Outfield in Tekong

Confessions by JD

About 10 years ago, during my National Service BMT, I sustained an injury and was taken out of course (OOC). There were two of us, C and myself, in the same situation. During the BMT outfield exercise at Tekong, we were placed under HQ as they were lacking manpower. They only had one new ASA, K, who handled admin work, along with a couple of previously OOC guys.

The outfield HQ was in a camp called San Yong Kong (SYK), a secluded area in the forest about a 30-minute drive from the ferry terminal. The moment we reached SYK, it felt creepy. The camp had an eerie atmosphere, with multiple empty bunks and a large sheltered area in the middle of nowhere. It was rundown, and there was no electricity. A portable generator had to be used sparingly due to limited fuel, so it was pitch dark most of the time at night. Even with electricity, lights were only installed in the large sheltered area.

The HQ area was in the big shelter. C and I went to recon around the empty bunks to set up our sleeping area. As we were still considered recruits, we were told by the “lao jiao” service support guys not to sleep in the HQ area as it was reserved for them. K decided to join us.

The bunks were single-floor and run-down, with barn-like doors without any built-in locks. A chain had to be used if the doors were to be locked. The first bunk was messy and dirty, with jungle beds all around. K suggested moving to the next one, as there was too much to clean, and being next to the HQ would be noisy at night with the HQ just being beside.

The next bunk was different. Its doors were tied together with wire, as if someone was warning us not to enter. But being dumb NS boys, we didn’t think much of it. We untied the wire and stepped in. The moment we entered, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Something felt off. There were three neat piles of leaves in the middle of the bunk, about 2 meters apart. I thought it was weird but didn’t pay much attention.

Its doors were tied together with wire, as if someone was warning us not to enter. 

Since the doors of this bunk were closed, it was relatively cleaner apart from the piles of leaves. We decided to set up our jungle beds here, kicking the leaves into one corner. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn’t have done that.

We carried on with our duties during the day. When night fell, the camp became even more eerie. As there were no lights, we had to use our torchlights to move around. The darkness was so intense we could barely see each other. To kill time, as the enciks and sergeants were not back yet, we were sitting around together with a lamp in the middle, just talking cock. Suddenly, C said he apparently had the gift of the third eye and had been seeing a lady in white around the camp, watching us. We were like, “Don’t talk cock la, suddenly say you got third eye.” K said, “Don’t say this kind of thing here leh.” From then on, he started sharing his ghostly experiences, which I can’t remember anymore. We all felt that he was just kidding and trying to act cool and different.

When the enciks came back to HQ around 9-10 pm. We returned to the bunk to sleep, as we had to wake up at 4 am to set off to collect hot rations for the enciks. The earlier part of the night was fine, and I fell asleep almost immediately. But around 1-3 am (I guess), I suddenly woke up as it got really cold. When I was awake, still with my eyes closed, I sensed something beside me. You know the feeling when someone puts their hand near your face when your eyes are closed? It felt like that. Shivers ran down my spine. I was like, “Fuck! Don’t open your eyes. Just sleep! Just sleep!” It felt like an eternity, but I was eventually able to fall back asleep.

In the morning, I asked C, who was sleeping beside me, whether he woke up in the middle of the night and stood near me or sat by his bed. He was like, “No? Why? Did you feel something?” I told him what happened. He said, “Told you right.” “What did you see?” he asked. I was like, “Bro, I didn’t want to see anything. I kept my eyes closed the whole time.”
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We decided not to tell the rest about what happened and came up with an excuse to move into the other bunk where the drivers were stationed instead. For the next three nights, I braced myself to sleep, but fortunately, nothing else happened.

Interestingly, found out that Sanyongkong camp was named after one of the nearby kampongs in Tekong.​