My nightmare of 2 years & 4 months is finally ending in a few days’ time… boy, am I glad!

Sure, I did have a better time in the army than most other people - being posted to a camp near home, able to book out everyday, being RSM’s right-hand man and all. But all these doesn’t mean that army life didn’t suck.

For one, I am sick and tired of the camp doctors who think that 99% of the patients are malingering. Well, not just the camp MOs actually. Even those junior doctors in public hospitals (who presumably got out of the army not very long ago) treat army conscripts who seek treatment from them like shit. They seem to have something against us… even though they are/were once conscripts themselves. The situation is so bad, it’s like an unwritten rule to treat the majority of conscripts as malingerers. I am sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Next, I am appalled at the lack of empathy from staff in the higher ranks. I think the 20 to 30 years in the army for those senior officers had hardened their hearts such that they feel nothing for their subordinates. When my father was in the later stages of his illness, I often had the need to rush off to the hospital at mid-day, or had to miss work as I had to take care of him.

Chief clerk once promised me that if I ever needed to go off to take care of family affairs, she would let me go. However, the truth was that other than those times when my father had to be admitted to A&E, I was never given off just to go back to take care of him. I had to take my own leave, which was very limited. Maybe it was because those senior people have over 50 days of leave each year (compared to a conscript’s 14 days), so much so that they have this mindset that leave is an abundant commodity that they almost always never finish consuming.

One day in October or so, she spoke to me and asked me how I was doing. The conversation moved towards my unhappiness over not being given opportunity to spend more time with my father at home even though I was just hanging around doing nothing in the workplace. She then told me that she recommended giving me off-days for compassionate reasons, but ‘there were some objections’. I presume these objections were from higher authority then, which we obviously know who. I was also told that there had been some unhappiness over my poor attitude at work, to which my reply was ‘How do you expect me to be all nice and smiley when my father’s condition is getting poorer by the day?’

Perhaps I am still a little bitter over this issue, now that my father has passed away and I no longer have the opportunity to spend time with him even though I am on leave and have lots of time to spare. The army (or rather, the people in the army) denied me of the opportunities to spend precious time with him.

I know that there are two sides to this story. The other side would be that as a conscript, I had a responsibility to serve the country, over and above my responsibility as a son. But on closer scruntity, one would realise that we are currently in peacetime… no wars, no unrest and no immediate security threats that would have a higher priority over being there for my father who had a life-threatening situation. I would gladly accept my fate should there be a national crisis that required my participation to improve the situation, as obviously that would be the first priority then.

Well, at least through these 2 years, I have learnt many valuable lessons in life. I learnt a tremendous deal about office politics, curry-favouring techniques and also about the overall incompetency of the army, behind it’s overly sensationalised facade of honour, prestige and valour.

Oh, I also learnt much about back-stabbing, pretending to be busy, and idling away working hours. I also know where a good portion of the defence budget goes to - the pockets of caterers who supply food for functions, meetings and the happy hours that are held for every reason one can think of. And the wastage of all the unconsumed food… they can feed lots of African children!

Moving ahead, if I ever have the chance to leave this country and never come back, I will. I have better things to do with my life than to serve up to 40 days of NS reservist liability each year for the next 10 years.

I just received a bill from CPF for S$4,306.58 for my diploma fees I borrowed from my mom’s CPF account. These people are sure damn efficient when it comes to collecting money. They want me to reply on my payment method one day before I ORD. Right, even before I start looking for a job, they want me to declare how I am going to pay off the debt.

Then, when it comes to disbursing money, they are sure damn SLOW. We made an application to withdraw my father’s CPF monies many weeks ago, and even though their ‘quality standard’ states that most disbursements will be made within one month, we haven’t even heard from them whether they’ve received our application or not. It ain’t a lot of money, but it’s just how amazing their efficiency is compared to when they are trying to collect money from you.

To top it off, throw in a 1.5 hour queue at the CPF office just to be told that they will send a letter to us regarding the disbursement. There were so many people queueing, 6 counters in total but only 3 counters open. I thought by making various transactions available on the Internet, they will improve their overall efficiency but if there’s any improvement at all, it wasn’t apparent to me.

2 Days in Kukup

KL is such a screwed up place, I hope I don’t need to go there ever again. I’ve been there like 4 or 5 times over the past few years and each time I have this same feeling.

There is practically nothing to look forward to in KL. Food-wise, we have better (and cleaner) stuff in Singapore. If we want cheap food, we can always go to JB.

I just don’t understand how people can claim KL as a ’shopping paradise’. I’ve been to all the major shopping complexes there and I still cannot understand what is so appealing about shopping in KL. First of all, the service standard is pathetic. Price-wise, in Singapore we can get cheaper electronics stuff, computers, brand-name goods and practically everything else other than food. In terms of variety, I am certain we do have a wider range available locally than in KL.

Sightseeing is almost non-existent in KL, unless you consider viewing the smoky, heavily polluted and filthy streets of KL from the top of the Petronas Twin Towers as a wonderful sight.

Safety is always a problem in KL. Picketpockets and robbery are common sightings in the streets, and daylight robbery (pun intended) in touristy shops and the horrible taxis.

Talking about taxis, I’ve never had a single trip where I did not encounter problematic taxi drivers. Just to name a few problems…

When you need a taxi desperately they are always nowhere in sight, when you don’t need one, they are everywhere. Once you get on the cab, if you forget to remind them to switch on the meter, most of the time they will forget. Then when you reach your destination, they will ask for an exhorbitant price. Then there’s the type who refuse to go to your intended destination unless you pay them 20 or 25 ringgits, which is as good as daylight robbery. If you are lucky and the driver have no qualms about driving you to your intended destination and switching on the meter, you are only half lucky. Chances are, if the driver knows that you are a foreigner, he will bring you on a joyride just to let the meter jump a few or even 10 ringgits more. Then, finally, if you are still sane and calm after having excess time and money wasted taking a taxi, there are the insane traffic jams of lovely KL to irate you further.

KL can’t even give visitors a good first impression. If you arrive at KLIA thinking that you are already in KL (like most people do), you are wrong. KLIA is in Sepang, 70 kilometers away from KL, and a 1.5 hour busride away before factoring in traffic jams that crawls from the heart of KL to the North-South Highway. The only sensible way to travel from KLIA to KL is to take the insanely pricey KLIA Express train service that brings you to KL Sentral train station. By the way, probably the only 2 public places with clean toilets in KL are KLIA and KL Sentral station…

Taking express coaches in KL is almost always a problem. Availability is not an issue, but the coach drivers’ sense of punctuality are terrible. When they say departure time is 1530hrs, most probably they mean that the driver will board the coach at 1530hrs, make his way to the gas pump and top up gas for 10 minutes, before driving to the bus berth for passengers to board. 10 minutes may sound not too bad, but don’t forget, the chances of a driver boarding the bus on time is really low. If that’s not bad enough, there are always the damaged seats that cannot be adjusted, leaving you in an upright posture for the 6 hours trip… faulty aircons that are either too warm or too cold… unnecessarily long breaks at canteens on the N-S Highway that charge exhorbitant prices for pathetic mosrels of food…

And finally when you think that everything is over… there are the crazy queues at the immigration complex to end your horrible KL trip.

I am finally back! Came back from KL at midnight today and felt really refreshed even after the 5 hour journey. I took the Transtar First Class coach with only 18 massage chairs and personal entertainment system for each passenger. There were dozens of movies to choose from, on top of music videos and some old school video games (which I loved). Dinner was also served on board, and the food… while not fantastic, is surely better than in-flight meals.

For S$39 one-way, it’s kinda expensive (nearly 3 times that of a normal coach), but it was really comfortable cos of the entertainment choices & massage chair… and fast cos they don’t stop halfway at those lousy highway canteens.

My stupidity got the better of me today. I got off duty at 8 am, so I thought I’d hang around in camp for a while more then go to the photo shop nearby to collect my prints. So I watched TV in camp till about 9 then set off. I reached there, the shop wasn’t open yet so I asked the staff at the next door cafe what time it’ll open. They said 11-plus so I decided to just sit down, have a cuppa and read the morning papers while waiting for the shop to open. 3 hours, 3 cuppas, two readings of The Sunday Times, an american breakfast and a walk around the neighbourhood later, the shop was still not opened yet. Then I realised what a fool I was. I could have gone home and come back later in the day and still save lots of time even after factoring in the extra commuting time. I had enough of the waiting game so I decided to go home… empty handed and fed up with myself. ARRRGH… STUPID ME!