NEARER THE SKY PIECES OF JADE AND GOLD II
NEARER THE SKY
CONTENTS
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Prologue
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The Ultimate SCGS Girl Mdm Halimah Yacob
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Sincerity
Jennie Chua Vicky Wang Sonita Jeyapathy Lim Hui Min Jacqueline Poh Tay Bee Choo Ang Bee Lian Arlene Pang
26 32 36 40 44 48 52 56
Courage Sim Chi Yin Michelle Sng Ong Bee Cheng Lyn Lee Hilary Su Lim Heem Wei Vanessa Harijanto Gemma Rose Foo Lim Phi-lan
Service
Tan Jiew Hoe & Vicky Yap Elizabeth Sam Mary Rauff Yong Ying-I Merlene Toh-Emerson Vijaya Esuvaranathan Yeo Lian Sim The Cancer Warriors of NCCS
62 68 72 78 82 86 90 94 100
154 158 164 170 176 180 184 188
Generosity 108 114 118 122 126 130 136 142 148
Passion Janice Koh Yvette Cheak Denise Tan Tong Wenfei Farisha Ishak Cheryl Chan Gina Tan Sabelle Kee Chew Gek Khim The Keep 37 Emerald Hill Team
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Guiding Lights 198 204 210 216 220 226 232 236 240 244
Tan Sock Kern Rosalind Heng Beatrice Wee Ng Leng Eng Florence Phuah Jean Chan
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
254 264 272 276 282 288 292
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SINGAPORE CHINESE GIRLS’ SCHOOL
Euleen Goh Monique Heah Tan Wan Joo Kan Shook Wah Audrey Looi Li Woon Churdboonchart Pamela Chng Elizabeth Tan Chew Gek Hiang
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Prologue
All of us love a good story. Neuroscience has proven that we are wired for stories – we crave stories. What exalts a story to an exceptional level are the values that it imparts and the lives it impacts. Stories lead us to appreciate, imagine and create our own stories and pass down these values. Pieces of Jade and Gold – An Anecdotal History of the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School 1899 to 1999 chronicled the illustrious history of our school and honoured the extraordinary people who brought SCGS from its founding days to its first centenary.
When we embarked on a sequel to Pieces of Jade and Gold for our 120th anniversary, we wanted it to focus on our graduates, since the legacy of a school lies in its students. We wanted to share stories of our kim geks — stories of how our pieces of jade and gold, having passed through the portals of the school, have continued to live out the school values of Sincerity, Courage, Generosity and Service as they pursued their passions and dreams.
Nearer the Sky is thus not simply a commemorative book but a fascinating storyboard made up of unique plots and pictures of the many anecdotes of kim geks with their distinctive storytelling. We also added a section to pay tribute to our educators – our girls’ Guiding Lights – whose unflagging efforts to impart our precious school values have left an indelible imprint on all in the SCGS family. These stories exemplify the statement from the well-known Greek statesman Pericles that “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
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As the recounts unfold, may you travel through time with the characters. May you laugh, cry and feel with them as they share about their growth and challenges. May you be inspired to likewise live a life grounded in values, always seeking, as our school song exhorts, to ‘grow nearer the sky’! Cecil Wong Chairman (1988-2011) SCGS Board of Directors
Euleen Goh Chairman (2011-2018) SCGS Board of Directors
SINGAPORE CHINESE GIRLS’ SCHOOL
We remember how it all started. It was the story of the powerful vision, incredible courage under fire and profound determination of two men, Dr Lim Boon Keng and Sir Song Ong Siang. Together with a group of Peranakan Chinese gentlemen, their bold vision to empower young women with an education, their generosity and relentless service, made it possible for generations of kim geks (Hokkien for gold and jade) to benefit from a well-rounded education – one that went beyond the teaching of academic subjects to the building of character and imparting of timeless values.
Image credit to Daisie Yip
The Ultimate SCGS Girl
7 Courtsey of President’s Offiice
President Halimah Yacob is SCGS’s best known old girl. In an exclusive interview, Mdm Halimah shares about her career, her memories of the school and how it shaped her, and her hopes for the school. In many ways, Mdm Halimah Yacob is the embodiment of the values of SCGS. A long-time unionist and former Member of Parliament, she has the distinction of being the first female Speaker of the House as well as the first female President of Singapore. At numerous points, Mdm Halimah’s storied career amply demonstrates her Sincerity, her Courage and her Generosity to others, as well as her Service to the community.
SINGAPORE CHINESE GIRLS’ SCHOOL
Mdm Halimah Yacob
Her Career Path
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During her entire career, she has worked to serve Singaporeans of all stripes but she has worked especially hard for the financially challenged.
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Given her history, it is no surprise that Mdm Halimah has a special place in her heart for people from humble backgrounds. She was born in Queen Street and grew up in various places including Hindoo Road. Her father passed away when she was eight and her mother supported herself and five children by running a stall selling nasi padang outside Singapore Polytechnic, which was then located along Prince Edward Road, at what is now the Bestway Building. During her free time, Mdm Halimah helped her mother at the stall. It was a humble enterprise and money was always tight in Mdm Halimah’s family.
1971
Mdm Halimah studied in SCGS during her primary and secondary school years. She completed her O-Levels in 1971 and eventually read Law at the University of Singapore.
Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
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Courtesy of President’s Office
After she graduated from university in 1978, she joined the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and subsequently became the Director of the Legal Services Department.
Her union career was not restricted to legal affairs. She was also the Director of the Women’s Development Secretariat as well as the Director of the Singapore Institute of Labour Studies now known as the Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies. She eventually rose to become the Deputy Secretary-General of the labour movement.
Image credit to National Trades Union Congress
In addition, Mdm Halimah represented Singapore in the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation for four terms. In fact, she was the first Singaporean to be elected into the organisation.
She entered Parliament in 2001 as a Member of Parliament for Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and went on to serve four terms.
Source: Berita Harian © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reprinted with permission
2013 2011
Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reprinted with permission
In 2011, she was appointed Minister of State for the Ministry of Community Development and Sports (MCYS).
Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
Two years later, she was appointed the ninth Speaker of Parliament.
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Image credit to
In September 2017, she was sworn in as Singapore’s eighth President.
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SCGS gave Structure, Focus and Discipline Her time in SCGS was significant because it gave her life structure, focus and discipline. “My life was quite chaotic at the time. SCGS provided the framework to navigate. It helped me to plan.”
her future, to have a different life from the one she had growing up.
Having lost her father, being in school gave her a frame to plan
She remembered the school as placing a premium on discipline.
“SCGS provided that reference point in that pretty rudderless world for me at the time.”
Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
“Teachers checked the height of your socks, colour of your shoes, the length of your finger nails, and how your hair is done.” Looking back, she said the discipline was important for her. “In a life that is quite chaotic, discipline is quite important.”
A Timely Intervention “One day she pulled me aside, and she said, ‘Look here, this is not good because I think you are capable of better things.’” At that point, Mdm Halimah was sitting at the back of the class so she would not have to pay attention during lessons. Her teacher was wise to this trick, however. She told young Halimah: “This is not working; you have to come right to the front of the class.’
“I hated the idea because I could no longer daydream, but she did a tremendous amount of good.” This was a significant moment in Mdm Halimah’s life. “Up to today, I’ll never forget that incident. It’s very important to me. For someone coming from that kind of background, it gives you a tremendous boost. There’s someone outside the home that at least believes in you and thinks you’re capable of something better.” However, daydreaming was not the only reason she was not doing well academically; she was also skipping school a lot. It got to the point where her teacher sent a prefect to her home to look for her, “but she couldn’t find me because I was hiding in the room.”
Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
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Caring teachers in the school also made a difference. In school, Mdm Halimah had been doing well in English. She loved reading and had read every Enid Blyton book she could find. She found English and Literature easy. However, the strain of helping her mother at the food stall during her free time eventually began to take a toll on her, and her grades started slipping. In Secondary Two, her English teacher stepped in.
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Image credit to National Trades Union Congress
A Visit to the Principal’s Office For Mdm Halimah, getting kicked out of school was more than potentially embarrassing. “My mental process at the time was very simple: If I get kicked out of school, I have to be in my mother’s stall the whole day. So I asked myself, which is worse, coming to school, maybe daydreaming a little bit? Or spending the whole That tongue-lashing was a “terrible” experience, she recalled. day in my mother’s stall, washing, “I didn’t look at the Principal’s face cleaning, serving customers?” throughout the whole encounter. I School, to young Halimah, was just looking at the floor.” appeared to be a much easier She could not hide forever, however, and she was eventually sent to the Principal’s office where she received a dressing down from Miss Tan Sock Kern. “She told me, ‘If you miss school another time, I’m going to kick you out of school.’”
option, and that intervention became a turning point in her life. “I thought, since I’m going to come to school every day — I’ve made a conscious decision to remain in school, to study, to get an education — I’d better pass my exams.” Those two interventions led her back to the right path. She buckled down, stopped cutting class and started bringing her grades back up again. Through persistence and hard work, she graduated with a law degree, then went on to help workers and constituents, and finally, took office at the Istana.
The Importance of Service
This realisation prompted her to define her life around service. “If the world is never going to be fair, if there will always be disparities, you should do something to help those disparities if you can.”
“Relatives will come to her and say, ‘My daughter is getting married, I need 300 pieces.’” Making a door gift — a flower out of wires and cloth — is painstaking work, yet her mother never turned down a request for help. When Mdm Halimah asked why, her mother would tell her, “’People have asked, you cannot turn them away.’ Her rationale is, ‘If somebody asks, that means I must help them.’”
Service is something that she learned from watching her mother. “We grew up very poor. My mother didn’t have much money, but she would never turn anyone away who comes to our door.”
From her mother, Mdm Halimah learned the importance of being good. “By being good human beings, of course you mean you don’t harm other people. If you have the capacity to help, you help people, you don’t hurt people.”
Mdm Halimah’s mother, Mdm Maimun Abdullah, was very good at handiwork and would regularly be asked to make door gifts for Malay weddings.
These lessons were not verbal expositions however; Mdm Maimun taught by example. “My mother is not very verbal, honestly. Mothers of that age are
Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
not verbal. They never show a lot of affection, nor do they tell you things. But they do things and you observe.”
“She lived a life that way, as a good person to help others if you can. She had very limited capacity to help but she helped, that I can see.”
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The need to be of service to others was learned at a young age. “Very early in life, I learnt the world is never fair. The world always has people of different abilities, different means, different resources.”
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Everyone has the Capacity to Serve
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Being helpful and being of service to others, is something that everyone can do, Mdm Halimah believes. “Everyone has his capacity. It’s just a question of, in what way?
“They will come out and they will say, ‘I don’t have money but I will volunteer my service’ or they will say, ‘I don’t have much but I contribute to whatever cause.’”
Service to others is important She noted that in her work in because it is the key to living a the union and as a Member of fulfilling life, she said. She asked Parliament (MP), she found that pointedly: “If everyone just thinks the people who have the least are of himself — I live my life, I live the ones who give the most. “They a good life, I take care of my have very little, but whatever they family, I fulfil my goals, I achieve have, they give. So they are the whatever I want, I amass ones that give the most. the wealth I can — at the end
of the day, what is it that you have achieved? “If you do not serve humanity, who do you serve? If you serve only yourself, it’s not going to be very fulfilling.” That is why she believes that having a sense of service is important. “I hope this is something the school will also continue to nurture and cultivate in our young girls,” she said.
Courtsey of Ministry of Communications and Information
NTUC was not a profit-making entity; instead, it had elements of service and aimed to help workers and the underprivileged. Looking back, she said that being in the NTUC was the “best place for you to be able to serve people.”
in the ward. “You go to the rental houses, you look at how people live, you know you can do a lot to help support people.”
Her experience brought her up close to how retrenchments affected workers and their She initially just handled legal families. “When a worker is affairs but would later obtain retrenched, it’s a 100 per cent hands-on union experience as disaster. He is usually a sole the Executive Secretary of the breadwinner; his wife and family United Workers of Electronics and depend on him, sometimes Electrical Industries, a position she his parents.” After earning her Bachelor of Laws held from 2004 to 2011. As a result, she believes that it is degree, Mdm Halimah joined the That affinity and familiarity with important to consider economic National Trades Union Congress Singapore’s working class and issues at both a micro level and (NTUC). At the time, she did not a macro level, and not to be know very much about the labour the challenges that workers face misled into only looking at the big movement so she started reading was something she honed when picture. “Macro level, only 2 per up before the job interview. What she became an MP, thanks to regular meetings with residents cent unemployment; only x per she found impressed her: The cent retrenchment. At the micro level, for the person who loses his jobs, it’s 100 per cent impact.” Throughout her career, service has been a recurring theme. Whether as a unionist, a Member of Parliament (MP), a Minister of State, a Speaker of the House or the President of Singapore, Mdm Halimah’s career has been defined as service to others.
“If you don’t have an appreciation of that, it’s very difficult to try to conceive policies, structures and systems to help these people.”
Courtesy of Ministry of Communications and information
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A Career of Service
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Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
Singapore’s First Female President
Mdm Halimah views her union career and her years as an MP as service to others, and she has taken this strong spirit of service with her into the Presidency. “As President, I hope to be a unifying figure, to unify people and also to galvanise people around the core values we want to develop and strengthen in our society. What
kind of society do we want? Not a society where people only care about themselves.” In her vision, Singapore is a place where people help and support as much as they can. This is important because “we don’t want to be a society where people build walls among themselves.”
Mdm Halimah’s Advice To SCGS Girls
Decide for Yourself What You Want to Do With Your Life Mdm Halimah’s journey from a poor background to President of the Republic of Singapore is an inspiration to many. Based on her experience, she has some advice for girls currently studying in SCGS regarding societal expectations, glass ceilings, and the need for resilience.
To help the girls in the graduating class, SCGS organised career counselling for the girls who had just completed their O-Levels and were awaiting their results.
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Courtesy of SCGS
In 1971, Mdm Halimah was one of “’Ok, I tell you, you better go and those girls. learn typing.’ she told me. ‘Pick up stenography.’’’ “I went to see this teacher, who was also my Literature teacher. So “’But why I should I learn typing she told me, ‘What are you going and pick up stenography?’ to do?’ I said, ‘I’m not sure, I don’t know. I just finished the exams.’
SINGAPORE CHINESE GIRLS’ SCHOOL
The Singapore of today is very different from the Singapore of 1970. Back then, Singapore was very much a third world country, having achieved independence a scant five years before. The British military, a major contributor to Singapore’s economy and a significant employer, had announced that they would pull out of the country by 1971. The economic outlook of the time was grim.
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is that they should decide for themselves what they want to do, and not be held back by societal expectations. “If you keep on listening to what people tell you, you will never achieve what you want to achieve.”
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Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
“‘Then at least you can become a secretary. Even if you cannot become a secretary, you can become a clerk at least.’” When Mdm Halimah told her teacher that she was not interested in being a secretary or a clerk, her teacher responded, “’Never mind, you’re a girl. Please remember, you’re a girl.” For girls entering the workforce with O-Levels at the time, the pickings were thin. The options were largely either becoming a secretary, a clerk, a nurse, or a teacher. As a result, the
conventional wisdom was that girls should learn typing and shorthand as a back-up because these skills would help them get office jobs if they wanted to start working immediately. Mdm Halimah went for a total of one typing class before deciding it was not for her. Instead, she would go on to earn a law degree and over the next few decades, would become a lawyer, a unionist, a politician and, finally, Singapore’s Head of State. Based on this experience, Mdm Halimah’s advice to young girls
When it was suggested that she had broken the glass ceiling for females, Mdm Halimah said she does not feel that glass ceilings are a problem, especially in the Singapore today. Her advice to young girls is to just do their best. “Achieve whatever you want to achieve. And just seize the moment; that’s the most important. “
“Breaking the glass ceiling — that will come along the way.” She believes that given the scarcity of talent in Singapore, it is not possible for people to discriminate on the basis of gender. “You have to make use of every person’s ability and talent.”
The Importance of Resilience
“Show me anyone who has never encountered a failure, or maybe not failure, a difficulty, an obstacle, then I show you that person has not lived.”
“You failed to get into the spot or the place, but you did not fail in life. If you take every little setback as a failure in life, you will never get up.” Mdm Halimah said she encountered many failures in her life, but every time she failed, she picked herself up, brushed herself off and soldiered on. “You may say it’s easier said than done but really, it’s just about
our attitude towards failure. Just put it behind and you walk. It takes a lot of courage, it takes resilience, it takes a lot of perseverance, and these are things you have to build up.” It is important to always think positively, she said. “It may seem like the world is going to end at that time, but it’s not. You sleep over it, you get up the next day, you say, ‘Okay, let’s think of alternatives.’”
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Whether it is failing in a relationship, in an exam, or in getting into a particular university or programme, it will happen, she said. “So you have to accept the fact that number one, failure is a given.” She urged the girls of SCGS not to give up in the face of failure but instead to put that failure into context.
Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
SINGAPORE CHINESE GIRLS’ SCHOOL
Increasingly, psychologists are pointing to ‘grit’ as being an important character trait in determining success. Mdm Halimah agrees that resilience, or the ability to handle failure, is something that is important for SCGS girls to learn. She said, “All of you will fail at some point. You have to learn to handle failure. You have no choice, you have to overcome. Because a life without failures is not a life.”
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Mdm Halimah’s Vision for SCGS
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The figurative walls between people are not just of race, language or religion. Given globalisation, the distance between the haves and the have-nots is likely to increase. That is why Mdm Halimah’s hope for SCGS is that it takes up the challenge of bridging this gap. “I hope SCGS will continue to remain as an inclusive school — a school that embraces girls from all backgrounds. I think that’s important.”
“I got a chance at a good education because that was the environment that was open to me — inclusive — so that I could get a good education and get out of poverty. So I hope that is an ideal you uphold: be an inclusive school.” She cautioned that while using academic results to decide whom to admit into the school appears to be fair yardstick, these days, there is a strong correlation between academic results and socio-economic background. Well-educated and well-todo parents give their children advantages such as enrichment classes. In addition, they can afford to live in neighbourhoods close to popular schools. Some parents do not have this option, and thus are not well-represented in these schools.
Courtesy of SCGS
“So I hope you continue to be a school that fulfils the hopes and dreams of young girls who go there.”
Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
This is something the government is working towards addressing, with its investment in the early childhood education sector. However, she hopes the school would also do its part.
must continue to provide that kind of environment for young girls. Provide that kind of opportunity; provide support also.
“The purpose of a school is, first and foremost, to give the chance “I think SCGS is a very good to everyone to develop their school. It provides a very good potential, to grow and to fulfil education for young girls. And you their hopes and their dreams.
Image credit to Ministry of Communications and Information
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On Her Memories of SCGS
Mdm Halimah spent her primary and secondary school years at the old SCGS campus and graduated from the school in 1971. At the time, the school was located in Emerald Hill and one of Mdm Halimah’s favourite spots in the school was the school field.
behind some trees or bushes, or whatever. It was really lovely and it blended into the landscape.”
In some ways, the school field was also a metaphor. “It’s almost like there are no limits, no boundaries. You just explore different corners. If you like to talk to people, you “[It was] really huge and talk. If you don’t like to talk to sprawling. You could just walk some people for some reason, down the stairs, up the stairs, hide you go to some corner and you think, you reflect, you reminisce.”
Mdm Halimah did not let this hold her back. Rather than see it as a disadvantage, she turned it around. “You can just take it positively and say, ‘So what? I am different from the rest. It doesn’t matter.’ “I don’t take it as a setback. That is how you develop your own resilience.” Looking back, Mdm Halimah is thankful to the school for arming her with
the fundamentals. “It provided a solid foundation of a good education and that is what I am grateful for in SCGS.“ For her, the school experience was a positive one, overall.
“I had a wonderful time in SCGS. It was a very good school and is still a very good school for girls.”
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Courtesy of SCGS
SINGAPORE CHINESE GIRLS’ SCHOOL
Besides the experience of almost getting expelled from school, there were other challenges Mdm Halimah faced in school. “In those days, many rich girls go to the school, children from the diplomatic circles and so on. I remembered the kids going on excursions in school. I did not have money so how could I go? I thought, ‘It’s Okay, just go and help my mother at the stall.’