The two service medals belonged to Mr Swaminathan Stephens Rahjan. The 'Pingat Bakti Setia' (Long Service Award) medal was awarded by the Singapore government to anyone who served 25 years in public service. The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Reserve Service medal was awarded by the government to SAF members who have completed their reserve service. Mr Swaminathan was born in Singapore in 1952. He was the third generation of a family who had come from India. Soon after he completed his National Service, he started work at what was then the Customs and Excise Department (CED), which merged with the Singapore Immigration and Registration (SIR) in 2003 to form what is known as the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) today. Mr Swaminathan started out as a customs officer before becoming an immigration officer after ICA was formed. His career with the CED and ICA spanned a total of 40 years. He was stationed at the Woodlands checkpoint before moving to the Tuas checkpoint.
