Singaporean veteran engineer knighted by Dutch royalty for raising awareness on polders

SINGAPORE: As a hydraulic engineer, Mr Chia Way Seng has worked quietly behind the scenes over the past two decades to find solutions to protect Singapore’s coast against rising sea levels. 

But he never expected his efforts to land him a knighthood one day.

On Apr 27, the director of reclamation at Surbana Jurong’s coastal engineering team was conferred the Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau by Dutch royalty, making him among 3,500 recipients globally to receive the honour.

Recalling the day he was knighted, Mr Chia said the entire event had been a surprise.

“My nominator actually convinced me into thinking that I was attending a seminar, where he would be delivering a keynote address,” he said, adding that his bosses and colleagues were all aware that he would receive the award.

It was only when the Dutch ambassador to Singapore announced that the knighthood would be awarded to an engineer and called out his name, that he realised what was going on.

“(To be conferred) a knighthood was the furthest thing from my mind, I thought it would just be a letter of appreciation,” he said. “I felt very honoured to be able to go up to the stage and get the medal pinned on me.”

“What really resonated with me was when the Dutch ambassador to Singapore said that the award would go to an engineer, someone who actually does the work.

“Usually, the people who get recognised are the bosses because they are the ones who lead the team, so I’m very happy that a working person got it,” he added.

The award, which is accorded to those with longstanding meritorious service to society, was in recognition of his work in raising awareness of the polder technique.

Professor Emeritus Kees d’Angremond, who nominated Mr Chia for the knighthood, said Mr Chia consistently assisted in bridging the cultural gap between the Dutch and the Singapore water world.

“He contributed not only to the acceptance of the polder concept in Singapore, but he also resolved many potential misunderstandings between all involved.”

Polders are large tracts of reclaimed land that are protected from the sea by structures such as dikes and channels.

They are widely used in the Netherlands, where about a third of the land sits below sea level, to turn in flood-prone areas into usable land for the population.

It is one option that Singapore is currently exploring to cope with rising sea levels, amid the worsening effects of climate change.

The country has partnered closely with the Netherlands to design and construct the polder, drawing on the European country's experience and adapting it to Singapore's tropical context.

Mr Chia is currently an adviser to the coastal engineering team managing the polder construction in Pulau Tekong, which will involve a dyke that is 10km in length and 15km wide surrounding 810ha of reclaimed land.

First announced in 2016, the project at Pulau Tekong will allow Singapore to gain experience in developing polders, providing an option for coastal protection and resilience against rising sea levels.

As of April, the project is more than halfway completed and is expected to be completed around the end of 2024.

REWARDING CAREER

Speaking to CNA on Tuesday (Jul 5), Mr Chia said he was very happy to be recognised for his efforts and he hoped that this would attract more young people to take up a career in engineering.

While his decades-long career as an engineer involved a lot of personal sacrifices - including having to leave his family behind when his son was just two months old in order to further his studies in the Netherlands in 1999 - Mr Chia said he has no regrets joining the profession.

“It’s been incredibly rewarding. As engineers, we plan and then we build something that we can eventually see and touch if we want or even live in it,” he said.

“You can see people enjoying the benefit of what you built whether it’s a cycling track or a building,” he added. “It’s a joy.”