Mejar the Diplomat Who Never Pulled Rank

 

In the course of his 52 years of service in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the MFA, LTC Mejar Singh Gill has won several commendation awards and citations, in addition to the UN (UNIKOM) Medal, SAF Overseas Service Medal and the National Day Long Service Medal and the Public Administration Medal.

Mejar Singh Gill: Receiving National Day Award from former President S R Nathan, 2005

(Part 2)  Mejar Singh Gill alias Major Singh Gill, second career lasted another 22 years. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), his first new job was Deputy Director, Consular Directorate, which required him to handle consular matters, including contingency planning. Given his military experience, for the first few years, despite having left the SAF, he found himself working hand-in-hand with SAF counterparts in planning and executing various operations that MFA undertook in assisting Singaporeans in distress overseas, namely the evacuation of Singaporeans from Cambodia and the Silkair Crash in 1997 followed by the assisted departure of Singaporeans from Indonesia during the 1998 riots in Indonesia.

Evacuation of Singaporeans from Cambodia in 1997. Barely 6 months after joining MFA, he was involved in working with MINDEF in executing the evacuation of over 450 Singaporeans from Cambodia whose safety was threatened by the Jun 1997 coup d’état and resultant civil war. The contingency plan in place was to pull out the Singaporeans, i.e. an “assisted departure” plan entailing use of commercial flights if civilian airport was operational and an “evacuation” plan through use of military aircraft if airport closed to civilian aircrafts. As the situation worsened, with clashes also taking place near the airport, the military option had to be activated. He represented MFA in coordinating the plan with MINDEF officials, which resulted in a successful operation involving 6 flights of C-130 aircraft with small groups of commandos on board.

Silkair Crash. Barely six months after the Cambodian Crisis, Mejar was back in action interacting with the SAF during the Silkair crash. Silkair MI 185, a scheduled Boeing 737-300 flight from Jakarta to Singapore plummeted into Musi River near Palembang in Southern Sumatra on 19 Dec 1997. There were 97 passengers of various nationalities and 7 crew members on board. He describes it as “a heart-breaking scene at the airport with friends and relatives trying to get information about the aircraft that had going missing.” With the SIA Crisis Management Group taking the lead, he led the MFA Contingency to assist in liaison on the ground with the Indonesian authorities. Unfortunately, no bodies were recovered from the scene. But it was a trying period spending time with the families in Palembang, desperate for news of their beloved ones.

1998 Riots in Indonesia. The fall of President Suharto in May 1998 resulted in serious civil disorder and unrest that warranted the safe evacuation of Singaporeans. Mejar was again involved in assisting in the planning and execution of the “assisted departure” of thousands of Singaporeans from Indonesia to Singapore. He remembers the chaotic scenes at Jakarta Airport with families of all nationalities desperate to get out.

OVERSEAS MISSIONS

Having served at the MFA HQ, the rest of his career entailed doing stints at overseas missions, namely in Indonesia, United States and India. To him, these were interesting times, where he had the opportunity to interact with the officials of the various countries in representing Singapore’s interests as well as interacting with foreign diplomats and the larger communities, including Singaporeans living there. The postings also provided him the opportunity of making many more friends as well as exploring the beautiful countries. But there were also occasions where he was again involved in assisting in several contingencies, including the 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia and the Nepal Earthquake in 2015.

The massive underwater earthquake of 26 Dec 2004, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, that stuck off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, triggering several tsunamis which wrecked destruction in countries bordering the Indian Ocean, is one event etched in his memory.  He was then serving at the Singapore High Commission in Jakarta and was at the scene for over two weeks where he saw hundreds of bodies and the mass graves dug as burial grounds.

“When the Tsunami took place, I was actually in Medan, about 400 km down south of Aceh, where I was attending a wedding of an Indonesian friend’s son. The hotel that we stayed in started shaking around 8 am in the morning. Though it did cause some alarm, with water spilling out of the swimming pool, the hotel management’s checks showed that there was no structural damage and we moved back to the hotel after the short evacuation was carried out,” he said.

Little did they realise the extent of the calamity befalling the people of Aceh around the same time that day. In the evening, he returned to Jakarta but was instructed to return to Medan the next morning when the extent of the disaster become more apparent. From then onwards, it was a busy period for him and the Defence Attaché’s staff onsite coordinating with its Embassy Staff, MINDEF and other Indonesian agencies in rendering the necessary assistance.

Mejar Singh Gill: Interacting with foreign military officers abroad, 2000 – Source: Supplied

Nepal Earthquake During his posting in India, he was again involved in assisting Singaporeans in distress who found themselves stuck in Nepal during the massive earthquake that took place there in April 2015. This is because Singapore High Commission in India is also accredited to Nepal and Bhutan, and hence Mejar’s involvement. It was another trying experience.

SPORTS AND COMMUNITY

Mejar was an active sportsman during his schooling and army days, representing the Combined Schools and Singapore Armed Forces in hockey as well as playing for Singapore Khalsa Association (SKA). He was Singapore Armed Forces Hockey Convenor and also served as SKA’s vice president as well as vice president of Malaysia Singapore Sikh Sports Council (MSSSC). He is a serving trustee of SKA.

He has also been actively involved in community service. He was the founder member of Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association – Sikh Counselling Service in the mid-1970s, where he also served as chairman for several years. He is today actively involved at Gurdwara Sahib Yishun in Singapore.

Mejar Singh Gill: With Australian High Commissioner Harinder Sidhu to India (daughter of Ajaib Singh also previously from Naval Base Singapore) and former international diplomat, politician, writer and Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, Shashi Tharoor, 2017

INTERESTING ANECDOTES

Name Confusion. For some reason or other, my father gave me a lower ranking order name, i.e. Mejar (spelled as Major in my identity card), while he named one sister of mine as Karnail and another as Jarnail (Punjabi pronunciations for Colonel and General!). This understandably caused much confusion when he served in both the SAF as well as MFA.

“For example, I went through several ranks, such as Corporal, 2^nd Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel and most people got confused as to what my rank actually was. In my overseas diplomatic assignments too, when I introduced myself by name, some took me as an Army Officer serving in the Defence Attaché Office instead of as a diplomat,” he said.

He recollected a visit by a Malaysian Staff College delegation to his division, when one of the visiting Malaysian officers asked why he was wearing a name tag showing his rank while others were not. His name tag showed Mejar, the Malay spelling for major rank!

“There was another occasion when I once was pulled over in Johore by a Malaysian traffic policeman for a minor infringement. When he saw my name spelled as Mejar, he asked if I was “Askar” (soldier) and when I responded in the positive, he let me off,” he concluded.

Article By  Asia Samachar (25 December 2021) Soldier and Diplomat URL https://asiasamachar.com