Wei Kiat's Blog

Got the following from a local PSP user group forum where they were talking about signing on in NS.

RE:My reason for not signing on....
Hi TS....
my turn to share...
1) Guardsman - didnt go for it.. coz they rejected me @ my BMT... coz they wanted the older gdsman who just ord b4 my intake. they wanted me
again when i'm about to ord... but i rejected them... coz i tink Guards Unit is too much been unappreciated(over work infantry, underpaid commandos) at all by SAF.
2) EOD - Bomb deposal squad...loved the thrill..but my mum kicked me out of the house for 3 months when she found out i was abt to go for my final "signature" contract.
3) SAF shooting contingent - 8am-5pm job to teach people how to shoot for competition. - backed out..coz after 2months of consideration.. shooting for life a bit sian for me.
4) CNB - love the thrill... wanted to be a cop for all my life.... too much movies ... my whole family came down on me hard... scare i kenna stabbed by mobs...
there i am now... 6 years after i ORD... i was lost n scare when i was abt to ord then... thinking of what kinda jobs and future do i have... academically... i'm a screw up... worse than u bro... i dun even have a Poly cert...i'm a person who tried 5 times of O levels... and still got oni merits for 5 certs to combine. neva stepped into a poly to study... oni to go TP design for the nice western food and of course to fetch my ex-gfren from there... and helping out some VSC people to do the short film and photography classes. oh yes... see biz gals too
i decided that the only way for me to survive was to sign on... looking back... i'm so glad i didn't do it...
6 years ago... i neva dream abt.. being who and where i am now...
i'm in europe for a month now... my clients are paying me quite a comfortable amount... traveling in biz/first class flights, staying in posh hotels and having posh food...(for ur info - www.spiritofdubai.ae is the project i'm working on. I'm a photographer, more pics here www.flickr.com/photos/kerpalz)
its indeed a diff life from i have in singapore. bro... there is lotsa jobs out there in and out of singapore... my advise...same as others...
if u have the passion... and super siao on abt signing on any uniform group.. do bear in mind there will be lotsa freedom gonna be cut out of ur life..
from my POV.. i think they are paying peanuts... and they demand lots from you. e.g physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Coz i seen too much of my frens, my sgts, officers who are regulars... even my family members (almost 9/10 is regulars, i'm the oni one who was not signed on from the start.) the only 2 of 9 in my family is working good in the uniform group is a non-uniform regular who is serving with drone plane unit doing survillance. she is with them for 10years.. and the other is a major with the navy but he's trying to switch to Hometeam to be a coast guard officer. the other 7... is trying ways n means to break or endure till their contract ends...
as i say b4... money u sure can earn outside... the uniform groups are not anymore a "metal ricebowl" career..anytime u screw up... they will cut u out.
try enjoy working life outside.. if u dun like singapore, go abroad...
we are asians... we are more hardworking than the "angmohs"... no offences to the hard-working angmohs...sure we can survive here or there.anywhere!
Bro... stay focus... serve ur 2 years first.. u will see whether u like it or not.. Uniform groups will alwiz keep their doors open for u... to welcome u go in.. or for kicking ur arse out...
my 2 cents...
Mr. Kerpalz
in Rome_Italy 7pm
PS: phew... thats a long one.... thanks for reading my broken england...!
i miss singapore food..!

My person take is that all those who "succeed" in life through those sort of academical "pre-planned" routes are really losers because all they can do is to do what everyone else are doing (everyone following the same route). How is one mugger different from another? There is no value that a mugger can offer back to society (other than perhaps becoming a teacher to inspire more muggers?)

However, the system in Singapore may be such that muggers are looked upon highly by misinformed governmental organisations, but I'm sure with time Singapore will mature.

And one day, perhaps, local University will speak like a foreign one.

We look for some originality (in University applications) because nine out of ten essays leave you with a big yawn. "I like science, I like to help people and that's why I want to be a doctor." The common, uninteresting, and unoriginal statement is one that recounts the applicant's academic pursuits and basically repeats what is elsewhere in the application.

What I see as the true and the only way to succeed is by offering genuine and unique value to others that can also reap profit for yourself (think founders of Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Google). Are they successful because they study more books or get more certificates than other people? No, they are successful because they are able to offer value. And value is something that muggers can never offer. What can a mugger offer that a textbook in the bookshop can't offer?

And likewise, value is something that Anderson Junior College can never really offer to any of its students.

Singapore as it is right now is,

Mugging Schools, Mugging Nation.