A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

Thara Aslam, 10, sits down with her grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) (Ret) Sardar Ali, for a chat about his past in the Volunteer Special Constabulary (VSC), the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), and everything in between.

Thara: Could you tell me about your experience volunteering with the Police and working in the Army?

LTC (Ret) Ali: When I joined the VSC, I was in Secondary Four in Raffles Institution. We used to have a lot of free time, so I became a volunteer in the police force. During VSC training, I underwent training for drills and studied the law. One big bonus of being part of the VSC was that while in uniform, we could travel free on the buses. My first attachment in the VSC was to the radio division where I would handle all the incoming "999" calls. In addition to that, I had to do patrols in the Land Rovers. I went on to join the Navy, then the Army, before retiring on 1 Nov 1992 at the age of 53 - a long journey of almost 30 years - but it was not all in the SAF. Between 1958 and 1965, I was teaching in primary and secondary schools.

T: What was the most memorable experience that you had while in service?

A: The most memorable would definitely be during the Konfrontasi. Indonesia was not happy with the formation of Malaysia, so they sent people to carry out bombings. During that time, I was in the Navy and my job was to carry out patrols in the Telok Ayer Basin, carrying a rifle. That was memorable in the sense that there was tension and fear.

T: What were some of the difficulties you faced in the past?

A: Training was very tough. But it was good that it was tough because it trained us to be resilient and strong. In retrospect, the tough training led to life-long friendships for me and many of us SAF retirees continue to meet and reminisce about the good old times.

Here is Grandpa when he was in the VSC. He is the leftmost guy in the front row.

T: What was your proudest accomplishment?

A: One of the things that I'm proudest of was when I was in the School of Manpower. I had to organise work improvement training for SAF members. I helped develop a training programme for SAF Work Improvement Team (WIT) members, leaders and facilitators. I went around to all the different formations to talk to the officers and men about the implementation of WIT programmes in their respective formations and units. Now, they call what I developed, PRIDE - PRoductivity and Innovation in Daily Efforts - and it is very successful! [See Cover story on Pages 10 to 19 for more on MINDEF PRIDE Day 2015]

T: Tell me about the vintage parade in this year's National Day Parade that you participated in.

A: The SAF Veterans' League gave me a call one day and asked me if I would like to participate. I was told that I would get the chance to wear the old uniform I wore back when I was in service. I was excited because the uniform means a lot to pioneers like me.

It was a great experience because I reconnected with a lot of my friends whom I had not met in a long time.

During the actual parade on 9 Aug, I remember the Prime Minister and entire Cabinet standing up to cheer us on as we marched past. It was a very satisfying experience.

Grandpa when he was at SAFTI.

T: What advice would you give to me and other young Singaporeans?

A: Young Singaporeans nowadays are different from those in the past. In the past, we had to do a lot of things ourselves and went through much more hardship. My advice would be to take advantage of the many exciting opportunities that present-day Singapore offers. Study hard and you'll definitely be able to achieve your dreams.