KUALA LUMPUR: It has been a long 42 years for Lt Gen Datuk Dr William Rangit Stevenson who retires from the Army on Dec 28.
But more notably, Stevenson comes from an illustrious family with 11 of whom have collectively served the Armed Forces and police for an astonishingly nearly 200 years in uniform!
And Stevenson is the highest ranked and first non-Malay to have attained the ‘three-star’ general rank in the history of the Armed Forces, be it in the army, navy or air force.
Stevenson retires as the first chief executive of the newly established Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MiDAS). Prior to this appointment, he was the Inspector General of the Armed Forces.
Still looking dashing after 41 years, six months and 29 days of service, Stevenson was given a rousing farewell at a parade at the Batu Cantonment Camp in Jalan Ipoh.
Present were Army chief Gen Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, Royal Engineers Corps chief engineer Major-Gen Datuk Pahlawan Abdul Nasser Ahmad, some of Stevenson’s Short Service Commission Intake 26 coursemates and his wife Angela Valerie Bakar.
“I am the last of my coursemates to retire. The journey has been very long and exhaustive, but satisfying and rewarding for me, despite the early struggles one had to face.
“I am proud to have served my beloved nation the best I could, and encourage the younger generation of all races to come forward to seek a rewarding career in the Armed Forces,” said Stevenson, who turns 60 three days after Christmas (Dec 25).
He added that the many memories of his experience in service were recorded and put together in a simple pictorial book entitled “Pictorial Memories of Lt Gen Datuk Dr William Stevenson”.
“I have cherished every minute and moment in the Army ever since I was commissioned on March 15, 1975 by the current Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah) who was serving his first term as the country’s king at that time,” said Stevenson.
A trained engineer, Stevenson is among the pioneer Armed Forces officers to have obtained a doctorate, which he did in management training from University Putra Malaysia in 1999, after graduating from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in Scotland with a Masters in Business Administration in 1995.
His father was the late Capt (Rtd) Dr Abraham David Stevenson, while his mother was Betty Bang Neo.
Two of his brothers, the late Brig-Gen (Rtd) Victor Nelson Stevenson and Lt Col (Rtd) Richard A. Stevenson had served the Army, while another is retired Warrant Officer I George Stevenson who had served the air force.
Another two brothers who had served the police were the late retired Senior Assistant Commissioner Charlie Stevenson and retired deputy superintendent Alexander Stevenson.
Even Stevenson’s son Lt Aaron William Stevenson had served the navy before his untimely death in a road accident in 2004.
Stevenson, from Batu Berendam, completed his early education at the Anglo-Chinese School in Malacca.
Stevenson’s early Army days saw him being involved in counter insurgency operations against communist terrorists at the Malaysia-Thailand border.
His field operations involved booby trap clearance, bomb disposal, and camp construction works along the East-West highway.
He held various commands with the engineering squadrons, was an instructor and lecturer at the Armed Forces institutions and University Malaya, and became a speaker at many an international conference on defence and security.
In sports, Stevenson was the Armed Forces Squash Association chairman from 2006 to 2015.