paper general

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪpə ˈdʒɛn(ə)ɹəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪpɚ ˈdʒɛnəɹəl/

paper general (plural paper generals)

1. (Singapore, derogatory) A person who, upon completion of a government scholarship to study in a university, is promoted to a high rank in the military despite the lack of combat experience.
   • 2003 September 25, Ah Seow, soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet):

     To distract undue public scrutiny of the paper general, SAF officers – regular and otherwise -- were instructed to use their military rank before their names.

   • 2011 July 4, decoy, soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet):

     now, the cheebye-kia paper general (parasite-puppet) is parroting the old mother-f. so, is the mother-fugging paper general smart?

   • 2014 February 13, “The Unseen Singapore #20: Singapore's War Veterans”, in The Unseen Singapore‎:

     Whenever Singaporeans talk about the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the focus on our military leader's lack of real combat experience never fail to arise. Moreover, with the mediocrity of our paper generals on display for all to see, there is little wonder why Singaporeans doubt their capabilities.

   • 2015 January 7, “Paper Generals Should Be Left Out Of Politics”, in Rilek1Corner‎:

     What’s worse about our system is that all the generals do not have any combat experience. These paper generals have been fast-tracked because of their stellar academic results and nothing else.

   • 2017 October 4, Benjamin Lim, “It Makes Perfect Sense that Generals Become Ministers”, in Yahoo Lifestyle‎:

     So instead of calling out the nitty-gritty of political blunders by pinning the blame on the military, it’s time we look at the bigger picture and judge our paper generals on actual policy work.

• Not commonly used in everyday discourse, though not uncommon in anti-establishment circles; typically found in social media, blogs or anti-establishment news sites.