Public service the ‘best platform’ to make a difference

SINGAPORE — While growing up in Papua New Guinea, Joshua Ebenezer Jesudason experienced firsthand the significance of life in public service. His Singaporean parents were then working in the rural areas, teaching literacy skills such as reading and writing to villagers who had no formal education.

“There were times when villagers who only had potatoes for their own meals would give a chicken to my family out of gratitude, they had so little but were willing to share with us,” said the 19-year-old, who spent eight years in Papua New Guinea before enrolling at Fairfield Methodist School in Primary 2.

Such gratitude and receptiveness towards others left a lasting impression on Joshua, who insists such values exist in Singapore as well, despite all those reports of negative behaviour that have been getting a lot of attention on the Internet and social media.

Joshua was one of five students who received the President’s Scholarship at the Istana last night. It was the values of the public service, such as fairness and empathy — as well as the possibility of seeing the fruits of his labour materialise — that drew him to join the Singapore Police Force.

“I am the type of person who likes to see the effect of what I do, the tangible difference I am making in people’s lives and society in general, and the public service gives me the best platform to achieve those things,” he shared.

“What I took away from it, from my conversations with other officers in the force, is that a few bad apples shouldn’t spoil the bunch, although in public perception, it usually does.”

Joshua will be heading to the University of Oxford next month to study history and politics.

The other recipients of the prestigious scholarship include I Naishad Kai-ren, who will be studying liberal arts at Brown University; Stephanie Siow, who will be pursuing economics at Yale University; and Timothy Yap, who will be reading law at Oxford.

The fifth recipient, Scott Ang, is the first student from the Singapore Sports School to be awarded the honour. This late bloomer decided to enter the sports school after getting a score of 233 for his Primary School Leaving Examination. He then went on to Anglo-Chinese School (Independent).

“I wasn’t going into it with the mindset of being a top student and getting into med school — that wasn’t my direction in life. But one thing I knew was that I was passionate about sports and I didn’t really know how it would work out, but I knew I needed to take that leap of faith,” said the 20-year-old.

Unlike the other recipients who received their government scholarship this year, Scott received the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship last year. According to the Public Service Commission Secretariat, his outstanding performance in the SAF and a recommendation from the Ministry of Defence were taken into consideration when the PSC decided to award him the President’s Scholarship.

Scott, currently an SAF regular, will head to the University of Cambridge to read law.

At the presentation ceremony yesterday, President Tony Tan said the scholars, as future leaders, bear a “heavy responsibility” and must look beyond their academics and careers.

“You will need to build a strong sense of national identity, while appreciating differences across cultures and countries. The policies you create and implement must be done not in an ivory tower, but through strong connections and engagement with the community,” he said.