SINGAPORE — Former army regulars who had served in the same unit as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will tell you that he did not set himself apart from his army mates, and morale was always high around him.
Mr Tan Seng Poh, 65, a retired Lieutenant Colonel, remembered that after training one night, Mr Lee dismissed his security officer, and was relaxing with the other servicemen in T-shirts and shorts. When they rallied him to go for supper, he was “very game”.
“He said, ‘Come, let’s go’,” Mr Tan recalled. That night, they had mutton soup and mee siam.
PM Lee’s favourite late-night snack was mutton soup at the old Chong Pang Village in Sembawang.
Mr Tan was speaking to the media at a dinner to celebrate 50 years of National Service on Monday (Oct 30). He and retired Lieutenant Colonel Choy Kin Chong, 66, was in the artillery formation with Mr Lee between 1973 and 1984.
Mr Choy remembered that when the men were carrying out menial chores such as grass-cutting, Mr Lee would stay with them in comradeship.
Humble and disciplined as a soldier, not once did Mr Lee ride on his position as the son of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, they said. “He didn’t say that because he’s so and so, he didn’t have to do (certain duties). He behaved very normally,” Mr Tan said.
Mr Lau Peck Woh, 63, a retired Senior Warrant Officer, remembered how Mr Lee noticed one time that some of his men’s shoes were gaping at the toes. It turned out that they had missed a quarterly kit exchange because they had to go for a scheduled exercise. He then informed the quartermaster in charge of supplies, and within a week, the men had new shoes.
Mr Tan also recounted that when Mr Lee was a junior officer, he had written a programme to compute the angle to fire a gun. Before that, the men had to tediously calculate these details manually. “PM said that was… so primitive. So he started to think that something could be done,” he said.
Above: (L-R) Vikneswaran and his father, P. Silvakumaran at the Float @ Marina Bay on 30th Oct 2017. Photo by Najeer Yusof/TODAY
Talking to reporters as well about their memories of NS were Mr P Silvakumaran, 50, and his son Vikneswaran, 21.
Having followed his father’s footsteps, Mr Vikneswaran is serving his NS in the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), as an instructor in the National Service Training Institute. His father trained the construction brigade about three decades ago.
In two weeks’ time, Mr Vikneswaran will complete his full-time NS and will then further his studies in mechanical engineering. During his stint at SCDF, he holds on to the advice that his father gave: To be punctual, self-disciplined and to control his temper.
“When (my father) used to go for reservist, he would tell me about the training,” Mr Vikeswaran said. “I am happy that I can continue his legacy.”
