10 officers honoured for serving with a big heart

School was due to begin in just over a week.

Chia Hong Sen, who was born blind, was looking forward to his first year at Temasek Polytechnic (TP), where he had been admitted to an engineering course.

But the polytechnic was worried about Hong Sen's safety, as he would have to do electrical wiring and soldering.

It raised his case with the Education Ministry and the matter was taken up by Mr Arthur Poh, a deputy director who was part of a team studying how to support special needs students at institutes of higher learning.

After a series of long meetings involving Hong Sen and staff of the polytechnic and ministry, as well as the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped, it was agreed that he would study IT - his second choice - instead.

As Hong Sen would be the first totally visually impaired student at the polytechnic, Mr Poh said he and its management had questions about the resources the teen would need.

After doing some research, he found an article by a National University of Singapore professor on how he taught Dr Yeo Sze Ling, a blind student who went on to get her PhD in Maths and become an A*Star research scientist.

Mr Poh, 41, got in touch with Dr Yeo through her former professor. She was eager to help.

He drove her to one of the meetings, an "eye-opening session" where she demonstrated the methods and devices she used to help her during her studies and even offered to mentor Hong Sen.

Mr Poh's efforts were lauded yesterday when he and nine other public officers received the prestigious Distinguished Star Service Award from Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is minister-in-charge of the civil service.

It is one of the top honours at the annual Excellence in Public Service Awards.

The 10 Distinguished Star Service Award winners share two traits that were highlighted by Mr Teo: a big heart and the willingness to go the extra mile.

One of them, the People's Association's Mr Lu Juncai, was singled out by Mr Teo as an officer who "extends help with a heart".

Last year, the 30-year-old constituency management executive at Serangoon Community Club got a call from an elderly former convict with kidney failure who had not eaten in days, could not find work and was threatening to return to his old theft habit.

Mr Lu met the man, bought him a meal and chatted with him to find out more about his situation, before getting his colleagues to hasten his application for financial help.

Another winner with lots of heart is Ms Jan Koh, 31, a senior medical social worker at the National Heart Centre, who provides a listening ear and shoulder to cry on for patients and their families.

PUB senior technical officer Shamsudin Mohd Amil, 45, gives his mobile number to people to call him directly when, say, their water pipe bursts again, instead ofgoing via the call centre.

For Mr Poh, who is back at Singapore Polytechnic after his two-year ministry stint, his encounter with Hong Sen showed him the importance of flexibility in crafting and executing policies.

It also brought home how successful policies are not just the work of policymakers. "The entire TP team and the students put their energies together to help Hong Sen."

For instance, tutors look out for assistive devices that can help Hong Sen with his work, he meets a counsellor every week, and he has a care group of 20 classmates who take turns to be his "buddy".

Hong Sen, now 17 and in his second year, hopes to go to university and find an IT-related job. Mr Poh believes he can do it. When the pair were photographed at Hong Sen's house, his parting shot to the teen was: "See you at your graduation."

Other winners included Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which received a best practice award for organisation development.

Additional reporting by Linette Lai

This article was first published on May 24, 2014.
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