Home Team scholars hope to make a difference to society

SINGAPORE — The arrest of an unruly, drunken man for illegal gambling in Geylang right before his eyes convinced Gabriel Tan Jin Hsi that he should opt for a career in the police force.

For the incident offered him a glimpse into a side of Singapore that the Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) alumnus had never seen, and he wanted to do his part to ensure the country’s safety, said Mr Tan, 19. He is the sole recipient of this year’s Singapore Police Force Scholarship, one of the most prestigious scholarships awarded by the Public Service Commission. He was among 19 individuals who received the Home Team scholarships on Friday.

Mr Tan said he was initially undecided between a career in the police force and the legal sector. But the Geylang incident, which occurred during a week-long attachment with the police in June last year, helped him make up his mind.

“There’s a lot of work that the police force does behind the scenes which we take for granted, which are invisible to the common man,” said the second of four boys in the family. His father is a remisier and his mother is a senior human resource personnel.

Mr Tan will still be studying law at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, but instead of practising law, he will be returning to a position within the police force after graduation.

However, he does not mind the trade-off due to his desire to “stay grounded to the Singapore reality” and “to be part of an organisation that does something as simple as protecting the people we care about”.

As a police officer, Mr Tan said he will be able to help others in a direct and tangible way, such as ensuring the country’s security.

Pursuing a law degree will also train him in critical thinking. “When enforcing the law, we should know the law. We can’t enforce what we don’t know,” he added.

SCIENCE AND SECURITY

His HCI senior Li Jiawang, 20, is also one of the first recipients of the Singapore Government Scholarship (Home Team Science and Technology) awarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs this year.

Mr Li, who always has had a passion for science and technological research, said he started to appreciate the importance of security while serving his National Service.

“This scholarship was a good way for me to reconcile both my passion for science and the importance (of) maintaining the security landscape in Singapore,” he added.

He will be studying physics at the University of Oxford in the UK, which would help him to hone his analytical skills, something that will come in handy in his future investigative work as a junior police officer.

The statistics used in physics would also be useful when it comes to analysing trends and policy-making.

Mr Li said he was not particularly motivated by the prospect of monetary gains in his choice of career. Instead, he wanted to join an organisation that could make a difference to society.

Like Mr Li, 21-year-old Aloysius Thum Yong Ze, the first recipient of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) scholarship, said he prioritised job satisfaction over money matters.

Mr Thum’s involvement with peacetime operations as a commando during National Service made him realise how susceptible the country was to external threats.

Coupled with his interest in uniformed groups — he was with St John’s Brigade since secondary school — it made him consider turning his interest into a career.

People often have the misconception that a job with the ICA involves just stamping passports, said Mr Thum. “Yes, (it’s) part of the job … but we (also) provide services from cradle to grave.”

Noting that his grades were “quite mediocre” — scoring an A for Mathematics and B for Physics, Chemistry and Economics — he said he was surprised to receive the scholarship.

Mr Thum, who will be pursuing a degree in Public Policy and Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University, added: “When I got my A-level results, the first question my dad asked was: ‘Can you enter university?’”

“I was a pretty average student … so when I got a scholarship, I was pretty taken aback and very appreciative of this opportunity,” he added.