Shaikh Taufiq

so america votes today, a historic event that will be in history books in the years to come. this is something every african-american can tell their children – that america, a usually white-dominated country, will have its first black (ok maybe non-white) president in all its history. finally after 8 years, there seems to be something to look forward to. the most memorable american president for me would be clinton…he was the good guy and the exemplary american president for me…until that lady screwed it all up for him of course.

k i drafted that first paragraph days ago…now back to here and now.

ORD LO!!! finally after 1 year 10 months of national service, it has come to an end for me. good and bad memories come from this memorable period. and i’ve learnt many valuable lessons in the process. one of the more important and prominent ones is that i can accomplish anything that my mind has set to do. what i mean is that before i enlisted, i actually wanted to go to the army since i thought that was more challenging and fulfilling (i still think it is). i also decided beforehand that i wanted to go to OCS cuz that would be considered the ‘best of the best’ in terms of national service. then i got that fateful letter that instructs me to report to this place called Home Team Academy. I was enlisted to the police force. ok fine i can live with that. i still wanted to be the best that i can be (which is the best of the best…i’m not bragging.) so i decided to aim for the Officer Cadets – which would mean that i would be one of only two per intake to get into officer cadets in police since most of them are taken from the army (dont ask me why). so there i was, in my civilian clothes, waiting in line for my haircut when my field instructor asks for a few nominees to be the permanent squad leader. luckily, there were quite a few who were from MI so they knew me. as i stood in front of the squad with two other guys beside me, najib and ilyas, i was hoping that i would get this position cuz it would catapult me forward in my ambition to become part of the officer cadets. so for the next three months i lead, gained rapport, communicated and whatever else that i needed to do as a squad leader. then came the part where we had to choose what vocation we wanted. the choices did not include being in officer cadets cuz you had to be chosen to get inside. so i chose, out of the list, NPCO, FI or SOC trooper. and waited a few more days…then i was approached by my FI and he told me that i was gonna be chosen as one of the nominees to become an officer cadet. during that period, i went to paya lebar airbase a few times to do an interview and medical at the RSAF medical centre. but we all know where that went right? but that kinda helped me out a lot since that gave me the mental motivation to get into OCT. i really believed in myself that i could conquer any challenge that was put in front of me. that was the fuel for my fire. i was able to get through the nomination process of OCT out of 7 other candidates, of which only three got to the part where we were interviewed by a panel of 10-15 officers, including Director PNSD, Mr Rajoogopal. and finally the two of us came through. but honestly, i dont know how the other came through. there was no doubt in my mind that i wasnt gonna go through. that was how confident i was of myself and what i was able to conquer. so after the selection process, i started my OCT life waiting to become an NS Inspector.

I gotta say that my OCT life was quite a lot more fun than the first three months. i met quite a few interesting people here and there, all of which i do not know beforehand. Coming from mostly top schools. I was quite sure that these guys who were selected from the army was posted to police OCT because of their IQ. they didnt need to be the best at field training not did they need to march good. they just needed brains.that’s how they were selected for OCT. but they still think they’re army rejects so let them think all they want la. OCTs have their benefits and privileges. during training, our pay was $650. we were getting paid to waste time in our bunks, while we used our laptops which were provided to us, complete with internet connection. did i mention that they were brand new laptops, straight out of the boxes? but they sure werent like that when we returned them. we had our own recreation room complete with a fridge, TV, VCD player and air con of course. we didnt get scolded by the SC FIs or even the regular ones cuz they knew that we would pass out as inspectors. only ASPs and above would scold us without restraint. we got to participate at big events and be the guard of honour at Police day parade and asean summit. we got to go to a 12 day OBS course for free, going through some of the toughest times and also the best times. but it was all better for me as an upgrader since i already went through swimming lessons, shooting lessons and PDT course. wow. good times. there were so many instances where i just chilled out and did nothing at my bunk, surfing the internet or playing games…we all know what games they were right? hahaa….it was so chill out.

then came our passing out and getting our ranks. when i was given the rank for our number 3 uniform, i just stared at it for some time, absorbing the fact that i had waited 10 months just to get that rank. to the rest of the guys who were from the army, they thought they had gone a step lower by coming to police, even though they would become NS inspectors. but for me, this was my plan from 10 months before. this was a challenge i had gone though and managed to successfully accomplish i had set out to do. this was nothing that was pre-determined by mindef or police force. this was not laid down on me and stuffed in my face. i had chosen this path for myself. step by step i worked my way up from being a trainee to being an ns inspector. this is like ‘rank and file’ compared to a young and fresh senior officer coming into the police force.

then the work started. i think God is watching over me all this while. not only did i accomplish something big during NS, i was then given a job which did not require so much effort. being the security officer, it was a straight forward job and the tasks are specific. even better, the security line is in demand, which could go well in my resume if i need to make one.

i appreciate the people who have helped me along the way and gave me advice when i needed. but i dont appreciate those who have made bad decisions and especially those who made biased ones that prevent the ones who deserve it to achieve what they deserve to get. i thank all of my squadmates from both squads who have lived through NS with me and we all have great memories in camp and outside.

THANK YOU!!