SCGS - N.E. Nuggets

Sharing of Learning Points by Jaclyn Fong of (3SY) Of 2nd MPS Attended on Wed, 18 Feb 2009

Good morning Mrs. Low, vice-principals, teachers and fellow students.

I am Jaclyn from the LYRICS Leadership Programme. I am here today to share my experiences from the Meet the People Session, or MPS, that I attended two weeks ago.

My experience at the Teck Ghee CCC was quite different from usual. Instead of being stationed next to ordinary petition writers and listening to residents’ complaints, I had the chance to follow a legal counseling case. Legal counseling is something like legal advice. In the MPS, a professional lawyer comes down to advise residents on legal matters. This is done on a one-to-one basis, and is held every few weeks. On average, there are only about 3 cases heard each time.

I was literally overwhelmed at the prospect of meeting a professional lawyer, as I had always aspired to be one. I was introduced to the lawyer, who greeted me warmly and asked for my name. He was a friendly man, and not at all the serious type that I imagined most lawyers to be. As we settled down, the consulting resident came in. He too was warmly addressed by the lawyer. These were the facts of the case: the resident had been sued for defamation over an SMS he had sent to someone. After going to court, he found that he had no money to pay the legal fees incurred. As such, he came for the MPS to find out what he should do next.

I noticed that the resident was a typical Singaporean - he struggled to speak in fractured English, and mostly used Singlish. It came to a point where the resident got increasingly uncomfortable, and asked the lawyer, “Sorry, may I speak in Chinese instead?” I could see that the resident was afraid of being rejected, however the lawyer immediately agreed. The most amazing thing was: the lawyer was non-Chinese! It really impressed me that he could be so well-versed in the language.

I learnt something very important from this exchange – a leader must be able to bring himself down to the level of his people. In this case, the lawyer was a leader in his own right, because he was the one leading the conversation and advising the resident on the law. He fully empathised with the resident’s poor command of English, and allowed him to speak in Chinese, even though he could have been more comfortable with English himself.

Another learning point is that a leader has to be able to relate to his people in order to understand them better. For starters, the lawyer welcomed me with friendly tones, thus bridging the gap between us. Besides that, he also understood that I was a mere secondary school student, and thus allowed me more time to digest things during the session. For example, when we had to read letters, although my reading speed was much slower, he accepted this and paused for a long while to let me finish reading! In addition, he was more than happy to answer all my questions about the case. At times, I felt that my questions were overly simple. However, he answered them with patience.
My experiences at the MPS were not only limited to the legal counseling case. I also had the opportunity to meet the Member of Parliament or MP on duty that night, who was Mr. Wee Siew Kim. The case he was handling that night was about a foreigner who was seeking assistance in applying for a post as a security guard. However, the thing was that the foreigner had past criminal records and was to serve a short jail term. Under Singapore law, ex-criminals cannot apply to be security officers. Despite knowing that the man’s request was impossible to fulfill, Mr. Wee did not give a direct “no” as an answer. He offered to write a letter to the police in the hope that they would waive the resident’s offence. This way, the resident would be able to become a security guard.

The important thing to note here is that Mr. Wee did not give an immediate “no” as an answer. I feel that this is a very important quality that all leaders should have in the MPS. By proceeding to help the resident despite the odds, it is an outward display of care and concern. The crux of the matter does not lie in whether the resident gets his request acceded to. Rather, it is more important for the resident to feel that he has been given the help he deserves.

This is true in our daily lives. As leaders, we should know when to say yes or no, and when to give our help to those who really need it. This is one of the qualities that people look for in a leader, and ultimately it is what they will respect the leader for.

I hope that this sharing has been a fruitful one for all of you. Before I end off, I would encourage everyone to think more about the qualities of a successful leader, and how you may apply these concepts to your personal lives, be it in school or at home. Thank you for your attention!

20 Feb 2009