Jessie Thum 谭苏梅
After
a short stint at the CCs, some of us were told one day that we would be
seconded to the National Service Vigilante Corps (NSVC). It happened that I was
one of them. At that meeting we were given a good overview of the situation and
potential threat posed by the confrontation. The NSVC was established to educate
the enlisted national servicemen and to assist the police by patrolling the
various places in the communities and reporting suspicious characters and
activities to the relevant authorities for follow-up actions. We, on our part,
were told to engage young people and students in pursuing healthy activities so
that they would not be adversely influenced by the undesirable elements who
were out to create unrest in Singapore. During that time, the VCHQ was located
in Kolam Ayer. We would usually spend half a day at the headquarters and the
other half in the evenings outdoors assisting in the social aspect of the community
development. The NSVC was later revamped and transformed into a Civil Defence Force
in 1981.
The
year 1967 saw the change in my career path. After my ‘O’ levels in 1965, I was
juggling between a part-timer in various jobs and at the same time attending
pre-university studies in the evenings. I chanced upon an advertisement in the
Straits Times and applied for the post of Organizing Secretary (OS) with the
People’s Association (PA).
Naive
and fresh from school, I was elated with a new-found job as I was given a
permanent employment. I vividly remembered that in February 1967 when we were
notified to attend a briefing at the PA headquarters (PAHQ) in Kallang. There
were about 60 of us altogether. We were told that we had to undergo a 3-year training
course from Basic, Intermediate to Advanced level leading to a Diploma in
Community and Youth Work. Ours were the 4th Batch of OSs.
During
the three years, both in the training and field operations, the knowledge we
acquired in the studies of social, economic, psychology, language, politics, philosophy,
technical know-how and physical training equipped us technically to manage the
day-to-day affairs at the community centers. We were, in fact, masters of all trades: handling financial matters like book-keeping, organizing activities as
well as liaison work that were beneficial to the public, thus forming a bridge
between the people and the government. These exposure and network planning were indeed an enriching experience to us. We were also assigned to work with
different Community Centre Management Committees (CCMCs) at different community
centers (CCs) and different work environments on a rotational basis so as to enable us to gain
the necessary experience.
After
a short stint at the CCs, some of us were told one day that we would be
seconded to the National Service Vigilante Corps (NSVC). It happened that I was
one of them. At that meeting we were given a good overview of the situation and
potential threat posed by the confrontation. The NSVC was established to educate
the enlisted national servicemen and to assist the police by patrolling the
various places in the communities and reporting suspicious characters and
activities to the relevant authorities for follow-up actions. We, on our part,
were told to engage young people and students in pursuing healthy activities so
that they would not be adversely influenced by the undesirable elements who
were out to create unrest in Singapore. During that time, the VCHQ was located
in Kolam Ayer. We would usually spend half a day at the headquarters and the
other half in the evenings outdoors assisting in the social aspect of the community
development. The NSVC was later revamped and transformed into a Civil Defence Force
in 1981.
Though
my stay with the PA was rather short as compared to my other ex-colleagues, I
truly value my formative years with the NYLTI (now known as NACLI) which had
influenced me greatly.
