Skip to main content
Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Hamburger Menu

Advertisement

Advertisement

Singapore

Ix Shen, back in Singapore, shares Ukraine experience and urges national resilience

Speaking on Total Defence Day, which marks the day Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942 during World War II, Mr Shen also spoke about the relevance of such preparation.

Ix Shen, back in Singapore, shares Ukraine experience and urges national resilience

Singaporean Ix Shen spoke to CNA's Singapore Tonight about his experience living in Ukraine amid war.

SINGAPORE: Singaporean Ix Shen was based in Ukraine's capital Kyiv when Russia invaded the country almost a year ago.

A couple of weeks later, he and his Ukrainian wife crossed the border into Poland, but they did not stay there long.

They joined a group of volunteers who provided humanitarian aid from Poland and returned to Ukraine about a month later to stay. There, they helped by distributing supplies, Mr Shen said. 

On Wednesday (Feb 15), Mr Shen, who is back in Singapore for a few months, told CNA’s Singapore Tonight what made him go back to Ukraine during a time of war.

“I felt I had to,” he said.

“When we decided to evacuate from Ukraine, we received help from strangers along the entire route … Everybody helped us with no reservation.”

Since the couple received help, Mr Shen said he felt there were ways they could return the favour, and contributing to humanitarian causes was one of them.

Mr Shen, who won the Star Search talent show, is a former actor who has starred in Mediacorp Channel 8 television series such as Out to Win and Angel Lover.

He gained a following on social media after he started sharing his experiences living through the war in Ukraine. He also provided regular updates on CNA during his time in Ukraine, often appearing live on camera.

About one year on, Mr Shen said the war is a “very negative situation to be in”, but that people have united to take care of one another.

“We need to motivate ourselves to treat it positively, to show the world that the Ukrainians are strong. They need help and … everyone rallies around each other to continue the struggle,” he said.

Anna Korostenska visits the grave of her late fiancee, Oleksii Zavadskyi, in Bucha, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. As the conflict that killed her loved one still rages on, Anna wrestles with a question that all of war-torn Ukraine must grapple with: After loss, what comes next? (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

UNITING AS ONE

When asked how Singapore can realise the notion of national resilience, Mr Shen recounted an incident where he witnessed such resilience in Ukraine.

During a break from curfew, which was instituted following the invasion, everyone rushed to the supermarket to stock up on supplies in fear that they would run out, he said.

Mr Shen joined a long queue of people at a weighing station for fruits and vegetables.

“Everybody was panicking,” he said, adding that people were anxiously waiting as they wanted to move on to grab other items.

It was then that three Ukrainian soldiers, with rifles slung on their shoulders, arrived with a trolley of supplies for themselves. They asked a woman at the front of the line if they could go ahead so they could rush back to their missions.

The woman dropped her lettuce and helped the soldiers with their fruits, saying “of course”, Mr Shen recounted.

The Ukrainians then shouted patriotically in unison, and the soldiers responded, he added.

“I witnessed for myself what resilience is like, and I really hope that if that moment ever comes for us to experience something like that, we can find that strength and the willingness inside us to unite as one,” Mr Shen said.

“We do not want to be tested, but I’d like to believe that (our resilience) is there.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING PREPARED

Speaking on Total Defence Day, which marks the day Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942 during World War II, Mr Shen spoke about the relevance of preparing to protect Singapore.

He said that going through National Service, which is part of Singapore’s military defence, prepared him “in some ways”.

As part of his reservist activities, he had a “live deployment” to protect key installations in Singapore in the wake of 9/11, he said.

“From that experience, I knew, when you really need to protect what you hold dear to yourself, everything else becomes second place. Because you have a role to do and you step up,” he said.

Returning from war-torn Ukraine, Mr Shen said he was mentally prepared that Singapore would be a different environment.

“Everyone is a lot more peaceful and the context of war is not on everybody's shoulders,” he said, adding that he cannot expect people to jump into “preparation state” despite it being Total Defence Day.

Mr Shen said he wanted to use the context of Total Defence Day to help Singaporeans understand the importance of preparedness.

“What I need to emphasise is - preparedness is just as important as being strong and being positive,” he said.

Source: CNA/ja(dn)

Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement