PETALING JAYA: A 19-year-old Taiping boy is keeping Malaysia’s flag flying high at the prestigious West Point military academy in New York after his design was chosen to adorn the rings of his fellow graduates.
US Military Academy cadet Sayniish Pillay Muniandy’s design for the official crest for his graduating class came out tops in a competition at the academy, The Star reported.
Sayniish took four days to create his design which included the US flag and an eagle – elements that had been part of the West Point class crests since 1803.
“I included my class motto ‘Until the Battle is Won’ in the middle because I felt that’s the most important component,” The Star reported him as saying.
He added that two sabres, a cadet’s and an officer’s, were also incorporated into his design.
Sayniish, who graduated from the National Defence University of Malaysia, was one of four Malaysian cadets selected to attend military academies in the US after a rigorous selection process last June.
Only 23 Malaysian cadets have been accepted into US military academies over the past 20 years.
After he graduates, Sayniish said he hoped to serve as an infantryman in Malaysia’s 8th Rangers of the Royal Ranger Regiment or to join the Malaysian Army Aviation.