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On August 5, 1965, the Criminal Investigation Department was deployed to raid a hideout at Siang Lim Park.
Wanted gunman and notorious kidnapper, Morgan Teo, refused to surrender and shot 28-year-old inspector Lim Kim Sai Allan in the head.
Allan Lim was killed in the line of duty that day, leaving behind his wife and their infant son.
Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam paid tribute to Allan Lim in Parliament on August 3, 2021 to commemorate 200 years of the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
"These officers and others, gave up their lives while trying to keep us safe and secure. We remember what they have done for the SPF, and for Singapore."
We spoke to Allan's son, David Lim, who chose to join the Singapore Police Force at 27, and recently retired from his 30 year career with the Singapore Police Force.
Lim's father is one of 125 SPF officers who gave their lives in the line of duty, and whose names are on inscribed in the Commemorative Gallery at the Police Heritage Centre.
Taking on the legacy of a third generation police officer
As a little boy, Lim was brought up by his grandfather, Lim Choon Seng, who joined the Singapore Police Force in 1934.
However, Lim had no plans of becoming a police officer initially.
When he was ready to enter the workforce, Lim was offered a job and recruited as a news producer by the then Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (now CNA).
In 1992, he quit SBC to join the police force, “as a continuation of a cycle”.
“Subsequently, I said okay, maybe this is what I’m gonna do, to finish what (my father) started. It wasn't like something I was doing for the sake of doing.”
Lim applied for the position in secret, and only broke the news to his family when he was accepted.
Some of his relatives were shocked, but were generally “quite pleased” with his choice. His wife also supported him.
“I thought it was just the right thing to do. I enjoyed what I was doing, so I carried on and spent 30 years doing it.”
Lim's choice to continue the family tradition was "to make my grandfather and father proud,” he said.
While both Lim's grandparents were proud of his decision to join the Singapore Police Force, they were also circumspect about it. Lim's grandfather advised him to be careful while his grandmother had a more emotional response.
“She’s not one for words. I remember she just looked at me and she just shook her head. I think she cried though, she teared a bit.”
Remembering his father's and grandfather's legacy
A few years ago, Lim tracked down T. E. Ricketts, a reserve unit officer who injured himself while trying to rescue Lim’s father on that fateful day at Siang Lim Park.
A British national who grew up in Asia, Ricketts had migrated to Australia by then. Lim lost his father when he was less than a year old so meeting Ricketts and hearing stories about his late father was a wonderful experience for him.
“I was on duty in Australia and I called every Ricketts there. I found him. It was nice, I met him and he told me some stories.”
Although Lim had never spoke about his background during his time on the force, some of the old timers at the police headquarters who had worked with his father recognised him.
Colleagues who had been trained by his grandfather also never failed to mention that he was well known in the force for his strong emphasis on discipline.
“Everybody tells me the same thing, he’s very strict, very strict.”
Lim also recounted how his grandfather instilled in him a sense of punctuality, and was particular about his posture even when he was young.
“These things, I don’t think I keep to it now,” he laughed.
Lim's grandfather on the roll of honour, as a sub-inspector in 1955 and an inspector in 1962.
Like many of his fellow officers back in the day, Lim started his career at SPF as an investigation officer (IO).
He worked at the Tanglin Division for two and a half years before being transferred to the Gurkha Contingent in 1995 as its first local training officer.
In 2000, Lim spent a year in East Timor, attached to the Civilian Police intel unit in the United Nations Police Peacekeeping Force.
Later, he was tasked to set up the Air Marshal Unit in Security Command after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Starting out as an IO
During our chat, Lim, who retired from the force in 2019, reminisced about many aspects of police work in the early days.
“The IO posting is the beginning of somebody’s career, but it's one of the toughest times,” shared Lim.
At the Tanglin Division, there were only about three people on duty per shift, with each shift lasting 24 hours.
“And when you finish at 8am, you have to prepare for a morning panel, where you have to brief the senior and head investigators about the day’s cases. Then, when you finish that, which might take about an hour to two hours, you need to clear all your cases.”
Police work is time sensitive because cases need to be followed up, as arrested individuals must be charged within 48 hours, under the Criminal Procedure Code.
By the time all the paperwork is settled, the time spent at work would have far exceeded the 24 hours.
During such gruelling shifts, many officers would simply sleep in the office, and grab meals from the canteen at the station.
Lim estimated that the longest time he spent at work without going home was about 48 hours.
An upgrade in equipment
On his first day as an IO, Lim was brought to a shop to choose and buy his own typewriter. It would turn out to be one of the essential tools of his trade.
“During my time, we had typewriting tests.
Everything you write, you need to put in the carbon paper. And the problem is, sometimes you tie it with the carbon the wrong way. [If], after you finish the whole statement, you realise that it's on the wrong side, then you have to retype everything all over again.”
IOs would bring their typewriters everywhere they went. Otherwise, they had to write statements by hand. Either way, in the 90’s, many such tasks took a lot of time.
Back then, without mobile phones, officers relied on walkie talkies and pagers.
To call back to the station, officers located the nearest public phone booth, where the phone operator would forward the call for them.
“There is actually a number to press to make a free call, so we don’t need to carry 10 cent coins,” Lim shared.
But some things remain the same, Lim said.
“The IO still carries the big field book, an exercise book where you write everything you see, everywhere you go. That still carries on until today.”
Image of Lim taken in East Timor in 2000. Photo courtesy of SPF.
Leaving the force
Even though Lim is retired from police work, he still misses the unique work he was doing, and most of all, the people in the force.
“It's a great bunch of people to work with.
Even though I go through different places, everybody still has the teamwork, the motivation. They help each other, and there's always someone to help you if you don't know something.”
Left: Lim today. Right: Lim in 2018 during his deployment at the Trump Kim Summit. Photo courtesy of SPF.
Last year was the first time that he was home on National Day — something he only realised when his daughter pointed it out.
Officers are often deployed to work on holidays like Christmas and New Year’s Day. In fact, Lim finds that he has “too much free time now”.
Of course, we had to ask if his daughter plans to follow in her father's footsteps to become a police officer and carry on a multi-generational tradition.
Lim shook his head, quipping that his daughter is more interested in becoming a journalist.
“If we had a boy, I think I’ll make him join the police force,” he joked.
Top photo courtesy of SPF.
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