Thursday, September 28, 2006
Reflections on the Revolution (1)
The past two weeks has been rather monotonous for me despite the voracious change in events in the global front. The coup in Thailand made my mother shelve a CNY 2007 trip to Bangkok, doing so on the grounds that the military government is 'unpredictable' and that horrible things could happen beyond one's control. Somehow the coup is somewhat a necessary evil to help Thailand shape up its shaky democracy given the tumultous turn of events this year following Thaksin's sale of his family fortunes to Temasek Holdings. It is a pity that we see one of Thailand's most radical and charismatic leaders go down in such a dishonourable manner.
On the other hand, we fear that the next prime minister of Thailand could be a 'puppet' of the military government, since the military rulers has decided to stay on to 'advise' and 'guide' the civilian prime minister for an indefinte period of time. I ever wonder how much knowledge do military officers possess when it comes to running a civilian government. They may have studied civil-military relations in their Command and Staff Course but what they've been thought in this course does not prepare them to run a civilian government! (In the SAF senior officers of the rank of Major attend an eight-month SAF Command and Staff College Course [SCSC] at SAFTI MI before advancing to CO-equivalent appointments.)
Thailand is indeed a country worth studying in terms of its history. The fact that the country has seen 16 coups in the past 70 years as a constituitional monarchy, and that the country's economy and regional clout has grown in a relatively bullish manner shows that it is a very unique country. Several other nations like Myanmar, Cuba, Ivory Coast, Chile which currently (or used to) have military governments seems to show stagnation in socio-economic growth as well as a tight grip on the general rights and freedom of its people. We can only hope that the Thai people will show resilience and the will to bring their country to that of a credible civilian democracy with a good governance and a strong economy. Sun Zi has once said that civilian ministers and military officers can never be that of a single entity, but that of two separate entities which complement and cooperate with each other for the greater good of the state.
Anyway, I've just heard on the news that the MOE has decided to scrap off the EM3 stream, which in indeed another 'revolution' in Singapore's history of its education system. However, how far can it reduce the educational divide between the perceived 'elite', 'normal' and 'really cannot make it' factions in our young society, being catalysed by paranoid parents and teachers? Just as deposed Thai PM
Thaksin worked hard to reduce the rich-poor divide in Thailand by giving out allowances to the rural poor, incurring the wrath of the urban populace in Bangkok; can Singapore really see a more equitable society? I shall look more into this 'revolution' in my next article... while I take a break....
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zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
22:30
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Project VARIANTS
Project VARIANTS... yes it sounds like a codename to some MINDEF classified project or plan but rest assured it's not. It's the codename to symbolize the transitionary period of my life from that of a conscript to that of a civilian. Some people call it the "CCC" (or Civilian Conversion Course). However, I choose to codename my transition to the word "Variants".
Why do I use the word "Variants"? It is because variants is derived from the words "various", "variation" and "variety". I'm going to do alot of stuff to mark my transition and hence ORD on a high and impactful note. In addition, the word "Variants" is also the name for something which marked a period of my life to a significantly large extent. As to what it is really about, I shall keep it secret (just like any SAF personnel invovled in a classfied project) and those close peers and colleagues of mine will be told about it on a need-to-know basis.
Yesterday was just the start of my project. The road to attain the goals required in the project would be difficult especially when it has been four years ever since the "Variants" period ended. Nevertheless, I know that my faithful readers (who as usual, read but do not leave comment) would give me a kind of 'silent' support where necessary. So stay tuned and this blog will still continue on as per normal.....
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zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
16:50
Monday, September 04, 2006
The Change of Guards
I took the opportunity to witness the Istana's Changing of Guards Ceremony which took place yesterday evening, and hence decided to take a couple of pictures of it. I could have taken more photos but I was limited by the small size of my memory card. In addition, I was filled with some excitement when I found certains portions of the cermony intriguing, which explains why certain photos are blurry due to my trembling hands.
My readers would indeed want to realise that being in the SAF Provost Unit (SAFPU) is that of a challenge where one's mental discipline and compliance to military protocol are pushed to the limits in contrast to that of the typical combat NSF. The vocation of a Military Policeman is one of the most demanding and perfectionistic vocations of the SAF, yet it allows oneself to bask in great pride and honour, backed upon by the notable duty of enforcing the regimentation and discipline of the SAF. Performing Istana duties as well as performing rifle displays in the Silent Precision Drill Squad (SPDS) are one of the several roles of a SAF military policeman. A NSF Military Policeman undergoes basic training for two and a half months (hopefully I'm correct) at Mowbray Camp before they're being posted out to perform various specialist roles.
You might want to click on this
link for a brief introduction of SAFPU's role in the Istana. The Change of Guards Ceremony is becoming a tourist attraction, where I could count at least 50 foreigners among the 200-strong spectators. Nevertheless, I believe SAFPU has a long way to attain the fame that both the US and ROC Military Police have earned in terms of their bearing and silent drill performances. I shall not comment so much for now. Rather, I invite you to view my
photo album where I've tried my very best to showcase the sequence and the spectacle of the Change of Guards ceremony. Please read my comments for the individual pics. Last of all, I'd like to congratulate both the SPDS squad and the SAF Band for their entertaining performance. If you're interested to have an in-depth info about the life of a SAF Military Policeman, may I kindly direct you to Joey Yeo, a close friend of mine. Please click on the link on the right to read his blog.
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zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
19:45
Sunday, September 03, 2006
100 days left to be a civilian......
The weather has been very erratic these days that it has rendered a couple of my colleagues and superiors down with flu, myself included. My nose is quite red and runny right now (argh), in which one of my colleagues was quite proud in acknowledging himself as the superspreader. My colleagues and I actually found ourselves taking medical leave at times that my warrant taught there we were in some sort of conspiracy to escape from work.
I am roughly about 100 days to ORD, and I realise how fast I was in transiting back to a civilian from that of a conscript. I find it very scary yet on the other hand very relieving in this last 100 days as an NSF. No doubt I would happily shout "ORD LOH!" on my ORD day, but my heart beats of anxiety as a prospective university freshman. I ever wonder if I am still able to maintain the similar momemtum that I possessed back in my school days as compared to now. The biggest problem faced by many ORD-ed NSFs is that they realised that they've lost the intellectual strength to face up to the rigours of the freshman year in contrast to that of the fairer sex. I guessed I need some sort of Refresher Training (just as Commandos curse about going for Airborne Refresher Training (ART))....
The plan to transit back to the civilian world has to start now. I just visited the TJ Online Forums, put in a few words, hoping that some of the senior Forumers would remember me. Somehow I missed my civilian lifestyle very much, and the TJ Forums was quite a major part of my lifestyle back then as a civilian from ordinary forum poster to that of a moderator. In addition, I realised that I've quite alot of things for me to do, read and so on. However, I feel that I've not got the momentum to kick-start the transitionary process. There're alot of things for me to experience, understand and learn. There're many important life skills and academic stuff that I've yet to learn. Somehow I have sort of vegetated as a member of the SAF with regards to this, an absolute opposite of the Army's recent L.I.V.E. advertisement.
Well I learnt quite alot as being a clerk in the SAF. I understood the mechanism of MINDEF/SAF as a whole much better. I get to understand the rationale for certain decisions that senior officers make, where my fellow friends in combat may not get to comprehend. I get to know how MINDEF is different and unique in contrast to other ministries of the civil service. However, did I learnt something from the SAF? For someone who didn't get to complete BMT, it's quite hard to answer this question. Nevertheless, if there is one important lesson I got from NS, it was how important EQ is in our life. I got to understand how important it is to think positive as well as to how to work with people from the highly-educated officers, the deep-thought warrant all the way down to the simple-minded drivers and storemen, in which some of them even failed to complete secondary school! I can only hope that I can leave the SAF once again on a 'high' note just as I enlisted on a 'high' note.
Take care then, and I hope I can keep on the blogging momentum even as Maplestory, work and writers' block continue to give me problems....
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zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
17:00
