I met my former school mates over lunch on Saturday. We talked about national service.
One of them recalled an incident when he was in charge of a few NS men. One of them did not turn up for training one evening. He had to submit a charge against the AWOL NS man.
The NS man told him, "Sir, this is durian season. I have to sell durians to bring income for my mother. You can see me at Rangoon Road. Even president Nathan buys durian at my stall. I can make up at other times in the morning, but allow me to sell the durians at night".
My friend worked out some arrangement with him and did not report his absence during the reporting hours.
The defaulting NS man was fortunate to have a superior who was willing to stick his neck out to help him. Not many people would take this risk.
One other school mate, who was a former senior civil servant had argued earlier that national service discipline was necessary. When he heard this story, he reflected on it. He said that he understood the hardship of the ordinary people, but the younger colleagues in the ministry were not so aware about the realities of life.
One of them recalled an incident when he was in charge of a few NS men. One of them did not turn up for training one evening. He had to submit a charge against the AWOL NS man.
The NS man told him, "Sir, this is durian season. I have to sell durians to bring income for my mother. You can see me at Rangoon Road. Even president Nathan buys durian at my stall. I can make up at other times in the morning, but allow me to sell the durians at night".
My friend worked out some arrangement with him and did not report his absence during the reporting hours.
The defaulting NS man was fortunate to have a superior who was willing to stick his neck out to help him. Not many people would take this risk.
One other school mate, who was a former senior civil servant had argued earlier that national service discipline was necessary. When he heard this story, he reflected on it. He said that he understood the hardship of the ordinary people, but the younger colleagues in the ministry were not so aware about the realities of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment