My Straight “A”s Buddy
ST April 2, 2008
PM still looking for his successor
It takes about three elections to groom a leader, so there’s no time to lose, he says
By Lydia Lim
THE Prime Minister faces an urgent task: Find and field those who can take over from him before he turns 70. Already 56, Mr Lee Hsien Loong is seeking political talent in their 30s and early 40s, one of whom he hopes will emerge as his successor. He has no time to lose as past experience indicates that it takes about three general elections to groom a leader. This means those who contest the next polls, due by 2011, might be ready to lead only two elections after that. By then, Mr Lee will be 69 years old.
‘That is very late. So there’s no time to be lost,’ he said in an interview with The Straits Times and Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao at the Istana yesterday.
…… Of concern to him is the outflow of top talent abroad. He looked at recent data on the 600-odd students who score four As in their A levels each year. About two-thirds pursue university degrees here, and one-third go overseas. Of those who go overseas, at least 100 are not on scholarships. About half of these non-scholarship holders do not return but work abroad after they graduate.
In addition, another 100 of those who get their degrees here go overseas to work. They may come back one day but there is no guarantee. ‘This flow is going to continue,’ Mr Lee said. ‘So it’s a big challenge to find successors, particularly for politics.’
I can’t say I know a lot of friends who scored 4As or more in the A levels. But if anyone fills the description of what our PM is looking for in terms of political talent, I think my army buddy would be it. He’s tall, good looking, highly intelligent and well spoken. Best of all, he graduated from Raffles JC with 4As and he comes from a rich upper class family.
This is what you call pedigree- the very image of a stereotypical RJ guy these days.
I, on the other hand is the atypical AC guy, The only common ACS heritage that I carry with me is my poor command of mandarin. Other than that, I wasn’t smart, suave or rich and I didn’t have a girlfriend from SCGS. I guess the powers that be thought it would be a nice joke to pair up a RJ guy with an AC guy.
Anyway that was my army buddy during the first 3 months of BMT (basic military training)- and I use the term “buddy” very very loosely.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t like him not because he was an RJ guy but it was a gradual dislike that was built up over 3 months of pent-up frustration. I wasn’t really into the whole school rivalry thing anyway.
Like most of us, he wasn’t particularly into the whole military regiment business much less the institutionalized physical harassment that was commando training. It was a place for the phony tough and the crazy brave- to quote Full Metal Jacket. If given a choice, most of us would surely opt out. Of course what most people didn’t realise was the depth of my buddy’s determination to get himself posted out of first commando battalion.
In the army, they have 2 ways for you to conform. First way is pretty much what most of us is quite familiar with- whack you until you conform to the shape that they want or 2, whack your platoon mates until peer pressure forces you to conform. Method one is effective almost ninty percent of the time. Method two is usually reserved for the sabo kings and the recalcitrant.
And let me tell you, while physical punishment is tough and sometimes almost unbearable in the commandos, watching your mates suffer while you stand idly by because of a stupid mistake you made is much much worse. First of all, nobody likes to be branded a sabo king. You could be obstracised or worse- be subjected to the blanket party treatment.
And so it was, for the next 3 months, my section, my platoon and I was punished over and over again for the mistakes my “buddy” made. No matter how simple the task or command, he was determined to prove to the commanders just how unfit he was for the commandos unit. So over and over again, he deliberately committed all manner of silly mistakes just so he could get posted out after 3 months of BMT.
I can tell you, it takes a determined soul to do something like that. To be branded public enemy number one among your platoon mates. To put up with the killer stares and the threat of blanket party beatings nightly.
It takes determination.
And it takes an inhuman amount of selfishness and insensitivity.
To see your platoon mates suffer while you stand by the side, to see guys with tears rolling down their cheeks because their muscles was cramping so badly after being in push up position for more than 3 hours in the middle of the night. All because you didn’t feel like putting up with commando training for the next 2.5 years.
You have to be quite determined and selfish to do something like that.
In the end, he got his wish while we paid the price. Like a say he was a highly intelligent guy. He set out to get himself posted out and that was what he achieved nevermind if 68 people has to be sacrificed for it to happen.
So I suppose this will be the kind of people our PM is looking for to lead us into the future. Can’t say it surprises me. I’d say this kind of people are already running the country with the things that has been going on. People who only cares about their narrow objectives and is willing to justfy the end with whatever means necessary. Smart, intelligent guys with a whole lot of “A”s but not with a whole lot of empathy or sensitivity.
21 Comments so far
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shudder to think if you have this type of person fighting beside you in wartime…
[...] Original post by http://www.insanepoly.com/blog [...]
such man is only fitted for a dictatorship, the kind where everyone suffers for his million bucks a year throne.
don’t blame the guy, blame the system. He was forced into NS, something he didn’t want.
That’s why they are elite. They will use whatever means to keep themselves afloat while the rest drown.
It’s like those HK serials you watch and there comes a suave smooth talker. Good to look at initially but became a baddie.
The army shows the true colors of everyone.
As for Anon 1:56am, you can look at NS on both sides. I did not have a very good time at NS but looking back after so many years, it has toughened my person and I am better prepared to meet the challeneges ahead, eg meeting d*ckheads like the said elite above.
Kaffein
Its not that I blame the guy since most of us would like nothing better than to get posted out like him. But I find our PM’s faith in academic results as the foundation of good leadership extremely disturbing.
In whatever he choose to do, I think my army buddy should be quite successful at it and I have no doubts he ought to be living the good life now, but just because you’re rich, smart and successful does automatically make you a good political leader. At least not to me.
[...] – BP: The Perfect Leader – Finding The “Singaporean” Forrester – Insane Polygons: My Straight “A”s Buddy – Snapshots of Life: Brain Drain in SG. The 2 [...]
Given that he is a RJ guy I would think that he would have opted for the MC path.
Basically, You need to get the Medical officer on your side Kawan with the medics (they have all the strategy)
But to get post out without a medical reason. Is really Shameful.
It’s like fake integrity.
For some NS toughen them, But it safe to say that The main motivation for the whole service is to generate a climate of
fearsubservience and Alternate legal repercussion for “inconvenient” people who ask intelligent questions.Sidenote:
NS sucks by the time you get out A FT would have taken your position and courted a potential girlfriend and they still have no clue about the population decline.
So don’t blame the mail order brides.
Did your PS, CSM always commented how good the ‘Poly’ batch of recruits are as they always help one another whereas those ‘JC’ batches of recruits are a bunch of selfish bastards? (Thou not entirely true).
First question on my mind is why nobody blanketed him.
[...] – BP: The Perfect Leader – Finding The “Singaporean” Forrester – Insane Polygons: My Straight “A”s Buddy – Snapshots of Life: Brain Drain in SG. The 2 Os – sgForums: Everyday, 10 sporeans quit SG for [...]
“First question on my mind is why nobody blanketed him.”
As InsanePoly as said that the guy is very intelligent. Probably he will blanket himself in front of his personal-in-charge to show how unsuitable he is in becoming commando. This guy know that if he is not in the right frame of state, the officier will surely remove him as he may jeopardise those around him in risky operation (rifle range, mission).. and so on.
“First question on my mind is why nobody blanketed him.”
As InsanePoly as said that the guy is very intelligent. Probably he will blanket himself in front of his personel-in-charge to show how unsuitable he is in becoming commando. This guy know that if he is not in the right frame of state, the officier will surely remove him as he may jeopardise those around him in risky operation (rifle range, mission).. and so on.
@Beautiful Mind
And do you know why there’s no blanket parties? There are no more blanket parties in NS nowadays. It’s a taboo act, so anyone caught will be dealt severely.
I have only heard of blanket parties in olden times NS (the first few 30+ years old brothers or fathers have gone through).
If it was me though, I’d give him a real blanket party. And I make sure he bled and suffered to make sure he earns the right to get posted out. Since that’s what he wants so badly anyway…
=)
whoa hold on there. yes, the RJ guy in question deserves every conceivable sort of punishment, but such people come from anywhere and everywhere. do think about that while you selectively use him as some political punching bag.
I think the situation was screaming for a blanket party. I think the instructors were counting on it to happen, otherwise it doesn’t make sense.
I’m not blaming you for this because I know that people are not at their smartest when they are in NS but you should have raised this issue up with your instructors, and told them that their attempts to appeal to his conscience are not working because he doesn’t have one. If they are normal reasonable people they would have either said “OK we’ll change our approach” or “do the necessary to change his mind”. But to be sure commandos are not all normal reasonable people.
I know of 4As RJ people who are assholes like that but there are plenty of others who chip in. For disclosure purposes I belong to the latter category.
What??!! No more blanket party?
Wah seh, NS now good life, like go to holiday bangalow. Have air-con, no need to do toilet cleaning, no more funny push-ups on hot parade square, no more takan in middle of night with fall-ins, etc.
In my time as a recruit in Tekong 1988, blanket party was always dealt to the one who blur like sotong, and sabo-kings. Sometimes I pity the guy(s) because too much blanket parties force them to lose confidence in life. We must agree that not all can take army life. And the blanket parties back then were bad: blanket cover you, dustbin over your head, chungkol stikcs whacking the bin, and kicking you around until you ‘wake up’ your idea.
But this sabo-king that Insane Poly said should deserve it. The worst kinds are those who are smart but choose to be dumb and sabo the platoon.
ROD-ed personnel,
Kaffein
I wonder why you Singaporeans make it out to be all so difficult. LKY says Yes, and Candidate says Yes, you don’t even need to say Yes. Should any of the Yes be missing, then it’s a no-deal.
Is it really that difficult?
You might find this site interesting as it lets you link Lianhe Zaobao newspaper covers to your blog
http://www.dailynewspapercovers.com/View/Singapore/Lianhe+Zaobao/
Well,back in 2002 I had fun with the poly batch. There wasn’t any sort of “saboking” as we were united. Whenever someone made a mistake, the entire platoon just went down and did whatever that was needed. Perhaps the difference between Air levels and Polys?