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A NEW BEGINNING
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FIFTEEN
new officers were to receive swords, which were not worn with mess ceremonials or mess kit
as they were commonly called. The First Batch had earlier informed SAFTI who was going
to turn up as their guests, as SAFTI had had to prepare the seating plan. But, the lists issued
to cadets at SAFTI went only as far down as Table 12, which corresponded with the top 12
new officers in the order of merit, 2LT Kwan Yue Yeong being at Table 1 with the President.
Next in order of protocol were 2LT Lee Song Chong, Best Cadet, Platoon 1, at the table
hosted by the Speaker of Parliament, Dr. Yeoh Ghim Seng. Dr. Goh Keng Swee hosted
2LT Timothy De Souza, Best Cadet, Platoon 2 and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. S.
Rajaratnam, hosted 2LT Hee Kam Yong, Best Cadet, Platoon 3. If 2LT Gurcharan Singh
had been in Singapore, he would have been on the second table as the Best Officer Cadet
of the course. As it was, he, together with Second Lieutenants Chan Seck Sung and Chng
Teow Hua were listed in absentia. There were 45 tables in all, for the ten-course Chinese
dinner catered by a halal Chinese restaurant on contract with the Istana. Although the fair-
weather programme was for the dinner to be on the lawn, not taking risks with the Singapore
weather, there were provisions for the dining to be held indoors. But the cocktails would be
held in the huge dining area inside the main building, while the ceremony itself was to be in
a reception hall adjoining it.
The new officers and their personal guests arrived at the Istana on their own, either in private
cars or taxis. Not many First Batch officers or their families could afford a private car in
1967, but many arranged for someone to drop them off at the back gate or someone with a
car to come as their guest. The majority arrived through the back gate at Cavenagh Road, but
those who arrived by taxis and dropped off at the main gate at Orchard Road took the scenic
route up Edinburgh Road—the main driveway—or used a mini-bus shuttle service that had
been provided. But, it was a pleasant walk for those who chose to take it on that fine evening
through the park-like Istana grounds. Private cars were ushered into parking lots off the
sides of the driveways when they spilled over the limited reserved parking areas. Male guest
mostly wore lounge suits, though some merely came in long sleeves and tie because, once
again, not every male private guest considered a lounge suit a priority in his limited wardrobe
those days. Among male guests, some Malay gentlemen wore national dress while among the
women, the dress code ranged from semi-formal evening wear to traditional cheongsam,
baju-kurong and sari.
The arrangements were for the Commissioning Ceremony to be conducted first with the
dinner—preceded by cocktails—to follow. The ceremony would consist of a speech by the
President, invocations by religious leaders, the presentation of the Commission and the
personal sword to each new officer by the President and a speech by then-Prime Minister
Lee Kuan Yew. It was the first time in the SAF that religious leaders were invited to conduct
prayers at commencements such as the Commissioning Ceremony, the official opening of
new military installations or presentation of Colours, but it was to prove the start of a
tradition. On this first occasion, there were Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh
clerics only and their prayers and invocations were in the language of the religion, though