One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

SETTING UP SAFTI

FOUR

to provide ‘Yehudi’ (corrupted to ‘Joudi’ (Jew)) lamps to light up targets at night. Local

contractors supplied many of these items and the contracts were very welcome in those

bleak days, thank you. Quality control was not always so hot, though.

Controlled combat equipment (CCE) was an altogether different proposition. As the local

forces were then using the Belgian Fabrique Nasional Self Loading Rifle (SLR) in 7.62

calibre, SAFTI was initially supplied with these weapons (and its Heavy Barrel version as

a section support weapon) and their bayonets. The basic high trajectory platoon support

weapon at the time was the WWII British handheld 52mm mortar and its antique stocks

of rounds that were, thankfully, soon replaced by a 60mm mortar. Other CCE included

the militarised prismatic compass, ammunition magazines, D10 cables, field telephones, the

parang golok (machete), hand grenades, Verey pistols, pen flares, trip flares and a whole

variety of demolitions and explosives. Behind the scenes, assault boats, PRC 6 walkie-

talkies, PRC 25 radio sets, GRC 46 vehicular sets and the General Purpose Machine Guns

(GPMG) were being ‘procured’. Among the first structures to be built in Pasir Laba were the

ammunition magazines to store the enormous quantity of ammunition and explosives that

defined the training orientation of the SAF compared to the SMF, namely, a very high degree

of familiarity with firepower.

Then there were the Land Rovers and the Bedford and Austin three-ton trucks, the Volkswagen

ambulances and administrative vehicles, motorcycles for despatch riders and staff cars to be

assigned to SAFTI. Midway through the year, the Australian Military Assistance Programme

(a generous $2 million a year in those days) provided a fleet of International Harvester three-

ton trucks that practically required the diminutive Singaporean drivers to let go of the steering

wheel to change gears, to the considerable alarm of vehicle commanders. There was also

that most important of logistics arrangements to be made: the feeding of the troops. Cook

Sergeants were hijacked to the embryonic SAFTI to supervise enlisted cooks’ preparation

of daily meals of fresh rations. For field training, fresh rations were delivered in hay boxes

(insulated outer containers) to prearranged RVs. The preparations were seldom appetising,

being done én masse under tight schedules, until relieved somewhat by the introduction of a

full spectrum of popular spices and condiments. Fortunately, for the first few intakes, there

was a canteen in SAFTI run by Mr. Teng Chai Foo, who had won the tender for the canteen

and the sundries shop.

There was a lot of administration to look into. The complex was huge and needed endless

daily upkeeping by a large HQ staff. The Medical Centre would be a busy place. The

Training Department, the Publications and Photo Section (with Gestetner mimeograph

machines), and the Training Aids Section would be working round the clock to organise

the lessons that were finalised just one step ahead of the last. Being such an unprecedented

high-visibility project, there was plenty of record keeping and co-ordination to do. The

concurrent expansion of the camp also needed to be tracked. It was not by chance that an

Organisation and Method expert from the Ministry of Finance who also happened to have