Setapak Christmas Performance

9 DEC 2017 - It's been awhile since 3rd KL went on "marching band" mode. It was a real mess, but we all gotta restart from somewhere. This is the second time the Company is doing this service for the churches around Setapak who do this each year in conjunction with Christmas. 1st KL has also played a for this function before. 

It was a quick 30-minute march from Setapak Lutheran church down Jalan Genting Klang to Muk En Methodist Church. When marching carrying a heavy instrument, 30 minutes feels like a day. 

A was a great experience! But it highlighted a lot of gaps in our skills which need to be fixed before we can perform well again. 

BB Hong Kong's Drill Competition

I was in Hong Kong for work in November 2017. Typically, we'd be busy each day leading up to our biggest conference in the calendar. But in a surprising (but most welcomed) move, we had the day off on 11th November. I took the time to visit the BB in Hong Kong where one of its divisions were having a drill competition. 

I'm not sure if Hong Kong has laws that forbid showing faces of their members.. which is why the photos below don't reveal much of a persons identity. 

The organisers of this event explained the competition was organised to spur up greater interested in drill. Some Companies were able to form their own teams, while smaller companies combined with another for this occasion.

A major difference (apart from the obvious difference in drill commands, which were in English, and movements) was that teams were led by officers - even captains. That's quite a massive culture shock for me. 

Initially, I was thinking of staying for only an hour, but because I found it so interesting, I ended up staying for the entire duration. I was given the privileged of handing out prizes to some of the winners of the competition at the end (which I was extremely reluctant to do .. not that I was a snob, but because I was not well dress - 3rd KL t-shirt and jeans XD). Congratulations to the winners and may they continue to uphold their drill standards! 

My thanks to BBHK staff Mr Kelvin Tsang and Mr Lau of 27th HK Co. for the fantastic hospitality. 

Visit to Kampar

It was a just a week after 3rd KL's memorable 60th Anniversary Dinner celebrations. My fiance and I were on our way to Ipoh for some much needed rest (and to run some personal wedding errands). On the way, I stopped by Kampar to visit the 2nd and 4th Kampar Companies. 

I've passed by ACS Kampar many times before, but never really saw the BB in action there before. They've done well of late, winning in their drill competitions even. I've met some of them recently in Camp Concordia, so it was good to give them a surprise. I managed to see 2nd Kampar and their sister company 1st Kampar GB in a joint band practice. It was nice to see them in action!

We left before closing and went to a nearby coffee shop for some local flavours (it was our second breakfast, but we're in Perak, so it's ok since the food is good) before heading over to SM Pei Yua (SUWA), where one of 4th Kampar's platoons meet (no idea what SUWA stands for, but I suspect swasta?). I managed to join them for opening parade and band practice (which was coached by a former member of 4th JB studying in UTAR). Looked like everyone (except percussion) was learning to play the bugle that day. 

The situation in Kampar as a whole is quite different to what I'm normally accustomed to. Both companies were extremely lacking of officers. In fact, their captains were the only officers present on size. 4th Kampar's poor captain even had another parade to man later in the afternoon (Pei Yua's parade was in the morning) - and he had to fetch some members from afar. Some time ago, the lack of manpower also caused 3rd Kampar (which operated in ACS primary) to close down to be absorbed into 2nd Kampar. 

But I'm reminded that God has a time and season for everything. Some times things are good, sometimes not so much. It's important to keep out trust in Him.

My thanks to captain's Keat Meng and Lew from 2nd Kampar and 4th Kampar for being fantastic host. May the Lord continue to shine his light in the Brigade ministries in Kampar!

Explanation Statement

Hi friends. I just thought I clear up this matter before it blows up (or get bigger if it did blow up at whichever point you're reading this statement). 

I work for a think tank. Part of what we do is to write articles on various subjects. Some of these articles get printed on the press for public awareness. 

On the 24th May 2017, an article was published on Sin Chew Daily written by me on an article concerning TN50. In this article, my BB photo was used. 

I'd like to clarify that Sin Chew was not authorised to use this photo. They would normally send a draft of the article to us before publishing, but didn't do so this round (not all our articles are selected. When there is no draft we usually assume it's rejected). It's only my second article with them, the first being the article on uniform groups published on 7th January 2017, so this is where the confusion is. 

This TN50 article was meant to be published for Malaysia Day - so I wasn't expecting it to be out this soon. 

Therefore, it wasn't my intention to use my BB photo for the article and this is an oversight of .. I guess all parties involved, including myself. My sincere apologies about this. 

(PS: that said, hope you found the article useful though. It talks about an equal need for good civic mindedness if we hope to be a developed nation. An English version can be found here http://www.mysinchew.com/node/117703)

BBM Elections 2017

So.. I decided to run for Brigade Secretary.

I'm guessing many visiting this site are curious of what sort of person I am. Well, what better way to find out by assessing their track record and BB experience?

I decided to stand because I felt God nudging me to put my professional skills sets and my past BBMHQ experiences to good use for the extension of His Kingdom. My promise to you, the voters, is that you will see BBM (as in the national movement) in a more positive and relevant light, as I plan to restore communications between the top and the grassroots, which in my opinion has been neglected the past couple of years.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish ALL the candidates all the best! Most have excellent credentials and are good people! I really wish all of us can serve together in EXCO (actually through co-opting, we still might be able to).

Though some of us may be "competing" with one another, let us not forget to be friends after this is over! Ultimately. it is about serving our BB members which is most important. Win or lose, let's all continue serving and being to God.

Memories of My First BNTS

(Copied from The Sextant, 3rd KL's Internal Newsletter, 9th March 2017)

My First BNTS 

I was just fourteen years old in Form 2. "If you want to get promoted, you have to go for BNTS! It's compulsory!", our offiicers said. Not that it mattered, I was going to sign up for it anyway. It was 1998 and the course was co-organised by 1st KL and our company, 3rd KL. So it was held in 1st KL's grounds, Wesley Methodist Church Kuala Lumpur. We stayed at the old YC (Youth Centre, which has since been demolished and replaced by the humongous Wesley Legacy Centre) and classes in the Menara next door. Even with just two companies, there were 70-80 of us in both Basic and Advanced NCOs' Training School. 

So..
(This is where learning to blog at an early age would be a good idea because memory will fade - I don't remember big chunks of things!)
.. the BNTS had classes. I totally don't remember it's contents (at all), but I remember our then captain Mr Tan Chee Keong, Mr Robinson Pan, Mr Terence Yap (who I found out a week later was my neighbour just 5-6 doors away living on the same street), and Mr Francis Chiong (I accidentally slept in his class. I remember asking him for permission to go wash my face) all taking one class each. 

The things I do remember was the midnight games - waking up at 2am and playing police and thief. This was not the sissy "I tag you, you tag me" police and thief. Playing this game between two all-Boy companies meant aggressive American Football-styled pouncing and slamming people to the ground till they died (metaphorically speaking). Good fun. Right after the game we were asked to wash up. You'd think that we would be going back to sleep, but no. We falled-in again under the nice cooling fan with eyes half open, and were asked to sit down to write a page long essay (yep, this is were our recruits camp tradition came from). 

Other memories are sketchy. I remember our Corporal Yap GH telling other 3rd KL Boys who were still chatting away after lights out to look at me as I was seemed to already be sleeping (I wasn't). 

The other lasting treasured memory was that of drill. We were mixed into drill squads between 1st KL and 3rd KL. They told us to prepare for competition. I was a pessimistic 14 year old and I criticised the quality of our combined drill team. "We were like maggots!", I said to the 1st KL Corporal who was training us. I wasn't easy to convince nor motivate at the time. But one of the 1st KL Staff Sergeants, SSgt. Wong Giok Leigh was able to change my mindset and convince me that whatever it is, we should all try to do our best with whatever we had. In the end, we did okay. "Show them who's the man, and who's the maggot!".

Good memories of my first BNTS (or what's left of it). What's yours going to be like next week?  

(Wrote this to encourage my Boys to look forward to NCO Training. Also wanted to log this down for memories sake!)

Bang Bang Bang. Who Die?

On 25^th March 2016, I brought my Boys to Xtion Paintball Park in Bukit Jalil. No real occasion, just wanted the guys to unwind and have a good time. We’ve been loaded with 60^th Anniversary practices, so a change of pace is most welcomed – especially when there are recruits around.

This place was alright, affordable and nearby.

Rather than getting cooped up with first person shooters and computer games, perhaps a taste of the real thing would make them want to go out more. Who knows? 

So who died? Well, no one. 1-2 bruise spots though. 

Parade on 21st January 2017

Our second official week of parade. It was good to see the band back in action. 

Slightly worried with the recruits turn out. Hopefully things will improve. 

Great to be back in SMK Seri Saujana!

After a 4 year hiatus, I'm finally back in SMK Seri Saujana running the BB.. and GB. 

The first parade on 14th January 2017 was quite a good one with 15 Boys and 22 Girls present. All the members are Form 3 to 5s due to an "interesting situation" with the school administration - one we hope to mitigate as soon as possible. 

This school was previously under the care of 13th KL BB and 8th KL GB, but now is under 3rd KL BB's case (and hopefully lead to the formation of a new GB company). God willing, it will all work out. 

First BB-related New Article

A friend and colleague of mine was asking me to write an inspirational piece for Sin Chew. Apparently I could write about anything. What more appropriate than to write about the organisation and ministry am I most found of. 

The online article can be found here. An English version can be found here.

Yeah, there are some mistakes in BB terminology.. but that's the editors fault. Not that I blame them though.. 

I would like to thank my friend YC for the opportunity to write this article and feature it in print. It was quite a cool opportunity. =)