Jotan Mansor has shaved more heads than any barber in Singapore. That's because Mansor is a military barber, and he's been giving recruits for the Singapore Army induction haircuts for many years. Armed with an electric razor, he is the man responsible for all the 'botak' recruit haircuts sported by recruits in Basic Military Training Centre School 2 at Nee Soon Camp. Mansor has been serving Army soldiers for three decades -- he started way back in 1971. He learned the skill of cutting hair during his initial stint as a barber at Changi, Singapore.

Back then, he practiced on recruits when National Service was first started in 1971. Comparing the recruits in the 70s to those today, Mansor notes, "The recruits now are not like those last time. Last time they sometimes got very rude. They had longer hair, and they didn't want to get short military haircuts. They complained, they scolded you -- it was bad."

Mansor had his share of bad experiences back then. He says, "I'll never forget one incident. A recruit almost wanted to beat me up. One of the officers practically forced him into my chair. The officer told me that he wanted the recruit's hair cut, and I went to work with my clippers. He squirmed the whole time. But in the end he got a nice short haircut. But he didn't seem to like it."

Later that night, the angry recruit struck back. "On my way home, that recruit and six or seven of his friends ran up and grabbed hold of me. They wanted to whack me. I yelled, 'But I was just doing my job!' Eventually, his friend agreed that it wasn't my fault. So they let me go."

Thankfully, few of Mansor's "customers" are so unfriendly. These days, short hair is in style with young men in Singapore, so haircuts aren't a problem. New recruits are used to them -- unlike the old days, when they were drafted, and came in with long hair and bad attitudes. Mansor has actually run into Army veterans who remember the first haircut he gave them. So what keeps Mansor going after all these years?

He likes the people and the atmosphere. "Every three months, when there's an intake, the people change so it doesn't get boring. When you talk to these people, you find that there're great people. Moreover, nobody disturbs me and I have my weekends off."

He's not likely to leave any time soon. "This place is very quiet, and I like it very much," Mansor says with a smile. "I'll probably never leave!"

THE END