YTSS National Police Cadet Corps: June 2011

The OEV was very fun and unforgettable till I didn't want to come back to Singapore. Each of us were assigned a Bruneian PKPDB (Polis Kadet Polis Diraja Brunei) cadet. My buddie was Hakimah. The first thing I realised was that although she has joined PKPDB for about 2 years, she had not gotten her rank.

The highest rank amongst the Bruneian cadets was a Sergeant rank. The sergeant is already about 18 to 19 years old.

I realised that the Bruneian cadet squad's drills standard is not as good as us. However, during a long and tiring hike through the tasek lama recreational park, we realised that their physical standard were far better than us.

When I got there, there was a serious language and culture barrier. All the Bruneian cadets were malays, except for a chinese guy. So he became the translator for us, the non-malays. Sometimes, even the malays could not understand the bruneian cadets as their melayu is also quite different. But after trying hard to speak a mixture of English and Malay language, me and my buddie managed to communicate fairly well.

When we had our first lunch, the girls were told to take the buffet lunch after the boys. Due to the strict muslim law there, girls and boys were mostly separated, regardless of when eating, boarding the bus, or falling in. Thus was a serious gender gap.

We visited various police units there such as the marine police, the traffic police, and the police training centre. Many of the equipments they had are imported from singapore. This shows that SPF are in a good partnership with RBPF (Royal Brunei Police Force)

Through this OEV, I've experienced something different. Through this exchange, I've made a lot of great friends and we are still keeping in touch through FBI. I miss my buddy and I really hope that Singapore can host the Bruneian cadets like how they hosted us. I have really enjoyed myself through those 5 days.