Award honours bumper crop of NS advocates
(L-R) NS Advocate Award receipients Mrs Carol Lim, Principal of Evergreen Secondary School, Mr Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty, Ms Grace Chong-Tan, Managing Director of Smile Inc Dental Surgeons, Mr Patrick Koh and Mdm Nur Aini. Photo: Robin Choo/TODAY
SINGAPORE — When parent volunteer Patrick Koh organised Total Defence Commemoration Week at St Andrew’s Junior School in February, he painted NERF guns and sprayed carton boxes to become make-believe machine guns and ammunition boxes.
With these items, Mr Koh, 39, created a “battlefield” obstacle course for the students, giving them a sneak preview of National Service (NS) training. He also invited some of the students’ fathers to dress in their military uniforms and share their experiences of being soldiers through a series of video and photo presentations.
Mr Koh, one of the recipients of this year’s NS Advocate Award, said: “When I was much younger, I remember at the coffee shop, the uncles said, ‘When a bomb hits Singapore ... we will all be gone’; that we can’t defend. These are all myths, so we want to take this opportunity ... to bring the truth to children, so they can understand the capabilities of our forces and why we have to defend,” said Mr Koh, an operations director in the food-manufacturing industry.
For his efforts, Mr Koh received the NS Advocate Award — the highest accolade given to individuals, businesses or organisations for their exemplary support of NS. He was one of more than 120 recipients who received trophies from Second Minister for Defence Lui Tuck Yew and Second Minister for Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli at the annual Total Defence Awards (TDA) ceremony at Marina Mandarin Hotel today (July 10).
In past editions of the TDA, however, Mr Koh would not have qualified for the awards. Introduced in 1986 to recognise companies that contribute to Total Defence, the awards were expanded to include Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), organisations and individuals only from this year.
Previously, the TDA comprised three tiers of awards. The most prestigious of them, the Minister for Defence Award, was given to 10 businesses each year. In contrast, a total of 53 SMEs, 34 large companies, 25 organisations and 10 individuals received the NS Advocate Award this year.
As part of a wide-ranging revamp, the NS Advocate Award, a single top award, replaced the TDA’s tiered structure. This allows recognition to be given to a wider range of stakeholders, such as schools, families, community organisations and individuals who go the extra mile to support NS.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Mr Lui said: “This is the spirit that we wish to celebrate and honour — companies, organisations and individuals who have supported NS and contributed not because they are obligated to, but because they believe deeply that it is the right thing to do.”
In addition, the TDA absorbed the Home Team National Service Awards for Employers, which were presented separately in the past. This enables Singapore Armed Forces and Home Team servicemen to be honoured on a common platform. The changes come on the heels of proposals by the Committee to Strengthen National Service, spearheaded by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, to increase community support for NSmen.
