What a joke. A piece that was supposed to show how DETENTION BARRACKS improved his life, but came off as insensitive as the army did not consider his plight.
Generation Grit: Stint in army detention barracks strengthened his resolve to finish his studies
Mr Lee Rui Xuan scored a GPA of 3.88 in his first year, and received an SP Engineering Scholarship.ST PHOTO: TIMOTHY DAVID
PUBLISHED
4 HOURS AGO
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When his family ran into financial difficulties, Mr Lee Rui Xuan dropped everything to help them. He quit school to work, and even faked illness in the army to do part-time jobs. But he was caught for going Awol and sentenced to a stint in the army's detention barracks. His time there made him more determined to succeed, and go back to school after a five-year hiatus.
Cara Wong
SINGAPORE - Once a star pupil in school, Mr Lee Rui Xuan hit rock bottom in 2017, when he was thrown into the army's detention barracks for being absent without official leave (Awol) from camp during his national service (NS).
To make matters worse, his secondary school classmates serving their NS in the military police were his wardens.
"It was a huge blow to my self-esteem. I never thought I would have to follow their orders," said Mr Lee, 22.
It was a fall from grace for Mr Lee, who once thought he had a promising future after scoring an L1R5 (English plus five relevant subject) of eight points in his O-level examinations.
He enrolled in Ngee Ann Polytechnic's aerospace electronics course in 2014 after finishing his studies at Woodlands Ring Secondary School.
But midway through his first semester, things started going downhill for his family.
His father, 56, the family's sole breadwinner, had left his job as an electrical engineer to start his own business.
But the business failed to take off, recalled Mr Lee, and his parents started cutting down on pocket money for him and his younger siblings - his sister, now 21, and brother, 19.
"As the days progressed, we had less food and pocket money. That was when I knew something was very wrong," he said. At one point, he was given just $3 every day.
He took on a part-time job as a cashier and used the $300 to $400 he earned each month for his daily expenses and to contribute to the household income.
His mother, 53, did odd jobs to ease their financial burden.
But by the second semester in poly, Mr Lee realised his parents were struggling to foot his school bills.
One day, his parents, who are not literate in English, asked him to read aloud a letter from the school. The letter detailed the unpaid school bills.
It was then that Mr Lee realised the extent of his family's financial situation.
He decided to quit school to work full-time. He reasoned that his parents could afford to keep only two children in school and they should be his siblings.
"My parents didn't agree to it. They wanted me to get back to studying," he said.
He worked two jobs after quitting school - as an administration executive on weekdays and a cashier on weekends. The $2,000 he brought home helped pay the household bills.
After about a year of working, he was enlisted in the army.
While at home on a one-week break from camp, he overheard a heated conversation between his parents and sister about her pocket money.
His siblings later told him they found it hard to go out with friends or hang out in school as they could not afford it.
"They would come home straight after school, and stay home most of the time," said Mr Lee.
So he decided to earn some extra cash for them.
Back in camp, he feigned being sick whenever he could. He got the medical officer on duty to give him medicate certificates for insomnia or a bad cough
He used the sick leave to work at a warehouse about two to three times a week.
This went on for about a month, until he was caught by his army supervisors, said Mr Lee.
They called him in for a meeting and was told that the maximum penalty for going Awol was two years in the detention barracks.
"I was very scared... but they said if I cooperated with the investigation, they could drastically reduce the sentence," said Mr Lee.
After he explained to them his home situation, he was given six weeks in detention.
After completing his NS, he served his sentence in a cell with two other men.
"I felt very out of it, like I knew I didn't belong there," said Mr Lee, adding that some of his cellmates were drug addicts.
The wardens who were his former classmates shared with him their plans to further their studies.
"It really made me think about what I was doing with my life," he said. "I realised I must buck up, go back to where I am supposed to be."
The experience strengthened his resolve to finish his studies.
Thankfully, the family's finances by then were not as tight. His father got work as a security officer, his mother was a cashier, and his sister worked part-time as a barista.
Released from detention four weeks due to good behaviour, he enrolled in Singapore Polytechnic's (SP) bio-engineering course in April last year.
"At first, I was still quite playful because I could not believe that I was finally studying again," he said, laughing.
But he knuckled down and sought help from his lecturers and friends.
In his first year, he scored a grade point average of 3.88 and won an SP Engineering Scholarship, awarded to those in the top 5 per cent of the cohort.
He uses the scholarship money of $3,000 per academic year to pay off most of his school fees.
Now in his second year at the polytechnic, he hopes to become a medical equipment service engineer or a lecturer.
His lecturer, Dr Ngoh Shwu Lan, described Mr Lee as highly motivated and self-disciplined.
"Rui Xuan is always committed and is able to make sensible decisions whenever needed," said Dr Ngoh, the course chair of SP's bio-engineering diploma course.
Looking back, Mr Lee said he regretted going Awol in the army.
He said he learnt only later that the army had schemes to help those in financial difficulties.
His advice to those in a similar situation: "We shouldn't try to skirt around the law. There's always a different avenue for you to get help.
"Don't be afraid to ask for help."
Generation Grit: Stint in army detention barracks strengthened his resolve to finish his studies
PUBLISHED
4 HOURS AGO
FACEBOOKTWITTER
When his family ran into financial difficulties, Mr Lee Rui Xuan dropped everything to help them. He quit school to work, and even faked illness in the army to do part-time jobs. But he was caught for going Awol and sentenced to a stint in the army's detention barracks. His time there made him more determined to succeed, and go back to school after a five-year hiatus.
Cara Wong
SINGAPORE - Once a star pupil in school, Mr Lee Rui Xuan hit rock bottom in 2017, when he was thrown into the army's detention barracks for being absent without official leave (Awol) from camp during his national service (NS).
To make matters worse, his secondary school classmates serving their NS in the military police were his wardens.
"It was a huge blow to my self-esteem. I never thought I would have to follow their orders," said Mr Lee, 22.
It was a fall from grace for Mr Lee, who once thought he had a promising future after scoring an L1R5 (English plus five relevant subject) of eight points in his O-level examinations.
He enrolled in Ngee Ann Polytechnic's aerospace electronics course in 2014 after finishing his studies at Woodlands Ring Secondary School.
But midway through his first semester, things started going downhill for his family.
His father, 56, the family's sole breadwinner, had left his job as an electrical engineer to start his own business.
But the business failed to take off, recalled Mr Lee, and his parents started cutting down on pocket money for him and his younger siblings - his sister, now 21, and brother, 19.
"As the days progressed, we had less food and pocket money. That was when I knew something was very wrong," he said. At one point, he was given just $3 every day.
He took on a part-time job as a cashier and used the $300 to $400 he earned each month for his daily expenses and to contribute to the household income.
His mother, 53, did odd jobs to ease their financial burden.
But by the second semester in poly, Mr Lee realised his parents were struggling to foot his school bills.
One day, his parents, who are not literate in English, asked him to read aloud a letter from the school. The letter detailed the unpaid school bills.
It was then that Mr Lee realised the extent of his family's financial situation.
He decided to quit school to work full-time. He reasoned that his parents could afford to keep only two children in school and they should be his siblings.
"My parents didn't agree to it. They wanted me to get back to studying," he said.
He worked two jobs after quitting school - as an administration executive on weekdays and a cashier on weekends. The $2,000 he brought home helped pay the household bills.
After about a year of working, he was enlisted in the army.
While at home on a one-week break from camp, he overheard a heated conversation between his parents and sister about her pocket money.
His siblings later told him they found it hard to go out with friends or hang out in school as they could not afford it.
"They would come home straight after school, and stay home most of the time," said Mr Lee.
So he decided to earn some extra cash for them.
Back in camp, he feigned being sick whenever he could. He got the medical officer on duty to give him medicate certificates for insomnia or a bad cough
He used the sick leave to work at a warehouse about two to three times a week.
This went on for about a month, until he was caught by his army supervisors, said Mr Lee.
They called him in for a meeting and was told that the maximum penalty for going Awol was two years in the detention barracks.
"I was very scared... but they said if I cooperated with the investigation, they could drastically reduce the sentence," said Mr Lee.
After he explained to them his home situation, he was given six weeks in detention.
After completing his NS, he served his sentence in a cell with two other men.
"I felt very out of it, like I knew I didn't belong there," said Mr Lee, adding that some of his cellmates were drug addicts.
The wardens who were his former classmates shared with him their plans to further their studies.
"It really made me think about what I was doing with my life," he said. "I realised I must buck up, go back to where I am supposed to be."
The experience strengthened his resolve to finish his studies.
Thankfully, the family's finances by then were not as tight. His father got work as a security officer, his mother was a cashier, and his sister worked part-time as a barista.
Released from detention four weeks due to good behaviour, he enrolled in Singapore Polytechnic's (SP) bio-engineering course in April last year.
"At first, I was still quite playful because I could not believe that I was finally studying again," he said, laughing.
But he knuckled down and sought help from his lecturers and friends.
In his first year, he scored a grade point average of 3.88 and won an SP Engineering Scholarship, awarded to those in the top 5 per cent of the cohort.
He uses the scholarship money of $3,000 per academic year to pay off most of his school fees.
Now in his second year at the polytechnic, he hopes to become a medical equipment service engineer or a lecturer.
His lecturer, Dr Ngoh Shwu Lan, described Mr Lee as highly motivated and self-disciplined.
"Rui Xuan is always committed and is able to make sensible decisions whenever needed," said Dr Ngoh, the course chair of SP's bio-engineering diploma course.
Looking back, Mr Lee said he regretted going Awol in the army.
He said he learnt only later that the army had schemes to help those in financial difficulties.
His advice to those in a similar situation: "We shouldn't try to skirt around the law. There's always a different avenue for you to get help.
"Don't be afraid to ask for help."
