career military force of 39,000 is supplemented by 46,800 men on active National Service duty, the latter generally filling up the lower ranks. This group of just over 80,000 officers and servicemen/women staffs the command structure, advises the government, manages the bases, teaches at the tri-service SAFTI Military Institute, flies the on-call jets, crews the ships on-patrol and stands watch over the straits. They comprise both the top command structure and what might be called the "Standing Forces" which can go into a humanitarian relief or combat situation instantly. The main force actually comprises 400,000 or so Operationally-Ready National Servicemen (ORNSmen). This is the full mobilization force that can be called up within a few days. They are the 10-year ORNSmen with regular training and call-up cycles. Full sets of light equipment stands ready for them in armories and heavy equipment for their units is maintained in dedicated bunkers. Singapore is very high tech and individuals can be reached almost instantly; thus the system is highly flexible, so only the units and numbers needed for a particular task can be summoned. If called up they would be integrated into, augment and dramatically expand the "Standing Forces" up to five times its peacetime size, fully staffed and equipped, while maintaining a cohesive structure. The SAF's policy towards Malays, who share religious and ethnic ties with Singapore's largest neighbours, Malaysia and Indonesia, has been a source of controversy over the years. Malays were virtually excluded from conscription from the beginning of the draft in 1967 until 1977 and, after the policy was eased, were assigned mainly to serve in the police and civil defence (fire brigade), not active combat roles. In 1987, BG(NS) Lee Hsien Loong (then Second Minister for Defence) stated that "If there is a conflict, if the SAF is called to defend the homeland, we do not want to put any of our soldiers in a difficult position where his emotions for the nation may be in conflict with his religion" and in The Roar of the Lion City (2007), military analyst Sean Walsh claimed that "official discrimination against the Malay population remains an open secret". The Ministry of Defence contests the charge, noting that there are "Malay pilots, commandos and air defence personnel" and stating that "the proportion of eligible Malays selected for specialist and officer training is similar to the proportion for eligible non-Malays." Women are exempt