PM Lee Hsien Loong continued with a practice he started last year, of highlighting extraordinary people in his rally speech.
SHIRLEY LEE, 63
SHE was a clerk and got retrenched, not once but twice. Her husband is working, but with a son in junior college, she needed to save for his university education. When she couldn't find work, she became a toilet cleaner. Her son wanted her to stop working, but she said: 'I see no loss of dignity in being a toilet cleaner. I am earning my living and I am not robbing anyone.'
Her life took another turn after her story appeared in NTUC's Lifestyle magazine a few months ago. To applause, Mr Lee revealed that 71 job offers poured in for her, and she decided to work at the Singapore Action Group for Elders (Sage) to help others like her.
'I wish her well, I think we all wish her well,' Mr Lee said.
NG HON WENG,70 (left)
SINGAPORE General Hospital is a good employer that has let 77 older workers continue working well past retirement age, said PM Lee. Three are about 70 years old, including Mr Ng, a radiographer.
As Mr Lee told it: 'He sets you up to take X-ray pictures. So whenever I go to SGH, very often if he is on duty he will do me. Very efficient. He puts me up, he says: 'Hands up, shift a bit, hold your breath.' Zap, it's done. X-ray comes out, no reshoot.
'I did this overseas in a very well-known hospital. Young man came. He put me on a table, he shifted the table, he moved me up, he moved me down, he turned me around a little bit. Then his supervisor came, says: 'No good, do again.' So that's why Mr Ng, aged 70, is still able to be working, productive, with skills which he can impart to younger people.'
MICHELLE SANTIAGO, TIFFANY TAN, HEMALATHA ARUDAS THESE are four young ITE women who came up tops competing against teams from the polytechnics and universities. Tiffany is a student leader, Michelle a budding entrepreneur, Nurhidayah a Minds teacher and Hemalatha a national hockey player. As 'Gal Power', their project group defeated the field to emerge champions at the 2005 IBM Women's Conference Student Contest.
Mr Lee quoted Hemalatha on winning the competition: 'Never say die, try until you succeed. Where there's a will, there's a way. If you strive hard and work consistently, you will be able to excel.' He praised the team's tenacity, and announced plans to take ITE education to the next level, to give ITE students more options 'to go where your spirit wants you to go'.
ERIC CHEN (left)TALK about a comeback kid. Eric Chen was expelled from school in Secondary 3 for playing truant. With no confidence to face the O levels, he went to an ITE instead.
'It turned his life around,' said PM Lee. 'From ITE, he went to Ngee Ann Poly, then he went to the University of Edinburgh, got an engineering degree. Then he went to Imperial College, London, got a master's degree. They offered him a PhD place. He said: 'No, I'm going back.' Now he's teaching in ITE MacPherson. I think he is a good role model for many young Singaporeans. Not to flunk out but to do well.'
PLACES WITH GOOD SERVICE
HOTELS, hospitals and the Housing Board were singled out for praise by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday, as employers that have upheld service standards.
The venerable Raffles Hotel distinguishes itself with its tagline 'At Your Service', he pointed out.
Then there is the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Hotel, which practises the philosophy 'Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen'.
These were examples of how employers can imbue pride in their staff, said Mr Lee.
At some hospitals, patients awaiting treatment have the convenience of being alerted by an SMS text message when their queue number is due. 'So you can go around, wander the shops, come back in time and not miss your number,' said Mr Lee.
Once a year, at the Housing Board, senior staff serve on the frontline, carrying out residents' transactions.
'When I heard that, I said, that's good, that's like MPs doing Meet-the-People sessions,' said Mr Lee.
'The companies have to show leadership. You must make it possible for your people to give good service.'
SITI AISHA MOSTAFA
THE Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts student wrote to the Life! section of The Straits Times on Aug 12, about the buzz in the area around her new Bencoolen Street campus. PM Lee quoted what she said: 'I certainly love our new location. It is indeed turning into an arts hub... There are so many things to do... numerous choices of food, from prata at Al-Jalani Restaurant to chin chow at Fortune Centre and duck noodles at Sunshine Plaza.'
As he described the plans to turn Singapore into a great city, he mentioned the changes at Bras Basah, which has changed much from the way older Singaporeans remember it. Noting Siti's affection for the area as it is today, he said younger people will now develop associations and fond memories out of newer, remade city, and the new landscape would 'anchor Singaporeans to Singapore'.
TERENCE KOH AND TEO WEE CHIN (left)THE young sailors emerged world champions in their class of boats at this year's World Youth Sailing Championships. Wee Chin is a Victoria Junior College student, and Terence is studying in Melbourne.
Said PM Lee: 'It's the first time we've ever done this in a sailing competition. In fact, it's the first time any Asian has done this. But we can do it because, as (former Cabinet minister) Dr Yeo Ning Hong used to say to me: 'Sailing is a sport where you depend on brains.' '
Mr Lee said Singaporeans should never feel constrained by the size of their country. 'There are many things we can do, which other people find very hard,' he said.
PATTY LIM, 11 (left)ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD Patty caught PM Lee's eye when he attended All 4 Love, a National Day musical staged by the Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC two weeks ago. He also spotted what the Primary 5 pupil had written in the show's programme booklet: 'My birthday wish for Singapore is to have a constant supply of water. I also wish for peace in Singapore.'
Mr Lee said it was a sign that young Singaporeans now understand what it takes for Singapore to survive as a nation and said, to laughter: 'I give Patty and her National Education teacher full marks!'
RANJINI THIAGARAJAH (left)TEACHER Ranjini Thiagarajah has lived a long time in Portugal, and runs a language school there.
She wrote to wish the PM well and said: 'It's only now that I live abroad that I find myself proudly flying the Singapore flag. Singaporeans inevitably carry Singapore with them wherever they go, and there is a bit of Singapore through which they pass on the will to be the best one can. I have lived out here for 15 years now, and in all that time my Singaporean-ness has faded very little and I am very grateful that it has stood by me and stood the test of time.'
After last night's rally, she told The Straits Times: 'If I can find someone to run my school in Portugal, well, I'd come back to Singapore. I wouldn't hesitate, I like it here.'
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