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The highest ranking Sikh police officer in Asia, ex-India, retires. The retirement of Malaysian police commissioner Amar Singh Ishar Singh also brings to a close a three-generation run spanning over 90 years in the police force. Though having served a good 35 years in the Malaysian police force, Amar Singh, who retires as the Federal […]

The highest ranking Sikh police officer in Asia, ex-India, retires. The retirement of Malaysian police commissioner Amar Singh Ishar Singh also brings to a close a three-generation run spanning over 90 years in the police force.

Though having served a good 35 years in the Malaysian police force, Amar Singh, who retires as the Federal Commercial Crime Investigations Department (CCID) director, says he never worked even for a day.

“I did not work a single day in the police force. You work when you’re paid to do something. I did what I like to do and I got paid for it. (In essence) I never really worked even for a single day.

“This is the Punjabi spirit. We don’t work. We serve. Whatever we do, we do it with passion, drive and love. You don’t call that work. You can pay, that’s by the way,” he told more a gathered crowd of more than 300 Sikh policemen and community members at a farewell at the Gurdwara Sahib Pulapol in Kuala Lumpur.

You can view parts of the event today captured live at Asia Samachar Facebook page.

“We are blessed that our parents came up the hard way. My family history in the police force spans beyond 90 years. My grandfather was a policeman. His number was PC2023. He served at Federated Malay States Police (FMSP) in the 1920s.

“My mum was born in Raub (in Pahang). She was brought up at Bukit Aman headquarters. My father then joined the police force.

“And later so did I. Not that I wanted to be a policeman. I told my dad: even if this is the last job in the world, I didn’t want to be a policeman. Things have changed. You ask me now, I love being in the police force. My 35 years in the force was beautiful, we did good work together.”

Amar Singh’s maternal grandfather, Bachan Singh, was a constable who joined the force in the early 1900s. He was reported to have served in Kuala Kubu Baru, Kuala Lipis and Raub, and retired in Klang in the 1940s.

His father, Ishar Singh, joined the Federated Malay States Police in 1939, a year after coming to Malaya from Punjab and was a pioneer member of the police jungle squad established during the Emergency, according to a news report. He retired as a corporal in 1971 and died in 1999 at the age of 80.