random thoughts…from steven

Ever since I’ve started this blog, I’ve written about quite a variety of things but over time I’ve noticed that none are as popular as the one I wrote about my time in national service. I think it’s because every guy has to go through it in Singapore and so it’s a topic that will always be relevant.

So I thought I might share a bit more about why I found value in my time at national service.

For starters, it gets you doing stuff you most likely would never do. So for some, the chance to fire a real machine gun or to fly in a helicopter with no doors might seem exciting. For others, the idea of sitting in a mosquito laden jungle in the middle of the night waiting for the “so called” enemy or the concept of digging up a big hole to “hide in” just seems rather stupid.  But either way, you do learn something from it.

I have thought both ways at different stages of my national service and many a time I thought myself smarter than the strategies they were teaching. You see the military has a strange way of making the simple seem complex and the complex seem even more complex. If you can polish a boot with one sponge, they’ll ask that you first use a stick to put on the kiwi, then the sponge to brush it and finally a cloth to clean what the sponge has already cleaned. Why? It’s about discipline.

It’s just like taking your driving test. You drive your very best, always check your rear view mirror, keep to the speed limit, do a full stop at the stop sign…then you pass and the next thing you know, you’re driving as if you’re the only car on the road.

So there is sense in the madness. We have to learn how things should be, we have to learn what is the ideal or model answer. If we do not aim for perfection, we will never even come close. Because we know that perfection is very rarely achieved but in order to try and get as close as we can to it, we then become creative. So we learn how to think outside the box and we learn to find ways to achieve goals that may otherwise be impossible. Anyone who has been through national service will tell you about the numerous ingenious way to achieve “almost perfect” goals. I’m not saying they are the best way to do something but they force you to adapt and to be versatile. You learn to use what you have around you to achieve a goal.

And that’s just like real life. Problems occur because things don’t go as they should and telling the problem to “go by the book” isn’t going to solve it. So we find ways to adapt and it is this versatility that helps us get by.

But of all the things I learnt, I learnt the most about people. I learnt more about relating to others and working as a team. I learnt the importance of earning the respect of others and it did not matter what rank or vocation you were. I learnt that in everything we do, people are truly the most important part of the equation.

So that’s it. For those who are about to go in, yes, you should be a little afraid, it’s a whole new world. But don’t denouce it before you’ve given it a chance. Make the most of your two years there. It can be time well spent or time totally wasted. It’s up to you.

In a strange coincidence, over the past few months I have come across a few people in Singapore who have told me that they want to instill patriotism in people. And it’s not just talk, they mean to do so with actual programmes.

I thought and I still think it’s an interesting agenda to have. After all, how do you create patriotism in someone? It’s like saying, let me teach you to how to “like singing”. Don’t you just like it or not?

But that’s not why I write today. I write because I’m actually more surprised that there are now champions of patriotism. And I say that with some pride.

Yes, Singapore did transform itself from a fishing village to the modern metropolis it is today, I can’t say I really feel for that because much of it happened before I grew up, I was born in the 1970s and by then Singapore was already fairly developed.  But from my 37 years on earth, with most of it in Singapore, I dare say we’ve turned a point and not just in terms of a physical transformation. Today there are many Singaporeans who are proud to wave the red and white flag and proud to tell the world they are Singaporean. I am one of them but it’s only been in the last ten years that I’ve felt this way.

I had the opportunity to pursue my university education abroad and at the time (early 1990s), I admit I was not an ambassador for the country. Maybe it was the singlish we spoke or the way we attacked the books, often forgetting that it was meant to be a learning experience and not a memorisation effort. There were many stereotypes that came with being Asian and I did not want to associate myself with them. At the time, being Singaporean was the same as being Asian and it did not help you stand out from that pact.

So I took great efforts to mix with students from other parts of the world, I spoke up in class, I asked questions…I did all the things they would not expect the Asian kid in class to do.

It is with that in mind that I now say we have changed and grown as a people and as a country.  Sure, we still speak singlish, but now many of us know how to “code switch” between the two, so we can speak fluent english when we need to and singlish is our own uniquely endearing way of speaking with fellow Singaporeans.

At the same time, I have grown and matured and now understand how and why many things are the way they are in Singapore. In some ironic sense, the young university graduate that returned with many idealistic notions has grown into a more mature and realistic adult…still with some ideals, just more tempered ideals.

Therefore to hear someone say they want to champion patriotism…well, I doubt anyone would have had that in mind some ten years ago. Yet at the same time, it’s a cause I actually believe can be achieved.

Today I am a father with a young daughter and a wonderful wife who though not Singaporean, has been warmly welcomed into the country. Had she not been, I would never have met her. So I say thank you to those who have helped make Singapore what it is today. And I hope that in my own small way, I can continue to contribute to a country that I know, will one day be my daughter’s too.