TAKE A STEP BACK
Since it’s the Hari Kebangsaan month, I’d like to make the point that showing our patriotic duty can take many forms. The idea of “flying the flag” is not just hoisting the Jalur Gemilang on a pole or waving a small flag now and then in some form of set performance and contrived display.
Flying the flag can take many other forms, and its essence can be displayed by everyone, and virtually every day of our lives. If we aspire to do our very best all the time in whatever it is we are doing, that is one of the best forms of flying the flag, in my view.
Sometimes, it’s contextual but the essence is that our sense of patriotism should infuse and energise every moment and circumstance. Only then will it become part and parcel of our common culture and national ethos.
I’d like to share a story when I was working for a multinational in Singapore some years ago.
One day, someone came up with an idea to have a clay pigeon shooting competition, as part of the staff teambuilding programme. I think it was Quinn, the only American guy in my team at Gazprom Marketing & Trading (Singapore) Pte Ltd, who suggested the idea.
I told him it was a novel idea and that it sounded very interesting, and so I accordingly agreed to allow him to proceed.
Everyone in the office was excited when the announcement was made that we will be having an ‘Away Day’ at the shooting range. And since we were a workforce of various nationalities, we had many teams made up of staff of different nationalities stepping up to the challenge.
We had French, British, Norwegians, Koreans, Japanese, West Indies, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Chinese, Indians, Singaporeans, Malaysians and of course Russians, for we were all working for a Russian company. But in all, there was only one jungle boy who joined to try his luck that day.
Other than the fact that he was the managing director, nobody paid much attention to jungle boy’s ability at shooting. This was serious stuff, for real seasoned operators, and some of our staff, like Quinn himself, had clay pigeon shooting as one of their hobbies.
No one viewed that a guy born and raised in the deep jungles of Borneo could even shoot. Let alone shoot straight. But being the boss, I had to be seen to be ‘sporting’ and be a team player, and was also expected to show leadership by example through participating in the team building event that was being proposed.
So, when I was asked if I’d participate, I told Quinn that I would forgo my usual Saturday golf round with my regular golf buddies made up of some of Singapore’s captains of industry and would join everyone for a fun day at the Singapore Shooting Range.
On that hot and sultry Saturday afternoon at the National Shooting Range two of Singapore’s national shooting coaches were on hand to teach us how to safely handle the guns, how to load, aim and shoot properly.
After the coaching lessons, demonstration and some actual practices, each participant was given 15 cartridges; and the competition format was simple and straight forward. The person who has the most number of hits out of the 15 allotted shots wins.
So, each batch of participants, say five to six shooters at one time, took their turns at the shooting range. All were trying their best to nail down as many clay pigeons as they could.
After a ‘battle royale’ of sorts, and with the splendid shooting skills of the American and Russian shooters, everyone expected that the winner would be either the lone cowboy from the US or one of the Russian guys. I thought so too.
No one expected that the lone jungle boy from Borneo will have any chance in the competition. But when the tally was counted in the late afternoon, I was surprised to find out that my achievement in shooting down 13 out of 15 pigeons was the best score for the day.
And that was how the trophy was won by the boss, the lone jungle boy from Sarawak, Malaysia. I thought that was funny. I never expected to win. And I think I flew the flag that day, albeit inadvertently.
The clay pigeon shooting was supposed to be an annual event, but somehow the following year the event was not held! Probably, they were still recovering from the fact that I beat all of them.
I am not sure whether it was held in later years. But by then, I had left Singapore to answer a call for national service and to return home.
Both of my top bosses from London, namely the MD and also the Group CEO, flew down all the way to Singapore to see me before I left. So very kind of them. I still keep in touch with them to this day.
Life is like that; we should keep in touch with our friends and acquaintances.
The point is, we must be ready to fly the flag all the time. I am proud to have flown the flag, in more ways than one, when it was needed.
Wishing everyone a Selamat Hari Kebangsaan 2021. Fly the flag by giving your best to whatever you are doing. Your service and contribution to the overall good and wellbeing makes for the total sum of everyone’s efforts.
