Passing the baton

I'm a personal believer in the elders shaping the future. There are a couple of old Malay proverbs that says, “The cake depends on the mould”... “The sound of the drumbeat, depends on the make of the drum”... Values are passed down by word of mouth, things that we observe. I'm from a Straits born Peranakan family, and one of the things we do is when we receive a red packet from our parents, we have to kneel down and wish them “panjang umur” in Malay, which means longevity. When my eldest boy came along, and when he learnt how to walk, I recalled bringing him to my parents house during the new year, I asked him to kneel down in front of his grandparents to receive his red packet. He was told by his grandmother that he need not kneel down, as they were already in modern times. I told her that if she did not sit down, and that my son did not kneel down in front of her, he would not take the red packet from her. I shared the rationale why, being that if we felt it was a good practice, we must then continue to do it, to tell others, and to demonstrate why they need to do it. If we can't demonstrate to them, then we can't blame others if they do not uphold our desired values and principles. Relating this back to national service, I would like to highlight my experience in the National Day Parades (NDP) since 1979 in numerous capacities, such as being in the marching contingent; trainer for the nurses and Keppel Shipyards and many others. One of the most beautiful things about NDP is that we have different strata of Singapore's society on parade. From NSFs, school children, senior citizens and social groups. When everyone is in the parade together, and when you look into their eyes, there is actually no difference – the same fire, passion and commitment, not wanting to let their buddies down, they want to march well together, irrespective whether they were young or old. I asked all the participants why we needed to sing our national anthem loud and clear. I shared with them that when I was young, I used to sing the British national anthem before Singapore's independence. And between 1963 to 1965, I sang the Malaysian national anthem. And prior to this, Singaporeans had to sing the Japanese national anthem, we did that, and my grandfather died during the Japanese Occupation. It was only in 1965, that we sang Majulah Singapura. I asked if they wanted to sing the national anthem of another country? So when they sang our national anthem thereafter, it was different. We all felt a connection. The soldiers, students and elders were touched, because they connected with it. Today, when our people enlist into national service are more educated, they tend to ask more. In the earlier NS years, it was “If I ask you to jump, don't ask why, but ask how high...”, but today people are more knowledgeable, they will ask why and challenge you, and you better explain to them. So the challenge for leaders today is to know their job better. So in terms of national service values, over the years, it has always been there. It's how we promote and share with the soldiers, to make sure they understand the values. For example, we say that today's generation focus on “I, Me, Myself”, individualistic and self-centred. To me, there are two sides to this, and one is a positive side, because if you can't look after yourself, you can't look after others. It needs to be seen in the context of my buddy, my section and my platoon. To imbue values into our younger generation, I feel that families and society have a large role to play. And in the context of military values, the SAF has an important role to play, especially since we have a large captive audience of 18 year old who are impressionable yet also have their own values. How then do we align the SAF 7 core values to their individual values? And I never had a difficulty to do that, because I felt I was able to connect with them. I remember when I was a Division RSM, I asked the guards on duty on who they thought they were performing their duties for? They answered “for my unit, and for my platoon”. I shared with them otherwise. I explained to them that they did duties for themselves. Singapore had no natural resources with our people as our only resource. Yet Singapore was doing well, peaceful and stable, with investors coming in. Imagine if something adverse happened to Singapore, investors would pull out, our servicemen's parents would lose their jobs, and they need not think about furthering their studies. Because in the first place, the parents would want to put food on the tables for them. So once they realised it, they knew that if they performed their duties, the country would be safe, investors would still be here, jobs would still be retained, and they could still pursue their studies. Therefore, at such defining moments, they would find their duties and responsibilities meaningful. You find that after a while, this caught on, and national servicemen conducting their duties were extra alert and vigilant, because they understood their roles, they were more connected with it. That they have a stake in what they were doing, because they were doing it for their future. So it's all about connecting with them. The lesson learnt here is that it's important to give meaning, to connect, and to give a sense of purpose to future generations in order for our national service values to be truly celebrated, and sustained beyond NS45. It starts with us as elders, as leaders to share our values to our next generation. (Contributed as part of the NS45 campaign which commemorates the 45th anniversary of Singapore's National Service, with the theme of "From Fathers to Sons")