Peter Mok

(pictured above, front row on far right)

Peter Mok still remembers the date he left Singapore for New Zealand.

17th February 1976. 

“I was just told to collect my air ticket from the New Zealand High Commission in Singapore, and had no idea where I would be flying to. I later found out that my flight was to Wellington, via Sydney. I was received by a staff from the External Aid Division of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and put up in Weir House for a couple of days. I was then told that I would be going to Christchurch in a couple of days’ time”.

“I was very happy,” Peter recalls.

Peter did not know much about Christchurch aside from what he had seen in tourist brochures and books in his school library in Singapore. He was thus very happy to find out that he would be going to Christchurch. “I was very taken by the beautiful pictures of the Avon River, the Cathedral, the flowers, and people canoeing on the River Avon.” Upon arriving in Christchurch via the Lyttleton overnight ferry, Peter was housed in the YMCA for a few nights as the UC halls of residence (University Hall) were not ready to receive the student boarders.

Peter had applied for the scholarship because he knew it would be a stretch for his family to send him to a local university in Singapore. He did not tell anyone he had applied, and his parents only found out from a telephone call from the Singapore Public Service Commission after he was awarded the scholarship provisionally, subject to his GCE “A” Level results. “My family was very surprised but also happy, in some sense.”

The first thing that struck Peter about Christchurch was the quiet. “Singapore at that time was already quite a bustling city. In Christchurch, everything was closed by 5 pm. Colombo Street in the evenings was something like during the COVID days.”

It took Peter some time to get used to the slower pace but once he did, he loved the relaxed lifestyle that New Zealand offered, which gave him time and space to enjoy socialising and sports, including playing softball, tennis and football. One of his regrets was that he did not take up golf while he was there.

Peter was also part of an informal “Supper Club” comprising fellow students from Asia. “One of the Chinese Malaysians was the most popular because he had brought with him an electric rice cooker. His nickname was “Cooker Ong.” They also purchased an electric frying pan and would cook rice and make stir fries or curries a few nights a week.

“There was really good camaraderie, and we formed a lot of friendships.” Peter still keeps in touch with some of these friends.

After graduating, Peter returned to Singapore and resumed his two and a half years of compulsory military service, which was deferred for him to study at UC.

Originally enrolled in the officer cadet course, the military transferred him and a few other returned scholars to the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) HQ to be political analysts so as to better harness the education they had gained.

After his military service obligations, Peter started his working career as a defence engineer in MINDEF. “The returned scholars were bonded to the government for 6 - 8 years, and although I had not worked in the engineering side of MINDEF, I had a pretty good idea of what they did. It sounded interesting so I requested to be a defence engineer.”

Peter spent three years managing projects related to military vehicles, before being transferred to another MINDEF organisation to do more strategic and national security work. “While it was totally not engineering-related, it sounded very interesting and exciting, so much so that I stayed on until I officially retired in 2019.” He is not truly retired; after his official retirement, Peter continued to serve on a contract basis for four years till 2023, and since then, he has taken on several advisory roles which keep him busier than ever.

Peter’s time in New Zealand left a deep impression on him, and while he had visited New Zealand on two brief occasions since returning to Singapore in 1979, he would like to return to the country for a long visit, with Christchurch obviously being a major part of the itinerary. He very much looks forward to visiting UC again, which will be very nostalgic for him.

Peter has this advice for foreign students going to New Zealand for their university studies. “Don’t just go for an education; go for an experience. Appreciate that there is more than just studying or working. I am not talking about just having fun and a nice time; besides ‘smelling the flowers’, there are also other things like building lasting friendships (both with local New Zealanders and other foreign students), and doing some volunteer work and giving back to society.”

“There is more to life than just getting the degree and building a successful career and chasing the extra dollar.”