AS a young police officer (22 years old) in 1965, I volunteered to join the Police Field Force. I stayed with the PFF for the next 20 years, initially commanding 36 men, then 150 and finally 880. I never had any problem commanding the officers and men who were mainly Malays. All my men knew I was colour blind and so were they.
To give an example, during one Hari Raya I decided to give all my men three weeks off except for one platoon which was needed to maintain camp security. That platoon would be decided by drawing lots because I did not wish to upset the platoon structure by getting the non-Muslims to take over.