Kudos to the Indian Army!
JAIPUR: The world’s only horse regiment — Jaipur’s 61st Cavalry — has an officer who is not an Indian. In fact, he is the only foreign national in the Indian armed forces.
His Highness Tungku Ismail Ibrahim is the prince of Johore state, one of the nine royal states of Malaysia. But this prince does not get any salary, instead he pays to be allowed to serve in the Indian Army.
His grandfather, His Majesty Sultan Iskandar, sent prince Ismail to India because he wanted his grandson to undergo military training seriously. The Sultan wanted the young prince to serve in the Indian army and gain experience. His Majesty came to Jaipur to see for himself how his 21-year-old grandson was faring.
Johore is ruled by the King of Malaysia, but is allowed to have its own army of 200 soldiers. The Johore army is one of the oldest forces of Malaysia and interestingly during the World War II, officers from Johore were sent to the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun for training.
"Johore has a history of having military understanding with India. One of the officers who was trained in Dehra Dun went on to become the prime minister of Malaysia," said Ismail. The baby-faced lieutenant was also trained in Dehra Dun. Ismail could have been sent to Sandhurst in England, but his grandfather thought the British officers would pamper him, while in Dehradun he would undergo military training like any other officer.
Ismail lost several kilos during training at Dehra Dun where he enjoyed playing polo. When his training of one-and- a-half-years was about to end, his grandfather took the decision to send him to the 61st Cavalry. "I hope to serve the Indian army for sometime and then return to my country and become an officer in the Johore army," said the prince.
The defence ministry on the request of the ministry of external affairs allowed a foreigner to serve in the Indian Army as a gesture of goodwill. "I love Jaipur. I am particularly thankful to the Commandant of the 61st Cavalry Col J S Virk for all the cooperation that he has extended to me," said Ismail.
His Highness Tungku Ismail Ibrahim is the prince of Johore state, one of the nine royal states of Malaysia. But this prince does not get any salary, instead he pays to be allowed to serve in the Indian Army.
His grandfather, His Majesty Sultan Iskandar, sent prince Ismail to India because he wanted his grandson to undergo military training seriously. The Sultan wanted the young prince to serve in the Indian army and gain experience. His Majesty came to Jaipur to see for himself how his 21-year-old grandson was faring.
Johore is ruled by the King of Malaysia, but is allowed to have its own army of 200 soldiers. The Johore army is one of the oldest forces of Malaysia and interestingly during the World War II, officers from Johore were sent to the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun for training.
"Johore has a history of having military understanding with India. One of the officers who was trained in Dehra Dun went on to become the prime minister of Malaysia," said Ismail. The baby-faced lieutenant was also trained in Dehra Dun. Ismail could have been sent to Sandhurst in England, but his grandfather thought the British officers would pamper him, while in Dehradun he would undergo military training like any other officer.
Ismail lost several kilos during training at Dehra Dun where he enjoyed playing polo. When his training of one-and- a-half-years was about to end, his grandfather took the decision to send him to the 61st Cavalry. "I hope to serve the Indian army for sometime and then return to my country and become an officer in the Johore army," said the prince.
The defence ministry on the request of the ministry of external affairs allowed a foreigner to serve in the Indian Army as a gesture of goodwill. "I love Jaipur. I am particularly thankful to the Commandant of the 61st Cavalry Col J S Virk for all the cooperation that he has extended to me," said Ismail.
posted by Shaking Shenoy at 6/17/2005 04:09:00 PM
2 Comments:
Wow ! Thats an interesting piece of news.
Tengku Ismail was an obese prince. His father; TMJ Ibrahim is as bad temper as his grandfather; Sultan Iskandar (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Iskandar)is. The monarchy system in Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, one of the nine states ruler had their chance to be a King every 5 years in rotation.
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