Cop helped keep peace in Timor-Leste

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Royston Png has witnessed Timor-Leste transform from a war-torn Indonesian province into an independent country taking its first steps towards democracy.

After serving two year-long missions there with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNPKF) in 2000 and 2003, ASP Png returned to Timor-Leste in 2011 to help train the local police force, conducting courses in areas such as tactical awareness and contingency planning.

In his last stint, ASP Png also did his part in ensuring that Timor-Leste became more stable during its fragile transition.

When violence broke out after the country's elections in July last year, he assisted in implementing measures such as travel restrictions imposed on Singapore Police Force (SPF) personnel stationed in Timor-Leste to reduce the risks faced by them.

"The situation was volatile. Sometimes the UN became targets of attack," said the 39-year-old UNPKF trainer and officer from the Police Security Command, an elite unit of hand-picked officers assigned to protect the President, ministers and other VIPs.

ASP Png recalled an incident in July last year, when he and a fellow SPF officer were surrounded by local villagers, who aggressively demanded money from them. They managed to escape unhurt from their harrowing experience.

"Safety is definitely something we take for granted back home," he said.

In spite of the many challenges, ASP Png said he is heartened that the UNPKF has contributed "in some small way" to lay the foundations of the country's transformation in the past decade.

"My first time there (in 2000), it was a ghost town. There were no lodging, no place to buy food and it was infested with mosquitoes. But since then, there are restaurants and hotels, the economy is running and people have jobs," he said.

For his peacekeeping efforts and good performance, ASP Png received the Efficiency Medal at this year's National Day Awards investiture for the Ministry of Home Affairs.

He was one of 302 Home Team officers who received National Day Awards from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean at the Home Team Academy on Wednesday.

Three Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers were awarded the SCDF Overseas Service Medal at the ceremony.

One of them is Warrant Officer Gary Ong, 38, a firefighter who was deployed to the Philippines and assisted in relief efforts last December after Typhoon Pablo hit the country's southern island of Mindanao.

The father of two described his experience as "life-changing".

"I got to see the resilience and courage shown by people affected by the disaster. People were smiling and trying to build their lives again," said WO Ong.

"It inculcated a never-say-die attitude in me. It taught me how to appreciate life."

yeosamjo@sph.com.sg

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