As told by one ns man...
I received the news that you are contesting for election when you were introduced as one of the final batch of PAP candidates for the upcoming election. I was not surprised because high flyers like you are always destined for big things. You are not the first military personnel turned politician and certainly not the last. I always have an interest in observing how military personnel made the transition into civilian life. One of the ways is to watch their speeches and public appearances. Now that I have already ORD and you are no longer a top brass in the SAF, without the fear of being punished, I want to be honest with you; your speeches were exactly the same while you were in the SAF and I wasn’t impressed at all.
The tone you used, the look of your face, the words you used, the body language, and arrogance served you well in SAF because who you were then. You, as a top ranking officer in the SAF always received warm reception from your men because they had to. You received military salute (a form of respect) because the rank and position you held. Your speeches regardless of the content would always end with a thunderous round of applause because they had to. Sorry for giving you a false impression that you were well-received, respected because we had no choice. We wouldn’t want to risk our precious weekend or other forms of punishment if our commanders did not like our “performance”.
Your performance in the civilian world has attracted much criticism so far which I am not surprised. You have been labelled as “arrogant”, “condescending”, “I know it better than all of you” “poor PR skills” and “poor speaking skills”. I do not blame you for acting like that. Even you acted like that ever since day 1 in your SAF days, it would not affect your career progression at all. You still would be the chief of army nonetheless and as I have said earlier, you were destined for big things because of your status as the President’s Scholar. But to be respected as the leader of a nation and its people, you have a lot to work on.
I hope I might have judged you prematurely and you are, in fact, a future-mp-to-be worth look up to and look for when the people need your guidance and assistance. I would like to end this letter by quoting what PM Lee has said recently, “Remember we are the servants of the people not the master, and maintain a sense of humility and service to the people”
You were the master in SAF but now you are a servant, serve us not lord over us. I wish you the best in your adjustment of roles and your success in this election. Respect is much harder to learn in the civilian world than in SAF.
From,
CPL Tan Wei Ling, who called himself COA (chief of armskote) when he was serving his NS.
I received the news that you are contesting for election when you were introduced as one of the final batch of PAP candidates for the upcoming election. I was not surprised because high flyers like you are always destined for big things. You are not the first military personnel turned politician and certainly not the last. I always have an interest in observing how military personnel made the transition into civilian life. One of the ways is to watch their speeches and public appearances. Now that I have already ORD and you are no longer a top brass in the SAF, without the fear of being punished, I want to be honest with you; your speeches were exactly the same while you were in the SAF and I wasn’t impressed at all.
The tone you used, the look of your face, the words you used, the body language, and arrogance served you well in SAF because who you were then. You, as a top ranking officer in the SAF always received warm reception from your men because they had to. You received military salute (a form of respect) because the rank and position you held. Your speeches regardless of the content would always end with a thunderous round of applause because they had to. Sorry for giving you a false impression that you were well-received, respected because we had no choice. We wouldn’t want to risk our precious weekend or other forms of punishment if our commanders did not like our “performance”.
Your performance in the civilian world has attracted much criticism so far which I am not surprised. You have been labelled as “arrogant”, “condescending”, “I know it better than all of you” “poor PR skills” and “poor speaking skills”. I do not blame you for acting like that. Even you acted like that ever since day 1 in your SAF days, it would not affect your career progression at all. You still would be the chief of army nonetheless and as I have said earlier, you were destined for big things because of your status as the President’s Scholar. But to be respected as the leader of a nation and its people, you have a lot to work on.
I hope I might have judged you prematurely and you are, in fact, a future-mp-to-be worth look up to and look for when the people need your guidance and assistance. I would like to end this letter by quoting what PM Lee has said recently, “Remember we are the servants of the people not the master, and maintain a sense of humility and service to the people”
You were the master in SAF but now you are a servant, serve us not lord over us. I wish you the best in your adjustment of roles and your success in this election. Respect is much harder to learn in the civilian world than in SAF.
From,
CPL Tan Wei Ling, who called himself COA (chief of armskote) when he was serving his NS.
