1974 – The last supper

1974 was the year the British pulled out of Singapore to wave goodbye to their Empire and one of the last colonies left in the Far East. 1974 was the 1997 of Hongkong, the last vestiges of the British Empire. What the British did here, though in a small scale, was similar to what they did to Hongkong in a huge scale.

In Hongkong, the Treasury was open to the British to help themselves. And they spent and spent, on anything they fancied, for the good of Hongkong or for good of Westminister. The Hongkong Treasury had a lot of cash waiting to be emptied and the one holding the key, the British of course, would make it easy for Chris Patten to do the necessary.

In Singapore, by 1974 we were already an independent country and the Treasury was out of bound to the British. We were an independent country and governing ourselves except for the military bases that were still in operation.

I was a young officer in RAF/RSAF Tengah. All military units under the British tradition have this thing called Officer’s Mess where the officers dined and wined. Though the beer and liquor were tax exempted, still the Mess was able to have a nice  surplus over the years, including revenue from the jackpot machine.

What would the British want to do with the money? They have contributed a big chunk to it by their drinking in the bar. They are not going to leave it behind for us to inherit. They are going to spend it one way or another.

That December of 1974 was a grand last supper before the British packed up and leave, leaving behind nothing in the Mess kitty. They organized an opulence party to celebrate for one last time. It was not so much as to have a good time. It was how to finish off the money in the kitty. The spread of food and drinks was not only generous, but wasteful and very unnecessary. There were less than a hundred of them left and about a similar number of us locals taking over the Mess.

What the British did was to open up three dining areas for the night with all kinds of food, Asian and European and what not. As if this was not enough, there were, if I can remember, three separate bars, with free flowing of beer and liquor, on the house of course, like the food. And that was not enough, I think there were three bands playing in three different areas.

It was like money everywhere and money to be spent to make everyone happy. They were throwing the money at everyone, at themselves and to us, to partake everything in that one evening. They were still in control, in control of he money, the money soon to be OPM, no longer theirs if they didn’t spend it. It was so easy to spend money that was OPM and had a good time.

When the curtain is about to fall, why not? At least they made themselves happy and emptied the kitty at the same time. They are not looking back. They know that the money would not be theirs anymore to spend. It was like ‘It’s now or never’.

That was 1974, the last day of the Empire. We never see them again. Or we never allow them to take control again, not with our money.