Roundabout Security

On Monday afternoon, I made a trip down to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to submit my photocopied birth certificate, academic certificates, testimonials, etc. There was a news advertisement about two weeks ago in The Straits Times notifying readers that the next recruitment exercise for CPIB is about to begin & interested candidates are invited to send in their application.

One of the first jobs that I really wanted to go into after graduation was with CPIB. Investigative work has always been something that gave me a spark of both challenge & curiosity. But since I graduated in the year 2004, there has not been any recruitment exercise for CPIB. Finally, my chance has come!

But I slipped up… though perhaps it could also be good thing, if my application was eventually selected & successful. There were a few bummers in this incident. Firstly, my mistake was that I had spent a day or two filling up the CPIB application form, which is 6 full pages long! Then secondly, I fell ill for the next 4 days, feeling groggy during the day & had difficulty sleeping at night due to my cold, blocked nose, sore throat & phlegm. Thirdly, after I was well, I had to go to the shop at Marine Parade to take photograph & ended up having to wait another two days before I could get my set of photographs.

Thus, here I was… today, rushing down to CPIB to hand in my photocopied documents, literally by HAND.

The internet street directory has served me well all these years, but it screwed-up this time round. The instructions brought me from Bedok MRT station all the way to Redhill MRT station, before I had to walk nearly 300 meters to a bus stop which I had to search all around the estate area to find! This bus stop was so ‘ulu’ & situated right in between a whole cluster of HDB flats... at a narrow two lane road, each lane for one direction of traffic! Gosh! Thankfully the bus came immediately when I found the bus stop…

Then I got off at the wrong bus stop because the street directory instructions stated that I should alight at the 5th bus stop, but this bus turned into the depot by the 3rd bus stop! Argh!

Upon alighting, I had to trace my way based on the street directory map which I had printed out (which was correct coz estates don’t change much even over the years). I wondered around the whole cluster of estates & started to find myself walking upslope. I looked at the map & realized that the bus had stopped at a hill-top HDB housing estate! Argh!

Yeah, it didn’t help that it was a sunny day… & I was wondering around on foot. I could faintly see a building that looks like CPIB, so I started to walk towards that direction. Soon I found myself to have reached the edge of the hill-top, where I was looking down at a height of several floors down. Wow… it was scary… So grunted to myself & started to turn back to where the bus stopped & proceeded to walk all the way down the pavement slopes, till I reached the main road. Yeah, it was quite a long walk.

When I reached the main road, I looked at the map & realized that I had been walking at the opposite direction of the CPIB building! Argh! But what to do… this is the only pavement slope downwards & out of this hill HDB estate! So I followed my map & continued walking…

Finally I saw the road sign that meant that CPIB was nearby! Yeah! When I reached the CPIB building, I looked up & saw the CPIB logo on the side of the building. It was sign of relief that I haven’t felt in years! I had walked a long way & in the hot afternoon sun!

I approached the gate nearest to me & found that it was walled up for 3 out of the 4 sides of the guardhouse, with only 1 side having a fenced up slits wall. I was shocked… & especially so when I looked at the almost impenetrable main gate that was really thick & solidly strong, painted white. It looked like the main gate into a fortress stronghold… with slits which I looked through to see that it led into an underground car-park with lots of cars inside… & I was taken aback…

I decided that maybe I should walk around this building & see if there might be another entrance that I could enter, like a glass door or something where employees who did not drive, would enter the building.

So walked… & walked… It was silvery square building, so the walls had 4 sides. I walked along the first side & it was a solid thick white wall, with no slits to look into - a complete white thick wall. Then I passed the second side, then the third side… still that grossly thick white wall & no way to look into or climb over. The solid white wall was at least 4 – 5 meters high & it looked like a super secured prison with dangerous warlord prisoners. It looked really scary…

As I walked on, I reached one end of the road… & I stood there shocked… for right in front of me, was SPRING building, right next to Jalan Bukit Merah area! Argh! From Redhill all the way to Bukit Merah already ah! What a long walk!

And while on my way around the CPIB building, I passed by the bus stop that had bus numbers 14, 196 & 197 that pass by my house! Arrggghhh!!! I should have just taken the bus from my house! Grrrr….

Finally, I reached the 4th side of the wall, where I was face to face with that same thick & solid white main gate again! I sighed to myself, having walk a lot by now. I composed myself & walked toward that super walled up & secured guardhouse.

As I approached, this man in red polo t-shirt looked at me & asked, “Yes, how can I help you?” I replied that I’m here to submit my application form. This man, absolutely like a look-alike to Uncle Chee Seng from my church (both by face & body frame) suddenly exclaimed, “Now then you apply ah!”

I was taken aback by his loud commanding voice, which momentarily brought me back to the days back in BMT, where the officers shouted in the same way as his Uncle Chee Seng look-alike. So I answered, “Today is the deadline.”

This man grunted to himself & asked, “What qualification are you?” I replied that I was a degree holder. Then he walked into the guardroom & brought out this application form & handed it to me.

I gathered that he didn’t understand what I had said earlier, that I was here to submit my application form, not ask for an application form. So I opened my backpack & took out my prepared envelope with all my photocopied documents inside & handed to him, saying that I have already applied online & I’m actually here to submit my photocopied documents.

The man’s face softened a little bit & said “Oh…” Then I asked if I could get some water to stick the sticky end of the envelope, so that the documents won’t accidentally fall out. Before I came to this building, I had half expected it to allow me to enter & find a washroom, where I could stick this sticky end of the envelope. I never expected it to be so secure all around & not even let anyone enter!

So this man said, “Never mind, the officer inside is going to open the envelope anyway. So you just wait for the phone call.” I acknowledged, thanked him for his help & walked off calmly. Although I walked off calmly, inside my heart was racing. I was so shocked that this man wearing a polo t-shirt was so fierce to me!

Okay lah, he wasn’t exactly fierce… I think he was just shocked that I came to apply for this position so late. But I was quite ill for the past 4 days & when I finally got my photograph & prepared my documents, it was already Saturday afternoon… & there is no mail delivery on Sunday.

Thankfully, I ran & managed to catch the bus 196 from the bus stop & just sat on the seat, still sweating & tired from all that walking. I still trust the internet street directory website, but just that this time, it really screwed-up.

The journey home took one full hour & I made a mental note that I would need to leave home at least 1 & ½ hours earlier, coz I need to wait for the bus as well. I’m not going to take that crazy Redhill MRT then bus route again. Grrr…

It was quite a shocking yet interesting experience for me. Rebecca replied to assure me that submitting on the last day itself shouldn’t affect my chances of this job application, coz it’s not a late submission… after I had sent her like 4 – 5 SMS to share about what had happened to me this afternoon.

Now I’ll wait for the phone call to see if I have been successful in getting this job interview & hopefully this job at CPIB. Just hope that this time; it would be what’s in line with God’s plan for me…