camp. Previously they could only access the camp from Sembawang Road. In the nineties, the camp allowed the NSFs to make their booking in and out at the camp’s rear gate for a short 10-minute walk to the MRT station.
Published: 27 August 2023
Remember Singapore 
I used to race my Velocette motorcycle at Sembawang circuit in the early sixties. The spectators standing along the very edge of the track, coupled with the fact that the track was quite narrow. was somewhat concerting!
I would have been one of those spectators. I lived in Sembawang Hills Estate.
Our neighbours were British servicemen & some of them raced their cars & bikes at the old Singapore Grand Prix.
I grew up in Sembawang Hills Estate & am very familiar with the stretch of the road. My brother & I were based at some of these camps during our service time. I used to be at the old Singapore Grand Prix during Easter when I was in primary school. My primary school was at the old race circuit.
I remember the circuit well. Used to be a road marshall for the Grand Prix and Motor Cross in Johor. On my last trip there a few years ago, I was surprised to see so many monkeys on these roads.
Long after the Grand Prix was shut & the people along the track were moved out to HDB flats, I used to take my dad’s car out late at night for a run on the old race track I was shocked at the number of dogs there that had become wild as the owners had left them when they relocated to HDB flats. The dogs used to chase the car & would try to attack when I pulled up next to the road.
I was in Arty as conscript & reservist, so Khatib Camp (& Amoy Quee Camp) was basically my army ‘home’ from 1986 to 2001.
PM Lee casted a long shadow there during my early days: all the Enciks knew him personally, my course materials had his signature, we computed arty data using his HP41 programmed calculator, his motivation quote was painted at the auditorum wall.
Also, the camp’s back door (to Khatib MRT) wasn’t operational yet, so everyone had to book out at the main gate (Sembawang Road), & take a long bus ride to everywhere else. Just recalling that memory is exhausting.
But HDB flats were already being built, so Nee Soon East, Central & South were strictly out of bounds for our howitzers. Only Gambas (still jungle then) & Lentor/SADA Hill (careful traffic planning needed for our long convoy) were available to us for field training.
The camp ecosystem was very schizophrenic. The Arty units dominate the place, so the HQSA/SOAY block was tyrannical with its regimentation (OCS/NCO/vocational trainees marching & saluting everyone), while the opposite 23SA/24SA/ARTC block (more laid-back operational NSFs/reservists) tried to avoid them lol.
Ditto the SADA unit, who otherwise kept to their own since they’re technically RSAF (different camo uniform). The SAF Boys School was basically regulars (wearing cover overalls or PT kits). The camp MPs also had their own uniforms & bunk.
There were 2 cookhouses, one initially ‘reserved’ for Arty personnel until all non-Muslims were ordered to eat there (the other cookhouse became halal). The canteen upstairs was a noisy hangout for NSF cooks into the wee hours, playing the arcade machines & using the payphone (we only had pagers then).
Meanwhile, other servicemen could book in to play football, use the gym, swim at the pool, visit the Emart. Eventually, the camp became a IPPT test centre &, after dark, a RT site for reservists who failed their fitness.
Imagine being the camp DO in charge of daily security! Or the poor guard commander/sentriwa having to deal with so many different people at night (including reservists driving home en masse after midnight & reporting back by 5am).
My family lived in Sembawang Hills Estate since it was set up in the late 1950s. I grew up in the area & know those camps well. In those days those camps were essentially ANZUK forces’ camps. The soldiers from those camps would come up to our Estate as there were several pubs there. Most of our neighbours were British servicemen. They used to drink a lot & there would usually be some excitement. Even the wives could match the men in drinking. Years later I was based in Nee Soon Camp even while the Kiwi forces were still there. The wives were extremely fit & could outrun our guys when we ran along the roads in the camp.
Can’t wait for the Née Soon Camp
Remember to use the shots of the camp from the virgin soldiers movie
Everyone’s Gone to nee soon
https://mothership.sg/2018/09/1960s-singapore-david-ayres/
For info about my last statement
Dear Remembering Singapore
Please write about the (new/old) Tanglin Officers Mess. Not the building that was MINDEF HQ and is now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Rather I mean the 12(?) storey circular building at the back of Loewen Road, by the football field. When I was attached to MINDEF around 1979, I heard that it used to be the NCO mess during the British days. After the SAF took over, regular officers lived in the upper storeys, and all officers who subscribed (whether living in or not) could eat lunch on the ground floor. The building seems to have been demolished. Wonder why.