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Home Team officer works to get more S’poreans ‘crisis-ready’

SINGAPORE — When Ms Rachel Ng meets her family members and friends, she gives them tips on how to be more alert to potential crises such as terrorist threats, including identifying the number of people in the room with them, their nearest neighbours, and locating the emergency exits.

WO Julie Kang Seng Muay (left), SCDF Medical Certification tester; and Ms Rachel Ng Yew Heang, MHA director of Community Partnership Division were among those who were promoted. Photo: Robin Choo

WO Julie Kang Seng Muay (left), SCDF Medical Certification tester; and Ms Rachel Ng Yew Heang, MHA director of Community Partnership Division were among those who were promoted. Photo: Robin Choo

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SINGAPORE — When Ms Rachel Ng meets her family members and friends, she gives them tips on how to be more alert to potential crises such as terrorist threats, including identifying the number of people in the room with them, their nearest neighbours, and locating the emergency exits.

“People ask me what do words like ‘vigilance’ and ‘cohesion’ mean ... What we need to do is to break these terms down and make it real to them,” Ms Ng said.

The 44-year-old is tasked to “sensitise” Singaporeans to the real threat of terrorism. As the head of the community partnership directorate working in the Ministry of Home Affairs’ headquarters, she oversees the implementation of the SG Secure national movement that is expected to be rolled out this year.

On Monday (May 16), Ms Ng received recognition for her work at the Home Team Promotion Ceremony along with close to 6,700 officers from the Singapore Police Force, Internal Security Department, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Singapore Prison Service and other uniformed services.

She recounted how last year’s terror attacks in Paris gave her a “big jolt”: “What struck me was how it was so real… It had me worrying if there were Singaporeans hurt, and the first thing to me was, whether they knew what to do.”

Outside of work, she has even started conversations with her 11-year-old nephew about the importance of being respectful and understanding of people from different cultures and races.

Ms Ng said that beyond governmental efforts, Singaporeans have to take greater ownership of their safety, be it through equipping themselves with first-aid skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), knowing how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED), and even learning how to evacuate people in crisis situations through volunteer schemes. These are skills and knowledge that would be both “useful in peace time and times of crisis”, she said.

Ms Ng recalled meeting an active volunteer paramedic in the Civil Defence Auxiliary Unit, who works as a financial adviser in his day job. “I remember asking him about the vast difference in the (two) job scopes… He told me he has always wanted to help save people and this opportunity (came up)... We need more Singaporeans like that,” she said.

Singaporeans cannot take their safety and security for granted, Ms Ng said. “I think there is greater urgency now, and I think Singaporeans are coming to it... They travel widely and in the places they go, they also see such attacks... The message will come through, but we need to keep at it, get people talking about it even more.”

Another officer who makes it a mission to keep Singaporeans safe is Ms Julie Kang, 39, who conducts medical certification tests for SCDF regulars, full-time national serviceman and private ambulance operators.

In her 17 years of work, she has had to rush to the aid of patients caught in various situations — carrying heavy equipment and trekking up a hill in Bukit Batok Nature Park to reach an injured cyclist, to helping deliver a baby in an ambulance stopped by the side of an expressway, to climbing up various scaffoldings and narrow staircases on a ship to get to an engineer trapped in a fire.

Ms Kang recalled that in 2013, she was off-duty and enjoying a barbecue with friends in Changi when she heard about a man who had fallen from the second floor of a chalet. After introducing herself as an SCDF paramedic, she stepped quickly into action, working to stabilise his condition, ensuring that he would not sustain further fracture, and directing the victim’s panicky relatives to stand by the road to flag the ambulance. For her rescue efforts, she later earned a Star Service Award from the Home Affairs Ministry.

Ms Kang said: “At the end of the day, you can sleep well because of the (things) that you’ve done, and you feel (rewarded).”

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