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STAFF AND TRAINEE DYNAMICS
277
THIRTEEN
Unnoticed, Tiger emerged from his office to openly congratulate him on his remedy.
According to Seng Chan, the result was a triple disappearing act that Houdini himself might
have found incredible: the toilet stains, the cigarette butts and Tiger’s adverse observations
during area inspections. Seng Chan was picked as Supernumerary Platoon Commander,
Platoon 3 for the Commissioning Parade, a star billing in Tiger’s own star show of the
course.
Tiger was the first NCO in the SAF (post-SAFTI first intake) to be appointed Lieutenant
(and later promoted to Captain) directly, to near universal approval, despite having been
accused in the interim, under questionable circumstances, of using physical force on a
National Serviceman for a misdemeanour. He was such a large presence in the officer cadet
days that despite the nervousness he evoked—or because of it—he merited the frontispiece
of the sole edition of the journal of the Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute, ‘THE
SAFTIRIAN,’ produced by the first intake cadets.
The anxiety of running foul of the CWO was more intense during the pre-officer cadet
days perhaps, because the trainees were still green and the CWO actively wanted to shape
their military outlook. In the later years of the SAF, many ‘traditional’ practices such as
ceremonial drill, immaculate turnout, spit and polish and summary minor punishments were
significantly curtailed on the grounds that the tradition of completely deconstructing a trainee
WO2 Baba, WO2 Mohd Mizah Bin Ahmad, Puan Mizah and WO1 Hong Seng Mak.