let me first reflect about country d.
country d is of strategic importance to singapore and i had visited this country several times in my official capacity as an officer of the singapore armed forces. but for this post, i shall only write about 2 key trips that i remembered best - first in the capacity as exercise troop, and the second that happened in the latter parts of my career - as a visiting instructor under the auspices of an on-going bilateral exchange program between two institutes.
the first visit was in 1996 where my unit was selected to participate in a bilateral exercise. the preparations for the week long exercise was terrible. there was so much to be done - all the request for maps for the exercise grounds, the preparation of the staff aids, etc. was stood out for me during this particular exercise was the amount of "wayang" that we had to stage. and i can understand the need for it. after all, being a participating troop of a bilateral exercise, we were nothing but pawns - pawns to the larger picture of bilateral relations. and so, there were the exercise, and there were the dinners, karaoke, happy hours and such. the exercise itself was rather straight forward - two units moving as part of a larger organisation to overcome a common aggressor. and the final assault on the aggressors' defences was stage at a particular time for the chiefs of armies of both countries to witness. as singapore enjoys close bilateral ties with this country, the host spared no efforts to make sure everything went well. some of the treatment we get that blew me off were - we were escorted in army trucks once we landed and there were military police escorts throughout the journey. all traffic lights were disabled and military polices stopped all traffic to allow our military truck clear passage. it was an amazing experience. we will never be able to experience such things in singapore. what made this particular trip memorable was the fact that all the key staff within my unit were told to don batik and it was quite a frenzy hunting for a nice one. in the end, i bought a nice batik with orchid motifs - singapore's national flower. it was a really nice sight to see everyone dressed up.
the second visit was in 2006(?), where i was stationed there as a visiting instructor. again, this attachment was part of a strategic partnership between the two armed forces. i had to attend and pass a language class to prepare for this attachment. the month-long attachment was anything but easy. there was regular reporting back to singapore about the attachment, the observation of how they conduct their business and the conversations that i held with who's who. also, despite being given a "house" to stay in, complete with maid, car and driver, i was not allowed to venture too far away from the city i was based in. i didn't understand why this restriction was imposed on me especially when i understood my predeccesor had total freedom to travel on weekends. nonetheless, i couldn't be bothered. i went ahead and travelled to the capital city (some 4-5 hours away) weekly on the pretext that i had to visit the singapore embassy (which was not too far from the truth cos when i visited the city, i did link up with the embassy staff for chats). anyway, being an attached instructor in a country that do not speak my language, my daily routine was to visit the different departments for briefings and to attend selected lessons (which were conducted in their local language). the month went by slowly and i was glad to be back home.
i understood the strategic importance of this country to singapore and that my visits (in whatever capacity) was framed at a very high level. it was an honour to be tasked to represent the armed forces for any trips and the exposure was really good.
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